The career of Ben O’Shea has brought many stops and constant change. Born and raised in Reading, Mass., O’Shea attended Reading Memorial High School. He would graduate and enroll at Roger Williams where he spent his freshman year, and would later transfer to Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Fla. A year at Santa Fe led O’Shea a touch further south where he is now, at the University of Tampa, a junior.
In the midst of his rollercoaster career, O’Shea was selected in the 10th round of the MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox after the conclusion of his sophomore season at SFC.
“I turned it down because there wasn’t enough money and I wanted to go to school for another year,” O’Shea said of his reasoning for remaining in college. Although electing to fulfill another year of college eligibility, O’Shea admits that his goal is be drafted, again, and not to necessarily earn a college degree. “I’m trying to go [pro] this year,” he said.
His career took another turn before he enrolled at UT. O’Shea was set to enroll at Maryland before his application stalled due to a lack of credits.“I was like three credits short,” O’Shea said about his application process. He was set to enroll in the Fall, but due to the mix-up was forced to look elsewhere.The Spartans’ winning tradition, in a roundabout way, led O’Shea to UT. Although he didn’t know much about the program, a former coach suggested Coach Urso and the Spartans.
“My coach suggested UT because they have a good coaching staff and a good all around team,” he explained. The Massachusetts native commands respect as he toes the rubber. At 6- foot-6 inches tall and over 250 pounds, O’Shea features a fastball in the mid to low 90s and says that he tries to overpower opposing hitters with a simple repertoire.
“I just try to overpower kids,” O’Shea explained. “My curveball is not very good, but I can spot my fastball however I want so I just mainly use that.” The junior says his number two pitch is his changeup, which registers in the mid 80s on the radar gun and is continuing to get better as he gains more control over it. The Spartans kicked off their 2012 season as they hosted Bentley College in a three-game set. O’Shea made his debut on Feb. 5 where he tossed four innings, allowing no earned runs and struck out four. The lefty didn’t factor into the decision, but the Spartans went on to win 2-1 to improve to 3-0.
“[After this season], hopefully I get drafted,” O’Shea said. “It would be nice to finish up this year and hopefully win a championship; the team is definitely good enough to do that.” O’Shea says that his statistical goals remain pretty much the same from year to year.
“I always try to have 1.5-to-2 strikeouts per inning; I’m the kind of guy that just goes for the strikeout,” O’Shea further explained. “I’m not really a pitch-to-contact guy and as far as ERA – it’s always nice to have a low ERA.”
Kyle Bennett can be reached at kbennett.ut@gmail.com.