During the high school baseball season, Belleville’s Sean Walsh might not get the notoriety that some of the other top players in Essex County receive due to the Bucs’ placement in the Super Essex Conference Colonial Division.
It’s also why events like Wednesday’s Quad-County Underclassmen Game in Clark provide such an opportunity.
Playing alongside some of the state’s best players, Walsh showed he belonged in such high-level company, going for 1-for-2 with a walk as part of the annual event, which featured non-seniors from Essex and Union counties against non-seniors from Hudson and Middlesex counties.
“It really did mean a lot to me when I got selected because I saw all the Governor Livingston guys there and all the people from the big schools,” said Walsh, who just completed a stellar junior season in which he was selected All-Essex County by the county’s coaches. “I was just really excited to be there and really happy I got the opportunity.
“It was a great opportunity and I’m thankful I’m there. I feel like I was deserving to be there.”
It marked the second consecutive year Walsh was selected. Previously, he was selected as a pitcher, when the event was two separate games resulting in twice as many players from each county being selected.
“I don’t think it’s happened very often (where someone has made it as a hitter and a pitcher),” Belleville head coach Joe Sorce said. “Sean wears a lot of hats at Belleville High. He’s our No. 1 starter, he’s our first baseman, he’s our three hitter. He was a captain as a junior and he did a lot of good things for us.”
Walsh had a fine spring for Belleville, hitting .361 with a team-best 15 RBI playing primarily at first base.If you ask Walsh what his strongest position is, he’ll say pitcher where he had a 2.70 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 59.2 innings.
Walsh, who said he has six different pitches he has trust in throwing in a game, certainly turned heads in the first round of the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 tournament when, facing previously state-ranked Union City, he tossed 6.2 scoreless innings in Belleville’s surprising 11-0 upset win.
To Walsh, all of those pitches give him a huge advantage, especially in the mental component of baseball.
“It’s an advantage to me because I can just use so many combinations,” said Walsh, who throws a fastball, curveball, slider, changeup, four-seamer and a splitter. “Say I throw a changeup and he’s early on it, I can base what to throw off of that. If he’s early on it, that means he’s looking fastball and I go back to another offspeed pitch. Baseball’s more of a thinking game in my opinion.”
Walsh said he has received interest both as a pitcher and as a two-way player from college coaches as he starts the biggest summer of his baseball career. Playing this summer for Wow Factor Northeast, Walsh has already traveled to Florida for a tournament with upcoming events in Alabama and Georgia.
“Words really can’t describe how excited I am,” said Walsh. “I didn’t think I’d get to be traveling this much for baseball and in general. Baseball has taken me so many places I can’t even imagine that I would be. It’s really a great opportunity and I’m thankful for it all.
“I hope I can keep going the way I’m going and make Belleville proud.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)