CM's Gorman, Winner of Gatorade Massachusetts Player of the Year Award, Focuses on Team Goals

There are a number of ways to tell that John Gorman has excelled in his senior season on the Catholic Memorial baseball team that he captains.

You can tell with your eyes, when you watch him on the mound, bulldogging his way through opposing lineups with a fastball in the mid to high eighties. Or when you watch him in the field, barehanding bunts down the third base line and zipping them to first for the out. Or when you catch him at-bat, watching hard hit line drives zip off his tight, right-handed swing.

Or, you can tell from his numbers, which include a 0.14 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 51 innings and a .362 batting average with one home run.

You can tell it by looking back behind the CM backstop during his starts, where a handful of Major League scouts stand in line with their radar guns raised.

You might be able to tell just by looking at him. At 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, Gorman meets the physical standards most often associated with a standout athlete.

Or, now, you can tell by the awards. Gorman, a Norwood native, last week was honored as , becoming the first CM player to win the award.

But the award, he said after  in their first game of the 2011 MIAA tournament on Saturday, doesn't mean much to him right now. His focus, as the Knights move forward in the South Sectional bracket, is entirely set on winning a state championship.

"It's an exciting honor to get, but we still have things to do as a team," Gorman said. "It's not about me personally right now."

Of course, the team's realizing those goals will in a large way depend on Gorman, who will pitch for the Knights in the South Sectional Quarterfinals tonight against BC High. The Eagles have twice beaten CM already this season, but Gorman did hold them to one run and two hits over eight innings .

Still, the weight of the upcoming game is enough to keep Gorman from reflecting on those personal accolades just yet.

"I'm sure [the award] is something I'll appreciate once the season is over," he said. "But really, right now, it's on the back of my mind."

Gorman's coach, Hal Carey, was a bit more willing to discuss the award, and certainly thought his star deserving.

"It's a great accomplishment," said Carey. "This year's senior class is so strong all across the state. The award really shows how much respect people have for what he's done this year and over his career. He's been phenomenal all year."

Gorman, who also stood out in the classroom at CM as an A-student, will attend Boston College next year and will play for the Eagles next spring. Gorman told Patch in a  that playing for BC would satisfy a lifelong goal.

"Honestly, since I was like five, BC was where I wanted to go," he said. "Since I started going to football and basketball games when I was younger. I just fell in love with the place. For me, it was a pretty easy decision, because that's where I wanted to go my entire life."

That baseball scholarship is another way you can judge Gorman's baseball prowess. But again, right now, he probably wouldn't much want to focus on that one either.

Because for Gorman, it seems, there's only one real way to measure his success this season: that he'll be leading the Knights into the South Sectional Quarterfinals tonight.