Lake Central junior catcher Brayden Walls committed to Ball State before he played his first varsity game. He announced his decision in January.
In his debut season for the Indians, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Walls has lived up to that.
“As a Division I recruit, he needed to perform like that, and he’s even exceeded my expectations,” Lake Central coach Mike Swartzentruber said. “I thought he’d have a good year, but he’s had a fantastic year. Hopefully he keeps it going for a few more weeks.”
Indeed, Walls leads the Indians (25-8) with a .446 batting average, a .598 on-base percentage, a .675 slugging percentage, a 1.273 OPS, two homers and 11 doubles, and he also has 28 RBIs, 33 runs scored and seven stolen bases as they prepare to play Zionsville (17-14) in the semifinals of the Class 4A Griffith Semistate at the Steel Yard in Gary on Saturday.
“I’ve been just trying to stay consistent at the plate, driving balls deeper and having better at-bats, good swing decisions,” Walls said. “Changing my mindset to a positive mindset and knowing I can hit has affected me positively.”
Walls didn’t quite know what to expect this season. He played on the junior varsity team last year.
“I was nervous about varsity, but after coach Swartz prepared us my sophomore year, I’m right where I expected,” Walls said. “My first season on varsity, I’m doing well. But there’s no room to settle. There’s always room for improvement. I’m looking for ways to continue to get better.
“My summer team really prepared me. We have good competition there, so getting reps in the summer and then coming here, coach Swartz prepared us really well. He runs a tight schedule, good practices, and he prepares us really well for first-year varsity players.”
Swartzentruber, who guided the Indians to the 2024 state title, believed in Walls’ potential. He just wasn’t sure when it would manifest.
“We always thought coming in Brayden was going to be a good player for our varsity team,” Swartzentruber said. “We didn’t know when or how soon, but we knew going into this year he had a chance to win that job possibly. He had a great fall for us out here. He looked like a totally different player.
“He was always good, but he’d taken his game to a whole other level as far as the way he swung the bat, the pop in his bat, the type of at-bats he gave us as far as command of the strike zone, not swinging at bad pitches, that type of stuff. It was very polished. Then his arm strength behind the plate had really improved, so pretty soon we had a pretty good idea he was going to be a big part of what we wanted to do this spring.”
Senior outfielder Keegan O’Bryan had no doubts about Walls’ ability.
“I feel like as soon as he came in here as a freshman, he was going to be something special,” O’Bryan said. “I knew as soon as he got to varsity baseball, he was going to help us out. So I feel like it’s awesome to just have that mindset coming in like, ‘Hey, this guy’s going to help us from here on out.’
“He just brings a lot of energy. He works hard every day. He’s a big factor to our team. He’s provided a lot of great at-bats. He’s done extremely well for us all year. His bat has come through all year. He’s the spark plug of the team, to be completely honest with you.”
Walls made strides physically from last season. Having grown 2 inches in height, he gained about 15 pounds.
“It’s just the physicality,” he said. “I was a lot smaller last year. So just working on being consistent — I struggled with that last year, like .270 on JV — just my mindset, and then being bigger and stronger, it’s all made a difference.”
Walls, who played hockey until he was 13 and whose father Ryan played hockey at Illinois-Chicago, clearly has addressed any consistency issues this season.
“He’s hit around .450 almost all spring, and his on-base percentage is off the charts,” Swartzentruber said. “He’s driving in runs. He’s hit a couple of home runs. He’s done a great job behind the plate, controlled other teams’ running games with his arm.
“He’s a quiet kid, very coachable. He’s a hard worker. He’s a good teammate. He checks all of those intangible boxes that we like. He’s just been fantastic.”
