From Nothing To Something

Chris Clemens
PrideTime Editor

From Being a below Average athlete and student. To committing to play baseball in college. This is the story of Frankie Greco.

As a freshman Frankie Greco had a hard transition to highschool.” I felt that no one really helped me understand the difference between high school and middle school academically” Frankie Greco ‘19. Because of this he did not meet the academic standards in order to try out for the McMahon Baseball team. Not being on the baseball team tore him apart. Frankie has played baseball since he was three years old,  he was in love with the game. His love for the game came from his father who almost played in the little league world series as a child so you could say baseball was “in his blood.” Not meeting the academic standards to try out was a huge wake up call for Frankie and caused monumental change in the way he played the game as well.

“Not making the baseball team was devastating to me, but it was also very humbling. I used to be a very confident, almost pompous person. It really made me get over myself.”

Not only did Frankie change the way he was in the classroom but he completely changed as a player too. He did this by caring more about school and what motivated him to be better in the classroom beside from having the grades to play baseball was not letting his parents down again.

“Everyone in my family was disappointed in me and did not trust me because I did so poorly freshman year so there was no way I was letting them down again.” said Greco.

As a player he took huge steps forward from not being on the team to being a member of the varsity squad. He started eating better, going to current varsity players for tips on getting better and advice in general, and attending baseball clinics to better his skills. As a Sophomore Frankie on the JV squad hit over .300 and had two wins on the mound and also started a game along with a few other relief appearances for varsity.
“You could tell Frankie made huge strides not only a player but as a student and as a varsity coach that is what we love to see in our players” said John Cross, head varsity baseball coach.

Junior year is when things started to really take off for Frankie. Going into the season junior year, Frankie was expected to be one of the better pitchers for the McMahon varsity team. The team itself lost a few good pitchers in Jake Dumas [transfering] and Andrew Matthews [Graduation] because of this Frankie was expected to step up in a big way.

Frankie went above and beyond these expectations. He had four wins on the mound, two of them coming against Staples and Ridgefield who were top five in the state. Frankie was named All-FCIAC east and played in the Connecticut junior state all star game which is an honor given to the top 40 juniors in Connecticut. This helped pave his path to playing baseball in college.
    
Going into senior year, Frankie committed to play baseball at Becker college in Massachusetts. ”Playing baseball in college has always been a dream for me and my dad. But ever since I moved here from Florida because of my parents divorce, my dad hasn’t been there for me too much when it came to baseball. So this means a lot more to me then it would for most people.” said Greco. While this may be Frankie’s last season here at Mcmahon, This is only the beginning for him.