Backroads and Ballfields: Vanderbilt Lands Connecticut Right-Hander Gavin Chakar
By Daniel Wilson ·
Vanderbilt's 2028 class added an arm on Oct. 21. Gavin Chakar, a right-hander from Norwalk, Conn., who pitches at The Stony Brook School on Long Island, announced his commitment on Instagram.
How He Got Here
Chakar bats left and throws right. He made his name early. As a freshman at Norwalk High in the spring of 2025, he threw a complete-game one-hitter with 13 strikeouts that sent Norwalk to the FCIAC final.
That summer he made USA Baseball's 15U National Team, which went 4-0 and won gold at the WBSC U-15 Pan American Championship in Mexico. He was also named to USA Baseball's 2026 16U/17U National Team Development Program.
He has since moved to Stony Brook, across Long Island Sound, and he is one of the top pitchers in the 2028 class on our board.
The Arm
Prep Baseball's late-summer New England report had his fastball at 92 to 94 mph, touching 96, with a slider at 80 to 82 and a changeup at 83 to 85. He had already touched 96 as a freshman in May 2025.
That's three pitches and real velocity with nearly two high school seasons left.
Vanderbilt's 2028 Group
Earlier this month I wrote about Aiden Kearney, the Hagerty High infielder from Winter Park, Fla., who picked Vanderbilt. Chakar now joins him in a class that also includes catcher Jack Rhodes of Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville, outfielder Canyon Koonce of Brownsburg, Ind., shortstop DJ Jones of Kell High in Georgia and right-hander Liam Laffin of Lyman Hall in North Haven, Conn.
Laffin and Chakar give Tim Corbin two Connecticut arms in the same class. Corbin's program has long pulled pitchers out of the Northeast, and this class keeps that going.