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By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Ian Miller has made a career of proving doubters wrong. The Berkeley Carroll rising senior ace had do it one more time to earn a place at the college of his dreams.
The Harvard baseball team had been following Miller for two years. The coaching staff had its interest in him piqued during this past season, and after a strong performance at the Head Start showcase at Baseball Heaven with his Academic Prospects travel team in August. The Crimson still wanted one last look at Miller and invited him to their baseball camp two weekends ago.
He said he threw well the first day, but had a breakthrough the next day after working with Harvard coaches. Thanks to a tweak in his motion he added three miles per hour to his velocity and earned an offer to join the Crimson next season.
For Miller it’s the culmination of years of hard work and dedication.
“It was pretty incredible,” he said. “There is nothing like hearing you have the spot when you have really been fighting for that for the last three years.”
The crafty right-hander burst on to the New York City baseball landscape as a freshman when he helped pitch the Lions to the private school state title game. Two years later, his velocity climbed to the mid-80s. He began to master his six different pitches to become one of the most dominant hurlers in New York City. He went 7–0 with a 0.13 ERA last season and is only getting better.
“I think he is a perfect fit athletically in the Ivy League,” said Berkeley Carroll coach Walter Paller, whose son plays for Columbia. “I think Ian has a chance because he’s so polished that he can get some innings right away.”
Miller, who has a 3.85 GPA, wants to help a rebuilding Harvard program eventually win an Ivy League title. One of the reasons he felt so comfortable there was the positive energy Decker and his staff brought with them and the talented recruits they have coming in.
“Their whole coaching staff is really excited to push their baseball program further,” Miller said.
And Miller knows a thing or took about getting the most of young talents.
“As a freshman I probably wasn’t anything to special, but with hard work and the right mentality it’s been working out for me,” Miller said.