Morris’ Cody DelFavero named Prospect League Pitcher of the Week

It has been a good month for baseball players from Morris.

First, Jack Wheeler was selected in the sixth round by the Texas Rangers in the Major League Baseball draft.

This past week, Cody DelFavero was named as the Pitcher of the Week in the Prospect League. Del Favero, a 2024 Morris graduate who helped lead his team to a Class 3A third-place finish and was named Class 3A Player of the Year, threw seven innings of three-hit ball against the O’Fallon Hoots, striking out 13, for the Normal Cornbelters.

It capped a summer that saw him finish with a 1-1 record for the Cornbelters. In four starts, he completed 21 innings with a 0.86 ERA and 0.86 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) to go with 26 strikeouts against just two walks.

“Yeah, it was a pretty good last couple of weeks for Morris baseball players,” DelFavero said. “It was really cool to see Jack get drafted. I grew up playing with him since we were about 7 years old, so to see one of my buddies get drafted is really cool.

“Then I got Pitcher of the Week, so, yeah, pretty good to be a Morris player.”

A two-way standout during his time at Morris, DelFavero continued to display his prowess on the mound and at the plate this spring for Parkland Community College in Champaign. He went 5-3 with one shutout and a save for the Cobras, who play in the NJCAA’s Division II. In 50 innings, he struck out 55 and allowed 59 hits. At the plate, he hit .333 with a double, a home run and 10 RBIs in 27 at-bats.

“I had a pretty good spring and a good summer,” DelFavero said. “That game I got the Pitcher of the Week for was my last start of the summer, so that was a real good one to end on.”

Prior to joining the Cornbelters, DelFavero played for the Bobcats in the Kernels Collegiate League. The league was formed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to provide local college baseball players with a safe and competitive environment close to home. Among DelFavero’s teammates on the Bobcats were Joliet Catholic graduate Zach Pomatto, Dwight’s Luke Gallet and Lemont’s Max Michalak.

DelFavero was used as an outfielder for the Bobcats, and he hit .341 in 14 games with a double, a triple, a home run and 10 RBIs.

“I love being a two-way player,” DelFavero said of his double duty. “I am going to keep doing it until they tell me I can’t. I worked really hard, and I will keep working hard. After we do our lifting at school, I continue and do my own lifting regimen that has been successful for me.”

While a senior at Morris, DelFavero was the team’s No. 1 pitcher, going 14-0 with a 1.28 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 69 innings. In the third-place game, a 1-0 win over Highland, he threw an eight-inning, one-hit shutout while throwing just 84 pitches. He was equally dominant with the bat in his hands, and he played center field when he wasn’t pitching. He finished the season with a .370 batting average with a team-leading five home runs to go with 36 RBIs and an OPS of 1.150.

DelFavero said he has received interest from Division II four-year colleges, and recently received his first contact from a Division I school, Florida Atlantic. He hopes that another strong year at Parkland will increase the number of schools with interest.

“I would love to go to Illinois State,” DelFavero said. “I have heard from a couple of assistant coaches from there, so there’s some interest. I am going to keep working hard and try to play my best. If I keep doing what I have been doing, I have a pretty good feeling.”