October 15, 2023

By Melissa Verge

Canadian Baseball Network

Big. That’s an accurate way to describe Lucas Wepf.

There’s not many people that can stand eye to eye with Aaron Judge, but the 23-year-old pitcher from Georgetown, Ont., is almost one of them.

If the two of them met on a ball field, Wepf would be one inch shorter. He walks into his former high school in his hometown, Christ the King Secondary School, a towering 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds. There’s no mistaking him for a current high school student. He can just make it through an average sized door.

When he sees Wepf, coach Scott Van de Valk does a double take. The right-hander has had a massive growth spurt since high school.

“He was a monster,” Van de Valk said. “He's standing there with a big smile on his face and I went, ‘what happened to you?’”

Only his smile is familiar. As a student, he was always a happy go lucky kid, Van de Valk said, but his physique is almost unrecognizable. It was unbelievable enough that he had to take out his phone and take a picture so he could show the other coaches, he said, who coached Wepf from 2015-2017.

The pitcher was at Christ the King to say thank you to him. Back when he was looking at offers from different schools, he told him to stick with baseball.

“Mr. V” as Wepf referred to his old coach, said he should definitely take an offer from an American school. First Wepf pitched for the Pratt Community College Beavers before transferring to the University of Louisiana at Monroe Warhawks.

As a senior at Monroe in 2022, he was 2-5 with a 6.00 ERA in 20 games, including two starts walking 24 and striking out 36 in 36 innings. And as a junior, in 17 appearances, he was 2-0 with three saves and a 2.36 ERA over 34 1/3 innings, with 36 strikeouts.

Van de Valk also remembers that conversation, and telling his young athlete that if baseball is what he wants to do he should stick with it, because he can always go back and finish up his academics later.

Not long after he expressed his gratitude to his former coach, Wepf was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers last year as a free agent for $15,000.

The growth spurt he had after high school has helped him with his success on the mound, Wepf said, providing durability throughout his career.

“You know just getting bigger and stronger just allows me to throw harder, obviously allows me to throw further into the game,” Wepf said.

When hitters step up to the plate, they know to be prepared for an attack, he said. He’s competitive, and likes to attack hitters as soon as they step into the box. The competitive aspect of the sport has always excited the young athlete. His parents signed him up for baseball as a five-year-old. He wasn’t enthused about the prospect of playing the sport, Wepf recalls, but after his first game, “I fell in love and just wanted to keep playing it the rest of my life,” he said.

In 58 1/3 innings in 2023, he posted a 3.39 ERA, giving up 22 earned runs, and striking out 88. It was his first full season in pro ball, and it had its share of ups and downs, he said. The reliever was one of two bullpen arms named a California League all-star for his impressive outings with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. The other part of his season was played with the Great Lakes Loons, the high-A affiliate of the Dodgers, where he posted a 4.68 ERA in 25 innings, giving up 13 earned runs.

Right now, he’s focused on small adjustments to help him achieve more success on the mound in the 2024 season. He’s paying close attention to his diet, making sure he’s putting on weight, and that he gets enough sleep, he said.

He’s very grateful to all his former coaches and mentors like Andrew Karkoulas, who runs the Peak Performance indoor facility in Guelph and Van de Valk, who helped him and pushed him to where he is today.

Van de Valk, however, has a different view. Where Wepf is today, he’s done on his own, he said.

“I think this trail was blazed by him and him alone and his love for the game,” he said.

“We’re thrilled for him and we can't wait to watch what's next.”