Westwood’s Reilly Takes Steps Toward MLB

Westwood native and Xaverian graduate Sean Reilly is one step closer to achieving his lifelong goal of playing in Major League Baseball.

Reilly, who graduated from in 2008, has played collegiate baseball for three years and is heading into his senior season at Rollins College in Florida as the team’s starting catcher.

After two years of playing Division 1 ball at Florida International University, Reilly transferred out due to lack of playing time and headed four hours North to Rollins, where he saw action in all but four games in 2011 behind the plate.

“You can only play baseball for so long," Reilly said. ”I wanted to go somewhere where I was going to play and have the best chance to get seen."

Reilly tore the cover off the ball last season, batting .317 and had 33 RBI, good for second on the team, and his wish of being seen had come more than true.

Come the end of the season, Reilly was contacted by the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL), the most prestigious college summer baseball league in the country, who happened to be looking for another catcher.

Reilly answered the call and took to the diamond where he grew up watching summer baseball. In fact, just three years prior, he caught bullpen sessions for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, so he already had some familiarity with the expectations of the league.

“I always watched them when I was younger and was hoping some day I could play there,” Reilly said. “It was great just being around the players and interacting with them. I caught and the also let me take batting practice before the games.”

In his first career game as a player, Reilly blasted a home run and added a single, completing a successful 2-4 debut against Cotuit in front of family and friends.

After playing just over a month of baseball however and posting a .274 average, Reilly broke a bone in his hand while taking a cut against Harwich on July 11. He missed the rest of the season, but is expected be 100 percent for the start of his senior season this coming spring.

Reilly is not going to let the injury affect him any more and feels even with limited time at the Cape, he will be a much more confident and polished player come the spring. 

“Just being around those big-time players, you’re going to get better,” said Reilly. “You pick up on all the little things that you wouldn’t somewhere else and you are also facing some of the best pitchers in the country. It’s still not going to be easy but I’m going to have a ton of confidence.”

If Reilly can have another successful campaign at Rollins, the possibilities are endless for the longtime Westwood resident.

He hopes to follow in the footsteps of another Westwood great, Pat Irvine, who was drafted by the Pirates in 2009; Irvine also happens to be Reilly’s cousin.

Said Reilly, “I’m just going to go out there and try and make sure this isn’t my last season ever.”