Duffy Joins Older Brother At Canisius

BURLINGTON, On. - When Aaron Duffy went with his older brother Matt on a college visit to Canisius, little did he know the school would later be such a big part of his own future.

“When my brother started talking to them I did a little research,” reflected Duffy, whose brother is now in his second year with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference program. “My brother went on a visit a couple winters ago and I went with him. They were interested in me then.”

That interest eventually turned into an offer and commitment from the 27th-rated 2021 in Ontario.

“They couldn’t come see me this year because of the virus in Canada but I have two pitching coaches, Shane Davis and John Fitzsimmons, that communicated with Canisius in mid-summer,” Duffy said. “Both of them went to Canisius.”

Duffy turned down an offer from USC-Upstate and also had strong interest from Valparaiso while additionally talking with the likes of Xavier and St. John’s. However, the university located an hour and 20 minutes from home where his older brother attended was on target with what the Assumption High School senior was looking for at the next level.

“It was a tough decision to turn down USC-Upstate, but Canisius was a better fit academically and with baseball,” Duffy said. “Out of all the schools I was talking to, they were the best communicators. They set up zoom calls with coach (Matt) Mazurek and he was great. I also talked with academic people which was very nice.”

Duffy was pleased with what he heard.

“They’ve had great success in their conference over the years and I really like the culture there,” Duffy said. “All I hear there is compete ... compete ... compete. I can’t wait.”

According to the 18-year-old, the college located in Buffalo knows what they are getting in him.

“My brother and I are similar pitchers,” the ninth-ranked 2021 right-handed pitcher in Ontario noted. “If they like him they’ll like me, too.”

Duffy explained what he is like as a pitcher.

“I’m a good strike thrower,” Duffy related. “And I have great composure on the mound. I’m not going to get rattled.”

But it was admittedly a bit stressful during the now completed recruiting process.

“Because of covid I was getting nervous,” Duffy said. “Schools were dropping out because they didn’t have the money. Coaches didn’t know what was going to happen and they said we’ll play it by ear. Some of the schools that were interested couldn’t make it happen money-ise. But then Canisius came along and I’m grateful for that.”

The hard-throwing right-hander credits his brother with aiding the cause.

“He helped me out in making the decision,” Duffy noted. “Without being able to visit, I wasn’t able to get a grasp of everything. But he was able to tell me what it’s like academically and baseball-wise. That helped out a lot.”

The idea of playing at the next level began at a young age.

“To be honest, I’ve wanted to play in college since I started playing community baseball,” Duffy said. “My dad (Phil) played professional baseball with the Kansas City organization and he was our coach when we were young. When I started playing club baseball at 13U I realized that’s what I wanted to do.”

Improvement played a major role in making it happen.

“It was hard with covid, I had to stop training when the gyms closed and at home there wasn’t much for me and my brother to do,” Duffy said. “We worked as much as we could do and I gained a lot of weight.”

Duffy went from 6-2 and 168 pounds last year to 6-4 and 204 pounds at the present time.

“I was able to hit 88 at the end of last year which was a big accomplishment,” Duffy related. “I’m looking forward to 90 this year.”

Duffy is confident that will translate well at Canisius.

“I hope to develop into a huge role there, hopefully as a starting pitcher that brings a championship to them,” Duffy said. “I’ve always been a starter that goes into late innings. If you need outs, I believe I’m the perfect guy for that.”

That ability goes back to the desire to outperform his brother as sibling rivals.

“We’re pretty competitive, from Scrabble up to baseball and how many strikes can you throw in the backyard,” Duffy said. “In the long run that really helped out.”

However, being on the same team has surprisingly rarely taken place.

“We’ve never played together as much as you’d think,” Duffy pointed out. “I got called up to 18U and played with him one summer and we played together some when we were younger, but it’s really been not much.”

Now the opportunity could happen soon at Canisius.

“It’s going to be fun,” concluded Duffy, who is considering a major in physical education or sport management. “We had a chance awhile ago when we were younger but it’s nothing like it will be with college baseball. To compete with him and work for a championship with him is going to be great.”