Belleville West senior No. 1 ranked lefty in Illinois. Will he get taken in MLB draft?
After three productive years as a student-athlete at Althoff High School, Josh Dima was looking forward to his one and only season this spring as a member of the Belleville West baseball program.
After opening the eyes of professional scouts at showcase events during the off-season, the 6-2, 185-pound Dima was expected to team with Maroons teammate Joey Kossina to give West perhaps the top pitching duo in the Southwestern Conference.
But when the coronavirus pandemic delayed the start and eventually resulted in the cancellation of IHSA sports and closing of schools in Illinois, it may have cost Dima a chance at being selected in Major League Baseball’s Amateur Draft in June.
Dima has drawn attention from MLB scouts — for good reason. He is not only a left-handed pitcher, but Dima is a four-pitch left-handed pitcher who has a fastball which has hit 95 mph.
Ranked by Prep Baseball Report as the No. 1 left-handed high school pitcher in the state for the class of 2020, Dima is committed to attend and play college baseball at Illinois State University in Normal beginning in August, but could change his mind if selected in the abbreviated five-round draft June 10-11.
“My priority is to get ready for the fall. If I should get my name called in the draft then I’m ready to play pro ball,” Dima said in a phone interview Thursday. “The decision is obviously up to the teams.”
From Althoff to Belleville West
With his senior season canceled, Dima has put his free time to good use by throwing as much as he can and lifting weights. A three-year standout with the Crusaders baseball program, Dima said the decision to transfer from Althoff to Belleville West was difficult at first.
“It was a family decision (to transfer). I really did enjoy my three years at Althoff. I met a lot of great people,” Dima said. “It was tough to leave at first. But I’ve met a lot of great people at West, too, and a lot of great players.”
The transfer of Dima to Belleville West would have made an already strong West team one of the favorites in a Southwestern Conference which included defending Class 4A state champion Edwardsville, along with always strong O’Fallon, Belleville East and Alton.
But the addition of Dima along with ace lefthander Joey Kossina returning for his senior year and a quality and experienced offensive attack would have made the Maroons a St. Louis area power in 2020.
But COVID-19 ended those hopes.
“It was disappointing not being able to play at Belleville West this spring,” Dima said. “I was really looking forward to playing with this team because we had a talented group of players and I felt we had a chance to make a deep run in the playoffs.”
Veteran Belleville West coach Todd Baltz was also looking forward to working with Dima. After training with pitching coach Brett Huber at the Batters Box in Belleville, Dima’s improvement was obvious from the get-go.
“Josh was impressive this spring in his early bullpens. You could tell he had worked hard in the offseason with Brett Huber,” Baltz said. “It’s just unfortunate that we weren’t able to see his hard work translate to success on the field this spring. Having Josh and Joey Kossina as our conference game starters was something our team was really looking forward to.
“As stated earlier, Josh worked very hard over the winter and attended a few showcase events where he really opened some scouts’ eyes. The scouts that contacted us were all really excited to see him pitch this spring. It’s just so unfortunate to have this situation come up that ended up canceling our season.”
PBR Super 60 and college
A four-pitch pitcher who throws a 2-seam and 4-seam fastball to go along with a change-up and curveball, Dima turned some heads last summer at showcase events, including the Prep Baseball Report Super 60.
“I felt like I did very well there. I had some scouts come up and talk to me and they said they liked what they saw,” Dima said. “But I’m not there yet. I can still get stronger and I’ve still got room to grow.
“I play with the Southern Illinois Batters Box, which is a traveling team, in the summer and we have our first tournament coming up in a few weeks and I’m looking forward to that. It’s my dream to play pro baseball. It has been for as long as I can remember.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 10:07 AM.