Graham Marshall grew up with baseball in his family’s DNA. (Photo Courtesy: Frank Poulin)
A lot of baseball players you watch on television talk about having grown up around the game ever since they were little. The same can be said for Graham Marshall of the Dean College baseball team. Marshall’s first word when he was little happened to be the word “ball”, and since then, he knew baseball was meant to be.
Marshall grew up going to many of his father’s adult league games. “Seeing how much fun my dad was having and the concept of batter versus pitcher and having the team aspect of it with nine guys out there as well got me interested in baseball,” Marshall explained. His father, Dave Marshall, also played at the high school level and even tried out as a pitcher at the collegiate level for Penn State University.
“Graham’s first spoken word was “ball” so I knew baseball was in his future,” Dave Marshall said. “What I didn’t know is how quickly Graham would become a leader and grow his baseball IQ on the field. Whether it was being asked to be catcher (as a lefty) because he could manage the game best, receiving player of the year for his championship-winning team, or more recently being requested by area head coaches who knew of Graham’s ball skills and reputation to assist them with practice and games. Leadership and baseball IQ have been significant in getting Graham to college ball. One coach said, “I’ll take Graham for anything,” Marshall’s father said.
Marshall throws as a lefty which would make you think he would play either in the outfield, first base, or pitcher. However, in little league and at the 13U level, he was a catcher, and his coaches thought he did a good job managing the game. Marshall began pitching at fourteen years old up to when he was sixteen, as that was when his velocity decreased and resulted in getting hit harder by the opponents.
“I just love to be on the field. I do miss pitching and catching a little bit but being out there on the field is all I need,” Marshall mentioned.
Marshall played a lot of first base in high school, which he currently plays at Dean, and would best describe himself as a power hitter from gap to gap. “I love working counts and continuously fouling balls off and frustrating the pitcher, and spoil whatever pitch he throws, and then when you get your pitch, you make him pay for it,” Marshall explained.
When it came time for Marshall to begin the college search process, he knew he wanted to continue playing at the collegiate level. “I feel like in travel ball and high school ball, the guys are always so close, and these are guys you will know past your time playing. I just love showing up to the field every day not knowing what you are going to see. I wanted to keep playing for as long as I can,” Marshall mentioned. When Marshall started looking at colleges, he made the academics side a major priority during his selection process. “I wanted to be in sports communications or sport management, and I saw that Dean has a really good sport management school. Also, the manager of the baseball team, Ernie May, is also a pretty big guy in the sport management program as well, so I saw that as a good fit,” Marshall continued.
Growing up 20 miles outside of Philadelphia in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Marshall grew up watching Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies. He also enjoyed watching Giancarlo Stanton when he was on the Miami Marlins since Miami is in the same division as the Phillies. Marshall loved watching Stanton’s power at the plate to stroke the ball 420 feet the other way.