25-04-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Does St. Ignatius have its own Ohtani in two-way prospect Archer Horn?
By all accounts, St. Ignatius junior Archer Horn is the complete package. He hits for average (.383), power (six home runs, five doubles), runs well (11 steals) and throws and fields at a high level as the team's starting shortstop.
No wonder that he's rated the ninth-best junior prospect in California according to Prep Baseball Report and has already committed to Stanford. He actually committed there the fall before his freshman season.
'Focused, meticulous, detail oriented and very competitive,' St. Ignatius head coach Brian Pollzzie said. 'He's very good at baseball but he's a very well-rounded kid.'
If there's such a thing as a six-tool player, Horn, who throws right-handed and bats left, would be that. That's because, in the mold of Shohei Ohtani, Horn also pitches. Like the Dodgers slugger, he bats leadoff and is saving his arm for when the Wildcats need him most.
Horn is part of a terrific 2026 class that took the West Catholic Athletic League and Bay Area by storm in 2023, leading the Wildcats to a CIF Northern California Division 2 championship a season after going 12-15 and not even making the Central Coast Section playoffs.
With that team's strong senior class, Horn's contributions as a freshman were largely on the mound where he went 4-2 with a 1.86 ERA to go along with 53 strikeouts in 41 ⅓ innings. But he was the winning pitcher in the NorCal title game, a 3-0 win over Casa Grande-Petaluma, going five innings and allowing just three hits.
Pollzzie didn't hesitate to put him in that spot because Horn is always ready.
'One of his first practices as a freshman he was the first kid there,' Pollzzie said. 'He had all of his homework spread out on the bench. He definitely sets the bar high for himself.'
Horn is following in the footsteps of his father, Howard, a former pitcher at Princeton, but he also wants to be an everyday ballplayer. He hit .357 as a freshman but in just 28 at-bats. As a sophomore he has hit .333 in 93 at-bats and moved to the infield while also being utilized as a closer, as he is now.
In 22⅓ innings over the last two seasons, Horn has struck out 42, recorded five saves while posting a 1.51 ERA.
'Wherever we need him most, he's willing and wanting to contribute,' Pollzzie said. 'He loves the high-leverage spots.'
With a deep staff, the Wildcats don't need Horn to start, plus he's too valuable in the field. Their pitching has a combined 1.74 ERA with Chase Gordon (2-2, 2.57 ERA, 32 ⅔ innings pitched), Tycco Giometti (2-0, 0.88, 24), Finn Demuth (3-1, 0.35, 20) and Spencer Guido (2-1, 1.15, 18 ⅓) getting most of the work.
Demuth, a junior, fired five innings, allowed two hits with eight strikeouts Thursday in a 5-0 home win over Sacred Heart Cathedral, the team's first game in nine days. Giometti worked the final two hitless innings with three strikeouts.
The Wildcats improved to 11-7-2 overall and 6-3 in WCAL play. Horn went hitless in two at-bats, but he walked twice and scored once. The team's leader in RBIs, DJ Delaney, scored a run and drove in another. He and Horn were two of eight junior starters, all of whom have loads of varsity experience. Though the overall record isn't pretty, a closer look shows the Wildcats are ripe for a strong postseason push.
Pollzzie put together a rigorous non-league schedule — the Wildcats opened with a 2-0 win over Chronicle No. 1 Granada-Livermore — that included Northern California powers Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa, St. Mary's-Stockton and Whitney-Rocklin.
St. Ignatius' seven losses have been by a total of 15 runs, including three one-run losses and two two-run defeats.
'Our goal and mantra all season is to simply be playing our best baseball when it matters most,' Pollzzie said. 'We have a lot of guys with a really strong talent base who have been through it before.'
