Steinke gave up four hits and struck out 12 to beat Fairborn for his fifth win of the season. He leads the MVL in strikeouts with 79. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
After a slow start Monday Piqua senior Hunter Steinke caught fire to strike out twelve, limit Fairborn to 4 hits, and picked up his fifth win of the seaon, 4-1.
Piqua, OH – Someone in Division I college baseball needs to know about Piqua’s Hunter Steinke (Styne-key).
The Indians’ senior won his fifth game of the season Monday night at Hardman Field, 4-1 over Fairborn, but it was the manner in which he did it that should interest any number of schools looking for a particular kind of pitcher.
Steinke gave up a run in the first inning on three Skyhawk singles. And from that point on he shut out the Hawks on 1 hit, struck out 12, and threw his best fastball with two outs in the fifth inning when he clocked 90 miles per hour on a Jugs radar gun. Nothing out of the ordinary in this day of high school pitchers, except for one thing.
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Steinke walked one batter, and that’s a rarity which makes him highly unique in the day of big-body, big-effort, and big-velocity criteria for college baseball recruiting. And Hunter Steinke doesn’t have that. He just throws strikes and executes his arensal.
He’s 5 foot, 10 inches and weighs 170 pounds, soaking wet.
He pitches for a program that’s not likely to see the state Final Four in Canton, come June.
And he simply doesn’t project in a day where college coaches want pitchers that are 6’3″, 220 pounds, and throw 95 miles per hour.
“Every school I’ve talked to tells me I’m too small,” he said following Monday’s 4-hit gem.
“Or they tell me that they wish I was in the 91-93 range,” he added. “The conversation has never gone much beyond that.”
But what Steinke has that 70% of college pitchers who throw harder don’t have is the uncanny ability to throw strikes. In 43 innings this far in 2025 he’s struck out 79 hitters…and walked 7!
“He’s pretty special in that way,” says Indians’ second-year coach Ryan Callison. “He’s a natural strike thrower, and has been since his freshman year. He has that ability to locate all his pitches, and he’s confident. He doesn’t beat himself. When he’s lost it’s because we haven’t gotten him any run support.”
Support for your pitcher’s effort…centerfielder Cohen Brown ran down this line drive over his head to make an eye-popping catch in the fourth inning.
And he’s durable. He doesn’t miss starts and he’s averaged six innings per game. Monday he threw 95 pitches in the seven inning win over Fairborn, and one would hardly have noticed. He’s mechanically sound, and he confesses that he’s never, through all levels of baseball, had arm soreness.
“Just regular muscle soreness the day after you pitch,” he says.
The Indians bounced back from Monday’s 1-0 deficit to score three times in the third on singles by Cohen Brown, Steinke, and Owen Shawler…then added one in the fourth to effectively put the game out of reach as Steinke hit stride and the strikeouts began to pile up.
He throws three pitches – fastball, slider, and curve – and recently he’s added the splitter, a pitch that he’s just learning to throw effectively as a better variety of an off-speed pitch. Monday he had a pair of 3-0 counts on two Fairborn hitters and came back to strike both of them out.
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“I have confidence in everything I throw,” he adds. “If I need to throw the breaking ball for strike one, I can. If I need to throw it as punchout pitch I can do that, too. If I need to reach back for more I’ve hit 89 on the gun. I can get ahead in the count and expand [the zone].”
He’s signed to pitch at Division II Gannon University (Division II) next year in Erie, Pennsylvania. And while his velocity won’t make him unique, his ability to throw the ball into a shot glass does. And that’s not going to change.
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA sports and the Buckeyes for Press Pros Magazine.
“He knows who he is,” says Callison. “He’s not the kind of kid who going to see someone at the next level who throws harder and try to match it. He already has the Piqua record for career strikeouts and is one or two wins away from being the all-time wins leader. He’s pitched the same way since he was a freshman. Now he’s just bigger and stronger, and throws harder.”
He’s happy for the opportunity to pitch at Gannon, especially in a day where proving yourself at one level opens portal doors to the next, higher level.
“Division I has always been my dream,” he admits. “But no one seems to think I can do it.”
That’s hard to believe, because college baseball is full of pitchers who can’t do what Hunter Steinke can.
Like we said…someone needs to know.
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