As a three-sport star at Pitman, Colin Kaepernick was just as impressive on the mound and on the basketball court as he was on the football field.
File photo by Anthony Brunsman
Other than Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o, there's not a name trending faster and steadier than Colin Kaepernick.
And opposed from the other two gents, Kaepernick's story is all good.
And all football.
But not here at MaxPreps.
Kaepernick was something of a baseball phenom for the
Pitman (Turlock, Calif.) High School Pride in 2004 and 2005 and we have the photos and statistics to prove it.
View a slideshow of Kaepernick's high school baseball photosAs a then 6-foot-5, 185-pound pitcher, Kaepernick had a 6-4 record
as a junior with a 1.54 ERA. He struck out 82 in 63.2 innings with 28 walks. He allowed just 47 hits and completed seven of 10 starts.
As a senior — listed at 6-5, 190 — he was even more dominating, using a 90 MPH-plus fastball to go 9-2 with a 1.27 ERA. He struck out 97 in 83 innings with nine complete games in 13 starts. He allowed just 42 hits, threw two no-hitters and led Pitman to a 26-6-1 record.
Surprisingly, Kaepernick's speed wasn't
a big factor in high school.
File photo by Anthony Brunsman
Kaepernick was pretty good with the bat as well, hitting .313 with 17 RBI in 113 at-bats as a senior year with eight doubles, two triples and a home run. Curiously, he stole just two bases in two attempts.
He was promising enough to be drafted in the 43rd round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the Chicago Cubs, but his first love was football.
His football numbers at Pitman weren’t all the sparkling, a least as a
junior, when he threw for just 1,051 yards while completing exactly 50 percent of his 146 passes. He had a nice ratio of touchdowns (13) to interceptions (four), but he managed just 19 yards rushing on 29 attempts. That includes sacks.
As a
senior, he about doubled his passing numbers, completed 112 of 188 for 1,954 yards and 25 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He had a gaudy passer rating of 121. He helped the Pride win 16 games over two seasons.
Kaepernick actually lost 21 yards on 44 carries his senior year. Between his stolen base figures and rushing numbers, evidently Kaepernick got much faster in college.
As if that wasn't all enough, he was also the school's top basketball player. He averaged 12.3 points per game as a
junior and 15.6 as a
senior, both team highs.
His final prep basketball game was noteworthy because he scored a career-high 31 against defending state champion
Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills), which pulled out a surprisingly close 75-65 win. Oak Ridge advanced largely because they had a kid named
Ryan Anderson, who scored 50 points.
Anderson starred at Cal and is now a borderline All-Star with the New Orleans Hornets.
Even though several schools offered Kaepernick baseball scholarships out of high school,
according to MLB.com, Kaepernick took his lone football offer from Nevada and ran with it.
The rest, as the Packers, Bears and others will confirm, is history.
