Duke baseball's Marvel right-hander

Duke freshman James Marvel could have gone pro out of high school but chose to delay his professional career in order to attend Duke.
Duke freshman James Marvel could have gone pro out of high school but chose to delay his professional career in order to attend Duke.

Selected in the 2012 MLB draft, James Marvel had the opportunity to sign with the Minnesota Twins following his illustrious career at Campolindo High School. But the Duke experience was too promising for the freshman right-hander to pass up.

“My goal had always been to play Major League Baseball, and I’m very grateful I had an opportunity to do that out of high school,” he said. “But for me it was an easy decision to come to Duke to have a college experience, get a good education and continue to develop as a player.”

The Moraga, Calif. native, who narrowed his college list down to Duke and Stanford, ultimately chose to join the Blue Devils because of the environment, people and opportunity to get away from home.

“When you talk about having great baseball and great academics, I knew I couldn’t go wrong with either choice,” he said. “But ultimately I just fell in love with Duke.”

The freshman standout has never looked back and now has a 2-2 record with a 4.33 ERA in five starts this season.

Marvel was drafted in the 37th-round by the Twins and 1,120th overall. But rated the No. 74 baseball recruit in the nation according to ESPN.com, Marvel likely would have gone much higher if a team believed it could sign him, an unlikely proposition given his commitment to Duke. The Twins also selected Marvel’s high school teammate and battery mate, catcher Austin Lei.

“I’m very happy with my decision. I enjoy being here every day,” he said. “On top of all of that, I met friends and teammates here who I know I’ll be close with for life.”

Marvel is not the only one who is very happy with his decision to forego professional baseball for a spot on the Blue Devils’ roster. First-year head coach Chris Pollard had high praise for Marvel and his contributions to the team.

“[The new coaching staff] is the beneficiary of [former head coach Sean McNally and his staff] recruiting James,” Pollard said. “We’re very fortunate that they did.”

But Marvel’s transition to Division I baseball from high school wasn’t an easy one. He struggled at first, picking up losses to Campbell and Penn. He surrendered five runs on five hits to the Camels and allowed three runs on six hits to the Quakers.

“I started the year off not how I had hoped,” he said. “I struggled, specifically with getting into a good rhythm and commanding all of my pitches. On the flip side, there were some little things that I was doing well, so it was all about finding the right way to put it all together.”

Marvel put it all together after Penn shut out Duke 6-0. He rebounded with strong performances against N.C. Central and Charlotte, which the Blue Devils defeated 6-3 and 3-0, respectively. He struck out three batters and issued two walks against the Eagles and threw seven scoreless innings against the 49ers, who entered the game hitting over .300 as a team.

“James has gotten better with each start,” Pollard said. “His last two starts have been very, very good. He was very effective against Charlotte and kept them off-balance.”

Pollard attributed Marvel’s success to the development of his fastball command, his better feel for throwing his change-up to right-handed hitters and his ability to fill up the strike zone with a mix of three pitches: his fastball, change-up and breaking ball.

“He has really started to throw his change-up in the zone as well as to both right-handed and left-handed hitters, which is not something that a lot of young pitchers are able to do,” Pollard said. “The combination of those things has really sped up his maturation on the mound.”

Marvel was quick to credit his teammates’ for their effort in the Blue Devils’ recent wins.

“The defense behind me has been unbelievable, and it really makes my job easier when I can pitch with confidence in the strike zone and know that when the ball gets put into play they’re going to make the play behind me,” he said. “I have a great amount of trust in them, which has been huge.”

And Marvel’s coaches and teammates have just as much trust in his abilities on the mound. He will start against North Carolina A&T Wednesday evening in Greensboro, N.C.

“He will continue to do the same thing he’s been doing and attack with a three-pitch mix,” Pollard said.

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