By Greg Bates
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – Max Wagner is always appreciative of winning individual accolades, but he’s more interested in helping his team win games.
A state championship eluded the Green Bay Preble baseball star this season, but Wagner did everything in his power to lead the Hornets.
Preble’s fourth straight season at state ended with a loss to Burlington in the quarterfinals, but the loss didn’t overshadow Wagner’s phenomenal junior season as he was named the Prep Baseball Report (PBR) Wisconsin Player of the Year.
“It means a lot to me,” said Wagner about winning the award. “All the hard work that I’ve put in since I was a little kid, it’s been paying off for me as of late. It’s not something I strive for every year. I just want to play the game the best I can. It’s what comes out at the end.”
Wagner, who is a two-way player as a pitcher and infielder, logged eye-popping numbers at the plate and on the mound.
He hit an even .500 with an on-base percentage of .620.
Wagner’s discipline at the plate is unmatched with 24 walks and only five strikeouts.
He added 16 extra-base hits, including five home runs, to go with 39 RBI.
On the mound, Wagner had a minuscule 0.69 earned run average and allowed six earned runs in 61 innings of work.
His strikeout-to-walk ratio was 80-to-13.
“I think I was consistent from a hitting standpoint and from a pitching standpoint, that really helped me get the award,” Wagner said. “I hit .500 for the year, so that’s pretty consistent. Every game I competed as hard as I could and a bunch of people saw that. I think that’s how they came to a conclusion on who to choose.”
Wagner, who is 6-foot tall and weighs 200 pounds, has strung together three solid seasons for the Hornets.
As a freshman, he hit .406 and followed that up by hitting .461 the next year.
During his junior year, he became more consistent at the plate.
His father, Paul, helps coach at Impact Sports Academy (ISA) in Green Bay. The two head to ISA generally a couple of times a week so Wagner can work in the batting cage.
“You could tell this year I was a little bit more comfortable than I was last year,” Wagner said. “That’s just from me having repetition with hitting. Then from the pitching standpoint, I threw a couple of bullpens – I’d say one or two a week – before I pitched just to make sure I was ready when I was going to start my next game.”
Frequenting ISA so often, Wagner has become close with the academy’s owner, Jason Berken.
The former pitcher played professional baseball for 11 years, including stints with the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs.
This summer, Wagner is playing for the GRB Rays out of Madison.
The team travels to different tournaments around the country, including trips to Indianapolis, Nashville and Atlanta.
It gives Wagner a taste of baseball outside of the Midwest where he’s facing pitchers who throw in the mid-90s as opposed to topping out in the mid-80s during the high school season.
“That’s what I’m going to be seeing in college, and that’s what I love,” Wagner said. “You can definitely tell there’s a difference between Wisconsin high school pitching and the top pitching through the country in high school.”
Last year, Wagner got an opportunity to play in the PBR Futures Game right outside of Indianapolis in early August.
Wagner played some great ball in front of the scouts, and ACC and SEC schools took notice.
With the help of Berken and Greg Reinhard, who coaches GRB Rays teams, Wagner’s recruiting picked up.
One school that took notice of Wagner’s talent was Clemson.
Ironically enough, that’s where Berken attended.
“It really grew to be my dream school,” said Wagner, who is MLB Draft-eligible next June.
In early August, Clemson offered Wagner a scholarship, and the next day he verbally committed to the ACC college.
Wagner had received offers from fellow Division I schools Missouri State and Creighton, but he had his heart set on Clemson.
Wagner, who will sign his national letter of intent this coming November, noted LSU and TCU were looking at offering before he picked Clemson.
Even though he isn’t headed to Clemson for another year, Wagner has discussed his chances of playing at Clemson as a freshman with baseball coach Monte Lee.
“They like to start freshmen – I know they started a couple of freshmen this year,” Wagner said. “We’ve been going back and forth on where I’m going to play and all that.”
The Clemson coaching staff is still open about Wagner either being a two-way, pitching and hitting player, but they also like him as an everyday infielder because of how productive he is at the plate.
Right now, Wagner isn’t concerned about what will happen when he heads off to Clemson – he’s enjoying being out of school for the summer and keeping a close eye on the College World Series.
“I love it,” Wagner said. “That’s somewhere I want to be with my future teammates. Those guys put everything on the line every game, every inning, every out, and it’s fun to see how much the college kids care about the game of baseball, even though some of them might not play the game again.”
Wagner is hoping to get a chance to play in Omaha one day.
He’ll have a shot playing in a good Clemson program, as the Tigers are coming off a 35-26 season in which they made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Wagner is fortunate to have his college plans mapped out with one more year of high school remaining. That means another year for Preble to make another run at state.
“I’m looking forward to my senior year, it’s my last year,” Wagner said. “I still have something to prove. I want to win a championship, and I’m still focused on that.”