After three years as a starting pitcher with Plant City High School baseball, Adan Longoria has committed to continue his athletic and academic journey at the University of South Florida.
After an arm injury forced Longoria to miss his freshman season of high school — a strained UCL that fortunately did not require surgery — Longoria immediately stepped into the Raiders’ starting rotation as a sophomore where he finished his first varsity high school season with a 5-2 record over nine starts, totaling 55 strikeouts and a 1.88 earned run average while allowing just 14 earned runs across 52 innings pitched.
“I didn’t play my freshman year due to injury but in my sophomore year Coach Mike [Fryrear] let me have a huge role at a young age,” Longoria said. “He let me get the ball and I turned into our big game type of guy and I’m very fortunate. I’ll always remember it because it was so fun but to experience that type of pressure and to be put in that situation at that age was very character-building for me.”
In his junior season, his dominance on the mound continued as he opened the season with a no-hitter against Middleton in the Raiders’ first regular season contest and finished the year with a miraculous 1.09 ERA, allowing just nine earned runs while his strikeouts jumped to 76 across 57.2 innings. And in the midst of a stellar spring, colleges began to take notice as he began speaking with a number of schools before receiving offers from USF and Florida Atlantic University. Longoria noted that while FAU was after him, USF’s quality history of pitching development — along with its proximity to home — really stood out.
“What really drew me to USF is that they’re a pitching school, they’re called the Arm Farm for a reason,” Longoria said. “It’s really close to home, I was getting enough in scholarships to pay for my college and it just felt right to stay close to home to play the sport I love… It’s super exciting, especially going into a school that can really help with my future because baseball is what I want to do for the rest of my life and as a career. Knowing that I’ll be able to spend time with good coaching and good coaching that will help me build character as a pitcher, build my skill level, it really makes me happy looking at the future. Knowing that I’m somewhere safe and can get better as a player.”
With USF on the horizon after verbally committing during his junior season in the spring of 2022, Longoria continued to excel as Plant City’s top arm throughout his senior year. This past spring, Longoria finished the year with a 2.88 ERA and a career-high 78 strikeouts across 56 innings pitched while also putting together his most impressive season at the plate, hitting .319 with 22 runs batted in and tied for a team-high four home runs. And outside of his high school seasons, Longoria played his travel ball through the Ostingers Baseball Academy where his 17U team reached a No. 1 national ranking on the heels of a Perfect Game WWBA National Championship and Prep Baseball Report National Championship last summer.
“That’s just baseball and playing it year-round you get used to it but the competition level is just so extreme,” Longoria said. “You have kids coming from all across the country coming to play for one team but with the Ostingers we were just a bunch of local guys that came together. We all knew each other from high school and previous teams so I would say that competing with those other teams was easier because we all knew each other and had a special bond. Coach Jim [Osting] really held us together as a team, him and Coach [Kris] Wilken. They really helped us mentally prepare and made us truly believe that we could compete with any team, even if we were a bunch of local guys, but that’s what I think made it so much more special.”
Longoria noted how passionate he was about the game of baseball, adding that his parents always emphasized the amount of work that must go into being great at something you love — that it can’t simply be something you work at here and there, but something that you must always continue grinding at to be your best.
“In my off time I’m just training, I may hang out with friends or teammates and see if they want to do something but other than that it’s just all baseball,” Longoria said. “I’m passionate for the sport. I know that a lot of people don’t really understand how much it takes to reach certain levels and if you truly want to go and reach your goals then you truly have to understand how much you’re willing to sacrifice for those goals. My parents always told me growing up that if I really want something it’s going to take more than just doing it once or twice per week, it’s going to be day in and day out, waking up in the mornings when you don’t want to and doing all the stuff that most people don’t want to do.”