After Being Cut In H.S., Peters Throws 101 MPH

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The story of RHP Mathew Peters of Ivy Tech Community College is simply incredible.

He was an afterthought in high school at 5-foot-7 and 140 pounds who was cut once and rarely pitched as a senior.

Not a single college wanted him on their team after his senior season.

The low point of his high school years was during his final season on Senior Day with the varsity baseball team.

Every senior got to play in that game, except him, as his family looked on in stunned silence.

The embarrassment Peters felt was unbearable.

This incident drove this young man every day after that point to be the best pitcher he could possibly be as he devoted his life to pitching.

It was almost as if the baseball gods had touched him as he grew 9 inches and gained 70 pounds as he transformed into a 6-foot-4 frame with a chiseled 210-pound body several years later.

In high school, his fastball topped out at 85 mph. Now he has touched 101 mph which was verified by two Major League scouts in early March. That is 16 mph faster.

“As a freshman at Bishop Dwenger High School (Fort Wayne, Ind.), I was 5-foot-7 and weighed only 140 pounds,” said Peters.

“Prior to my freshman year, I had played travel ball since the age of nine. I got to play in a lot of tournaments prior to high school. I pitched and also played second base and left field.

“My freshman and sophomore years of high school, I made the junior varsity team. We didn’t have a freshman team at our school. My junior year, I was cut prior to the season. Then my senior year, I made the team but I didn’t play or pitch much.

“As a senior, I was about 5-foot-9 and weighed about 160 pounds. So I still wasn’t that big. My fastball at that time topped out at 85 mph.

“The most difficult day of my life was when we had Senior Day on the baseball team at Dwenger High School. Every senior on the varsity got in that game except me. I was absolutely devastated. I had my entire family there to see me play. It was the worst day of my life…just awful.

“My fellow seniors on the team couldn’t believe I didn’t play as well. I didn’t talk to the head coach on the team after the game because there was absolutely nothing I could say. I wanted to turn in my jersey after that game, but I didn’t.

“That day was the turning point in my pitching career. While I am still upset at what happened, that decision by that coach drove me to be the pitcher I am today.

“I started working out every day and gave pitching 110 percent since that day. I refused to accept what had just happened because I knew that I could become a good pitcher.

“At the end of my senior season of baseball, I had no options to play baseball again. No college program wanted me.”

So he took classes at local junior college Ivy Tech during the fall of 2019.

“Keep in mind that since that bitter day when I wasn’t allowed to play on Senior Day in high school, I devoted every single day to getting better as a pitcher.”

To read more of this article, purchase the April 8, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.