Bucks’ Danny Kerr breaks Hampton’s League strikeout record

When Shelter Island Bucks pitcher Danny Kerr took the mound in last Wednesday’s Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League (HCBL) regular-season contest against the top-seeded Southampton Breakers, it was only his second appearance for the Shelter Island this season.

Kerr, a sixth-year right-handed pitcher from Thomas Jefferson University, joined the Island team midway through the season after Bucks assistant coach Jacob Tobin recommended him to Head Coach Andy Concepcion. The addition to the bullpen comes at a critical time, as the team makes its final push toward the postseason.

“We knew what we were getting,” Coach Concepcion told the Reporter following Wednesday’s contest. “I did some research on him, and he won a national championship in junior college. He’s definitely a bulldog, a phenomenal pitcher, and a phenomenal competitor.” 

As of the today, the Bucks sit third overall in the HCBL with a 16-15 record. With two games remaining in the regular season, the final playoff seedings have yet to be decided before the single-elimination tournament begins Friday.

In the grand scheme of things, adding Kerr to the roster appears to be paying off. In his first appearance against the Riverhead Tomcats, Kerr helped lead the Bucks to a 14-8 victory. “His first outing, he came out and had nine strikeouts,” Coach Concepcion noted.

In his second outing last Wednesday, Kerr not only led the team to a 7-3 victory over the top-seeded Breakers, but he also recorded 15 strikeouts. The performance broke the HCBL single-game record of 14 strikeouts, first set in 2009 and later matched in 2012 and again in 2021.

“I heard they were the best team in the league,” Kerr said. “I know a couple of kids on the team, so I knew at least it was going to be tough.” He said he kept his head down, focused on hitting his spots, working with his fastball and slider while mixing in a changeup a few times. His accuracy and dedication, aided by his velocity — mostly between 88 and 92 mph, according to radar readings on Wednesday — helped him tally the strikeouts.

But the record came as a surprise to Kerr, who had no idea he was on pace to break it during the game. “I count my strikeouts sometimes, and I knew I had a good amount,” Kerr said. It wasn’t until the final batter of the last inning, when he recorded his 15th strikeout, that he realized something special might have happened. As he walked off the field to embrace and thank his catcher, he still had no idea he had broken the record.

The league’s statistician happened to be at the game and informed Coach Concepcion midway through the contest that Kerr was on pace to break the record. “At the end, I said, ‘Hey, did you know you just broke the record?’ He goes, ‘Oh, that’s cool,’ just like that. So nonchalant, like it wasn’t a big deal,” the coach recalled. “The whole team was going nuts. Even the statistician was going nuts. It was really cool.”

But days after the record-breaking performance, when Kerr met with the Reporter to discuss the accomplishment, he admitted it was a pretty big deal. “Don’t get me wrong, I was very happy. I’ve just been thinking about all the guys that are in the MLB that have been through this league and couldn’t get that many,” he said. “It’s motivation because I’m good enough, and that’s why I’m going to make it there. To know that I have the most strikeouts shows that I have a shot.”

“Just in the first few innings, you saw something in him. You saw it in his eyes. He was absolutely locked in,” the coach said. Part of that, he added, is Kerr’s commitment to the game. As a sixth-year collegiate athlete, Kerr knows his time at this level is limited, but he said he doesn’t want that to mark the end of his playing career. “I’m not committed to where I’m going yet, but I definitely have a year left of college, and I’m going to use it.”

Kerr also said one of his dreams is to play in the Cape Cod League, one of the most prestigious and well-regarded summer leagues in the country. Following Wednesday’s contest, an attendee approached Kerr and said he’d help him get his foot in the door. “That meant a lot to me. It’s really my goal to get there,” Kerr said.

But a few other things stood out to the pitcher. “I’ll definitely remember who the catcher was — George Proffitt. I’ll definitely remember Coach calling the pitches, finding out at the end that I got the record.” And, of course, it will be hard to forget the game ball he’ll take with him after the summer ends. “Yeah, Coach gave it to me. He wrote on it, ‘15 strikeouts, record,’ with the date. I’ll definitely keep that forever.”

“The kid really deserves the love,” Coach Concepcion said. He added that Kerr’s resilience, determination, and total commitment to the game are exactly what he believes Bucks Baseball is “all about.”