It still keeps Saint Joseph’s University baseball coach Fritz Hamburg awake at night. In the bottom of the final inning on February 22, 2025, the Hawks faced off against Emmitsburg, Maryland’s Mount St. Mary’s University. Colton Book took the mound looking to complete the first no-hitter for St. Joe’s since 2022.

With the temperature cresting at a frigid 40 degrees, the lanky left-hander struck out Mount St. Mary’s Sam Grube to start the inning. Hamburg called for a first-pitch change-up from the dugout to the next hitter, Ty Fredo, who flared the pitch off the end of the bat just over the infield for a single into left. History would not happen that day at sparsely attended E.T. Straw Stadium.

“I was just trying to get him off the fastball,” Hamburg later said.

Despite that devastating letdown, Book never wavered, retiring the next two Mount St. Mary’s hitters in order to complete his one-hit shutout. It’s that unflappable confidence paired with a high-upside ceiling that led the Chicago Cubs to draft Book in the ninth round of this year’s MLB Draft.

“I was kind of just taking it in by inning,” Book said about his near no-hitter. “Focusing on repeating what I’d been doing earlier in the game each time.”

The way he speaks, Book makes what he did this season sound easy. However, the path he took to getting drafted was anything but straightforward.

The agony of defeat

Book grew up in Manheim, as a Philadelphia Phillies fan dreaming of following the same path Cole Hamels once traveled. He was a superstar on the ballfield at Manheim Central High School before committing to Stony Brook University on Long Island in New York.

What seemed at first like a dream pairing between Book and Stony Brook soon faded. He was named to the 2022 America East All-Rookie Team when an injured hamstring and a bout with mononucleosis put an end to his 2023 season before it began.

Stony Brook sent their young lefty to the bullpen when he returned to the squad in 2024, and things got worse. In 11 appearances that season, Book posted an ERA of 10.52 across 25.2 innings pitched. It was ugly.

He entered the transfer portal after that season, coming closer to home and to St. Joe’s, where he reinvented himself and his craft.

“I was somewhere where I could develop and where I felt like I had the resources and the help that I needed to get better,” he said. “I think just being in that program and with those coaches … they were able to help me a lot, get me to where I need to be.”

Perhaps most important, noted coach Hamburg, was Book’s already established relationship with pitching coach Jeremy Heilman; the duo worked together in Harrisburg when Book was in high school.

The thrill of victory

The move paid off immediately. Across his first 13 innings, Book held the opposition scoreless and continued his dominance through mid-April. After start number nine, Book was the owner of a 1.70 ERA and became the ace of the St. Joe’s staff.

“I don’t think in my coaching career — and this next year will be my 35th year in college baseball — I can recall somebody getting as many swings and misses on the fastball that he has,” Hamburg said.

Scouts and coaches alike see Book as a throwback to an earlier age. He’s a bulldog on the mound, never willing to give up the ball, always ready to face the next batter, and confident in himself through his final pitch.

“He didn’t have to say a whole lot to convince me that he was not coming out [of a game],” Hamburg remembered.

Though his final few starts were a little shakier than those at the beginning of the season, Book sat on his couch with his family in Manheim during the MLB draft waiting for the phone call that would change his life.

As the sixth round turned into the seventh, and then the eighth, tension mounted.

“I mean, definitely there’s a little bit of anticipation,” Book said. “You’re kind of just sitting there waiting.”

Book and his family had an idea of which teams might make the call. Scouts and personnel from the San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Guardians, and Texas Rangers were frequently in contact that season.

But with the 271st pick of the draft, Book was selected by the Chicago Cubs, a team that made few advances before that moment. Relief washed over him and his family, and within days of the news, Book flew out to the spring training facility in Mesa, Arizona, for medical tests and to sign a contract.

“It’s definitely a little surreal at first,” Book said of walking into a professional facility. “I’m just trying to take it all in.”

As of July 21, according to Carlos Collazo, a writer for the website Baseball America, Book accepted a signing bonus of $100,000 to play in the Cubs organization. He has a long road to the major leagues, but from Manheim to Stony Brook to St. Joe’s, Book’s tenacity and work ethic have given him the ability to grow and compete with the best at every level.