Leading up to the 2019 Major League Draft, the Chicago Cubs showed the most

Chris Kachmar, a 2015 Upper Perkiomen High School graduate, delivers a pitch for Lipscomb University.  He  was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 28th round of  the 2019 MLB draft.

interest in Chris Kachmar. One week before the draft, he worked out privately at Wrigley Field. The East Greenville resident threw a bullpen session with the team's entire scouting department watching.
"I was really fortunate to have that opportunity," he said.

            Still, Kachmar expressed surprise when the team drafted him in the 28th round, with the 852nd overall pick, last week.

            As a senior pitcher at Lipscomb University, with limited negotiation leverage, he wasn't sure if an opportunity to play professional baseball would materialize. But the call from a team representative came around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5, the third and final day of the draft.
            "I didn't know what was going to happen," Kachmar said. "I was really happy. Everything happened really quickly. It was a great day."

            A 2015 graduate of Upper Perkiomen High School, Kachmar said officials from seven or eight teams had contacted him before the draft, and that the Cubs were the most persistent. The player expects to report to the Cubs' spring training facility in Mesa, Arizona this week.  The 6-foot-3, 185 pound right hander declined to do disclose any contractual details.

            According to Kachmar, a Cubs scout followed him all season with the Bisons, when he led the Atlantic Sun Conference in victories and earned First Team All-Conference honors. In 15 starts, he posted a 9-3 record with a 3.61 ERA. He stuck out 94 hitters in 94 2/3 innings.

            "Chris is only going to keep getting better," Bisons head coach Jeff Forehand said. Relying on a four-seam fastball, curve ball, changeup and a cut fastball he learned last summer, Kachmar dominated during his final three regular season starts, tossing two complete games and recording 20 strikeouts while allowing just three earned runs over 26 innings.

            "During the second half of the year, I started to get into a groove mentally and mechanically," said Kachmar, the third Upper Perkiomen Valley product to be selected in the draft. "Everything just came together."

            Kachmar - whose fastball sits between 90 and 94 mph and tops out 96 - credited the development of his cutter, which runs into left handed hitters and away from right handers, and overall approach to pitching coach James Ogden. According to Forehand, the pitcher can throw all four pitches for strikes at any time.

            "When Chris has all four going, he's a difficult guy to face," the head coach said. As a sophomore in high school, Kachmar initially flashed his potential with a victory over Boyertown, according to head coach Frank Mercon. He said the player always displayed a steady diligence to improve.  "I knew Chris really wanted it," Mercon said. "He worked very hard on his own to get better."

            After helping to pitch Perkiomen's American Legion baseball team to the 2015 Bux-Mont League championship and a berth in the Region 2 Tournament, Kachmar enrolled at Farleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey. After one season, he transferred to Palm Beach State College in south Florida. He spent the last two seasons at Lipscomb, a private university in Nashville.

            "It's been kind of a crazy journey," Kachmar said. "I'm happy for the all the opportunities. Looking back, I made all the right choices leading up to the draft."

            Carlos Torres, hard throwing pitcher from Perkiomen School, was not selected. The righthander will continue his career at Lehigh University.

            "His Lehigh education is going to be worth a lot more than any team would have been able to give him," Panthers head coach Ken Baker wrote in a text. "And they all knew that."