Wake Forest’s Ethan Conrad wins 2024 Summer Breakout Prospect Award • D1Baseball
Bourne Braves forward Ethan Conrad (Photo by Shannen Hardy/CCBL)
Summer baseball
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For college baseball fans and prospective fans alike, it’s time to get to know Wake Forest pitcher Ethan Conrad. After two impressive seasons at Marist – he hit a combined .359/.425/.587 between his freshman and sophomore years with the Red Foxes – Conrad opted to transfer to Wake Forest. He made that decision at the beginning of the summer, even before the start of the Cape Cod Baseball League season, when Conrad continued to play at a high level.
Playing for the Bourne Braves, Conrad slashed .385/.433/.486, finishing among the major league leaders in hits, runs, hits, stolen bases and OPS. He even earned All-Star Game MVP honors for the West team with a 1-for-2 performance that included an RBI double, a stolen base and two runs scored.
It’s the second year in a row that Wake Forest has produced a talented player from a small school, doing so with infielder Seaver King last year, who also enjoyed a strong performance in Cape Town before coming to Winston-Salem. And following in King’s footsteps, with his meteoric rise Conrad has been named D1 Baseball’s 2024 Summer Breakout Prospect.
After enjoying success at every level he played, Conrad feels ready to make an impact for the Demon Deacons.
“I feel like all my life I’ve been growing up knowing that I have extreme talent – I’ve always felt like I belong – but I’ve never been tested as hard as I was tested in Cape Town,” said Conrad. his summer experience. “Having the opportunity to go down there and meet the best players, and be with me, opened my eyes to know that I can still play the way I play. In the end it was just baseball. “
“The talent was a huge leap from anywhere I’ve ever played,” added Conrad about the level of talent available in Cape Town. “Everyone around me was really nice. It was very fun, very challenging, you had to lock as much and as much as possible to be able to succeed there. It was nice to hear that.”
Conrad is from Saugerties, NY, about 45 minutes north of Marist College. A physical athlete, at 6-foot-3, 200-pounds, Conrad will not be missed when he plays the field. And with the bat in his hands, it might be his speed that stands out the most. He stole 19 bases in his first two seasons in college and stole 19 more this summer with Bourne. His profile on X says he runs a 6.5-yard 40-second dash, which is game-changing speed from a scouting standpoint.
Coming out of high school, however, interest in Conrad did not match his high-level talent. With his athletic prowess he played several sports growing up, including basketball, football, soccer and karate. When he started high school baseball was his main focus.
The pandemic played a role in his exposure, limiting the number of events he could attend during his freshman and freshman seasons, and the only two he offered were from schools in his backyard.
“I was completely focused on baseball, but after COVID hit it was hard for me to be seen late,” Conrad recalled. “I would say that I was not well recruited and ended up only having a few opportunities, Albany and Marist, and I felt that Marist was the best fit. I got a good offer from them and I was able to stay close to home, so I thought that would be good, I went there to play right away, which I thought was important. “
At the beginning of the summer, Conrad was scheduled to play in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) but he worked with Wake Forest after committing to play with them to get out of that contract. His tenure lasted 10 days, starting on June 3 and ending on June 13 when he signed with the Dickies.
He spent much of his time with PAC-Hub advisor Kevin Hinchey, who helps navigate the transfer portal for young student-athletes. There were a lot of phone calls involved, interviews with different coaches and planning visits, as Conrad and Hinchey – both Saugerties natives – set up shop and spent the first few days of summer at Conrad’s high school to get a better understanding. what opportunities were there.
For Conrad, who values spending time with family and friends doing anything from fishing, going to the beach or playing pool and ping pong, visiting Wake Forest was an important part of his journey and set the university apart from his other pursuits. to choose.
“It didn’t happen until I was in an academy and I was able to meet people in person,” Conrad said. “The way they explained the daily life and the relationship the players have with each other and the coaches and the players. I didn’t feel that at any other school like I did at Wake. Deep down I was confident that when I got there I would meet these people and feel really wanted by these people. Not just with my baseball talent, but with who I am.
“It’s such a big decision, and you only get to make it once. A big part of the whole process was going to a place where the people around me would not only help me succeed but be happy, I could be myself.”
Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter has been with the Deacs’ since 2010, improving each year, culminating in a College World Series appearance in 2023. They have made the NCAA tournament each of the last three seasons and the bar has been very important. raised when it comes to program expectations.
After adding Seaver King to Division II Wingate last year, Walter and his staff — including assistant coaches Bill Cilento and Corey Muscara — came up with another small-school prospect with first-round draft potential.
“We’re very happy for him,” Walter said of Conrad. “We’ve been watching him at work and in the weight room and he’s a special athlete; he can do everything. He can run, he can throw, he can hit for power, he can hit for average. He’s one of those five-tool guys that you’re really excited about. This summer it was great to see him put it together and shine on the national stage.”
Wake Forest’s coaching staff received several calls about Conrad leading up to the summer when they opted to make a strong push for his services. It started with Cilento being called up by Tony Rossi, the longtime coach at Siena, who promoted Conrad’s elite talents while noting that he was the best player in the MAAC.
Numerous calls were made to other coaches and scouts in the area to confirm Rossi’s report, and Muscara’s contact with Marist coach Lance Ratchford helped solidify the connection. Additional time spent watching video and analyzing data was made to ensure there were no red flags, and after Conrad’s visit to Wake Forest, he officially became a Demon Deacon.
“We’re looking at the data, to make sure there’s nothing shocking there, like you have a high percentage of rushes, or a high percentage of turns and misses, things like that,” Walter said of the job. that goes into evaluating players like Conrad and King. “We watch a lot of videos and try to determine if we think the swing will be against the ACC. Obviously in both situations they have a lot of speed to play and run, and they have good skills to hit the ball.”
And just like Conrad got a good impression of Wake Forest during his visit, the coaching staff got a good impression of Conrad. While the personal connection was very important to Conrad, who will be moving from the northeast for the first time in his life, Walter and his staff need to make sure their players get into the system.
This is especially true in the portal era where intangible qualities such as culture and personality can be easily dismissed.
“We’re looking for someone who cares about Wake Forest,” explained Walter. “We don’t want them to come in and rent us for the whole year and then go to boxing. When they leave here, we want them to see themselves as Wake Forest baseball players. We want guys who know who we are and what we do and add to our club culture.”
Looking ahead to the fall Conrad is penciled in as Wake Forest’s starter at center. It’s not a position he has a lot of experience playing, however, spending most of his time playing first base throughout his baseball career. Given his 6-foot-3, 200-pound profile and lefty/lefty profile it’s easy to understand why he played first base. But if you look at his game-changing speed he’s trying to find a place where that can be used better.
Conrad didn’t start playing the outfield until college, but he opened his sophomore season at Marist at first because of the team’s need. The team’s starting pitcher who finished the 2024 season, Justin Kapuscinski, was injured to start the year which prevented him from playing anything other than DH. When Kapuscinski was healthy enough to play first base, Conrad switched to right field and continued to play that position for the Bourne Braves.
Similar to the complete overhaul, the transfer from Marist to Wake Forest, you have to dream a little about Conrad’s skills to believe that he will be able to handle the center field every day. But when you watch him play and see his speed and general athleticism, it’s hard to believe that he won’t be useful offensively and defensively.
“I always try to stay one step ahead, I’m always ready for the next game,” said Conrad about his approach to the game. “Of course I like to play fast, when I get to the bases I like to try to pick a good pitch to run on. Running outside the box, I try to turn one into a double or I try to turn a double into a triple with my speed. “
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