Nanakuli ace Donald Kapaku Jr. learned by watching a master

Mar. 21—One day, Donald Kapaku Jr. watched a baseball video from the 1990s.

One day, Donald Kapaku Jr. watched a baseball video from the 1990s.

What he saw completely changed his perception of time and space. Kapaku, an 8-year-old who was new to pitching, did not have a dominant fastball. He did not have exceptional size and height. He saw a version of his future through the past.

It turns out Greg Maddux is Donald Kapaku Jr.'s spirit animal.

"My dad showed him to me, the best pitcher in the world. He didn't throw super fast, but he's really accurate and his curves were nasty, " Kapaku recalled.

The 2021 baseball season was semi-lost, with scarcely any preseason games, an abbreviated regular season, and no playoffs and state tournament. Despite the lingering restrictions that limited his freshman year, Kapaku kept toiling away, a budding craftsman on the hill. Maddux, the Hall of Fame hurler, and ace of the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves, became his pitching role model. Maddux's range of pitches provided a blueprint.

"Maddux, that's the guy, " Kapaku said. "I really love to watch him."

In'22, Nanakuli won the OIA Division II championship. Kapaku's mastery stymied every opponent. He struck out nine in Nanakuli's state-tournament win over Konawaena. The Golden Hawks lost in the semifinals to Waipahu, but it was quite a campaign by a team whose core was mostly underclassmen.

As a sophomore, Kapaku went 10-0 with a 1.65 ERA with 58 strikeouts to 10 walks in 51 innings pitched.

This season, Nanakuli bumped up to Division I, joining some of the state's best baseball programs in the OIA West. From the outside, it seemed like a possible recipe for struggle. Mid-sized schools that rise to the pinnacle in D-II often lose a large group of talent to graduation and enter D-I with a fledgling group of inexperienced, less-talented players.

This was different.

This spring, Kapaku has been sensational. In six innings against perennial powerhouse Campbell, he allowed no earned runs on four hits with eight strikeouts and three walks. An unearned run was the difference in a 1-0 loss.

"We could've been undefeated right now, " he said. "The Campbell game, it was kind of my fault. I threw my slider to the floor and it got past my catcher."

Last week, Kapaku was involved in another 1-0 game. This time, he prevailed in a pitchers' duel with Aiea's Aidan Yoshida. Kapaku's three-hitter was efficient, with 90 pitches, including six strikeouts and one walk. On the heels of a 2-1 win over Leilehua—a combined five-hitter by Micah Nihoa and Damian Griffin—Nanakuli is 2-1 in the OIA West. Kapaku Jr. has a 0.00 ERA with 14 K's and four walks in 13 innings pitched.

Radford coach Jacob Sur is not surprised. One of the teams Kapaku stifled last year was Radford.

"I don't know how much his stuff improved (this year ), but he has those things you can't teach. He has that bulldog mentality. He wants the ball, " Sur said. "He may not have the most velocity, but he has command of his three pitches. He's really efficient and really pounds the strike zone. Since his freshman year, he's been good. He wants great competition."

Nanakuli has emerged as a viable candidate for a berth in the D-I state tournament, something that hasn't happened before, according to Golden Hawks coach Donald Kapaku Sr., Kapaku's father. He played for Nanakuli and graduated in 1998.

Donald Jr. had thought his father was on the first Golden Hawks squad to play in the state tourney.

"No, that's not true. We were the first team to make the playoffs, " the coach said.

Back then, there was no D-II, and qualifying for the OIA playoffs was much, much more difficult. Today, Nanakuli's young team has destiny in its hands. It's an overnight story a decade in the making.

"The plan that I started back when we were in coach-pitch, I told parents we would win D-II, wait two years and win D-I and states, " Kapaku Sr. said. "That's the plan if we stay together."

Staying together happened until it didn't happen. The group that Kapaku Jr. started with when he was 4, when he became a pitcher at 8, was still unified when they took their lumps two years later in the tough Cal Ripken league. Two years of struggle turned into a title when they were 12.

"We were the only neighborhood team in Ripken, " Coach Kapaku said. "But private schools, here they come. Two (players ) went to Campbell. One is at Aiea. The rest is ILH."

Jordan Kaye, Blaze Baltazar, Griffin and Kapaku Jr. are the remnants of the Ripken squad that put Nanakuli on the map. Kapaku Jr. still has fond memories of that team. After all, it led to a trip to California for the team, which led the ace to his first MLB game.

A budding Cinderella story for the Valley, not long after a state-tourney appearance by the football team, would be ideal for the Golden Hawks. Kapaku Jr. can imagine what Nanakuli's roster would do if the 12 players from the Ripken title team was still home.

"That would be a whole different story if the whole team stayed, " he said. "Just stayed."

The return of standout players to Waianae's softball team via transfer this year is something coach Kapaku is well aware of.

"I wanted to see that. I'm so proud of you guys. Now you represent your community, " he said.

Seeing talent leave Nanakuli in decades past for various sports still rankles the elder Kapaku.

"This whole mirage thing that you have to go out there to be successful, I had a friend's son who graduated from a private school. He made a full-ride (scholarship ) to Georgetown. Excellent offensive lineman, " the coach said. "I asked the dad, what did your school do for you to get to the next level. He said, he took his son to camps in Seattle. A coach saw him and called his nephew, who coaches at Georgetown."

It happens everywhere. A tight-knit group of hard-working keiki, supportive parents, all from one community. Destined to fragment.

"If we all stayed, it wouldn't have been fair, " Kapaku Sr. added. "The OIA's different. There's pukas, not as strong teams. Cal Ripken is the best of the best. Your 1 through 12 has to be stacked or you're not going to compete. All those players from the other teams went to the ILH."

True enough, but the battery, the original pieces are there. Griffin has one of the best arms behind the plate.

"He has a cannon, " Sur said.

"We've been playing together since we were 8 or 9, " Kapaku Jr. said. "He is always on his toes. I would be so comfortable where I could lift my leg up (on a pitch ) and he can still throw the baserunner out. I can lift my leg instead of side-stepping."

Over the years, Donald Sr. kept clicking on Greg Maddux videos. Over the years, Donald Jr. kept observing.

"I keep making him watch it so he remembers the different pitches and how (Maddux ) holds them, " Kapaku Sr. said.

Kapaku Jr. has matured mentally and physically. He was reluctant to hit the weight room at first, but has grown to embrace in over time.

"I'm kind of surprised by my success. I thought they were going to hit the ball to my defense. I wasn't expecting to strike out guys, " he said. "I'm doing my workouts, making sure the ball moves, practicing my pitches."

Practicing isn't just work. Sometimes, it's tinkering that leads to an actual part of the arsenal. Coach Kapaku says his son throws a "lob pitch."

"I got this pitch from (the movie ) 'Rookie of the Year, ' " coach Kapaku said.

In the bigs, they call it an "eephus pitch."

"I'll mostly throw it to the big batters, the 3, 4 and 5, " Kapaku Jr. said. "In their head, I know they want to smash the ball, but in reality they'll hit it to the floor or high in the sky."

Nanakuli travels to Kapolei today and hosts Mililani on Saturday.