From giving up baseball to being one of the top Red Sox prospects, Drohan is on quite the ride
WORCESTER — Shane Drohan didn’t always envision a life in baseball.
As a high school sophomore, the WooSox left-handed pitcher actually stopped playing the sport in 2015 to focus on football.
“I was pretty on and off with baseball growing up,” Drohan said.
Less than two years later, every single professional baseball team visited Drohan’s house in Jupiter, Florida, to learn more about the up-and-coming high school hurler.
On Friday, Drohan makes his fifth start of the season with the Worcester Red Sox.
“It was an interesting path,” Drohan, 24, said. “But I wouldn’t change a thing.”
A late bloomer
Growing up, Drohan admittedly was a bit of a late bloomer. Especially in comparison to his opponents on the diamond and gridiron.
“He was so tiny,” said his mother, Dara.
Unable to pitch as much as he would’ve liked in baseball (since he played quarterback during the football season and needed to rest his arm in the offseason), Drohan was bored playing outfield in baseball.
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In eighth grade, Drohan even dabbled in lacrosse.
“I thought it was nuts,” said his father, Bill, a former minor league pitcher who spent four years in the Kansas City Royals organization from 1987 to 1990. “I didn’t know anything about lacrosse.”
“I thought his dad was going to have a heart attack,” Drohan’s mother said with a laugh.
After deciding to play baseball as a freshman at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Drohan shifted his focus to solely football as a 10th grader. A year later, following a growth spurt to 6 feet, Drohan finally found his footing on the mound.
“That was the first year I was really set on pitching,” Drohan said. “That’s when it really all started.”
“He started to love the game again,” his mother said.
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It was all baseball from there for Drohan, who was drafted out of high school in 2017 in the 23rd round by Philadelphia. But the Phillies couldn't lure him out of his commitment to Florida State.
Drohan spent parts of three years pitching for the Seminoles before the COVID-19 pandemic halted his junior season. That summer, Boston selected Drohan with the last pick in the shortened five-round draft in 2020 and inked him to a deal worth $600,000.
“I actually thought I was going back to school, and the Red Sox called,” Drohan said. “So it worked out well.”
Climbing the ranks of the Red Sox system
Drohan spent all of 2021 with the Salem Red Sox before splitting time last year between the Greenville Drive and Portland Sea Dogs.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder topped the system in strikeouts (157) and strikeout rate (10.9 per nine innings) while advancing to Double A in 2022. Drohan is currently ranked the ninth-best pitching prospect in the Sox system, according to MLB.com.
“He’s got electric stuff,” WooSox catcher Caleb Hamilton said. “There’s a reason why he’s a top pitching prospect.”
Following a call-up from Portland on May 15, Drohan has a 1-1 record and 6.27 ERA across four starts with Worcester. The left-hander has allowed 14 earned runs, 15 strikeouts and 16 walks over 18-2/3 innings.
On Friday, Drohan is slated to square off against the Rochester Red Wings' Paolo Espino (3-1, 4.09 ERA).
“He’s had some really good moments here recently, but I think for him he’s just learning you have to attack that strike zone to get ahead in the count, and he’s a bright kid and has a great mound presence and good poise,” WooSox manager Chad Tracy said. “So hopefully as he continues to get outings, he gets experience against veteran hitters (and) he’ll continue to learn.”
A life in baseball is a scenario Shane Drohan couldn’t imagine just a few years ago. Now, the WooSox left-hander is inching towards his big-league dreams.
“I’m just so proud of him,” said his father.
Said his mother: “I have no doubt in my mind he’ll make the major leagues. He is made for this.”
“Just sharpening the tools that (I) have and trying to learn new things,” Drohan added. “Just continue to be consistent.”
— Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @tommycassell44.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Meet one of the top Boston Red Sox pitching prospects: Shane Drohan
