Of the iconic venues in Major League Baseball, few rival 107-year-old Fenway Park. It is there, in Boston, where the most famous wall in baseball — the 37-foot high Green Monster — stares down hitters and fascinates visitors.
So, imagine what Mark Black of Serra Catholic High must have been thinking when he stood at the plate for batting practice at Fenway, prior to a showcase event for MLB scouts, and zeroed in on the menacing left-field fence.
“I know a little bit about it, like in 1940 they painted it green,” he said. “Originally, people used to sit in front of it. And when they wanted to make the field bigger, they moved the stands on top of it. That’s about what I know about the Green Monster. It is definitely big.”
Just not big enough to prevent Black from swatting not one, but two, balls over it during warmups. With a wooden bat.
Countless professionals who’ve played for years have failed to slay the wall even once. But for the Ruthian-like Black (at least by WPIAL standards), it was business as usual as MLB scouts watched closely.
“Pretty cool,” said Black, a right-handed hitting senior catcher and St. John’s University recruit.
A couple weeks later at Cleveland’s Progressive Field, another WPIAL slugger was wowing MLB scouts with his mighty swing. On July 7, West Allegheny senior Austin Hendrick was among eight participants in the MLB High School Home Run Derby — an event held in advance of the MLB Home Run Derby and All-Star Game in Cleveland.
Like Black, Hendrick felt at home on the big stage. The left-handed outfielder hit 14 homers for a fourth-place finish behind Blaze Jordan of Southaven, Miss., (20), A.J. Vukovich of East Troy, Wis., (18) and Yohandy Morales of Miami (15). He would later participate in the 40-player High School All-Star game at Progressive Field.
But that was just the beginning for Hendrick, a Mississippi State recruit.
This past Monday, he won the Under Armour All-America Game Home Run Derby at historic Wrigley Field in Chicago. His blast over the right-center wall in a “swing-off” against Daniel Susac of Roseville, Calif., set off a frenzied celebration by his teammates on the “National” team.
One of his homers cleared the right-field scoreboard, prompting Baseball Factory Scouting, via twitter, to laud Hendrick for “dropping bombs...”
“He was made to be a baseball player,” said West Allegheny baseball coach Bryan Cornell, who has been with the program since 1999. “I’ve been around the game for a long time and I’ve seen a lot of great players. I saw Neil Walker play, and he was one of a kind. But [Hendrick] is another kid who stands out when you watch him. He can hit the ball a mile. He has such quick hands and strength and power — and that’s just the baseball side of it. His knowledge of the game is tremendous. And, most important, he’s just a really good kid.”
By this time next year, Hendrick and Black could be playing for Major League Baseball organizations. They are that good.
A Mississippi State recruit, Hendrick is rated the No. 3 high school player in the nation by Perfect Game scouting service. He projects as a possible first-round pick in the 2020 MLB draft.
Black could be selected within the top 10 rounds next June, based on what Serra coach Brian Dzurenda gleaned via an MLB scout.
“I have scouts calling and asking where we’re playing all the time; they want to see him,” said Dzurenda, a 22-year coaching vet at Serra who led the Eagles to WPIAL and PIAA Class 2A title games this spring. “Without a doubt, he’s the hardest worker I’ve had in all my years. He goes to practice, then to a personal trainer, then to yoga for an hour, then he hits again. He’s a machine. He’s a 4.2 (GPA) student and a personable kid. He comes from a down-to-earth family. He’s just a special person.”
How special?
Check out these stats: Black’s 14 homers last season tied for the most by a WPIAL player since 2000. ... He was intentionally walked 18 times in 31 postseason plate appearances. ... He hit four home runs in 10 official postseason at-bats. ... His season totals were .507 average with 44 RBIs, 11 doubles, 3 triples and 30 runs scored. ... His slugging percentage was 1.324. ... He threw out 16 of 18 base-stealers. ... Against Seton LaSalle in the PIAA semifinals, he saw one pitch to open the game and promptly drove it over the fence. (He was intentionally walked thereafter). ... Collegiate Baseball named him first-team All-American and one of the top eight catchers in the nation.
What’s more, Black drove a ball an estimated 480 feet in a postseason game against Avonworth at Boyce Mayview Park in Upper St. Clair. Jaws, predictably, dropped.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” Dzurenda said of Black, who has participated in scouting showcases around the nation this summer, including in MLB locales such as Boston, New York and Chicago. “After what he did in batting practice at Fenway — he had two hits in the game, as well — I had two agents call me and ask if he had representation. They wanted his dad’s phone number; I didn’t give it. Andy Bednar, who coaches at Mars, called and said he’d heard Mark had put on a show in Boston. Well, his son is in the Padres’ organization and he said his agent was interested. How cool is all of this for a high school kid?”
Very cool, for both Black and Hendrick — a couple of baseball standouts with seemingly limitless potential.
First Published: July 26, 2019, 10:30 a.m.
