Indiana native Drew Storen isn’t fazed by collegiate baseball

On the biggest stage of college baseball, Stanford right-hander Drew Storen did not shrink under the shadow of Rosenblatt Stadium’s enormity.

On this day, the Cardinal faced off against the University of Georgia, fighting off elimination from the 2008 College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Chasing four runs, Storen came in and gave up the earned runs on five hits, including a three-run homer.

An excellent student through high school and the highly competitive Stanford, Storen has kept his head on the diamond and in the books.

“Actually, it wasn’t too bad,” he laughed. “Winter quarter was pretty tough because I was taking physics, calculus, stuff like that. So it was tough. But there’s that old cliché about college—that you learn to manage your time—that was huge. Luckily, at Stanford there are so many athletes who want to get their degrees that the professors really work with us and give us the extensions [on assignments] when we need them.”

He also took his shelling at the College World Series as a learning experience. He seemed no worse for the wear and kept his composure on the mound.

Just 19, Storen is savvy beyond his years. It’s obvious he’s been interviewed before.

He’s booksmart, but he also knows when to take a lesson on the field and learn from it, beginning with some of his own teammates stepping into the box.

“I thought I was a pretty polished pitcher coming into college,” Storen said. “And I quickly learned last fall facing some of our hitters that I wasn’t. I really think I’ve come a long way since then. And hopefully I can do the same after today.”

A highly acclaimed high school pitcher, Storen went 8-1 with a 0.89 ERA for Brownsburg (Ind.) High School last year. He walked just eight batters while striking out 86. The awards and accolades rained down throughout 2007, catching the attention of Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.

Storen also piqued the interest of the New York Yankees, who chose him in the 34th round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. For Storen, the choice was simple: Palo Alto, Calif., looked a lot more appealing than the New York-Penn League.

In 2008, Storen has improved since that fall intersquad scrimmage. He worked with coaches on developing more pitches and refining his control.

“There really wasn’t a lot of mechanic work that we did,” Storen said. “A lot of it was just fastball command. Because in high school, all I did was just rear back and threw it. I assumed I could just throw it past guys.”

This year, he developed a serviceable changeup and hopes to further develop it into a plus pitch. In his freshman year, Storen made 28 appearances, going 4-3 with a 2.79 ERA, striking out 45 in 51.2 innings pitched for the Cardinal. He also recorded eight saves, acting as Stanford’s de facto closer.

“That will be a big key for me this summer, to refine that changeup,” he said. “I had one, I showed it in high school and it was OK. But it didn’t come out of my hand great and when I used it in the fall, guys just thought it was a two-seam fastball. So this year I kind of altered it into a sort of a split-changeup. But it’s going to be big for me work on it and  get it better for me to break into the starting rotation.”

And going to the West Coast from the Midwest wasn’t much of an adjustment either.

“It wasn’t like I got [to Stanford] and said, ‘Wow, these guys are really good!’ It certainly helped to face guys like [teammate and Houston Astros No. 1 pick Jason] Castro and other good hitters,” Storen said. “But I never really felt overwhelmed. I just felt like I had to increase my focus. The older guys also helped me get used to the level of play in the PAC-10.”