By Sean Duncan

Up until recently, John Lorenz always thought his future was in basketball. In fact, anyone who has seen him use his 37-inch vertical leap to dunk over a back-pedaling defender would likely agree, too.

Lorenz’s mother, Erin, who is an elite club volleyball coach and former collegiate standout, also knew that her son had unlimited potential on the volleyball court. He was, after all, receiving recruiting letters from top collegiate programs from all over the country as a freshman.

It wasn’t until early last spring that Lorenz and his family began to realize that baseball very well may be his best sport of all. The awakening came when Lorenz blasted five home runs in a five-game span.

“After that I was like, ‘Baseball is my sport,’” said Lorenz, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound shortstop and right-handed pitcher from Lincoln-Way East High in Frankfort, Ill. “That was the turning point for me.”

Lorenz continued to validate his decision throughout the rest of his junior season, finishing with a .422 batting average, nine home runs, 45 RBI and had an .854 slugging percentage.

The most impressive part of Lorenz’s season – and the reason why perhaps he has the most upside in the state of Illinois’ Class of 2008 – was how he prepared for it. While most players were hitting until their hands barked for mercy, Lorenz was busy setting 11 school records in basketball.

“I didn’t even touch a baseball in the winter,” said Lorenz, who is signed to play at the University of Michigan. “The first time I touched a ball was the first day of tryouts.”

Growing up, Lorenz loved playing all sports and refused to give any of them up. When he got to high school, the schedules of playing three sports competitively became unmanageable – especially in the summer, which is peak season for high-level club basketball, baseball and volleyball.

“Sometimes I was doing two practices a day in different sports, then playing a game at night,” said Lorenz, who hit .429 as a sophomore on varsity. “It was pretty crazy.”

Lorenz gave up volleyball first after his freshman year. This summer he cut out high-level travel basketball, though he did play on his high school team, and spent most of his time playing baseball with Top Tier.

“Just concentrating on one sport helped a lot,” said Lorenz, who also pitches in the mid- to upper-80s. “In baseball, I think I have so much more to learn and practice.”