School: Upper Moreland
Baseball
Favorite athlete: Chase Utley
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memories competing in sports: Being able to catch my older brother (Bob) every third game when I was a freshman and also winning the SOL American Conference my sophomore year.
Most embarrassing/funniest moment while competing in sports: A teammate, while playing ice hockey, flew out on the ice with his skate guards on right below where an OHL scout was watching us take the ice. He fell flat on his face. He didn’t get drafted that year.
Music on iPod: Rap to country
Future plans: College
Words to live by: ‘Good is the enemy of great.’
Goal before turning 30: Married and have kids
One thing people don’t know about me: My primary sport was ice hockey until sophomore year.
By Alex Frazier
Dave McInerney brings it all to the plate.
Not only does he have the ability to play every position on the baseball field, but he can also play them exceptionally well.
McInerney has been the starting catcher at Upper Moreland for the past four years.
And to listen to coach Ernie Rehr, it’s obvious why.
Over the past three years, McInerney has been hitting at a .400 clip with a .478 on-base percentage and a .639 slugging percentage. He has collected 40 hits and scored 30 runs.
In his first game this year, he smacked two home runs. Last year he had four for the season, but he already has four this season and is certainly on target to surpass last year’s mark.
“He has the ability to hit the ball hard to all fields,” said Rehr. “If you see him in batting practice, the ball is different when it comes off his bat. He hits the ball with such power and strength. He can put it out of the park from every part of the park.”
Naturally he draws the attention of opposing coaches and pitchers.
“It’s pretty tough,” said McInerney. “They’re giving me a lot of off-speed. I’m trying to sit back and see the off-speed better than I have been. I haven’t seen many fastballs since that first game when I hit two home runs. It makes me better too.”
McInerney is also hard to run on.
Three runners tried it this year and he nailed all three. The fact that there were only three is also testament to his throwing ability.
“It’s very difficult to run on him,” said Rehr. “Our pitchers feel so comfortable when they throw to him because they know they can put the ball in the dirt, and they know Dave’s going to hold onto it or block it. He’s not going to give away runners, which is extremely important.
“All the coaches that play against him respect him so much that it’s rare that you’ll see someone run on him. They know who’s back there and they have to be extremely careful. He’ll throw behind runners and pick them off.”
Besides his technical skills, McInerney is also an excellent captain.
“He’s on a different level,” said Rehr. “He handles himself appropriately. There’s a presence about him that I hope the players on our team are focusing on and seeing as an example of what to do. He’s got all the elements of the physical game and the mental as well.”
McInerney has good size for a catcher at 5 feet, 11 inches and 200 pounds, which helps with the physical demands of the position.
“I’m sore after every game,” he said, “but I ice up and am pretty well rested for the next game coming up.”
As an eighth grader in Upper Moreland Middle School, McInerney was a pitcher and shortstop.
He wanted to make the varsity as a freshman, and he concluded that his best chance was as a catcher since the high school starter was a senior.
With that in mind, he began preparing for it the winter of his eighth grade year.
The transition wasn’t “a big deal,” as he said. He had played a number of positions. This was just one more.
“I just love being out there,” he said. “Whatever helped out the team was my biggest factor in playing.”
When he arrived in high school, he surely impressed his new coach Rehr. So much so that he not only made the team, but also beat out a returning senior for the starting position.
“I thought I had a good chance to make it, but I was still surprised making varsity as a freshman and was even more surprised starting as a freshman,” said McInerney.
The highlight of his freshman year—and perhaps his entire high school career—was catching for his older brother Bob, who was a senior pitcher/third baseman, every third game.
“That was awesome,” he said. “My dad liked it too.”
Unfortunately, he won’t have the opportunity to do it again with his younger brother Luke, who is now in eighth grade.
“It would be awesome finishing it out with my little brother,” he said.
Since his freshman year, he has missed just two league games, both at the start of his sophomore year. He was playing ice hockey for Team Comcast (NJ), and suffered a concussion just a week before the team was to compete in the 16-and-under national championship. The team finished second without its star defenseman.
He had started ice hockey when he was seven or eight and finally quit after 10th grade to focus on baseball.
Hitting and calling pitches are the two aspects of the game McInerney likes best.
“I love hitting and I like catching my pitchers,” he said.
McInerney takes pride if a pitcher does well.
“I like calling the pitches,” he said. “When the pitchers are doing good, I feel good about myself too.”
Last week one of his pitchers had a perfect game going into the seventh inning and then gave up two hits.
“It made me happy to have him that far into a perfect game,” said McInerney. “I would do anything to have that back and finish it off for him. I wanted to get that perfect game more than anything.”
With McInerney behind the plate, the Golden Bears won the American Conference his sophomore year and finished second last year.
The team also qualified for the district playoffs the last two years, making the semifinals last year.
“With him as catcher, we’ve been extremely successful,” said Rehr. “He’s had quite an impact on getting us a championship and to the playoffs. He’s one of the best baseball players I’ve worked with at this age for sure. The fact that he’s playing Division One baseball next year speaks for itself.”
McInerney has also been honored by being selected to play in the prestigious Carpenter Cup in the post-season. He has made the team the past two years.
Playing in Citizen’s Bank Park was a dream come true.
“I’ve been lucky,” he said. “It’s a great experience. The kids I play against are pretty cool too. I play against a lot of them and I’ve become friends with them. There’s nothing like it, playing on that field.”
McInerney gives back to the game he loves, coaching kids in the Upper Moreland Little League as well as on his brother’s middle school team.
“I try to get down there a couple of days a week,” he said. “I like helping out. I know a lot of the younger kids. They seem to like me, so I try to help them out.”
Next year he will be taking his skills to the University of Cincinnati. McInerney talked to quite a few college recruiters, including ones from Penn State, Virginia Commonwealth, Arkansas State, Kennesaw State, Bucknell and Penn, but Cincinnati had the inside track.
The assistant coach had been with West Chester and seen him play. Also, his hitting coach went to Cincinnati.
He plans on majoring in sports management or business.
That is, if he doesn’t get drafted first.
He’s already been observed by a few scouts and hopes to see more this spring.
He realizes it may be a long shot, but he’s looking forward to this year’s spring draft. If not, he has another shot in his junior year at Cincinnati.
“It’s a long road,” said McInerney. “We’ll see what happens from there. I keep my hopes high, but I don’t expect much.”
If he doesn’t get drafted, he’ll always end up with a good college education.
“Whatever happens, happens,” he said. “That’s been my mindset the past couple of years. Either way it’s a win for me.”
