CSNbbs

https://twitter.com/na_athletics/status/...56160?s=21

This is REAL great get by Mike. He still says he plans to come to NU ...but he’s blowing up big time.

http://www.eagletribune.com/sports/local...93aa0.html

Putting on a show: Keane's summer of showcases, ending with prestigious Area Code Games, has draft stock rising

Eat. Sleep. Travel. Play baseball. Repeat.

That has been the summer routine for rising North Andover senior Sebastian Keane, who’s been invited to almost every major high school baseball showcase in the country.

With a fastball that has touched 94 miles per hour, the 6-foot-3, 168-pound right-hander and Northeastern commit is rising up 2019 MLB draft boards.

Ive looked at the rankings sometimes but not in a while, said Keane. They really dont mean much.

The summer started with the Perfect Game National Showcase down in Tampa in mid-June, where Keane competed with 305 of the top seniors in the country at Tropicana Field. One scout wrote: Two quick innings of work for 2019 RHP Sebastian Keane (MA). Sat 89-92 mph with fastball, quick arm and filled zone. Sharp CB up to 77 mph, showed depth and ability to miss bats.

Next, the two-time Eagle-Tribune All-Star was invited to a scrimmage against the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod League. The game was played at a little venue called Fenway Park, and a video surfaced of Keane striking out a batter a Division 1 college prospect, mind you with a 93 mile-per-hour fastball.

Shortly after, Keane flew to Alabama and the East Coast Pro Games, a non-profit event run by MLB scouts. The showcase, sponsored by Adidas, invites the top 150 juniors and seniors on the East Coast to represent an MLB club for five days.

Keane was on the 27-person Red Sox roster.

Its so much fun, said Keane. We all stay in the same hotel and you play in front of so many scouts. They really teach you what its like to be a professional.

But the peak of the summer was the prestigious Area Code Games last weekend out in Long Beach, California. The showcase bills itself as the first step in a nine-month job interview leading up to the MLB Draft.

Keane competed against the top 220 high school prospects in the classes of 2019, 2020 and 2021. He was invited to play on a junior roster a year ago, but this summer made the Yankees 25-person senior team. In the last of his teams five games, Keane started and allowed one run over four innings with five strikeouts and no walks.

Its an experience hell never forget.

Honestly, there are so many scouts that the adrenaline is always pumping, he said. But you meet a lot of kids and a lot of great guys. Theres like 480 scouts there, its insane!

NU COMMITTED

Keane committed to Northeastern early during his sophomore year.

They had a camp at the school that I went to, he said. I loved it there.

His numbers backed up his Division 1 offer. As a sophomore, Keane went 6-3 with a 1.20 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 52.1 innings. His numbers only improved this spring, where he posted a 4-1 record with a 0.32 ERA and 74 Ks in 44 innings.

Shortly after his commitment, however, schools were still inquiring. According to Keane, Boston College called and expressed its interest.

With the summer he just had, schools all relay the same message: If you ever de-commit, wed love to have you.

But it hasn’t changed anything.

Im going to Northeastern, he said.

HELP FROM HAJJAR

Keane will be a hot-button topic when next spring season starts.

His fastball has touched 94 mph, and he also features a curveball, changeup and slider. At 168 pounds, however, Keane is focused on bulking up which, in theory, would help his velocity.

Who knows, Keane could be hitting 95-96 by next spring.

Regardless, scouts will come out in droves to watch him pitch.

It will be a similar situation to what Central Catholic ace Steve Hajjar, who is also from North Andover, faced this spring. He was drafted in the 21st round by the Milwaukee Brewers (No. 635 overall), but honored his commitment to Michigan.

Keane and Hajjar are good friends, and talk regularly.

He helped show me what showcases I should be doing and where I should be going, said Keane.

When the time comes, however, Keane wont be fazed by the radar guns crammed behind North Andover’s baseball field.

His summer of showcases have made the scouts presence a non-factor.

I think Ill be fine with them there, said Keane. Im really friendly with a bunch of them.
***************************

Keane at Fenway...

https://twitter.com/wass_strength/status...22848?s=21

Keane has a “10” rating by Perfect Game ... which translates to a "Potential very high draft pick and/or Elite level college prospect".

According to Prep Baseball Report...Sebastian Keane is the #2 ranked prep player in New England...

Keane has a “10” rating by Perfect Game ...

https://www.perfectgame.org/Players/Play...?ID=560049

MLB.com has Keane at #140 in its Top 200 prospects ...

http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2019?list=draft

https://www.mlb.com/video/2019-draft-seb...=mlb-draft

He was also named 2018-19 Gatorade Massachusetts Baseball Player of the Year.

https://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/win...eane/37196

We’ll definitely have a better idea if he’ll arrive on campus this summer or not.

40/60 that he does ...

Sebastian Keane is taken by the Red Sox in the 11th Round.

Now we have to wait and see if the Sox will blow him away with a money offer to get him to go pro.

He also got the win today for his North Andover HS team in the Mass. Super 8 playoffs.

WBZ-TV interviewed him and covered his game ...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/video/r...vi-AACt5gV

Last week in the Massachusetts Super 8 semifinals, N. Andover beat Walpole 6-0.

N.Andover (the #8 seed) advanced to the Championship game against St. John’s Prep tomorrow night.

The game featured the pitching aces for both teams. Sebastian Keane for NA and 6’5” Cam Schlittler for Walpole.

Both are Northeastern commits. Schlitter who got the loss, is definitely coming to NU...

Keane was once again dominant.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/06/12/...ght-final/

Here’s a slideshow of the game ...

https://timhoffman.zenfolio.com/p173720285/hCE747D29

Keane pitched well Tuesday night against a very good St. Johns Prep team (same HS as Mike Yastrzemski, Pat Connaughton and others).

North Andover beat SJP 6-0. Knights win the MA Super Eight title.

Keane’s line - 3 IP, 6K, 2H, 1 BB, 0 ER.

https://twitter.com/KGaud123/status/1141...89345?s=20

According to New England Baseball Journal, Keane moved in at NU on Sunday and will not sign with the Sox!

He apparently started summer classes on Monday.

The Sox have until July 12th before 5pm to sign him.

https://www.baseballjournal.com/mlb-draf...-and-more/

Its official ... Keane is coming to NU!

He retweeted Bill Burts tweet announcing his decision to forgo signing with the Sox.

https://twitter.com/burttalkssports/stat...73761?s=21

https://twitter.com/boston_informer/stat...39680?s=21

I’m pencilling Keane as our Sunday starter!

Article in the New England Baseball Journal detailing his final decision ...

The Choice: Keane caps whirlwind journey with the decision on future
After being drafted and leading North Andover High to Super 8 title, ace weighs commitment to Northeastern with offer from Red Sox

By Eric Beato
August 16, 2019



Tuesday, June 18 — 8:52 p.m.

It’s the middle of the seventh inning of the Massachusetts Super 8 championship game. North Andover is protecting a slim 2-0 lead over St. John’s Prep. Survivor’s seminal 1980s Rocky-inspired anthem, “Eye of the Tiger,” begins to blare over the speakers of Trinity Stadium in Haverhill, Mass.

A slim 6-foot-3, 170-pound figure begins to jog to the mound, and the North Andover crowd erupts in cheers and applause.

“Seb! Seb! Seb!” howl a horde of young children positioned right behind the backstop.

It’s Sebastian Keane, and this is the moment everybody has been awaiting.

Keane — the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year and the 11th-round draft pick of the Red Sox just two weeks earlier — has delivered his team to this position, bringing the eighth-seeded Scarlet Knights to the brink of an unprecedented state championship.

Keane didn’t start the potential title-clinching game, in part because he had spent the previous day at mandatory orientation at Northeastern, where he started classes earlier this summer. North Andover coach Todd Dulin instead called upon sophomore Brendan Holland, saving Keane for a potential must-win second game the next night — or for exactly this situation. Holland had blanked St. John’s Prep for six innings, giving Dulin the chance to call upon his rested ace — the state’s best pitcher — for a nine-out save.

This moment would be the culmination of a frenzied whirlwind for Keane and his family that included high-pressure playoff games, the MLB draft, graduation, professional contract offers and the beginnings of college — or the start of a pro career.

Keane would eventually earn that save to clinch North Andover’s first Super 8 championship in program history with a 6-0 victory over St. John’s Prep.

“It still hasn’t really sunk in that I’m a state champion,” Keane told New England Baseball Journal a week after North Andover’s state championship-clinching win. “It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. It hasn’t been too stressful; I just want it to be over with, honestly. I want to move on to one thing. Hopefully it will be the right decision.”

To get a better sense of the stress levels the 18-year-old Keane may have been experiencing, let’s review the timeline from his “crazy” last month.

Monday, June 3
It’s the first day of the 2019 MLB draft, and Keane is hopeful that he will be selected by the Chicago Cubs in the second round. Cubs front office personnel has hosted Keane at Wrigley Field this spring, and they are aware of the financial commitment it will take to get Keane to forego his scholarship offer to Northeastern.

It’s also the night of the North Andover senior prom.

“I’m walking around at prom checking my phone,” Keane said. “I didn’t know if I would get drafted in the second round. I’m like, ‘Do you mind if I check my phone?’ It was a lot to think about.”

Keane’s name is not called on Day 1 of the MLB draft, which includes the first two rounds.

“I thought I would get selected by the Cubs in the second round; it didn’t happen,” Keane said. “That’s the way the draft goes. Once a player gets picked, every team’s board changes.”

Tuesday, June 4
It’s the second day of the MLB draft, which includes Round 3 through 10. Keane’s representative has an open dialogue with interested teams, but he has let it be known that teams will have to dip into the draft pool for other picks to accommodate Keane’s financial requests, which are starting to eclipse the slotted value of the picks.

“In the third round, teams were offering money, and we rejected it and said no,” Keane said. “We told teams I would go to school for three years. The agent said the Red Sox might call and try to persuade me to sign with them.”

Wednesday, June 5 — Morning
It’s the day of North Andover’s Super 8 opener against top-seeded and defending champion Franklin, and Keane will be getting the start. He has come to grips with the fact that he is unlikely to get drafted in the top 20 to 30 rounds. More likely, he’ll hear his name called at the end of the draft as a courtesy pick by a team looking to demonstrate their interest. Just before the 11th round is scheduled to start at noon, Sebastian’s father, Tom Keane, receives a call from the family’s representative.

“He said the Red Sox are interested in taking Sebastian and wanted to know what it would take to sign him,” Tom Keane said. “I politely said, ‘No, thank you. It’s an honor, but we want more of an investment.’”

A few minutes later, the representative called back to tell Tom Keane his son would in fact be drafted by the Red Sox in the 11th round.

“Up to Round 10, they don’t want to draft a kid and have him not sign because they’ll lose the money,” Tom Keane said. “I guess their strategy was to draft him as high as they can before someone else takes him. Then they’ll see if they can patch together enough money to sign him.”

Perhaps the Sox attempted to appeal to a local player’s affinity to play for the Sox at Fenway. However, they may have used that strategy on the wrong player. Tom Keane raised his son a Yankees fan after spending his formative years in New York. The Keanes have until July 12 to come to an agreement with the Red Sox, or else the Sox lose the player’s rights.

“I was a little confused by the 11th round,” Sebastian Keane said. “After I told teams I was going to school, I thought that was kind of odd. I thought I’d go in the first few rounds or the 35th.”

Wednesday, June 5 — Evening
It’s opening night of the Super 8 tournament, and Keane takes the ball a handful of hours after being selected by the Red Sox.

Keane rides the energy from the day and pitches 7⅔ innings in a winning effort. He strikes out nine, as North Andover defeats top-seeded and defending champ Franklin.

“Getting drafted by the Sox that day made me energetic and want to win the game so much more,” Keane said. “I felt so good out there. I was having fun. We were playing the No. 1 seed, I just got drafted by the Sox, so many people were watching.”

Keane caps the evening by doing a gauntlet of interviews on the field. He calls it “the best day” of his life.

Friday, June 7
It’s graduation day for the North Andover seniors, and the baseball team has a game against Boston College High scheduled for the next day. As such, the Scarlet Knights baseball players will have to skip the All-Night Party at the school following graduation. They already have missed most Senior Week activities, which included a visit to Kimball Farm and the beach, as well as bowling and mini-golf outings.

“We got excused from all of that stuff,” Keane said. “We were all pretty exhausted without doing any of that.”

Saturday, June 8
North Andover beats BC High, 7-5, to advance to the Super 8 semifinals.

Tuesday, June 11
With a trip to the Super 8 final on the line, Keane tosses eight scoreless innings in a dominant performance, allowing just two hits with 15 strikeouts in a 6-0 victory over Walpole.

Monday, June 17
It’s the day before North Andover’s state championship-clinching win over St. John’s Prep, and Keane is at Northeastern orientation. He spends much of the day walking around the Boston campus before spending the night sleeping in a fourth-floor dorm room with no air conditioning.

“I did so much walking around … sleeping on bogus beds,” Keane said. “I was trying to sleep, but I was cooking the whole time.”

Tuesday, June 18
Dulin gives Holland the nod, and he combines with Keane for a shutout victory over St. John’s Prep.

“They really liked playing for each other, and they also pulled for each other,” Dulin said. “They worked really hard in practice, and as a result, they had a ton of confidence that they could win it.”

Keane continued to wrap his head around the victory a week later.

Sunday, June 23
The Red Sox host the Keane family at Fenway Park. Sebastian spends time chatting with Pedro Martinez one-on-one about how to grip various pitches.

Sunday, June 30
Keane returns to the Northeastern dorms for the start of his summer session.

“I want to get a jump on things so I’m ahead of the game, and it won’t be as stressful in the fall,” he said.

His representative continues to negotiate with the Red Sox.

Monday, July 1
Keane starts summer classes at Northeastern.

“Technically, he could take the summer session, and all of the sudden move out,” Tom Keane said. “He could, but I also think the longer it takes them to make it all work, the more ingrained he’ll be there.”

Friday, July 5
Keane reports to the North Shore Navigators of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. He plans to pitch 10 to 12 more innings before shutting it down for the season.

“I want to play in the Cape Cod League next year, so I want to play in the Futures League this summer,” Keane said. “I think I’m going to develop a lot more in the three years at Northeastern. I’ll be a priority. I think I can definitely develop into a better pitcher.

Thursday, July 11
Tom Keane texts an NEBJ writer to deliver the news that Sebastian has decided to stay at Northeastern and will not sign with the Red Sox before the July 12 deadline.

“I texted the Red Sox to thank them and hopefully do it again in three years,” Keane texted.

Just like that, Sebastian Keane’s wild ride through the MLB draft, the Super 8 tournament, college orientation and big-league negotiations is over. He’s content now and settling in at Northeastern, where he’ll pitch for the Huskies for the next three years before going through the MLB draft process again.

The Super 8 championship, though, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

From New England Baseball Journal ...
https://www.baseballjournal.com/northeas...man-again/

Northeastern pitcher Sebastian Keane: ‘I guess I’ll be a freshman again’

By Joshua Kummins

Northeastern freshman Sebastian Keane was a busy man at this time a year ago.

The North Andover, Mass., native was preparing for a senior season that culminated in a Super 8 state championship for his Scarlet Knights. Of course, there were conversations with scouts from all across Major League Baseball mixed in all throughout the spring.

Though the Boston Red Sox drafted him in the 11th round last June, the 6-foot-3, 170-pound Keane opted to follow his college commitment to pitch for the Huskies and became the first player in program history to do so.

What happened after his first four starts of the season, though, could not have been predicted. Just a week before his team was scheduled to begin Colonial Athletic Association play, the season was halted for good due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Coming into my freshman year there was definitely a lot to adjust to between schoolwork and just playing Division 1 baseball,” Keane said. “I knew there was open playing time, but you had to go earn it. I worked as hard as I could and got to pitch in that weekend role. I was really excited. We had a great group of guys and something special going here, so it stinks that the season got canceled.

“Fortunately, the year of eligibility (from the NCAA) came back … so I guess I’ll be a freshman again next year.”



Keane has committed to pitch for the Cape Cod League’s Chatham Anglers, fulfilling any Massachusetts native college player’s dream as he prepares for the next phase of his journey with the Huskies.

The recent events have caused uncertainty throughout the college game, but the NCAA did, indeed, offer all spring student-athletes an extra year of eligibility back following the Division 1 Council’s vote on Monday night.

For Keane, there was even more to think about. Major League Baseball has discussed the possibility of its First-Year Player Draft lasting only five to 10 rounds as compared to the 40 of recent years past.

What if that had happened a year ago? Being drafted might not have been in the cards at all despite overwhelming interest from MLB teams. He was scouted on the summer showcase circuit and during previous spring seasons, but the story could have ended much differently if it weren’t the eyes on him during an 11-win senior year.

“I think so many things would have turned out differently,” Keane said. “A bunch of teams came to my games (last spring) and were seeing what I could do, so I don’t know if I would have gotten drafted in the first five rounds. It stinks because you can’t sell yourself, I guess, as a senior. It’s tough but everything happens for a reason.”

As Keane looks ahead, he knows that coming months could look different for some of his current and former teammates as well.

“It’s just tough for so many guys because you can have a great year and not get drafted or not get your full opportunity to show what you can do in those first 15 games or so,” he said. “I know I wouldn’t like it if it were my draft year, but I guess we’ll just have to see what happens. We’re fortunate to have that year back, but it’s just a crazy situation.”

Keane’s career got off to a strong start before the baseball world was shut down. He won his last three decisions ― becoming one of just three Division 1 pitchers in New England to reach that mark during the shortened season ― after a challenging opening start at Alabama. He finished the year with a 10-strikeout performance against Eastern Michigan and seven innings of two-hit ball at Florida Atlantic.

After the end to his season built great momentum, his return home has turned out to be a great time for reflection. There was plenty to learn at the beginning and great strides made as he became the only three-game winner on the staff for the 10-5 Huskies.

“The first game was definitely nerve-racking but it was a great experience going out in that big stadium and there was a lot I could take away from it,” Keane said. “After the first start I talked to our pitching coach (Kevin Cobb) and some of the veterans about what went wrong, looked at some of the mechanics on video and really tried to focus on hitting my spots with the fastball and working off of that.”

Keane pointed to redshirt senior Kyle Murphy (Billerica, Mass.) and junior Sam Jacobsak (Milton, Mass.) as two of the fellow Northeastern pitchers who helped him through the early portions of the season. Those two veterans joined the talented freshman to form the team’s starting rotation during all four weekend series.

“I like everything I saw from the staff, with a lot of different options,” Northeastern coach Mike Glavine (Billerica, Mass.) said. “It’s a close group, very competitive, very deep. Guys were doing everything we asked of them. … Sebastian is so polished but so eager to learn and develop, so he was a great addition.”

Keane’s “non-stop questions” ― as he joked ― and regular conversations with his fellow starters helped him adjust to some of the difficulties that come with being a college baseball player for the first time in addition to making some slight adjustments and tweaking his approach after the loss to Alabama.

“Those guys were really important in helping me understand everything going on around me and just becoming a better pitcher,” Keane said. “I talked to Kyle a lot about throwing offspeed and he encouraged me to mix it up. I guess I didn’t do as good a job my first time out, but I really worked on that. A lot of my talk with Sam was about mechanical adjustments, so we’d always look at each other in practice and games and see what adjustments I could make, whether I was opening up too early and things like that.”

Keane certainly expected to be using that advice as he pitched in some meaningful conference games at this time of the year, but the world has obviously had other ideas.

In the meantime, he is training in his home gym and throwing whenever possible with fellow North Andover native and Northeastern commit Brett Dunham. He is fortunate to have many of the necessities right at his fingertips whereas some players are forced into doing more simple, body weight exercises with limited home equipment.

“I honestly think I have a pretty great set-up down in my garage,” Keane said. “It doesn’t have all the typical gym stuff but I’ve got some hurdles, a ladder, free weights, a bar to squat and bench, some leg machines and my bands. Then I’m able to do some running in the neighborhood. Nobody wants it to be like this, but I’m pretty lucky because some of my friends and teammates don’t have as much around and everything is closed. I’m fortunate I can get a good workout in.”

###

WHDH Sports did a nice story about Sebastian Keane having no second thoughts at committing to NU over the Sox in last years draft ...

https://twitter.com/GoNUbaseball/status/...79234?s=20