Fenwick's Shouse state's No. 1 ranked baseball player in Class of 2028

Just like he knows what pitch to throw in critical situations or what pitch to look for at the plate, Carter Shouse has his next three years planned out.

Shouse, a standout sophomore pitcher, outfielder and hitter on the Bishop Fenwick High School baseball team, is the state’s No. 1 ranked player in the Class of 2028.

He expects to announce his college choice sometime this year, then continue to work on his craft as a junior and senior and possibly lead Fenwick to a state baseball title.

Then he hopes to get selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft and land on “a team that wants me and trusts me.”

That MLB team shouldn’t be hard to find.

Shouse, a left-handed pitcher, has had pitches clocked at 93 miles per hour; and as a right-handed hitter, he provides power and a high batting average.

He’s the whole package, said his high school coach Doc Wieland.

Wieland has coached baseball for 22 years, and this is his first at Fenwick. He called Shouse “the most coachable kid” in his career.

“He leads by example,” Wieland said. “When your best player is also your hardest worker, that makes it easy on a coach.”

Wieland said college coaches always ask him what makes Shouse such an outstanding player outside his obvious athletic ability.

The coach has his answer ready: “A wonderful, grounded family,” Wieland said of Shouse’s parents, Jon and Kelly. “He comes from a very good family.”

Shouse, 6-foot, 195 pounds, has a supportive team behind him, including a trainer and an agent who handles his NIL deals.

But since the first time he picked up a baseball, his father, who played baseball at Springboro High School and the University of Cincinnati, has been his exclusive pitching and hitting coach.

They work out constantly in the batting cage in the barn behind their house.

His mother handles all the travel plans and is his biggest cheerleader regardless of his performance, he said.

He plays summer baseball for the Motor City Hit Dogs in Detroit, Mich.

Shouse credits the velocity of his fastball to his dedication in the weight room. Some athletes lift because they have to; he lifts because he wants to.

“I love it,” he said.

Toward the end of his eighth-grade year, Shouse’s fastball jumped to 82 mph to 90 mph. He went from being unranked to No. 7 in the state in his graduating class.

Some expected Shouse, who attended John XXIII School in Middletown, to bypass Fenwick and go to high school at a baseball powerhouse like Cincinnati Moeller or Badin.

But Fenwick felt like home, he said.

“The relationships I’ve made have been amazing,” he said. “I want to enjoy high school and I want to be around these kids.”

Every time Shouse steps on the mound or in the batter’s box, he knows all eyes — and radar guns — are aimed at him. That puts a target on his back.