Zak Whitney had an excellent rookie season for Southern New Hampshire University, winning the Northeast-10 Conference Rookie of the Year, earning first-team all-conference honors, and striking out 95 batters across 81 innings. He now takes his talents to West Virginia, but this level of success wasn’t the case for Whitney.

Whitney started playing baseball at a young age. He remembers watching Boston Red Sox games with his grandfather, enjoying the game and finding a passion for it. Whitney grew up and spent most of his high school career being recruited as a position player, since pitching wasn’t something he envisioned himself doing.

That changed the summer after his junior year, when he stepped on the mound and threw a pitch 90 mph. That moment changed the trajectory of Whitney’s career, as he was a pitcher from that moment on. As he began pitching, he knew he needed training. During his senior year, he walked more batters than he struck out. At a showcase at Stony Brook University, he met VeloU owner Nick Serio and Director of Athlete Success Sam Byrns.

He credits Byrns and the VeloU staff for helping him improve as a pitcher by working on mechanics and his ability to judge where the ball is going each pitch. He arrived with unrefined mechanics due to his history as a position player, but with work he can now execute multiple pitch counts.

“They noticed that my front side was really early and my timing was off. My arm was dragging late, and I was going to cause injury and not maximize my velocity and strikes,” he said. To fix this issue, they put Whitney through drills done with plyo balls and focused on his glove placement to improve.

He also credited VeloU for helping him with his strength and conditioning. He started with VeloU at 170 pounds, very skinny, with little weight on his frame. His weight has climbed up to as much as 200, and he is now able to throw without his arm being sore.

He noticed his trend of walking batters was no longer an issue, and that helped lead him to college. 

He had previously committed to Dayton, but when the head coach left, he changed his plans and committed to Southern New Hampshire. He gained confidence in his abilities, developing what he called a “dog mentality,” and that helped him win the starting pitcher role after competing for it. 

“I want to be better than everyone in this room, and it wasn’t an ego thing,” he said. “I’m just going to outwork you and I’m going to be better than you in the fact that I need to claim that role. I took it and acted like I had something to prove, to myself more than others.”

While he had an excellent season, it did have its lows, but he always managed to keep a level head. In his first start, he didn’t make it out of the third inning as he allowed 10 singles. Two games later, he threw seven scoreless innings and struck out 14 batters.

After the season, he entered the transfer portal, looking to go Division I, and drew interest from several schools. The final five universities were West Virginia, Kentucky, Xavier, Virginia and USF, and he chose West Virginia. Multiple factors led him to West Virginia, including player development, all the resources they provide, and conversations with previous players who have trained there in the off-season and are now in the major leagues, who raved about West Virginia. 

The aspects of the program he saw that attracted him were the  $5 million pitching lab, the biomechanist who showed him the force plates on the mound that gave feedback on how he was transferring energy throughout his body, and then the strict meal plan designed to help him reach an ideal body fat percentage and muscle mass. 

While Whitney will be changing jerseys next year, one thing that won’t change is his confidence. “I believe that I am the best pitcher in the world when I am on the mound, and I think that’s important to anyone who touches the mound.”

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