Try finding a more physically imposing high school pitcher than Pierce Coppola. We dare you.

Standing at 6’8″ – and potentially upwards of seven feet tall when on the mound – Verona’s southpaw ace plans to bring competitive baseball back to his hometown in Essex County. In front of nearly two dozen MLB scouts on Opening Day, Coppola fanned 11 batters and allowed only one hit across five shutout innings vs. Caldwell.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Coppola has transformed his body alongside his game into his current situation – a high D1 player committed to the University of Florida who Baseball America considers to be a Top-50 national ranked draft eligible player this summer.

JSZ’s Jay Cook has the story on NJ’s own version of the “Big Unit”: