Orange County Player of the Week : Shaun Frattone Works Hard, Plays Hard

Center fielder Shaun Frattone of Western High School isn’t the kind of player who catches the attention of big league scouts. He’s small (5-foot 6-inches and 135 pounds) and doesn’t have much power. A quintessential slap hitter.

Though Frattone will never be mistaken for the next Dale Murphy, he’s one of Coach Dave Bowman’s favorites. That’s because the hustling Frattone plays each game as if it may be his last.

He dives for any ball that comes near him. He steals bases. And he runs out every ground ball at full speed, sometimes turning an out into an infield hit.

What Bowman likes best about Frattone, though, is his knack for throwing runners out at the plate in big games.

In Western’s 2-1 win over Troy in the opening round of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs, Frattone threw a Warrior runner out at home.

And Friday in the Pioneers’ quarterfinal game against Tustin, Frattone threw two Tiller runners out at the plate to preserve a 3-1 victory.

That performance earned him Times’ Player of the Week honors.

“A lot of our kids are just over-achievers who work hard,” Bowman said. “Shaun is one of those kids.

“He always stays after practice to take some extra fly balls. And even then he’ll be diving if the ball is close to him. He tries so hard, he makes great plays in practice.”

Two great plays that counted came Friday when Frattone ended the third and sixth innings with throws on the fly to catcher Scott Pawloski.

“He made throws like that about six or seven times in the last two years,” Bowman said. “He has a strong arm and he gets rid of the ball quickly. He’s spent a lot of time learning how to play one-hop hits, how to charge the ball before throwing it and how to position himself.”

Frattone, whose family formerly lived in Huntington Beach, was cut from Edison’s freshman-sophomore team two years ago. When the family moved to Cypress and he enrolled at Western, Frattone suffered a tendon injury to his right (throwing) elbow and didn’t play much.

As a junior last season, Frattone saw some action but didn’t hit well. Still, Bowman made Frattone his starting center fielder this spring, which did a lot for Frattone’s confidence.

Frattone, an All-Orange League selection, always wanted to show how good a player he was.

“I stand out there and hope every ball is hit to me,” he said. “I always hope I can make a play that will get me noticed, that will show that I am aggressive.”

Shaun Frattone

Western High School

Position: Center field.

Height, Weight, Class: 5-6, 135, Sr.

Last Week: Threw out two runners at the plate in Pioneers’ 3-1 victory over Tustin in a CIF Southern Section 3-A quarterfinal game.

Regular Season: .293 average, 17 runs scored, 10 stolen bases.