ROCKINGHAM – Trey Watkins, a senior pitcher on the Richmond Senior High School varsity baseball team, has been named the Official Richmond County Male Athlete of the Week presented by McNair Auto Sales.
Serving as one of Richmond’s top two pitchers throughout the 2018 campaign, Watkins has impressed all season, but has come up big when his team needed him most. His most recent outing on the hill was Tuesday during the opening round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 4A state playoffs. Not only did he shut down Davie High School in an 8-2 victory, but his play at the plate also earned him this week’s recognition.
Athletic Profile
Name: Trey Watkins
Age: 17
Year: Senior
Spring Sport: Baseball
Position: Right-Handed Starting Pitcher
Years on Varsity: 2 Years
Height & Weight: 6’-2”, 210 pounds
Experience: 8 years
RSHS Academics: Like many of the featured student-athletes, Watkins’ time is winding down as a Richmond Raider. With his high school graduation looming in the near future, he noted that he “hasn’t thought a lot about it” because of “going so deep” with the baseball team. But when the season is over, he said he’ll be ready for the big day to walk across the stage.
Enrolled in RSHS’ Advanced Placement cluster, Watkins boasts a 5.0 GPA and is taking several online and on-campus courses at Richmond Community College this semester. Currently, he’s taking Spanish 111 (online) and Pre-Calculus (on campus) at RichmondCC. At Richmond, he’s taking AP World History online, and rounds out his final semester with his favorite class, Weight Training, with assistant baseball coach Brad Denson.
“I like lifting in the weightroom and getting stronger,” Watkins explained. “And being in their with Coach Denson is always a good time. He always has tips for me to get better and he can fix things I’m not doing right. He does a good job at pushing me to do better.”
RSHS Sports: Watkins has been a one-sport athlete during his tenure at Richmond, and has pursued his true passion: baseball. Noting he’s always been primarily used as a pitcher, he played for the Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy team his freshman year, before jumping up to the junior varsity team as a sophomore. Last year, as a junior, Richmond head coach Ricky Young promoted him onto the Raiders’ pitching rotation. From time to time, he’s also utilized as a first baseman and designated hitter.
“I kind of like seeing how what my coaches told me at the beginning (of my career) works out,” Watkins said of his time being a Raider. “Like last night (against Davie County), we came together as a team. We did what we’ve been told to do over the last couple of years, and we put it all together to get the win.
“This season, we’ve had spurts of playing good baseball,” he continued. “My coaches have taught me how to play the game the right way. It’s a great opportunity to play (for Richmond), and to be a part of something big. We have a great culture here.”
RSHS Extracurriculars: On top of maintaining high marks in his classes and playing baseball, Watkins has also been a general member of Richmond’s National Honor Society. Inducted during his junior year, he is anticipating graduating from the program.
According to Watkins, in order to graduate, he had to “get 40 service hours.” Over the last two school years, he’s done a variety of volunteering, including “helping out at churches, working with Relay for Life two times, and donating household items” to area families through RSHS.
Hobbies: When he’s not working on perfecting his pitching and hitting, Watkins can be found enjoying the outdoors, more specifically fishing. He explained that he also likes listening to music and working out at Evolution Health Club in Rockingham.
“And I also like to play Fortnite,” Watkins said with a smile, noting he’s a PS4 guy. “It’s fun to play online with my teammates and it’s always so competitive.”
Interesting Fact: For his interesting fact, Watkins expressed his growing interest in learning about cars and trucks. He drives a Jeep Wrangler, and said he has always really liked that particular brand of vehicle. Since getting his Wrangler, he’s become interested in wanting to know how to make all different types of cars and trucks faster, stronger and get more horsepower.
“I look up videos online and try to find out how I can do all of these things,” Watkins said. “I don’t do a lot of it on my Jeep, but it’s just really cool to me. I want to know how cars and trucks work. I also used to do a lot of trail riding on dirt bikes.”
College Aspirations: Much like with his focus on his high school graduation, Watkins’ postsecondary career decisions rely heavily on his senior baseball season. While he hasn’t “made a 100 percent commitment to any school,” he said he’s been accepted into North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
“I want to go to school and get my undergraduate and master’s degree in computer science,” Watkins explained. “I want to get into software programming. NC State and Wilmington are two schools that aren’t too far from home, and I like both of them. I’ve always liked State, and it has a really good engineering department.”
Watkins’ decision is also hinged on whether or not he wants to continue playing baseball after this season. He’s fielded “interest” from several junior colleges and Division II baseball programs like Brunswick Community College, North Carolina A&T University and Pfeiffer University. He explained that he’ll “wait until after baseball season to decide” on where he’ll attend college.
Mentors: For his mentors, Watkins chose three men who have made an impact on his life both on and off the diamond. He chose Young, Denson and his father, Steve Watkins.
“Coach Young and Coach Denson have influenced me a lot the last couple of years because I’ve seen them so much with baseball,” Watkins stated. “They’re both great guys in general, and both of them have taught me a lot of life lessons. They’ve experienced a lot of things, and they’ve been able to help me in the weightroom (Denson) and on the field, like with my pitching mechanics.
“And I’ve always looked up to my dad,” Watkins added. “He helps me every day and has also taught me a lot of life lessons.”
Athlete of the Week Stats: Watkins toed the rubber Tuesday night as the No. 15 seeded Raiders hosted the No. 18 War Eagles of Davie County High School. Making his second consecutive start for Richmond with the absence of Jonathan Lee (suspension) in a week’s time, Watkins rebounded from an SAC tournament first-round loss by throwing a gem on the mound that propelled the Raiders into the second round of the state playoffs for the first time since 2016. The Raiders would defeat Davie County by a final score of 8-2.
The 6’-2”, 210-pound right hander pitched a complete game, holding the War Eagles to just five hits in seven innings. He also allowed just two earned runs on the night, one in the top of the second on a Hunter Bowles RBI line drive single, and later in the seventh when the War Eagles’ Garrett Chandler made a last-ditch effort with an RBI single to right field.
Watkins sat 10 Davie County batters down on strikes, all of which went down swinging. He didn’t face more than four batters in an inning in five of the seven frames. Watkins also brought the lumber in opening round, going 1-for-2 at the dish with a leadoff double in the second inning. Courtesy runner Jahan Jones (running for Watkins) would score a couple batters later on a Justin Ingram two-RBI single to give Richmond the lead Watkins wouldn’t surrender.
On his senior season, Watkins has tallied a 6-4 record in 11 appearances. After his win against Davie, it put him atop the Raiders’ rotation for wins this season, ahead of Lee (5-1) and Drew Loving (5-1). His earned run average is an even 2.00, and he’s racked up 95 strikeouts in 249 at-bats in 66.2 innings. His best performance of the season came on April 10, when he threw all but two pitches in the Raiders’ no-hit bid against Lumberton High School (Watkins was pulled after 6.2 innings due to the pitch count).
Describe your pitching performance against Davie County. What allowed you to be successful?
“I don’t really get nervous when I pitch,” Watkins said. “I just keep throwing and try to throw the ball where I think (each batter) can’t hit the ball. Throwing strikes and getting fast outs is important to keep my pitch count down.
“Last night, against Davie, the first batter hit a double off me,” he continued. “But after that, I settled down and tried to get outs. After they scored (in the second inning), I just wanted to get quick outs to give us a chance with the bats. Then we started scoring and made the plays we needed to.
“When I was up to bat, I was just trying to get on base so we could play our style of game,” Watkins said, alluding to Richmond’s style of getting on base and moving runners over by stealing and bunting. “I ended up making solid contact for a double.”
What does the opening round win mean for you? What are your expectations for the Raiders moving forward?
“Beating Davie was probably one of our best wins of the year,” Watkins concluded. “We executed our plays when we needed to and we came back with a few runs early. Another big thing was we didn’t stop scoring runs, which gave us some breathing room.
“Going forward, if we play another game (against No. 2 East Forsyth) like we did against Davie by executing our plays, we can come away with a win,” Watkins finished. “We have to play our style of baseball, get fast outs an score when we need to.”
Coach’s Corner: Young, who has coached Watkins the last two seasons at the varsity level, noted the righty’s progression and success during that span.
“Trey was really good for us (against Davie County,” Young said. “He had really good velocity and his breaking ball was sharp.
“He has worked hard the last two years to become a really good pitcher,” Young added. “And he has had some great performances for us.”
Watkins, Young and the rest of the Raiders team will look to keep their postseason play alive when they travel to No. 2 East Forsyth High School in Kernersville, N.C. on Friday. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
