Trib HSSN baseball player of the week for April 27, 2025

By: Don Rebel
Sunday, April 27, 2025 | 9:13 PM

Trib HSSN baseball player of the week – Brock Budacki

School – New Brighton

Class – Senior

Position – Catcher, pitcher

#Earned – Entering the final two weeks of the WPIAL baseball regular season, New Brighton has the most wins in Section 2-2A thanks to key contributions from underclassmen such as juniors Jaxson Zahn, Aiden Circle, Jaleb Bailey and Dom Pasquale; sophomores Carter Jackson and Vernon Krepps; and freshman Casey Bloom. However, the straw that stirs the Lions’ drink is senior Brock Budacki. He leads New Brighton in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, home runs, stolen bases and runs scored. This past week in a section series sweep of Northgate, Budacki was a combined 5 for 5 with two doubles, a home run, four runs scored and five RBIs. In a nonsection victory Wednesday against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Budacki was 2 for 2 to cap off a perfect week at the plate, hitting another home run with three runs scored and three more runs batted in. New Brighton won all three games by a combined score of 41-14 to improve to 9-5 for the season.

Background – Budacki will be continuing his academic and baseball career next year when he attends Florida Southern. In 54 plate appearances this spring, he has been walked 24 times. He is 17 for 28 for a .607 batting average, .759 OBA, 1.250 slugging and 2.009 OPS. He has seven doubles, one triple, three home runs, 24 runs scored, 15 RBIs and is 26 for 26 in stolen bases. On the mound, Budacki has thrown 21 innings, is 4-0 with a 2.67 ERA and 38 strikeouts. His older brother, Bobby, is a sophomore playing baseball at Washington & Jefferson and his younger sister, Isabella, is a sophomore at New Brighton who played with him on the Lions golf team this past fall. For as long as he can remember, he’s always been walking around with a bat in his hand. When he was younger, Brock also wrestled and played basketball. He loves chocolate, but he is not a big fan of chocolate ice cream. He intends to study physical therapy in college.

What coach says – “I would his patience at the plate,” New Brighton coach Bob Zahn said when asked about what stood out about Brock’s play in the three victories this past week. “He was not forcing it on pitches out of the zone to avoid a walk, and knowing what he was hunting.”

When asked what his best attributes on the diamond are, Zahn simply replied, “his attitude and his effort.”

“Brock had an arm injury last year that we never really let out of the bag,” Zahn said. “No one tested him on the bases last season because they didn’t know. This year coming back healthy and really taking his bullpens seriously, has allowed him to step in this year as my ace since my son Jaxson tore his UCL and can’t pitch and is only playing shortstop.”

2025 Trib HSSN Baseball Players of the Week

Week 3 – Ryan Lafferty, Plum

Week 2 – Mason Metz, Avonworth

Week 1 – Eli Graff, Thomas Jefferson

Tags: New Brighton