Lane senior pitcher Amaan Khan among few prep players invited to MLB draft league this summer

Kirsten Stickney/Sun-Times

Amaan Khan is not your typical high school pitcher.

For starters, the Lane senior towers over most of his teammates and opponents at 6-5 and 205 pounds.

Then there’s his fastball, which hit 90 mph in a recent game against Taft and has been clocked in the 92-93 mph range.

Earlier this month, the right-hander was one of a few prep players invited to compete in the MLB Draft League. The six-team loop, which plays in former minor-league parks in the eastern half of the U.S., is really two leagues in one.

From June 4-July 13, it’s made up of mostly collegians and a few prep players showcasing themselves for the MLB Draft. From July 18-Sept. 4, it becomes a professional minor league with an entirely new group of players.

“It’s a huge steppingstone to get seen this early in front of the MLB scouts,” Khan said. “That would be a great opportunity to showcase my skills at that level against some of the best competition.”

But that’s nothing new for Khan, which again sets him apart from most high schoolers.

He already is a veteran of international competition, representing Pakistan. His mother was born in Pakistan, and his father’s parents are from Pakistan.

Khan made his international debut as a 16-year-old in a World Baseball Classic qualifier in Panama in 2022. Last December, he again played for Pakistan at the Asian Championships in Taiwan. The highlight there: his first international victory, 12-3 against Palestine.

“To win an international game, you don’t get to say that many times,” he said.

Earlier in the tournament, Khan threw 1⅔ scoreless innings as Pakistan’s last pitcher in a 14-0 loss to Japan.

“[With] them coming off a WBC run, [that] was the most energy I think I ever had in my life,” he said.

“So that was a lot of confidence. But I also felt like when I stepped on that mound, I’m like, ‘I’ve been here, I’ve done it.’ So it allowed me to be kind of relaxed.”

Making the experience even better was the fact that his dad, Azeem, was on hand to witness it.

“Awesome experience,” Azeem said. “Taiwan is a great place to go to, super baseball-friendly, super tourist-friendly. . . . Good fan base, and it was a great, great environment.”

The elder Khan sometimes marvels at how his son’s heritage has opened doors for him on the diamond.

“I would have never thought that being Pakistani would be a benefit when it comes to baseball,” Azeem said. “When I was a kid, being Pakistani and playing any sports, [it] never benefitted me. Because there’s a cliché or a stereotype with that, right? But it’s helped him for sure.”

For his part, Amaan embraces his roots and is glad to bring some attention to an emerging sport in a country better known for its success in baseball’s cousin, cricket.

“It’s just being able to push Pakistan baseball out there to people and see we’re a little more legit than people think,” he said.

Perhaps an ironic aspect of Khan’s rising profile is that he came late to pitching.

“He was known as a hitter, and he was a catcher when he was young,” said Azeem, who coached his son in youth ball. “But every time he got on the mound, he was extremely effective. He got limited times to pitch because he was a catcher. But whenever he would pitch . . . he was really good at keeping guys off balance.”

Lane, which was 17-6 overall and unbeaten in the Public League’s top-tier Jackie Robinson North at midweek, uses Khan as a high-leverage reliever.

“His sophomore year on JV, we started throwing him a little bit and saw the potential of where that was headed,” Lane coach Sean Freeman said. “So then he transitioned to focusing on pitching midway through sophomore season.”

Since then, Khan — who is committed to Division II Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) — has been honing his other pitches to complement that plus fastball.

“His breaking ball’s pretty solid,” Freeman said. “He’s been working on a changeup. . . . He’s made a lot of strides considering it’s not like he pitched a ton when he was little.”

Work is something Khan is willing to do, according to his coach.

“He’s a great kid, he’s very disciplined,” Freeman said. “The way he goes about his work, he takes his pitching training and his routines very seriously.

“He’s very polished for a high school kid. . . . One of his best traits — he’s still learning how to pitch, but within that, even when he’s having not his best day, he stays calm and cool and collected. He doesn’t easily rattle.”

But then, why would Khan get nervous facing other teenagers? He already has played on much bigger stages than most high schoolers ever will.