2024 Spring High School Sports Preview: Mead senior Emerson Fleck continues Spokane-area pipeline to Washington State baseball

The Washington State University baseball team has risen to national prominence in recent years. The good times seem to correspond with an influx of Inland Northwest players calling Pullman home for their college experience.

The latest of those players to make the jump is Mead senior Emerson Fleck, who signed a national letter of intent to play at WSU in the fall. Fleck expects to play both ways once he gets down to Pullman.

“I like the atmosphere, especially the fans and just the people that have gone there and the community that revolves around it,” he said. “And also something that caught my eye was obviously how close to home it was.”

“He had a little injury last year where we weren’t able to see him pitch,” Mead coach Steve Hare said. “But we knew the talent that he had on the mound. And so, when WSU came calling and said, ‘Hey, we really like him as a pitcher.’ I was like, ‘I’m telling you right now, him as a position player is even more phenomenal.’ He just can do it all.”

Fleck has played the last two summers on a national travel team based in Texas, playing across the South, which was ranked in the top 10 in the nation last year. He was named to a top 200 MLB prospect list for high schoolers and a number of southern Division I schools recruited him.

But the allure of playing close to home at a high level was enough for Fleck. He said it was good seeing other area athletes, such as Mead’s Elijah Hainline and Lake City’s Kyle Manzardo, go down to WSU and have success.

“Coming in as a freshman (at Mead) and getting to play with Elijah a little bit and seeing what he did last year at Washington State was definitely something like, ‘Hey, I could do this,’ and it gives me inspiration coming out of Mead, even if you stay local you can still have good success, especially the next level.”

“With Hainline down there even for that short amount of time, it really made all of us enjoy going to the (Gonzaga)-WSU games, and go ‘Hey, we know that guy.’ ” Hare said. “Emerson was one of those guys that was like, ‘Hey, WSU is playing in town, let’s go,’ and so the whole team would go. Now to have him enjoy that opportunity there – and for all of our young players to see that – it’s just nice to see that baseball here in the Pacific Northwest is still thriving, and no matter how our weather is we still have guys that are talented and moving on to great, great things.”

Hare taught Fleck in middle school and anxiously awaited until he could get him in a Panthers uniform.

“Emerson’s a phenomenal, phenomenal, young man,” Hare said. “I already saw the talent that he had (in middle school) when it came to pushups and he did well more than anyone else, and it just seemed really easy for him. So once he came here, I had high expectations that he was going to continue that on. And he’s worked every bit of it. For him to have the opportunity to go to WSU where he’s fully been wanting to go from the beginning, it’s been really enjoyable, but I mean, he’s just an outstanding player.”

Fleck didn’t pitch in high school last year and was used primarily as an outfielder. But he’ll move all over the diamond this season for the Panthers.

“There were a couple of injuries in the offseason, so we’ll be missing one of our infielders,” Fleck said. “So, I’ll probably be bounced around as much as I can, just wherever I can help the team out the most.”

The transition from grass to dirt shouldn’t be too difficult for Fleck, who was an infielder when he was younger.

“I played a little bit infield going up, but then I liked the outfield more because I could focus more on hitting and my speed worked better out in the outfield,” Fleck said. “But I decided I think it would be beneficial if I was able to play everywhere this spring for our team. So, this offseason there were just a lot of a lot of reps trying to get a lot of ground balls and just different training and stuff, watching videos and getting information.”

“It doesn’t matter where I put him, I know he’s gonna give his full effort,” Hare said.

On the mound, Fleck features a two-seam fastball, slider and a change-up. He’ll start for Mead this season and will pitch in whatever capacity WSU needs.

“They can put me at bullpen – works fine for me,” he said. “And same with starting. As long as I can get my time. I just want to get an opportunity.”

“I have yet to see him fully perform on the mound in a game,” Hare said. “I heard it from some of the lower-level coaches who saw him his freshman year. And so, I have been waiting for this opportunity. If it’s anything like the bullpens that I’ve seen or the videos I’ve seen. … I’m looking forward to what he’s able to do.”

Fleck says he has a bit of a “bulldog” mentality on the mound.

“There can be days you get a lot of help from the umpire and there’ll be days where you’re getting squeezed quite a bit,” he said. “Being able to control your emotions when you’re on the mound – and it goes both ways hitting and pitching – is important.

“And you gotta control the pace of the game as well. If things are starting to feel out of hand, you just have to step off maybe talk to a teammate a little bit and just try and get locked back in because it’s all about competing. If you’re out there and not and you don’t have a 100% competitive mindset the whole time, then you shouldn’t be out there.”

Fleck has dreamed of being a big leaguer his entire life but didn’t think about college ball until recently.

“When you’re younger, I guess you don’t think about it as much,” Fleck said. “You don’t take it too seriously until you get closer to that timeline. When I got into high school, I realized like ‘Well, I’m pretty good at this. So, the harder I work, the better I’ll get.’ I think this is a good way to go to the next level of education. And obviously it’s something I enjoy a lot.”

Fleck was a reserve for the basketball team over the winter. He appreciates the different aspects of being a multiple-sport athlete.

“I got into basketball pretty late. It was just something fun to do,” he said. “Going into high school, I just realized that being able to do to (multiple) sports gives you stuff to do in the offseason. Basketball, I found, was really good for agility and speed and to just keep myself in shape over the offseason, because you don’t get a whole lot of that in baseball.”

The Panthers will suit up 12 seniors and a freshman this year on varsity. Fleck expects the Panthers will be a force to be reckoned with this season.

“Our pitching is probably gonna be our strong suit this year,” he said. “We’ve got multiple guys in the 85 (MPH) to 90 range. Five or six pitchers that could be the aces on other teams. … And I think our defense is gonna win us games this year.”

“I have not had a team like this in the few years I’ve been here,” Hare said, mentioning a half-dozen players that will play in college. “We have a very talented group. We felt that same way last year and we had a little adversity kind of smack in the face. … So, I believe they are very hungry this year.”