BGHS CLASSMATES FORBES, BUTTRY SHARE RARE STATEWIDE DISTINCTION
It’s been an eventful two or three weeks for Bowling Green High School baseball star Patrick Forbes.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound shortstop/pitcher led the Purples to one of their best seasons in years, batting an otherwordly .563 with 15 home runs and 57 RBI in just 35 games. On the mound, the talented University of Louisville signee was nothing short of dominant. And in the dugout, with his teammates, well, let fourth-year BGHS coach Nathan Isenberg explain.
“Patrick’s a special kid, an outstanding young man,” Isenberg said. “You could see it with his teammates, his opponents, the coaches. He got better every year. Worked hard. Was great with his teammates.
“I was on the road, Sunday night, and my phone was blowin’ up. Someone released the coaches’ all-state team to a media outlet. It was supposed to go out Monday morning. But ‘Mr. Baseball’ is a unique award. Obviously, I wasn’t shocked that he won it.
“It’s an outstanding award, for the program. It’s a big accomplishment for Bowling Green High School athletics, especially after Turner (Buttry) won the ‘Mr. Basketball’ award a couple months ago. What a year, for the school.”
Yes, it is, and yes, it has been.
Patrick Forbes, as expected, is Kentucky’s “Mr. Baseball.”
Turner Buttry, the ultimate underdog, was named Kentucky’s “Mr. Basketball” on March 20, in a special banquet in Lexington for the Commonwealth’s high school baseball community.
This is the first time a single school swept such prestigious awards.
It would be hard to find someone more fired up about it than Buttry himself. Forbes and Buttry shared the stage when they signed their scholarship papers with the University of Louisville and Eastern Kentucky University, respectively, last fall.
Now, they’re forever linked. Passionate winners with promising futures.
“You’ve got to have a lot of good guys, around you, to get that kind of award,” Buttry said Monday night. “Every head coach, in the state, gets a vote. The media gets a few votes. Hall of Fame coaches, those kinds of guys, they get a vote.
“We’ve been pretty close, me and Patrick, the last few years. We were in the same human geography class, our freshman year. I know how hard he works, how good he is, as a teammate.”
Forbes led a senior-laden BGHS baseball squad to an impressive 25-10 season, shining on the mound and especially at the plate. His numbers were simply off the charts. He was quick to acknowledge the contributions of his teammates after victories and never ducked out on the media after a tough loss.
He was the quintessential leader, the kind of kid you can build a program around.
And now he’s got the to deal with the uncertainty of the MLB free agent amateur draft, which unfolds next month.
“The support has been great, from everyone at Bowling Green High School,” Forbes said. “I think we had a lot of talent at Bowling Green this year, played some of our best games against really good competition. Russell County knocked us out, and they’re in the semifinals (in the state tournament in Lexington).
“It’s definitely a special award. It took a lot of hard work, some great teammates, and success on the field. It was a great experience for all of us.”
Forbes’ numbers only tell part of the story, but collectively, they illustrate the obvious.
The young man has amazing potential, and he’s thankful for those who have helped him along the way.
In 35 games, Patrick Forbes batted an astounding .563, and he was among the state leaders in virtually every offensive category:
Batting average, .563. Fifth.
Home runs, 15. Second.
Hits, 58. Sixth.
Runs Batted In, 57. Third.
Slugging percentage, 1.156. Second.
Runs scored, 67. First.
You get the idea.
Patrick Forbes and his Bowling Green East Little League teammates made it to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the Little League World Series just six years ago. Guys like sturdy BGHS catcher Spencer Newman, and rangy Purples center fielder Turner Nottmeier. Cleanup hitter and first baseman Nathaniel Roof. They made winning a habit, and kept working toward the ultimate goal.
“Patrick was always working,” Newman said. “The summertime, unbelievable. Always on time. Always hitting. Putting in the work. Showing the younger guys how to do the right thing.
“Patrick went out and handled business.”
It’s become a business, too, because Forbes and his family now have to weigh his future in baseball. His stock with professional scouts seems to be on the rise, in part because of his measurables and in part of what he’s accomplished on the field.
And he has yet to turn 18 years old.
Heady stuff for an adolescent.
“A lot of things up in the air,” Forbes said.
He’s one of U of L coach Dan McDonnell’s prized recruits, when he’s pitching or playing on the left side of the infield. He wants to test himself on both fronts, while keeping his options open.
He’s proven himself every step of the way.
“You can tell him something,” BGHS coach Nathan Isenberg said, “and he can make that physical change, right on the field. Everything seems to come kind of easily, because Patrick knows how to make adjustments when he’s playing.
“The pro scouts really seem to like what he’s done as a position player. A shortstop, maybe third base. But if you’ve seen him pitch …”
I’ve seen him pitch.
Six or seven times over the last couple months and change. As a starter, and out of the bullpen. In front of 10 or 12 pro scouts with their radar guns or none of them, as far as I could see, when the Purples opened KHSAA 4th Region play on May 23 on the road against Logan County.
The Purples were without their starting catcher, Spencer Newman, who sustained a broken bone in his left forearm from the previous week’s 14th District tournament.
A free-swinging Logan County squad pulled to within three runs of the Purples, and lefty reliever Dillon Maners was tiring. He’d helped keep Bowling Green in front, but the Cougars were the home team. They had an overflow crowd, scores of fans from both schools, at Logan County’s hitter friendly dimensions on a windy night.
Nathan Isenberg left nothing to chance.
He moved Forbes, who had already had an exceptional night at the plate, from shortstop to pitcher for the bottom of the seventh inning.
Forbes went right after his Logan County opponents.
He threw 10 pitches. Nine of them went for strikes. None of them were hit.
Three strikeouts to end it.
Three strikeouts to advance.
“Ten pitches … what more needs to be said,” BGHS coach Nathan Isenberg said as he walked out of the dugout.
Forbes’ numbers as a pitcher were also outstanding.
He pitched in 12 games, 10 as a reliever. (The Purples were much better, defensively, when Forbes was playing shortstop.) In 32 2/3 innings, he allowed just 21 hits. He recorded 61 strikeouts, against 19 walks. He compiled a 2-1 record with a 2.36 ERA.
And he brought some serious heat.
One of the pro scouts that caught one of Patrick Forbes’ final games with the Purples told me he was hitting between 91 and 94 mph on his fastball.
Forbes was in a select tryout for prominent high school players over the weekend in Atlanta, where the world champion Atlanta Braves happen to play.
“There were just five of us,” Forbes said.
Later this week, he’ll be on his way to impress the scouts at the MLB Combine, to be held next week at Petco Park, the home of the San Diego Padres. The 17-year-old whiz kid has been going places.
“I hope I can win a lot of awards, down the road, in baseball,” he said.
Patrick Forbes is the first KHSAA 4th Region player to win the prestigious “Mr. Baseball” award since Warren East pitcher Hunter Green in 2013.
Warren East happened to be the team that upset the Purples in the 14th District championship game, a 4-3 thriller at South Warren High School. After Russell County, one of four teams still remaining in the KHSAA tournament, knocked off the Purples, Forbes and several of his teammates, including catcher Spencer Newman, pitcher/outfielder Dillon Maners and catcher/DH Dom Davis, turned out to support Warren East in the championship game.
Exceptional sportsmanship, if you ask me.
Embracing the journey.
Warren East coach Wes Sanford was certainly impressed.
“It’s great, absolutely, Patrick winning this award,” Sanford said. “It’s well deserved. He’s a great player. It’s great exposure, for baseball in this part of the country. He’s got a great future in front of him.”
In large part because of what he’s done to get here.
As the late, great Tom Petty would put it, Patrick Forbes’ future is “the great wide open.”
