In one night of nerves, emotion and excitement, David Shields was rewarded for years of carefully planning for his future. But as they often say, now the real work begins.

“It was very fun, but a lot of emotional rollercoasters going on,” Shields, the Mt. Lebanon left-handed pitcher extraordinaire, said less than 24 hours after he was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the second round of the Major League Baseball draft on Sunday, July 14, the 41^st player taken overall.

Shields, who is 6 feet 2 and just 17 years old, has decided to turn pro. He committed to play college baseball at the University of Miami, but that was well before he got drafted in such a good spot after earning a lot attention and being named the Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year his senior season.

Things were still new, so he still had to officially sign with the Royals and did not know where he might be assigned, but he was keen on starting his new chapter.

“I have a pretty good foundation leading up to this point,” Shields, of Linda Lane, said. “That’s what I’ve tried to do, to build myself up to be ready for pro ball. What we’re going to do there is probably just build off of that and get to work as soon as possible and start making things happen.”

Shields has meticulously prepared for this moment. A year ago, he worked it out academically to reclassify, essentially skipping his junior year at Lebo to become a senior in 2023-24. He gave up his spot as football quarterback to focus on baseball.

Even before that, he developed his pitching to the point that as a senior he was throwing in the 93 to 94 mph range, and with control. Although the start of his season was delayed by a nasty case of mononucleosis, he had a 5-1 record with a 0.51 ERA, 1.00 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) and 63 strikeouts against just four walks in 35 innings as the Blue Devils went to the WPIAL Class 6A championship game for the third year in a row.

Offensively, as an outfielder Shields hit .383 with seven doubles and a homer. But his future undoubtedly lies with his left arm.

“The sky’s the limit for him,” Royals scouting director Brian Bridges told MLB.com. “He has a really good feel for pitching. Throws a lot of strikes. Seventeen years old, so there’s a lot more growth.”

Shields is known for having three pitches in his repertoire–a fastball, a breaking ball and a changeup. However, here’s a bit of breaking news, pun intended: He now has a second breaking ball.

“I came up with, like, a slider halfway through the year,” he said. “It was really new, so I wouldn’t really expect anybody to know about it.”

So he’s a four-pitch left-hander drafted by a major league baseball team who doesn’t turn 18 until the fall. That’s pretty rare. And he was heavily on people’s radar (OK, another pun intended) even before he got into a game this spring.

“I would say around January all of the scouts started calling and doing background checks on him,” Lebo coach Patt McCloskey said. “And everybody that wanted to talk, wanted to talk for at least an hour. They weren’t wasting their time. That’s when I started to think that this is the real deal.

“The first game there were maybe 20 scouts there. After that, it was between 30 and 50 every game. At that point, you realized that, yes, this kid is a top draft pick.”

McCloskey said Shields also has the proper temperament.

“As far as a competitor goes, he’s pretty much unequaled as far as what I’ve seen in high school,” the coach said.

Shields has some pedigree. His father, Kevin, has a pro golf background as a two-time Tri-State Open champion and 2010 West Penn Open champion, and is a golf instructor at Nevillewood. His older brother Derrick pitched in the Division II College World Series this year for IUP.

Now David is set for a new arc in his path.

He said he follows baseball enough to feel as though he is a good fit with the Kansas City organization. And something else.

“They’ve got cool jerseys, too,” Shields said.