Waynedale's Varner having one of WCAL's best-ever seasons
Waynedale senior Jaden Varner’s pitching alone is on pace to rank among the best seasons in Wayne County history. Add in his offensive and defensive contributions, and he could wind up among the top couple single-season all-around performers the area’s ever seen.
Waynedale senior baseball player Jaden Varner is putting together the kind of season that comes along only a few times in a high school coach’s career — if they’re lucky.
First-year Golden Bears head coach Lucas Daugherty knows he’s blessed to have Varner as a pitcher-centerfielder in his rookie year leading a program.
“Jaden is definitely one of the better arms I've had a chance to coach or really play with at this age in high school,” said Daugherty, a former standout pitcher at Mount Vernon Nazarene who was a Bears assistant for three years before being promoted after Justin McDowell left for Triway. “He's also really solid defensively, he's batting over .500 and can hit with some power.”
Varner’s pitching alone is on pace to rank among the best seasons in Wayne County history. Add in his offensive and defensive contributions, and he could wind up among the top couple single-season all-around performers the area’s ever seen.
The left-handed flamethrower entered the week of May 10 with a 7-0 record and 0.18 ERA. In 40 innings pitched, Varner had 94 strikeouts and 10 walks while only allowing 12 hits and one earned run.
Offensively, Varner leads Waynedale in batting average (.519), hits (40), at-bats (77), doubles (12), RBIs (25) and stolen bases (19). He’s tied for the team lead in triples (two) and home runs (one) and is second in runs scored (30).
“I walked a run in against Hillsdale,” said Varner, a Kent State signee, explaining how a team managed to score the lone earned run against him.
When asked the key to his pitching success, Varner said, “I just treat every batter like they’re a top-notch hitter in the state and that they're like someone I'm gonna see next year in college. I just go at them. I lift weights hard every day, work on my mechanics and long toss a lot. Coach ‘Doc’ has helped me my whole career at Waynedale with my mechanics, and coach McDowell helped a lot before he left.”
Varner stands just 5-foot-9, 170, but he gets everything he can out of his compact frame, Daugherty said.
The Bears were 18-4 (10-2 WCAL) entering a two-game series with Northwestern (May 11-12) in which they had a chance to win the WCAL outright or share the league title with Dalton. Waynedale is the highest seed in the Div. III Copley District and seeded No. 2 overall in the super-district behind Canton Central Catholic.
“It was really a perfect situation to step into it,” Daugherty said. “I was sad to see Justin McDowell go because he's a good friend of mine and I really enjoyed coaching with him. I was in the program beforehand, working alongside him, so I felt like I was prepared to take over, and these guys make it pretty easy. I have a good relationship with them, and they work really hard.”
There are lots of other players performing well for the Bears. Braden Hershberger (3-1, 1.78 ERA, 31.1 IP, 25 Ks) and sophomore Trey Barkman (4-1, 2.16, 48 Ks) also have been impressive on the mound. Mateo Camacho is batting .419 with a team-high 35 runs scored. Also hitting between .340 and .347 are Connor Gatti, Ean Miller and Ian Lehman.
Don’t overlook catcher Josiah Raber, who’s done a solid job handling Varner and the rest of the pitching staff.
“We actually had a question coming into this year how we’d be at catcher after graduating All-Ohioan Matt Weaver, but Josiah has done a really nice job," Daugherty said.
Varner’s fastball has topped out at 91 mph, and he’s consistently been between 88-90, Daugherty said. The lefty also throws one of the best sliders for any high school pitcher in the state and has developed a good changeup.
Rittman’s Joe Staley, the dean of WCAL coaches in his 16th season, called Varner the league’s best all-around player since Lance Horner led the Indians to the regionals in 2011.
“Lance had more pop in his bat (school record 10 HRs in a season, 22 career), but when it comes to pitching, they are really close in results,” Staley said. “(Varner) is definitely the best pitcher we have had in the league since Lance in my opinion.
"He slings it really well, and to come in from the left side, it’s lethal in our league. He has great command and never seems to be rattled. He seems like a great kid too, not saying much while he plays. I wish him the best of luck and will be rooting for him as he represents the WCAL in college and possibly even further."
No doubt Varner could be selected in the MLB Draft one day. He’s focusing now on finishing as strong as possible for the Bears. This summer Varner will team up with Wooster senior Tyler Pettorini to play on the Cincinnati Midland Chiefs before heading to Kent State.
As a seventh-grader, Varner watched his older brother, Jarrett, play for Waynedale in the 2016 Div. III state championship game, which Hiland won 7-1. Varner has dreamed ever since of playing in a title game himself.
“I would love to be able to compete in that situation,” said Varner, who has a 3.3 GPA and plans to major in construction management. “We have some young guys, but they’re producing pretty well at the plate and in the field. It’s going pretty well, and we’ll just keep doing our best.”
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AaronDorksen.