Wright Enjoys His Rewards : Hard-Throwing Katella Pitcher Is County Player of the Year

Good baseball coaches understand their personnel, so Katella Coach Tim McMenamin knelt in front of pitcher Jaret Wright, gave him a congratulatory slap on the back and shared the news.

Wright had been selected The Times Orange County player of the year. McMenamin told Wright about the award while the senior right-hander was stretching in preparation for his start against Servite in the opening round of the Southern Section Division I playoffs May 20.

For some players, that’s not exactly the type of thing they want to hear moments before a big game. Wright, however, welcomed the information.

“I thought he was joking,” Wright said. “I kept asking him, ‘Are you serious? Are you serious?’

“I know a lot of guys might not want to hear that at a time like that, but coach knows me well enough to know that’s something I want to hear.”

Apparently so.

Inspired by his selection, Wright overwhelmed Servite. He pitched the visiting Knights to a 2-0 victory, striking out 12. Seven batters returned to the dugout after looking at third strikes.

The son of former Angel pitcher Clyde Wright (1966-73), Jaret’s playoff performance was another high point in a dazzling season. For all of his father’s accomplishments, Jaret now has received at least one honor Clyde did not.

“This is a great feeling,” Jaret said. “There are a lot of good ballplayers in Orange County, so it wasn’t even on my mind that I had a chance to win this.”

Decisions are seldom as simple.

At 6 feet 2 and 220 pounds, Wright, 18, is an imposing figure. Wright makes batters look foolish almost every outing with a fastball that has been clocked at 94 m.p.h. He was 7-2 with a 2.98 earned-run average during the regular season.

What’s more, he led the county in strikeouts with 100 in 75 innings. No slouch at the plate, Wright batted .430 with seven home runs and 32 runs batted in.

A co-captain, Wright helped lead Katella to a share of the Empire League championship, the Knights’ first baseball title since 1981.

“I’ve had the most fun this season,” Wright said. “Our league championship was the best thing because a lot of people picked us to finish last.”

His physical ability and fierce will to win impresses the Cleveland Indians, who picked him 10th overall in the June free-agent draft. The Wrights are negotiating with the Indians, but Jaret also has scholarship offers from BYU and UCLA.

While such success and attention--in addition to possible pending wealth--is exciting, it also has its downside.

“You have to try real hard not to think about all the pressure,” Wright said. “You have to try to keep it all in perspective.

“I think I’ve matured having to deal with all this stuff.”

McMenamin agrees.

“He handles all the acclaim he gets pretty well,” McMenamin said. “A lot of kids would feel a lot of pressure, but not him.

“He knows he’s good and he wants to win as bad as anybody.”

With everything that has happened to him this season, Wright sometimes wonders if he’s been dreaming the whole time.

“This has all been pretty amazing,” Wright said. “Looking back on all this stuff now, I wonder if it really happened.”

Odds are, this is only the beginning.