Freeport grad Jarrett Heilman's star on the rise after another brilliant season at Mercyhurst

At any level of baseball, there are pitchers (i.e. throwers) and there are pitchers (i.e. the real McCoys). In other words, the real McCoys put some thought into the matter. It’s not just, “wind up and fire darts.”

Which brings us to Jarrett Heilman, the former Freeport right-hander who continues to prove at the college level that he really knows how to pitch.

Just ask his coach at Division II Mercyhurst.

“He’s incredible,” said Joe Spano, who just completed his 24th season with the Lakers.

As in the real McCoy?

“Maybe he’s not the hardest thrower, but he mixes up his pitches well. He has different arm angles. It’s a real throwback quality,” Spano said. “Nowadays, guys want to just rear back and throw. Once he figured out some things, his confidence grew.”

Heilman is aware of the growing attention he is getting from various major-league scouts. He’s not that concerned, though.

Not just yet.

“I know they’re around,” he said.

There’s another year of college ball awaiting Heilman, a junior, who finished this season with a 6-2 record, including an impressive shutout of No. 13 Seton Hill, after going 8-0 last season as a sophomore.

He and Spano figure Heilman’s chance to sign professionally will come soon enough.

“It’s probably a bit early,” Spano said. “I think when you don’t throw 95-plus, they kind of look at you as a senior draft. I believe he’ll have a shot when he’s a senior. He’s going to be working really hard at getting healthy and being ready for his senior year.”

An arm injury forced Heilman to sit out the recent Division II Atlantic Region tournament at Seton Hill days after he was named as the sixth Mercyhurst player in a row to win the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Pitcher of the Year Award.

It’s an example of his continual mound development. Heilman posted the third-lowest ERA (1.38) in Division II.

“He was just the next in a line of top pitchers who’s kind of now carrying the torch for us,” Spano said.

Heilman’s ERA marks the lowest by a Mercyhurst pitcher with at least 60 innings since Dan Altavilla’s 1.23 in 2014.

Altavilla, a former Elizabeth Forward right-hander who has pitched in seven major league seasons, is recovering from Tommy John surgery as a member of the Boston Red Sox’ Triple-A Worcester affiliate.

The accolades for Heilman have become many: some local, some national. Most recently, he was named to two Division II All-America teams, the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings first team and the National College Baseball Writers Association third team.

During an impressive stretch in April, Heilman recorded three consecutive shutouts during a string of 26 scoreless innings, including a one-hitter against Clarion.

His four shutouts among six complete games ranked best in the PSAC and among the top 10 in Division II.

“I kind of compare him to Justin Verlander’s style,” Mercyhurst catcher John Susnik said, referring to the New York Mets’ three-time Cy Young award winner. Verlander is known for increasing the velocity of his pitches as a game progresses.

“Growing up, I always loved watching the (Detroit) Tigers and Justin Verlander,” Heilman said. “He does things at a high level. Like him, I try to keep my velocity consistent. Too many times, young guys burn out their gas halfway through a game.”

Heilman credits Susnik for much of his consistent success.

“For two years, we’ve worked together,” Heilman said. “When a pitch doesn’t work, he has helped it click. All pitches work off the located fastball, and, usually, when I miss on my fastball, I miss up. Whenever you can dial it in, that’s the key. John can keep me focused. He’ll come out to talk to me, and we’ll crack a couple of jokes to take the edge off.”

Susnik responded in agreement, calling his relationship with Heilman “a great bond, pitcher and catcher, in and outside of baseball.”

“Jarrett is a very intelligent team guy,” Susnik said. “We feed off his energy, his body language and how well he’s throwing.”

With Heilman having just returned to Freeport for the summer from Mercyhurst’s Erie campus, he is finding that time off to heal just might be the best thing for him right now.

Every morning, Heilman begins with a renewed routine, pouring a cup of coffee from one of his family’s two coffee houses, 1833 Coffee and Tea Co. in Freeport.

“It’s easier to get there now because we just moved a couple of miles from Buffalo Township,” Heilman said.

In his best sales pitch for his mother, Karen, co-owner of 1833 Coffee and Tea Co. and another location in Vandergrit, Grant Avenue Coffee Co., Heilman declared: “It’s a great way to start the day.”

Heilman, at times, was brilliant on the baseball diamond in high school, too, but he lost his senior year to the coronavirus pandemic after Freeport in 2018 was ranked No. 1 in Class 3A in the WPIAL before losing to eventual WPIAL champion Steel Valley in the playoffs.

Afterward, Heilman paid tribute to his high school coach, Ed Carr, whom he credits with mentoring him for his next chapter of baseball.

“I could barely speak about him during a senior banquet,” Heilman said. “I got up to talk, and when I got to him, I melted. He’s been a great influence in my life, and my parents can’t say enough about him. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be playing at this level. His baseball IQ is high. To have him as a coach in high school was a good influence for me in baseball and in life.”

Of Heilman, Carr said: “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever coached. You could say he’s an avid student of his craft.”

Carr, a former first baseman at Division III Penn State Altoona, had insisted that Heilman not only shape up mentally, but perhaps more so physically. Heilman said Carr told the young pitcher he would need to lose weight during his sophomore season if he expected to continue. Heilman said his weight had ballooned to 260 pounds.

“He has been the key part of me getting to where I am today,” Heilman said. “I came in as a cocky, right-handed, chubby kid that really didn’t have anything to be cocky about. He was instrumental in humbling me in practices, keeping a level head on my shoulders. While doing that, we drew a great connection. We still call each other now.

“I got on a diet and I worked out with him, and that’s when my junior year came along and I thought to myself that I can play in college.”

Now, here Heilman is at Mercyhurst.

And prospering as well.