Pope John Paul II’s Zander Retamar Signs With Villanova

Pope’s Zander Retamar bats in a game against Calvary Christian last season. Retamar signed with Villanova on Wednesday’s Early Signing Day.

All summer long as he watched his friends and fellow teammates get offers and opportunities to play college baseball, Zander Retamar knew that eventually his time would also come.

On Wednesday that road finally came to its end as the Pope John Paul II catcher signed to play for Villanova University.

“It was my dream and it felt awesome getting offers,” Retamar said. “I worked so hard and it’s such a relief after all that hard work. I’m happy that it’s over so now I can just go out and play this season.”

Retamar selected Villanova over several schools, with their strong academics a major tipping point.

“I don’t expect to get drafted, so I want to go to an academic school,” Retamar admitted, displaying just another of his strong character traits that has helped him realize his dream.

Retamar comes off a junior season in which he battled through a broken pinky finger on his non-throwing hand to remain in the Eagles lineup and manning the team’s defense from behind the plate. He batted .355 and scored 13 runs while striking out just five times in 62 at bats.

“He’s really the heart and soul of the team, and he leads by example,” Eagles coach Pete Graffeo said. “He played all last year with a broken finger and it showed what a tough kid he is to play through it. Plus he did it at the most important spot on our team. That’s just the kind of kid he is. Coaches want nine kids just like him in their lineup.”

Late in the summer Retamar had begun to receive offers, so he decided to make his commitment on the final day of summer before the school year began. Wednesday he remained true to that commitment in making it official.

“Zander’s a great student and I think he’ll have great success there,” Graffeo said. “It’s hard for anybody not to like him. He has been part of the whole program turning around, having a guy of his caliber and work ethic.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!