Why there’s ‘no stopping’ flamethrowing Butler ace, Penn State commit Nolan Stefaniak
Fighting a 102-degree fever and taking a day off school on a Tuesday afternoon, Nolan Stefaniak didn’t know what to do.
If there’s one thing about the junior Butler pitcher, he must keep busy.
Stefaniak was the kind of child who always itched to go outside to play catch or, when he had the chance, swing the bat. That constant urge to do something — anything — involving baseball hasn’t gone away.
Begrudgingly, Stefaniak that day picked up his PlayStation controller and fired up MLB The Show. When he’d had enough of the video game, he flipped on a documentary about the 2004 Boston Red Sox.
“Those days I have off, I just don’t know what to do with myself,” Stefaniak said.
Stefaniak had thrown against North Allegheny the night before. Still feeling slightly under the weather, he was on the field the next day as the section series resumed.
“I was really sick that entire week,” Stefaniak said. “I still played, but it was rough. ... I can’t miss. I feel like I just can’t.”
The workmanlike Stefaniak has grown into a team leader, Golden Tornado coach Josh Forbes said. Stefaniak, who is 4-0 with an 0.88 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 40 strikeouts in five appearances this season, is the guy the coach puts on the mound for important matchups, knowing he can count on him to remain steady.
The ever-energetic Stefaniak doesn’t guzzle energy drinks. Coffee, either. He doesn’t need them.
“It’s just the love,” Stefaniak said. “Some days, obviously, you have less motivation, but it just all comes back to my family, and I want to make them proud. I feel like I have a lot of high expectations for me. Every single day I take off, I feel like I’m almost like a failure. I just love to keep going at it.”
“He leads by example and just does it every single day, works hard,” Golden Tornado coach Josh Forbes said. “He’s doing all the extra stuff that comes with it as well as going to our practices. ... There’s no stopping the kid. Like, there’s no quit.”
Stefaniak began training at Battleground, a training facility in Callery, a few years ago. He worked mainly on improving his pitching at first, and has taken up weightlifting since. He tries to get there to work out four days per week, a lot of times with fellow junior Butler pitcher Kyle Casteel.
Stefaniak makes it a point to go even during the high school season, heading over after practices and on the weekends.
“It’s like my second home,” Stefaniak said. “I love being there, and I want to go there all the time. As much as I can.”
Stefaniak chose to continue his baseball career at Penn State to stay closer to home. He also considered Pitt, Virginia Tech, Miami (Fla.) and Oklahoma State after breaking out as a sophomore and gaining recognition playing with the Marucci Spikes travel team. Stefaniak also played in the Prep Baseball Report Future Games last summer.
“He got recognized at all these PBR events and got down to Georgia to play in these games,” Forbes said. “He got up to 93 or 94 (miles per hour) or something like that and essentially kind of took off from there.”
Stefaniak has matured throughout the process, and his composure has led to more pitches around the zone. Forbes said issues with walks have sprung up in the past, but the calmer delivery has fixed them.
Stefaniak enjoys the control that pitching gives him. He also likes sorting out the ways in which he can succeed from how to fail. There’s no room for complacency.
“You fail a lot, and I think that’s always a learning point,” Stefaniak said. “You can never be perfect, so you always strive to be more ... whenever you go on the mound.
“Everyone hates (failure), obviously, but you have to enjoy everything.”
Butler (7-4, 3-3 in WPIAL Section 1-6A play) begins a three-game conference bill with Central Catholic on Tuesday. The Golden Tornado are currently one game out of being tied with Seneca Valley for second place in the standings.
