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All American Game  | Story | 8/18/2021

Schultz Makes Classic Dream A Reality

Blake Dowson
Photo: Noah Schultz (Perfect Game)
When Noah Schultz finished up his outing on the mound at the Perfect Game National Showcase, he headed into the dugout to cool down a bit and chat with the other guys on his team.
 
It had been a good outing for Schultz, who threw two hitless innings while striking out three on just 26 pitches, working his fastball from the left side up to 92 mph from his 6-foot-9 frame.
 
But then someone, looking very Perfect Game official, came over and told him to follow him. Dylan Lesko, a fellow Vanderbilt commit, was told the same. Schultz thought he had done something wrong, although he couldn’t think of what that could have been.
 
“Someone came up to me and asked me to come with them,” he said. “I was like, ‘Uh oh, what did I do wrong? Am I in trouble?’ It was me and Dylan Lesko, we went together. I was talking to him asking what this was, and he says, ‘All-American.’ As soon as he said it, my heart dropped. I was like, there’s no way. It was a dream come true. Last couple years I’ve always watched it on TV and thought that would be cool, but there’s no way I’d ever make it.”
 
Schultz, the No. 10 overall prospect in the 2022 class and No. 4 left-handed pitcher, was, in fact, not in trouble. Quite the opposite, as he and Lesko got the news together that they had been selected for the Perfect Game All-American Classic, the crowning achievement for preps heading into their draft year.
 
As he said, at one point he didn’t think there was any shot at getting the nod to head to San Diego for the Classic. Three years ago, Schultz was a 5-foot-9 lefty, working to stand out from the rest of the pack.
 
Then, during the summer of 2018, he grew six inches. The next year, 2019, he grew six more inches. All of a sudden, he’s a 6-foot-9 lefty. Schultz would stand out on a basketball court, let alone on a raised mound on a baseball field.
 
The process to figure out his new body wasn’t the easiest endeavor, he admitted. Toward the end of his growth spurt, he had some troubles with his knees and his back. Those troubles only lasted a few months though, Schultz said, and are long gone in the rearview mirror. At this point, it’s just about adding weight to his long and lanky frame.
 
Schultz said he feels lucky to have not had many issues with his mechanics during that growth spurt, something most pitchers who shoot up that much, that quickly typically struggle with.
 
“I feel pretty fortunate,” Schultz said. “My pitching coach, whenever we work out, has me do patterning. It’s where I go through my motion with a towel so it’s not stress on my arm as much. We just work on being fluid and smooth so that I don’t have problems like that, because you can when you have such long limbs like I do…It’s always something I can improve on, but as of right now I’ve been fortunate to not have those problems.”
 
Schultz, an Aurora, Ill. native, is a yet another member of the vaunted 2022 recruiting class at Vanderbilt, with nine of the committed players meeting in San Diego this weekend to play in the Classic together.
 
The entire group has a group text, Schultz said, and they’ve started to get to know each other through that and the high-profile events they get invited to, like PG National, PDP, Area Codes, and ultimately the All-American Classic.
 
Schultz is a Midwest kid, with a lot of guys committed to Vandy hailing from the Southeast. Some of those guys have known each other for quite some time, but Schultz has really enjoyed the time he’s had this summer getting to know those guys.
 
“I’m looking forward to being with the guys. I’ve made a lot of friends this summer. Guys who I don’t normally get to see, because there aren’t a ton of guys from the Midwest. Most of the guys live further down south. It’s just really fun to make friends with guys who I’ll hopefully be playing with for a long time.”
 
Schultz has gained notoriety for a number of things, all combining to form a top-10 prospect in the class. There’s the frame, which is the first thing that jumps out. The fluidity in his throwing motion is another, his low-90s fastball can’t be forgotten, and the spin rates he generates are the new-age tool that scouts love about him.
 
He spins his fastball at over 2,600 RPM, and his slider can spin over 3,000 RPM. The slider is the go-to pitch in the arsenal. Because of the velocity – it sits in the mid-70s – Schultz said lots of people call it a curveball. Because of its horizontal movement, he calls it a slider.
 


We can meet in the middle and call it a slurve. Whatever it is, it’s nasty.
 
“The fastball I command well and I love throwing, but my put-out pitch and the pitch that gets the most attention is the slider,” Schultz said. “It’s been a real work in progress. It was pretty rough when it first started out, then I started to get a feel for it this past offseason. I didn’t change my grip but I changed the pressure I put on my fingers. It’s helped a lot to know, if another pitch isn’t working, I can throw that and put it where I want when I want.”
 
It's a big reason Schultz gets to make one last stop on his All-American roadshow this summer. There are gives and takes to the travel schedule these players endure, naturally. Schultz did PG National, PDP, and Area Codes.
 
Between all that, and the trip out to San Diego this weekend, he figured he had probably had seven days at home combined throughout July and August.
 
His time away from home has been spent playing baseball though, so he couldn’t be happier. Well, unless he could pack up his bed and bring it with him.
 
"The thing I miss most is my own bed,” Schultz said, laughing a bit. “Being 6-foot-9, I don’t fit well in hotel beds. I have to duck in the hotel showers because they’re so low…But I enjoy it. Each different event I went to was really fun. I don’t have much time other than baseball, but I love baseball. It’s not like I’m doing something I don’t love doing.”
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