If you want to watch someone slug 450-foot home runs, Tanner Mally is not your guy.
But if you hope to witness a master class in hitting, then pull up a chair every time Mally goes to the plate. The 2023 Naperville North graduate has feasted as the leadoff hitter for Western Michigan.
“My mindset is I’m getting on base in whatever way I can,” Mally said. “That’s what I’m thinking when I’m at the box.
“I’m not trying to hit the ball as far as I can as hard as I can. I’m just trying to find a way to touch first base safely. You don’t always have to have the flashiest stuff to be the most effective player.”
Mally is a prime example of that. After a breakout sophomore season in 2025, he was even better as a junior, leading Division I with a .446 batting average and finishing second in the nation with a .554 on-base percentage.
“I just continued to get better at what I was already good at,” Mally said. “I just kind of leaned in to being that full-contact hitter kind of guy, trying to get on for my teammates. I just tried to take advantage of every situation I was in.”
Mally, who switched positions from middle infielder to center fielder in order to play more for the Broncos in 2025, took advantage of many situations this past season. In 50 games, he had a program-record 87 hits, including 12 doubles and two triples, to go with 58 runs scored, 19 RBIs, 24 walks and 19 stolen bases in 25 attempts.
As a result, Mally earned several prestigious awards. He was an All-American third-team selection by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and an All-American honorable mention by the College Baseball Foundation.
Naperville North coach Jim Chiappetta, who watched several of Mally’s games online, wasn’t shocked.
“Here’s what I love about it,” Chiappetta said. “Talk about something that is deserved. Is it surprising that it happened as fast as it did? In my mind, not terribly.
“That’s how much the kid works. That’s how willing he is to not handcuff himself to one spot. He made the adjustment to the outfield, and I think as a result, he’s put himself in the position that he’s in this week.”
Mally is waiting to see whether he will be picked in the 2026 MLB draft, which will be held Saturday and Sunday in Philadelphia.
“Just in conversation with my adviser and the scouts I’ve been in contact with, there’s a pretty good chance I’m going in the top 10 rounds,” he said. “We’re waiting. We’re hoping, trying not to stress, trying not to worry and just controlling what you can control at this point.”
If Mally is chosen, he would be the first Naperville North graduate to be drafted since Nick Solak was picked by the New York Yankees in 2016.
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Solak, a second baseman who was coached by Chiappetta on Naperville North’s freshman team, made his major league debut with the Texas Rangers in 2019 and has since played in 263 games for five teams.
Following in the footsteps of players like Solak, who was inducted into the Naperville North Athletics Hall of Fame in January, would be a big leap for Mally, but he believes in his abilities.
“I have a lot of pride in what I do at the plate, a lot of confidence,” he said. “I think I can do it at any level, and now other people are starting to believe that.”
Former Naperville Central star Colin Barczi, who also is eligible for the draft, has believed in Mally for years.
“I knew every single time we played North that Tanner Mally was going to be the best player that you play against in our conference,” Barczi said. “He’s obviously a stud, could always hit.
“It was super cool this year when I was opening Instagram or Twitter and I’m seeing that Tanner Mally is still hitting like .500. It was the craziest thing ever to see. It was so impressive how he maintained that all year. But I always knew he was going to be a stud just from all the years of playing him at Central.”
Even so, Mally does have some butterflies as he contemplates a professional career.
“It’s a little scary having to start this next chapter of your life, but sometimes change is good,” he said. “It’s almost like a cold feet kind of thing, where you don’t know if you’re ready for this challenge or if you belong.
“But you’ve just got to attack it head on. I’m lucky enough that I’m being given a chance to play at the next level, so I’m blessed. It takes a village, and I’ve got a good circle of people around me.”
One of those people is Chiappetta, who raves about the example Mally is setting for Naperville North. Mally attended the Huskies’ 1-0 loss to Naperville Central in a Class 4A regional final in May and later made an appearance at the program’s summer camp.
“It was super cool for him to make time to talk to the kids and not only tell his story but to tell them what it takes,” Chiappetta said. “He was really big on having the kids understand the ups and downs, the ebbs and flows of the work it requires as you make the jump from one level to the next.
“Typically, when you have the kids in the classroom, you might have some eyeballs for the first couple of minutes, and then they start to wander. But all of these kids were just locked in, taking in as much as they could while he made that time to come back and give back.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.