Prep Baseball: Broncos’ Magrisi named Cal-High Sports’ Freshman State Player of the Year

Joey Magrisi has spent most of the summer playing at the corner-infield positions for the San Diego Show Baseball Club. But during last spring, the soon-to-be Rancho Bernardo High sophomore made a name for himself while on the pitcher’s mound.

The 6-foot, 185-pound right-hander broke into the starting rotation as a freshman for the Broncos. He finished the season with an 8-1 record and a 1.11 earned run average, while posting an astounding 54-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 63 1/3 innings.

Naturally, the accolades came pouring in after season. Magrisi was named to the MaxPreps Freshman All-American Team and was honored as the Cal-Hi Sports’ 2015 Freshman State Player of the Year.

“It is awesome being recognized like that,” said Magrisi, who was in Georgia playing baseball over the weekend with the San Diego Show. “I really feel honored, but I also know that I wouldn’t have been in that position without my team.”

The last Rancho Bernardo player to be named the Cal-Hi Sports Freshman State Player of the Year was Alex Jackson in 2011. He was selected sixth overall by the Seattle Mariners in the 2014 MLB Draft.

“Alex is a big name at RB,” Magrisi said. “So when you are in the same sentence as him it is pretty cool.”

Magrisi’s phenomenal freshman season was capped with a San Diego Section Open Division championship. He got the nod for the start in the title game and received a no-decision after tossing five innings in which he allowed two earned runs to La Costa Canyon. The Broncos went on to win 3-2.

Perhaps his most notable game of the year came against Cathedral Catholic in the second round of the playoffs. Magrisi tossed a complete-game, striking out seven while allowing just one run.

“Joey has great competitiveness and composure,” Rancho Bernardo baseball coach Sam Blalock said. “He believes in himself and he really wants to succeed. He is high on the chart in that area and it helps having that confidence.”

Magrisi’s future will likely include pitching and playing first or third base for the Broncos. He started his freshman year working with the infielders, throwing bullpens and taking batting practice. Eventually, the coaching staff decided to lighten his load.

“Probably the most crucial thing was that he was working at third base and trying to be an infielder as well as a pitcher,” Blalock said. “That was a lot of wear and tear on the arm. We decided to take some things off his table and have him focus on pitching and hitting. So, we took him out of the infield and that is kind of when he started to pick it up. The arm action he was using in the infield was conflicting with his pitching motion so that really got him back on track and got his arm strength back.”

Magrisi said he is simply giving his arm a rest for now. He will be the Broncos’ ace next season and will likely be a starter at first or third base when he is not pitching.

“That is the goal,” said Magrisi, who is a switch-hitter. “Right now I feel my pitching is ahead of my hitting, but I feel like with some at-bats and some work I can get that up to par.”

Blalock doesn’t doubt it.

“He has a lot of intangibles that he brings to the game so he is very likely to be successful in any pursuit that he has,” Blalock said. “We will look how his hitting and fielding come on and we will go from there.”