Whether in college or the pros, great things await this Staley High baseball standout

The first time Staley High baseball coach Dave Wilson saw Carter Rustad pitch, he was in the unfortunate position of coaching the opposing team.

It was a summer tournament in Columbia and Rustad had just recently arrived in the Kansas City area from Hawaii after his dad’s job transfer. Wilson knew he’d have Rustad on his team for the next two years, but this was his first opportunity to see Rustad in person.

“I got to see him up close, and I thought, ‘My goodness, it felt like Christmas in the summer,’” Wilson said. I think we only got two or three hits, and I could tell right then he was good, just by how he carried himself on the mound.”

It wasn’t an audition so much as it was a preview, but Rustad still felt some nerves anyway.

“I did know that I was going to be pitching against his team, his son and a few of my other teammates now,” Rustad said. “There was a little bit of pressure there to show coach what I can do.”

Now a senior, Rustad’s talent, poise, command and mid-90s fastball have made his every start appointment viewing for area Major League Baseball scouts.

Rustad will have the choice of a lifetime this summer. He’ll either head off to college at San Diego or start his professional career. Rustad is projected as a fifth-round pick in June’s Major League Baseball draft.

As such, every pitch he throws for the Falcons this year will likely be recorded by a small arsenal of radar guns.

“I pitched in the Area Code tournament in early August of last year, and that’s when the attention started to come my way a little bit, but I don’t have a problem with all those guys behind the backstop. I’m able to focus on the game and do my best to get my team a win,” Rustad said.

Perhaps it’s because in a childhood full of change, baseball has been one constant. Rustad’s dad, Timothy, serves in the Army, and the family has crisscrossed the country in Carter’s soon-to-be 18 years. Carter can remember the general numbers (10 or 11 schools in eight states), but not every state he’s lived in, since some of the moves happened when he was a toddler.

Baseball is familiar, and a sure-fire way to make friends.

“It’s not the hardest move I’ve ever made. I’m used to the Midwest, and baseball helped a lot. It’s better that I moved to Kansas City, than to stay in Hawaii,” Rustad said.

Rustad gladly traded the long, cold winters for the abundance of baseball scouts, who aren’t as prevalent in the middle of the Pacific.

Wilson is in his 25th season as a baseball coach, and he’s worked with and played against his fair share of talent. Rustad’s first start was last month when the Falcons played a tournament in Tucson.

The radar guns were lighting up, but that wasn’t the impressive part.

“The most impressive part was how good it was coming out of his hand, and the command that he had at that type of velocity,” Wilson said. “I’ve got to see some good ones over the years… I remember when we played against Max Scherzer, when I was at Columbia Hickman and he was at Parkway Central,” Wilson said. “I think Carter ranks up there with any of them.”

June will be here soon, and Rustad and his family will decide between two amazing options. Until then, however, there’s a season to play and games to win.

“There are times I do think about the decision I’m going to have to make, whether I go to pro ball or I don’t, but never when I’m in the mound,” Rustad said. “It’s game time, and I’m just focused on that.”