Valwood senior Emory Hogan loves baseball. Or at least he loves a part of the game of baseball. “I’ve never really enjoyed hitting that much,” Hogan said recently.
There’s a good reason for that. Pitching is what Hogan does, and he’s good at it. He is a GISA All-Region and All-State selection, and as soon as he wraps up his Valwood senior season, Hogan will head to Valdosta State University, where he will continue his baseball career with the Blazers as a preferred walk-on.
“I’m considered a ‘PO,’” Hogan explains. That stands for Pitcher Only, although he does see time on the other end of the battery as an occasional catcher for the Valiants. Hogan said if he does hit, his focus usually is to bunt or try to move runners over some other way.
Hogan says his love for pitching goes back to when he was 9 years old, playing coach-pitch baseball.
“I played the pitcher position, even though I didn’t pitch – the coach did,” he recalls.
The next season would bring live pitching from the players. Hogan says he naturally went to the same spot as the year before, but this time he was the one pitching. He says the art of pitching a baseball just came naturally to him.
“I could throw a curve ball, or at least that’s what the ball did when I threw it, so I could tell right away that this was my thing,” he says.
That knack for being able to pitch has stayed with the tall right-hander. The 6-foot, 2-inch Hogan has been a member of the Valwood baseball team since his freshman season. He’s made 40 total appearances, all of which have come in the last three seasons. (His ninth-grade year was all but a wash with the Covid-19 virus shortening the Valwood baseball season to a mere three games).
Hogan has continued to improve each season, and according to long-time Valwood head baseball coach Robert “Shippy” Shipman, Hogan has really found his comfort zone as one of the team’s top pitchers.
“Emory initially came to Valwood as a first baseman and pitcher,” Shipman says. “He has now developed into an All-State and All-Region starting pitcher, and he catches for us, too. Emory has 11 wins and 6 losses over the last two years, and he has 66 Ks this year.”
Hogan says that indeed this 2023 season has been a better year for him and the team overall.
“This is the best season I’ve had in my four years here at Valwood,” he says.
Last season, the Valiants finished 10-14 overall, and 3-6 in region play. Their season was over after a 2-1 playoff series loss to Southland Academy. This year, the vibe is completely different with the Valiants at 16-9 overall with one game remaining in the regular season. They have won twice as many region games this season compared to last season, and Hogan says he and his team have achieved some of their goals. But there’s still one or two left.
“Before the season, we made a few goals,” Hogan says. “We wanted to win more games than last year.”
Check that.
“We also wanted to get past the first round of the playoffs.”
Check back on that one.
Shipman says Hogan’s strength’s are both mental and physical: “Emory is a fierce competitor and he doesn’t shrink under pressure. He has worked hard building up his arm strength and durability. He always gives us a chance to win when he is on the mound.”
You can bet the coach will be ready to hand his big right-hander the ball when the playoffs come around.
