Gloucester Catholic's Mike Shawaryn Climbing Ladder With Red Sox

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Salem Red Sox, Boston's Advanced Single-A affiliate in the Carolina League, completed a series against the Blue Rocks in Wilmington, Delaware earlier this week. That meant a chance to get back close to home for Salem right-hander Mike Shawaryn.

Shawaryn, a native of Carneys Point, was a star at Gloucester Catholic High School and he is currently a member of the starting rotation for Salem.

"I've been throwing the ball pretty well recently," Shawaryn told KYW Newsradio prior to Monday's game in Wilmington. "But with that, there's always going to be ups and downs. You just try and work through that and keep a positive head on your shoulder and just keep going out there and enjoying the game."

The 22-year-old Shawaryn had a great start during the series in Wilmington. On Friday night he pitched six shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out six, picking up a win against the Blue Rocks. Then on Wednesday night he dominated Carolina in a win, throwing five shutout innings, allowing just one hit while striking out nine. Those performances improved Shawaryn to 3-2 at Salem with a 3.54 ERA. Throw in his time with Single-A Greenville prior to his promotion and Shawaryn is 6-4 in 16 starts this season with a 3.76 ERA. He has struck out 109 batters in just 81 1/3 innings of work.

"I have kind of a four-pitch mix - fastball, slider, change-up and a cutter," he says. "Kind of use it all at any time. I like to establish the fastball, but sometimes you don't have one or two pitches so you just kind of have to go out there and see what's working for the night."

Shawaryn was first drafted out of high school by Kansas City in the 32nd round in 2013. He didn't sign and went to the University of Maryland where he dominated. He left the Terps as their all-time leader in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched. The Red Sox drafted him in 5th round in 2016.

His time at Gloucester Catholic was spent winning an awful lot of baseball games and he remembers his high school days fondly.

"I was fortunate enough to win four state championships there, so those are some really good memories," Shawaryn says. "Just playing with the guys every day, day in and day out, the 6:00 am practices, just kind of grinding it out with all those guys, it was really fun. We had some really good teams, we had some really good players and I was fortunate to be a part of that."

Shawaryn and Salem continue a road series against Carolina Thursday night.