On Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, CB East seniors Max McGrady, Aidan Weaver and Tyler Behm were recognized for committing to continue their baseball careers at the collegiate level.
Tyler Behm – Thomas Jefferson University (Baseball)
Major: International Business
Final list of colleges: Jefferson, Bryant, Ursinus, DeSales
Reasons for choosing Jefferson: “Just the culture of the team. They have a winning program, and they want to win, which was important to me, and their business program is one of the top programs in the country.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in baseball at the collegiate level? “Sophomore year is when I decided that I wanted to put everything I had into it to accomplish that dream. It’s been a long road and very hard, but it finally paid off, and I’m very happy I made the decision.”
Coach Kyle Dennis says: “Tyler is an interesting story. Last year as a junior, he was on the back end of our bullpen. He was a guy that actually pitched jayvee a lot last year with the reason being when you have (Aidan) Weaver and (Jack) Hamilton and (Max) McGrady and Xavier (Sjostedt) – when you have these four or five arms, someone like Tyler gets lost in the shuffle a little bit, so what we worked out with him last year, and I do this occasionally with junior pitchers and say, ‘Listen, you’re on varsity, you’re going to pitch varsity, but if a week starts to pan out where we’re not going to need you, maybe you’ll pitch the Friday game at jayvee.’ That was the deal with Tyler last year, and we had no issue putting him into a varsity game, but we just didn’t have the innings. I’m not going to tell you he was happy about it, but he did it. He knew he had to pitch, he knew he had to get better, and he knew he had certain things to work on.
“Tyler’s another kid that’s just really, really dedicated to getting better. I think he’s added 20 pounds. I was looking over my roster I submitted last year – he was 160 and now he’s 185. He’s changed his body. He’s lifted incredibly hard – he was at every lift in the offseason, and you can tell he’s invested. He really invested in himself to get better and put himself in a position where he’s one of our front end bullpen guys or he’s a starter. We’re still trying to figure that out, but now he’s put himself in a position – he’s gained a couple miles per hour, he’s worked on his pitches. He’s another kid that put in an incredible about of time in the offseason with some private coaches and private trainers and has gotten better. He’s transformed himself from being a varsity pitcher who wasn’t in that elite group last year to put himself in a position to where he’s going to be a very important piece of our pitching puzzle this year.”
About Tyler:
Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite movie: Sandlot
Favorite music: Rap & Country
Max McGrady – College of the Holy Cross (Baseball)
Major: Economics
Final list of colleges: Holy Cross, Bucknell, Chapman University, Davidson
Reasons for choosing Holy Cross: “I just really liked the campus feel. It was a smaller campus, which I’m a fan of, but it also had that city feel outside of the campus. It was that good blend. Once you’re outside the campus – you have the city of Wooster, but when you’re inside the campus, it’s secluded. You have to keep your head down, get work done, focus on the academics, which is another plus. They have great academics and Division 1 baseball. Just the whole feel of the school and the coaching staff made it all better. Coach (Ed) Kahovec really made me feel like it was a good place for me.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in baseball at the collegiate level? “I always knew I wanted to play in college. Baseball was always my getaway from things. If I ever wanted to just relax or get away from school, I could go onto the baseball field – hit with my dad, catch with my dad. If it’s practices, I always know it’s a place I can feel calm and just focused.”
Coach Kyle Dennis says: “Max as a freshman was bigger and stronger than a lot of kids. He was on our jayvee team as a freshman. He was still a pitcher and an outfielder then – kind of figured out that he could swing really well, and he could pitch really well, and maybe the outfield wasn’t the best place for him. He’s found a nice little niche as a very good pitcher that also hits. He was one of our better hitters last year in a DH role or hitting while he pitched, which is becoming more and more rare in high school baseball. A lot of pitchers are just pitchers, but he can do both and does both really, really well. He was one of our better hitters last year consistently across the season.
“He’s really, really detail oriented in his pitching. He wants to understand exactly why his body is moving a certain way. He’s embraced that he needs to improve his mobility, so he dedicated himself to that in the offseason. He’s a highly intellectual kid with baseball and also academically, of course. He’s really into the details of what he has to do mechanically, and it’s really fun to have a conversation with him because he’s breaking down pitching stuff at a level that I would never expect a lot of high school kids to really do. Holy Cross is getting a kid that is a great communicator, very even keeled. You’re going to have good days, and you’re going to have bad days, but you can always control your emotions. He’s another kid on the mound that whether the wheels are falling off or whether it’s going great, he’s going to get the ball, he’s going to step on the mound, and he’s going to try and throw strikes. We preach that, guys embrace it, and just try to be at that even keel, and he does a great job with that. He’s another fantastic kid to have around, and we’re really looking forward to him being in our starting rotation and always swinging for us even when he’s not pitching.”
About Max:
Favorite food: Mom’s homemade pasta
Favorite TV show: Community
Favorite artist: Froggie Fresh
Aidan Weaver – Duke University (Baseball)
Major: Economics
Final list of colleges: Duke, UNC, Boston College, Pitt, Wake Forrest
Reasons for choosing Duke: “I chose Duke because I love the coaching staff, the campus is great, I just met the recruits, and I’m happy with them – I love all of them “When I spoke to the coaches, they were really nice, and the facilities they have are amazing.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in baseball at the collegiate level? “Honestly, I wouldn’t say that I was good until seventh and eighth grade and then I made huge jumps every year from eighth to ninth. Tenth is when I committed, ninth is when I was put on notice. I’ve progressed ever since.”
Coach Kyle Dennis says: “Aidan is incredible as a human being and as a baseball player. He’s just a really down-to-earth, humble kid. He’s friendly, he’s nice, and he’s hardworking. Aidan has been with us since his freshman year. He came to us as a pretty good freshman pitcher – a tall, skinny kid, throwing a fastball and a change-up that was awesome. He did a great job. He lost his sophomore year (to COVID), and then he must have added 30 or 40 pounds in just pure muscle over the past couple of years. The fastball velocity was always good – it was probably mid 80’s as a freshman and now it’s jumped to being able to reach the mid 90’s while still keeping a great change-up. He’s added a breaking ball to his repertoire, and he can be dominating. Just like Nick (Bitsko), it’s fun to watch him pitch. When we’re on defense and he’s on the mound, it’s just fun to watch a kid that special pitch. He’s an unbelievably kind kid and a great teammate. I was able to make more basketball games this winter, and when he was not in the game, he was the first guy off the bench in timeouts high fiving his teammates. He played a ton, but when he was out, he was the first guy up celebrating a 3-pointer by his teammates.
“He’s going to Duke, which is fantastic. He committed right before his junior year. A lot of guys in the world would be pretty complacent after that, but he’s actually gotten better, he’s gotten stronger. He’s become really dedicated to what he does, and he does it really, really well. Hopefully, he has a great senior year. He’s working his tail off. There’s going to be a lot of attention on him, and what I also like about him is he’s very even keeled. It doesn’t matter if it’s the seventh inning of the West game under the lights or a scrimmage, he has the same mentality, and he goes out and he does his job. He has high expectations for himself, and he meets them most of the time. He’s just a really great kid with great parents who are really supportive of our program and really supportive of him.”
About Aidan:
Favorite food: Bacon Cheeseburger
Favorite movie: Good Will Hunting
Favorite artist: Kanye
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