Hempfield grad, Pitt pitcher Phil Fox drafted by White Sox in 7th round

Hempfield graduate Phil Fox can’t remember a time when he didn’t want to pitch in professional baseball.

“From the day I was, like, born, I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life,” he said.

The Chicago White Sox made no promises that he will have professional career lasting that long, but they got him off to a good start Monday by selecting him in the seventh round (No. 199 overall) of the MLB Draft.

Fox is the first Hempfield baseball player drafted since Alex Haines in 2013.

“He was a bulldog on the mound for us, for sure,” said Buzzard, a 2000 Hempfield graduate who’s been the school’s baseball coach since 2008. “Always thrived in competitive situations.

“Good hitter for us as well, but you could see pitching was where he was going to end up having the most success.”

Buzzard noticed Fox’s talent early and brought him to the varsity as a ninth grader to pitch against WPIAL power North Allegheny.

“He did very well against a very good team and he was super-competitive for his age,” Buzzard said. “How he competed in drills was something different.”

Yet it has not been an easy journey to pro ball for Fox, a right-hander who graduated from high school in 2021 and matriculated to Gardner-Webb. Only a few months after arriving on campus in Boiling Springs, N.C., he was working out when he felt a pop in his arm.

“I saw the trainer, saw the doctor. Sure enough, they told me, ‘You need to get this fixed,’ ” he said.

A few days later, not long after his 19th birthday, he had Tommy John surgery, missed the 2022 baseball season and faced more than a year of rehab.

“I was a skinnier kid going into college,” he said. “(The injury) allowed me to step away from baseball and focus more on the gym while I couldn’t throw.”

He said he put on 25 pounds and returned to Gardner-Webb for the 2023 season. With his throwing velocity improving — after fluctuating between 86 and 90 mph at Hempfield — he appeared in 23 games, striking out 34 batters in 30 1/3 innings, recording three saves and a 4.71 ERA. He was named to the Big South All-Freshman team.

Having Tommy John surgery doesn’t mean pitchers will necessarily come out of it with increased velocity, but that’s what happened to Fox, especially after he transferred to Pitt for the 2024 season. He continued to experience success this spring, touching 96 mph occasionally with his fastball.

In 23 games out of the bullpen, he struck out 45 and walked only three in 36 2/3 innings — 18 scoreless and nine hitless. In his first nine and last 10 appearances this season, he did not walk a batter.

For the season, he recorded a 3-2 record and an ERA of 1.47 while earning eight saves, the second-highest season total in Pitt history.

Three of the saves came against nationally ranked teams Duke, Florida State and Virginia Tech, who were seventh, eighth and 14th at the time.

Fox credits Pitt coach Mike Bell with nurturing a belief in him that pro ball was a reality.

“He was nothing but support and confidence all year,” he said. “He believed in me. Every time I had failure, he was always the first one there telling me I was going to go get it again. That was the biggest thing for me. It wasn’t anything too physically, too mechanically. It was more just the belief in me, allowing me to really, truly thrive.”

He was named third-team All-America — Pitt’s first under Bell — and second-team All-ACC. That’s when he started thinking even bigger.

“I kind of realized (getting drafted) might be a reality,” he said.

Contacted Monday 15 minutes after receiving the call from the White Sox, Fox said he was still trying to process everything while waiting to be told where he will report this summer.

He said he watched the draft on TV with his family Sunday and Monday.

“I knew that more than likely I was going to be going somewhere in Day 2. I wasn’t exactly sure when,” he said. “I’m a shorter guy (5-foot-9, 183 pounds). It was kind of to my disadvantage. I was hoping and praying everything was going to work out, and, gladly, it did.”

“Super proud of Phil,” Buzzard said. “He deserves every bit of it. Real happy to see him take his next step and see where he can get to. He’s definitely making Hempfield proud.”

Notes: Fox’s Pitt teammate, right-handed pitcher Ryan Andrade, also was picked in the seventh round, going 216th overall to Tampa Bay. Andrade, a transfer from Rhode Island, was 2-5 with a 7.29 ERA, 72 strikeouts and 43 walks in 63 innings last season. … Three West Virginia pitchers were drafted Monday. Right-handers David Hagaman and Aidan Major went to the Texas Rangers in the fourth round (No. 133) and Cleveland Guardians in the fifth (No. 146). Left-hander Derek Clark was chosen by the Los Angeles Angels in the ninth round (No. 262).