Feature: Playing with fire

While the Pitt baseball team didn’t have a particularly hot season, Sean Conley’s bat was… While the Pitt baseball team didn’t have a particularly hot season, Sean Conley’s bat was red-hot all year long. After a strong senior season, he hopes to be selected in the upcoming MLB Draft June 5.

As the leadoff hitter, Conley started all 53 games and batted .317 on the year. He led the Panthers in home runs (11), hits (71), doubles (17), RBIs (48), slugging percentage (.540) and runs scored (48), all career highs for the left fielder. While the Panthers (19-34, 8-20 Big East) missed the Big East tournament this year, Conley’s performance has garnered the interest of numerous MLB franchises.

“He’s proven that he can hit at the next level,” said associate head coach Joel Dombkowski. “He’s hit some of the best players in the Big East consistently enough to show that he deserves a chance at it.”

Dombkowski isn’t all talk. He’s coached several players who’ve gone on to the pros and knows what to look for. Last year, six Pitt players were either signed or drafted by major league teams. And after four years at Pitt, Conley looks to have a great chance at joining them.

But success isn’t new to No. 5. In fact, it all started early. Growing up in Chippewa in the Pittsburgh area, Conley, 21, attended nearby Blackhawk High School. A three-sport athlete his entire life, he excelled right away on the baseball field. At Blackhawk, he broke records for career hits, career stolen bases, hits in a season and runs scored in a season.

But football was really his sport. One of the most athletic players on the team, he played both quarterback and defensive back.

“It was a football town, that’s what I did,” said Conley. Still, the diamond was where he belonged. Conley started fielding offers to play baseball at the Division I level, and it was something too good to pass up.

He received scholarship offers from Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia and Delaware. Once with the Panthers, his career took off.

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds, Conley is slightly larger than the average leadoff hitter and boasts more power. But his ability to consistently get on base made him the choice of the Pitt coaching staff for the lineup’s first slot.

With his career as a student-athlete now in the past, Conley looks to draft day.

One thing on his side is the amount of time in the draft. Last year’s MLB Draft lasted 50 rounds and saw 1,453 players chosen. Compared to other professional American sports, the number is incredible.

The NBA Draft, for example, lasts two rounds and sees 60 players taken. The NFL Draft has seven rounds.

For players trying to make it at the next level, this is good news. But it also means those players will have to make bigger strides to pull away from the competition and move their way up within an organization – something Conley said he’s more than willing to deal with.

When watching Conley, most people can see it in his eyes. They see it after a clutch hit or after a strikeout. Looking at Conley, people see passion.

This is how it’s been Conley’s whole life. But Dombkowski said this year was a little bit different.

“It’s really been about two things,” said Dombkowski. “Time and effort.”

After his junior season, Conley had a total of three home runs for his career. Conley said adding 11 this season had a lot to do with patience.

“It’s just been about waiting for my pitch,” said Conley. “I’m sitting back and looking for something in the zone.”

A lot of this also has to do with leverage, which Conley manages to get a lot of because of his great balance at the plate.

Dombkowski said this increase in power came from getting to the batting cages early and keeping his focus.

“Mechanically he’s been getting himself in position and getting his pitch to hit,” said Dombkowski.

It paid off, and his numbers proved it.

Conley, who plans on graduating in the fall with a degree in economics, said he has long-term goals as well as short-term. After his playing career is over, he wants to coach at the college level.

But now he’s just waiting for the chance to show what he can do. He doesn’t care what team, what city or what kind of money.

“I know there’s been some talk [from scouts],” said Dombkowski. “We’ll just see what happens on draft day.”

Conley will wait for that phone call, hoping it comes sooner than later.

He leaves behind a hot bat at Pitt. Now, he hopes that heat can lift him to the next level.