Prep Baseball Report

Shaheen ‘Makes The Decision Right’ With Harvard


Bruce Hefflinger
New England Senior Writer

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Shaheen ‘Makes The Decision Right’ With Harvard

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Will Shaheen SS / 3B / St Johns Prep, MA / 2025

PORTSMOUTH, Ma. - Harvard never lost interest in Will Shaheen and the St. John’s Prep senior is now a commit to the Ivy League school in Cambridge, Ma.

“I was looking into post-grad but I wanted to play college baseball as soon as possible,” explained Shaheen, who was weighing his options after decommitting from Georgetown. “I talked to (head) coach (Bill) Decker a few days after I decommitted and I couldn’t have done it without him and (assistant) coach (Nate) Cole. 

“The month of November I figured out the admission’s stuff and in early December coach Cole gave me the go-ahead to announce it.”

The choice to seek out another college was made on Oct. 21.

“With the coaching changes it seemed like the opportunity I committed to wasn’t there, so I decommitted,” the 10th-rated 2025 shortstop in New England related. “Harvard did offer me when I committed to Georgetown.
That came last February after his performance at the Prep Baseball ProCase that month.

“The ProCase was a fun event to see how I stacked up,” Shaheen said. “Harvard also had a chance to see me in Georgia.”

Getting back in the recruiting process was, admittedly, difficult.

“It was definitely not great,” the 15th-ranked senior in Massachusetts noted. “It wasn’t easy at all. I talked to a few schools, but a lot were only interested if I’d go post-grad. All their recruits were in or they didn’t have enough spots.

“Harvard was one of the first two I called after decommitting. They take seven with each class and only had six so I knew they had one open spot. I looked up 15 schools on Prep Baseball and counted up the players they recruited.”

To find a home with Harvard was special for the 18-year-old.

“I was very, very happy with how things ended up with how crazy college baseball is today,” Shaheen explained. “I was lucky with how the landscape of college baseball has changed. It was definitely stressful, but it all worked out.

“It was definitely a huge relief,” the 40th-rated 2025 in New England added. “It was really hard the first two weeks after being decommitted, with no clear path to what I was going to do. My parents and coaches helped keep my head on straight. It wasn’t about making the right decision, it’s about making the decision right.”
Shaheen is confident he can be a valuable piece to the program at Harvard.

“I’ll bring leadership and energy,” the third-ranked senior shortstop in Massachusetts said. “I play with a lot of energy. I want to bring an Ivy League championship to the program. It would be a blast playing in the regionals.”

There is an understanding that improvement is vital if making that happen is a reality.

“I’ve been working on getting faster,” Shaheen related. “As I’ve grown I’ve tried to stay as athletic as possible. I’ve developed physically, gaining 20 pounds this year. I’m just trying to keep progressing forward.”

Now 6-4 and 200 pounds, Shaheen believes his high school days will be beneficial in the future.

“Being at St. John’s Prep has helped me with time management and working through being a student-athlete,” concluded Shaheen, a 4.0 student who plans to major in either sociology or psychology.  “I’m excited about the challenges ahead and I know I’ll have a lot of help.”

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