Shane Van Dam, despite suffering a UCL tear in his pitching arm a year ago, has been pretty fortunate as far as his sports go.
His senior year at Cranford High School three years ago Van Dam helped lead the football and baseball teams to sectional state championships during the 2021-2022 season.
Then for one year Van Dam, a 2022 Cranford HIgh School graduate, was able to play both sports in college at SUNY Cortland, where he continued to pitch after not taking to the mound until his senior year at Cranford.
Transferring to North Carolina State after just one year at SUNY Cortland, Van Dam's stock, along with his fastball, was on the rise for the Wolfpack until last May when arm discomfort after one inning forced him to walk off the mound in a game against Florida State.
As a result of the diagnosis no pitcher wants to here, Van Dam, who sported a 4-0 record at the time, was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery, thus missing NC State's run to the men's College World Series in Omaha.
"That was awful," Van Dam recalled. "I was having such a good year and then out of nowhere that happened and I couldn't pitch for a year."
From "awful" in May of 2024 to having a dream come true 14 months later is the road Van Dam, 21, just traveled. He stayed with the sport he loved, came back to play it again and did well enough to impress major league scouts.
Although he was only able to throw eight innings for the Wolfpack this year, striking out four batters and excelling in the Auburn Regional, it was enough for one professional team to reach out for his services.
On Monday, July 14, the second day of Major League Baseball's 2025 July First-Year Player Draft, the 6-foot-6, 200-pound right-hander was selected by the Kansas City Royalls in the ninth round, pick number 278.
"The news was very surreal," Van Dam, a junior this spring at NC State, said. "It was almost like a full-circle moment for me.
"My freshman year at Cortland I started to dream of making it to the big leagues and it was then that it became a goal of mine."
Van Dam, one of five NC State players drafted, and also one of 14 from the state of New Jersey, became just the sixth player out of Cranford High School to be drafted.
Van Dam is also one of three Cranford residents to get drafted out of North Carolina State, joining 2006 Cranford High School graduate Rob Chamra and 2013 Cranford grad Ryan Williamson.
The other three players to be drafted who attended Cranford High School were Joe DiFabio in the very first MLB June Amateur Draft in 1965, John Van Brunt in 1971 and present St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Gordon Graceffo in 2021.
Of the six Williamson was the second one, after Van Brunt, drafted twice. The first time was out of Cranford High School his senior year in 2013 and then three years later in 2016 out of NC State.
Another fine player to come out of Cranford and excel at North Carolina State, but who was not drafted was 2008 Cranford High School graduate Andrew Ciencin, who last year was promoted to head coach of Forest City Owls Baseball. He also announces home game for NC State with the ACC Network.
It was Chamra's idea to have Van Dam, primarily an outfielder, try pitching after he saw him throw a football. Chamra was an assistant coach at Cranford during Van Dam's senior season.
"Shane is very gifted, very talented and always had a great arm," said Dennis McCaffery, who was Shane's head baseball coach at Cranford. "Rob had the idea of making Shane into a pitcher. He realized hie saw something special."
McCaffery reported that Van Dam reached 90 mph his senior year, one that saw him close out Cranford's North 2, Group 3 sectional state championship victory at Millburn. Van Dam pitched to a 2.42 ERA his senior season in 2022.
"Rob really helped me with the basics, life finding the zone and throwing a slider," Van Dam said. "I think I hit someone in the Millburn game with a slider. John Kroeger (presently Director of Player and Program Development at Wagner College) clocked me at 91-92 late in the season."
