When senior Tyler Peck looks back on his four years of Redwood baseball, he’ll have quite a bit to be proud of.
The de facto ace of one of the best Redwood baseball teams in recent memory, Peck pitched his way to a dominant 1.00 earned run average (ERA) and a 9-1 record in 11 starts in the 2015 regular season, amassing 65 strikeouts along the way.
Despite his other notable achievements, which include a no-hitter against Terra Linda and MCAL and NCS playoff wins, Peck said his greatest characteristic is something entirely different: his work ethic.
“I want my teammates to remember me as someone who wasn’t necessarily super talented, but as someone who worked really hard to get to where I am now,” Peck said. “I don’t want people to think that I got where I am because I was really gifted, I want them to think that, ‘Yes he had a lot of skill, but at the same time he worked really, really hard to get to where he is.’”
It is this relentless work ethic that has propelled Peck to the top of nearly every pitching statistic in MCALs this year, as he is ranked third in both strikeouts and ERA and second in wins. Peck’s most dominant season yet has earned him runner-up honors for MCAL Pitcher of the Year, falling to Marin Catholic’s Brandon Buckley.
As Redwood claims their first outright varsity baseball MCAL pennant in 10 years and pursues an NCS title, Peck said that in order for the team to continue to play at a high level, pitching is only part of the equation.
“Say I make a bad pitch and the batter hits it really hard, and somebody else lays out and makes a diving play, what that says to me is ‘Ty, I got your back, I’m here for you,’” Peck said. “To me that feels really good. Knowing I have those guys behind me giving 110 percent gives me the strength to keep going.”
As Peck leaves high school behind and moves on to pitch for Chapman University in the fall, he recognizes the fact that he’ll have a whole new set of challenges. But like anything that he’s faced during his four years of high school pitching, it’s nothing he can’t overcome.
“I just want to continue to improve,” Peck said. “I’m going from a place where I’m a big fish in a small pond to a college where I’m a small fish in a big pond, and I’m going to have to be okay with not being the best and use that as motivation to get better.”
