“Last year was a matter of getting my feet wet in many ways,” Swarzak said. “This is head and shoulders above that competition. The game is a lot faster and the hitters are much better. You just have to tell yourself that it’s the same game you’ve played all of your life.”
Swarzak was 7-3 with a 2.80 earned run average in 14 starts through June 20 despite the fact that his team struggled to a 33-37 record and sixth-place finish in the eight-team Western Division before the All-Star break. He had registered 82 strikeouts and walked 24 batters in 74 innings pitched, allowing only 58 hits.
“My stats were definitely pretty good, but in my eyes they should have been better,” Swarzak said. “There were a few starts that didn’t go my way and a couple I could have won. The biggest thing has been pacing myself for the longer season, saving myself for every game.”
Twins catcher and former Beloit roommate Korey Feiner has seen Swarzak’s strengths up close.
“His key is that he throws a lot of strikes,” Feiner said. “He has an explosive fastball, usually up to 94 or 95 mph, and that’s tremendous for a young kid. His other great attributes are his competitiveness and his confidence. He fears no one. He trusts me to call the pitches and trusts himself that he can beat anybody who steps up to the plate.”
Swarzak has a repertoire of four- and two-seam fastballs, a curveball and a changeup that have baffled most league hitters and earned Swarzak a spot on the Midwest League All-Star team last season.
“Being an all-star was a huge accomplishment and a great feeling,” he said. “It’s always nice when people acknowledge what you’ve done. It was one of my dreams coming to the Midwest League.”
He said his strategy involves keeping his job simple.
“I really don’t look at my fastball as an out pitch because you have to use different pitches in different situations depending on the count and the batter, but you have to pitch to your strengths,” Swarzak said. “The key to any pitcher’s success is pounding the strike zone early in the game and make hitters put the ball in play. If you can do that, then you move the ball around, maybe three or four inches off the plate, and they know they have to swing and they make the strike zone bigger themselves. You can just go out there with the idea of throwing everything 98 mph because it’ll be going a long way the other way if you do.”
Anthony copes with the new media attention well, the value of a high profile high school.
“Nova is a prestigious program,” Swarzak said. “Baseball is so big down there that they had a regular high school show, games were televised and the papers covered them well. I was the No. 1 pitcher on our staff by the end of my sophomore season. I got to play in several showcase tournaments, including one in California that had something like 250 scouts watching. So I’m used to all of the attention, and that helps get you to the next level.”
Swarzak plans to give his current success its proper due and continue to move toward loftier goals.
“You have to look at the big picture and take it one step at a time,” Swarzak said. “You can’t let yourself relax, but you have to remind yourself that it’s still baseball. You have to keep elevating your game, but you need to take a deep breath once in awhile and just play ball. I have to keep doing what I’m doing, and that’s competing and fighting on every pitch and in every game.”
