When Harvard-Westlake grads Max Fried of the New York Yankees and Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs are introduced on July 15 at the MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta, their former high school coaches, Matt LaCour and Jared Halpert, will be in the stands celebrating the historic moment.
“We’re all proud on campus,” said LaCour, now the school’s athletic director and former coach of Fried.
“It’s kind of everyone wins if Max faces Pete,” Halpert said.
Harvard-Westlake has received attention for its success sending pitchers to the majors with Fried, Lucas Giolito and Jack Flaherty, all of whom were members of the 2012 team and first-round draft picks.
Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong.
(Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press)
Crow-Armstrong, a first-round draft pick in 2020 who was selected by the fans to start in center field, is a breakthrough hitter for the Cubs.
“We’ve got a couple hitters coming through, so maybe we’ll change the pitching narrative,” LaCour said.
But who will the coaches root for if Fried is on the mound and Crow-Armstrong is at the plate?
“That definitely would be cool,” LaCour said. “I’ll root for Max and Jared will root for Pete.”
LaCour is in Atlanta this week coaching a youth team and will stay an extra two days to watch the All-Star Game. Halpert is flying out next Tuesday morning, then taking a rideshare to the ballpark.
They shouldn’t have any trouble getting tickets because they know an all-star.
