Scouts Put Pitcher on Most-Wanted List : West Covina’s Swift Southpaw Joey Eischen Handcuffs Opposition

As the high school pitcher prepares to throw to the batter, several major league scouts are waiting to clock his fastball with radar guns.

The scene is repeated at West Covina High baseball games many times when 17-year-old Joey Eischen pitches.

The 6-1, 185-pound left-hander is one of the top pro pitching prospects in the San Gabriel Valley--maybe the best. Eischen is a center of attention, at times a little more than he would like.

“We haven’t had scouts around like this since Tom Brunansky (Minnesota Twins outfielder) was here (in 1978),” says Spartan Coach Jeff Platt. “We have all these people around and it’s nice to have the attention, but he feels a lot more pressure. He feels like he’s in a fishbowl. If he gets 10 strikeouts he feels like he had a bad game.”

Eischen tries not to allow the scouts to affect his pitching.

“They are pretty noticeable,” he said. “Sometimes it affects me. I try to impress them and tend to overthrow.”

Facing the opposition has been the easiest part for Eischen. Entering this week Eischen had a 3-0 record and an 0.67 earned-run average with 34 strikeouts in 21 innings. A first baseman when he is not pitching, he has a lofty .550 batting average.

It’s a far cry from the frustration of last season when Eischen posted a superb 2.10 ERA only to finish with a 4-6 record for a team that struggled to a 7-13 mark.

Eischen admits that part of the problem was his pitching form. “I was erratic. I didn’t have quite as much control as I did last summer.”

That was when Eischen pitched for his Babe Ruth League team in West Covina.

“I felt that since summer ball I have been a better pitcher. When I played in Babe Ruth League, my coach helped he a lot with mechanics. I think I have more control now. That helps. A walk is just the same as a hit.”

It also helps, Platt says, that Eischen is surrounded by better players this season--especially on defense.

“We have a good team behind him,” Platt said. “It’s made a difference.”

Eischen thinks so too: “Last year the guys didn’t take it as seriously. We have unity and a defense.”

He said it’s a much different feeling than last season when Eischen felt strikeouts were a necessity.

“It’s a lot better. I don’t mind giving up a ground ball because I have the confidence that they can get them out. I have more confidence and it’s carrying over to the rest of the team.”

How good is Eischen?

“As pitchers go at this school he may be the best, and we’ve had some pretty good ones,” said Platt, a coach at West Covina for 15 years. “If Joey has the kind of year we think he will, he may have the best stats of any of them.”

Eischen has an excellent curve, but his best pitch is the fastball, which has been clocked at 91 miles per hour.

“He’s been clocked in the high 80s a lot,” Platt says. “The question is whether he can throw (consistently) in the 90s. But for a high school pitcher it’s pretty good. He’s also got a gr1700885536best pitch. He gets a lot of velocity and movement on it.”

Eischen thinks his fastball will improve when he matures physically. “I think it can go faster,” he said.

He also knows he will have to develop other pitches to succeed in college or professional ball.

“I have a lot of work to do on my off-speed pitches,” Eischen said. “My straight curve is better than my change-up. I haven’t worked on off-speed stuff as I have on fastballs.”

It’s his overpowering fastball that has attracted college and pro scouts, enough that he could be an early selection in the major league free-agent draft in June. He has narrowed college choices to Oklahoma, Arkansas, USC, Fresno State and Loyola Marymount.

But the most difficult choice for Eischen may be between college and professional ball.

“I’m undecided,” he said. “I just want to get the high school season finished because I have an obligation to my teammates.”

Eischen admits financial considerations will play an important role in his selection. But there are other factors.

“I want to go to a place where I can contribute right away and don’t have to sit out. If I have to go to a JC so I can play, that’s where I’ll go. I just want to ride out my arm as long as I can.”

Eischen says it has always been a dream to play in the majors.

Platt says Eischen is a worker who enjoys the game.

“He’s very competitive,” Platt said. “He loves baseball. That’s probably his No. 1 love. So you don’t have to worry about ever motivating him. He just loves the game.”

Eischen is also not a bad football player. He was the starting quarterback for West Covina last season, completing 83 of 154 passes for 1,212 yards and 6 touchdowns.

But baseball has always been his No. 1 sport: “Baseball has been my first love. Football’s right after that.”

He likes it enough to have forsaken summer vacations to play for youth teams.

“The more you play the more you improve,” Eischen said. “I’ve never left the state. I’ve been playing summer ball since I was 13. It’s just a part of me.”

Then there are the times he spends working out after practices. “I work out a lot with my friends,” he says. “A lot of my teammates and I go to the batting cages.

“I love to do it. I love to be out here.”

While a lot of the motivation comes from within, Eischen has also gained support from his family.

“It helps a lot to have the push at home,” he said. “They give me a lot of support, especially my mother (Kathleen) and my grandmother (Fuzz).”

Eischen, whose father died of a heart attack in 1980, has a 14-year-old sister, Cathy, and a 26-year-old brother, Randy Scholz. His brother was an all-league player for West Covina in 1979 and played the previous season with major leaguer Brunansky.

That has helped bring the comparisons between Eischen and Brunansky close to home.

Eischen said: “It’s an honor to be compared to him.”

Right now, Eischen’s career is headed in a similar direction.