By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
It was hard to find a more dominant pitcher than Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Fred Villarreal this season.
The junior right-hander was 8-0 as a starter and came in to save two others. Villarreal had a microscopic 0.71 ERA in 49 innings pitched this season. He allowed just six runs (five earned) on 21 hits, walked 21 and struck out 81 for the Chargers, helping them cruise through District 32-6A with a 13-1 mark and earn the title outright.
For his outstanding season on the mound, Villarreal has been named The Brownsville Herald’s 2015 All-Metro Baseball Pitcher of the Year.
“It feels awesome because I know I’ve worked hard,” he said. “The whole summer, plus I worked out with Coach (Joey Benavides) and my friend David (Anaya) every single day. It’s nice to know that your hard work has paid off.”
Villarreal plays travel baseball in the summer with the Houston Banditos. That experience has helped him face stiff competition and continue to work on his pitching mechanics.
“All the tournaments I’ve played in the summer have helped me,” he said. “It has prepared me for this (past) season.”
Chargers coach Joey Benavides said his junior hurler was more confident on the mound and in the defense behind him this season.
“I think this year Fred’s hard work paid off,” he said. “He did a really good job commanding his pitches. Yes, this year he had a lot of walks, but he still went into the game knowing what he was going to do. He wanted to strike out everybody, but he has a lot of confidence in the defense.
“If (the opponent) hit the ball, they were going to make a play. Being a pitcher that takes a lot off your back.”
Villarreal also helped the Chargers with his bat. He hit .366 with 30 hits — including nine doubles — scored 20 runs, drove in 13 more and drew six walks.
Benavides expects Villarreal to be even more dominating next season.
“He needs to command his pitches more, he’s already in great condition,” Benavides said. “Picking up a little more velocity would help him and eliminating the walks.”
The junior knows the team fell short of expectations, and he wants to take care of that.
“Of course, take my team further in playoffs, that would be nice,” Villarreal said.
Either way, the Chargers coach expects Villarreal to pass along his work ethic to the younger players next season.
“He’ll be a senior, so it’s going to be their ballclub,” Benavides said. “I look forward to (it), and hopefully he takes the role as a leader to push the other kids to work just as hard as he does, because he’s one of the hardest working kids on the baseball team.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.