By STEVE KRAH
Since Peter Dubie joined the baseball team at Brown University — an Ivy League school in Providence, R.I. — the Indianapolis resident has gotten to know some things about leadership and the mental side.
Grant Achilles is the head coaching chair for the Bears.
“He’s one of the best leaders as a coach I’ve ever been with,” says Dubie, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound right-handed pitcher. “He knows how to keep us together (as a team).
“The way he really tries to back our players and keep us together as a unit really is what’s most valuable.
“I’m excited to get back because we have a super-young team (in 2023-24).”
Christopher Tilton serves Brown as pitching coach/recruiting coordinator.
“I’ve learned a ton from him and I call him all the time when I’m struggling or doing well,” says Dubie. “He’s always there and giving input.
“One of the main things I’ve learned from him is the mental side of the game which I lacked in high school. He taught me about having a routine not only when you’re not pitching but on the mound.”
Tilton has gotten Dubie to be present in the moment and define himself on the mound, doing what’s right for him.
“It’s a quiet confidence,” says Dubie of his pitching personality. “I try to have calm body language. I don’t show too much emotion. Internally it’s like ‘here’s my best pitch, try to hit it.’”
After turning 19 in January, Dubie made 10 mound appearances during the 2023 season (all in relief) and was 0-0 with two saves, a 6.43 earned run average, 17 strikeouts and 17 walks in 14 innings.
Coming out of the bullpen has been an adjustment.
“We had older, veteran players — juniors and seniors — at Brown that filled the starting roles,” says Dubie. “It was somewhat of a tough transition. The toughest thing for me is not having an established routine throughout the week to set you up for when you’re going to pitch.
“When play three games in a weekend (a Saturday doubleheader and a Sunday single game in the Ivy League).”
Throwing from an over-the-top arm slot, Dubie uses a four-seam fastball, change-up, curveball and cutter.
The four-seamer sat at 92-93 mph in his most-recent outing. Last fall he got it up to 94.
Dubie throws his “circle” change around 86 mph and has gotten it up to 88.
His “spike” curve is thrown at 11-to-5 on the clock face and travel 75-76 mph.
The cutter is a developing pitch.
“During the school year I threw a slider,” says Dubie. “But I couldn’t get a consistent pitch shape on it. Sometimes it would be too slurvy. Sometimes it would be a sweeper. I had trouble commanding it.
“We decided to add a cutter. I’ve been throwing that for two months now and it’s 88-89 mph and it’s definitely getting more consistent.
“With my arm slot I can get behind a cutter and really rip it.”
Dubie was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis when he was very young.
For all 12 grades Peter went to Park Tudor School where father Sven Dubie teaches History in the Upper School (Grades 9-12) and mother Cammie Dubie is a former Science teacher in the Lower School (Grades 1-5).
Peter says brother Miles Dubie (Park Tudor Class of 2027) plans to play soccer and baseball (he’s a catcher and pitcher) and, perhaps, basketball in high school.
Organized baseball began for Peter on Indy’s north side at Washington Township Little League where he played until 12. One of his coaches was Andrew Dutkanych III with Andrew Dutkanych IV (Brebeuf Jesuit Class of 2022 and now at Vanderbilt University) as a teammate.
Travel ball teams for Dubie included the Indy Titans (coached by Wes Townsley) at 13U, Indiana Bulls (coached by Zach Foley and Jim Dickson) at 14U and 15U, Baseball Academics Midwest or BAMFAM (coached by Jake Banwart and Adam Gouker) at 16U and 17U and the PRP Mambas (coached by Greg Vogt) at 18U.
Drew Dickson (Zionsville Class of 2022 and now at Northwestern University) and Sam Reed (Brebeuf Jesuit Class of 2022 now at the University of Illinois) were among Dubie’s Indiana Bulls teammates. He trained with players from all over at PRP Baseball in Noblesville, Ind., as a junior and senior.
A three-sport athlete at Park Tudor, Dubie also played forward in soccer and swam the 50-yard freestyle.
He played soccer since his early school days and that sport was a college option until his junior year.
“My junior year I found a love for pitching,” says Dubie. “My ceiling was much higher for pitching and I wanted to pursue that.”
Courtney Whitehead is head baseball coach at Park Tudor. Dubie started going to Panthers baseball camps as a first grader so they go way back.
“He’s always been a great leader in my mind,” says Dubie. “He’s a coach who wants the best for the individuals that come through his program. He also wants to win.”
Dubie appreciates that Whitehead keeps up with players after they become alumni.
Fred Pinch imparted wisdom as Park Tudor’s pitching coach.
“I learned a lot from him as far as the preparation going into the spring,” says Dubie. “He gave us these towel drills and exercises for our backs and shoulders.”
Pinch is also an Upper School Science teacher.
“I would see him in the hallways,” says Pinch. “He was always super-happy to see me and whatnot. You get to know him as a person and it makes the team chemistry so much better.”
Dubie was a varsity baseball player throughout his high school days, missing his sophomore season (2020) because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He produced a 150 strikeouts and a 1.30 ERA in his junior and senior seasons and was a .350 career hitter. He was two-time all-Pioneer Conference and all-Marion County as a senior in 2022.
That season, Dubie racked up 19 strikeouts while also going 3-of-5 at the plate with a grand slam, double, six runs batted in, three runs scored and one stolen base against Knightstown.
He was named 2021-22 Park Tudor Male Athlete of the Year.
Dubie graduated cum laude from Park Tudor and was an Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction and a Global Scholar (doing research on climate change in the Maine fishing community where his grandparents live).
At Brown, he is a double major (International and Public Affairs and Economics).
A Boston Red Sox fan, Dubie’s all-time favorite players are David Ortiz and Pedro Martinez.
“(Ortiz) was such a clutch player,” says Dubie. “I wore No. 45 for awhile in travel ball (the same number as Martinez).”
Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran are his current Boston faves.
This summer, Dubie has been pitching for the Future Collegiate Baseball League’s New Britain (Conn.) Bees.
“Brown was able to get me a contract with the Bees last fall,” says Dubie, who had 13 strikeouts and 18 walks in his first eight outings spanning 10 1/3 innings. “(The FCBL is) a really good league for freshmen.”
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