Nestled close to Philadelphia, about three miles from the City of Brotherly Love, stands Haverford College, a small but excellent liberal arts school likely known more for its sterling academics and distinguished alumni than its good Division III baseball program. Stephen Ridings is a Haverford graduate who may someday take his place among Haverford alums who’ve won Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes; for now, he is a pitcher in the KC Royals organization just trying to make it to the major leagues.
Ridings put himself on big-league radar in 2016 when, as a junior pitching for the Fords (winners of three recent Centennial Conference championships) the right-hander struck out almost 12 batters per nine innings and went 6-3 with a tidy 2.