It really should come as no surprise that Matt Orth delivered a verbal commitment to a college baseball coach three years before the end of his high school career.

College coaches – and pro scouts, no doubt – already can see in Orth the talent that’s been groomed since he was 9 years old. That’s when he started taking lessons and playing on some of the area’s elite travel teams. The family’s High Point home has a pitcher’s mound in the yard. Dad Keith Orth has worn out a number of catcher’s mitts. And the family has logged countless miles visiting nameless diamonds across the country.

But that’s nothing, Matt Orth said. Now that he’s given a verbal commitment to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels, the work begins in earnest.

“The hard work starts now to get that spot that you want,” Orth said. “If I want to start pitching right when I get there, be a two-way player, I’ve got to work even harder from now on.”

Heady stuff from a 15-year-old. Then again, Orth’s not your average kid about to start his sophomore year.

“In a scenario where you have a ninth-grader who’s maybe going to play varsity, you might have some concerns, but I knew Matt was mature enough to handle the situation,” Southwest Guilford coach Reid Holmes said of his first impressions of the player. “He fit right in from Day 1. He was very advanced as a ninth-grader.”

Orth might have been a well-known up-and-comer in local baseball circles, but he announced his presence to a wider audience in a big way last spring for the Cowboys. He finished 9-2 with a save and earned unanimous all-league honors in the top-notch Piedmont Triad 4A Conference. In 69 innings, the left-hander struck out 127 batters and walked just 19. And he shined just as much at the plate, leading Southwest with 29 RBIs and placing second with a .379 batting average. The first baseman also slugged three home runs.

“Start on varsity, pitch for varsity, be a two-way player – that’s what I was hoping,” Orth said of his expectations entering the year. “In February I started going in the mornings, doing little things with the varsity team, and I did well at tryouts.”

He won his first game of the season and overwhelmed PTC regular-season champ East Forsyth in his last. Orth recorded 17 Ks in the conference tournament title game win, enjoying “one of the best games I’ve ever pitched” thanks to a sharp curveball and a fastball East couldn’t touch.

A month after the end of his first high school season, Orth found himself back in Chapel Hill for a prospects camp. He’d been attending UNC baseball camps with coach Mike Fox’s staff the past five years, so the Tar Heels knew exactly what they had in front of them. After the camp, Orth chatted with the coaches for a while that Saturday night and again the next day. That’s when he gave his verbal commitment.

He can’t sign a National Letter of Intent until the first Wednesday in November of his senior year. It’s too early for Orth to take his five official visits, but the family has gone on a number of unofficial trips. Schools such as South Carolina and Wake Forest also caught Orth’s eye, but this is one verbal commitment that seems pretty firm.

“UNC was my top pick,” Orth said. “I’ve always liked UNC, been there since I was 10 years old. I’ve always had a good feel for the college, felt comfortable being on the campus.”

With that decision made on the strength of everything Orth’s done to this point, it’s on to the really, really hard work ahead.

Orth began taking lessons with Scott Bankhead – the 10-year major-leaguer – at the North Carolina Baseball Academy when he was 9. After four years there, he began playing for the Dirtbags showcase team, and last year he started taking lessons from Tom Dorzweiler. Best known now as manager of the Thomasville HiToms’ summer team, Dorzweiler pitched for the University of Kansas and the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization and has been instrumental in Orth’s development.

“He got my velocity higher, my curveball developed better,” Orth explained.

Father and son praised all the coaches along the way, from Holmes’ careful use of the young phenom to Bankhead’s extraordinary care. He didn’t allow Orth to throw a curveball until he was 14 years old. No sense in destroying a blossoming career with arm strain at such a young age.

The family and coaches keep close track of Orth’s pitch count for the year, through the high school, summer and fall seasons. Orth, doubtless still growing while already standing a solid 6-foot-1, 175 pounds, will begin a training program next month with Carmine Pagano at Greensboro Batting Center.

The goal is to add about 20 pounds to Orth’s frame by January and work on his core strength. It’ll help with hitting, certainly, and Orth also hopes to increase his 85-mph fastball to 88 or 90 by the spring. He’ll soon begin working on a slider as well, to go along with the devastating fastball, curve and change-up.

“When he first started playing baseball he developed really quickly,” Keith Orth said of the time, effort and funds invested by Matt, older sister Kaley, mom Angela – the other lefty of the family – and himself. “With him being a left-hander, we knew the direction to take him was pitching. We’ve spent a lot of time, but Matt has always wanted to work hard. He’s given up a lot of stuff: trips to the lake, the beach, just hanging out with friends. I believe he knows it will pay off one day. It already has, getting a chance to play for Carolina, and the future’s wide open.”

shanf@hpe.com | 888-3526