BREWSTER, Mass. — Mavrick Rizy remembers what it was like.

Growing up in Fiskdale, Massachusetts, Rizy and his family would look forward to the days leading up to the Fourth of July. It meant it was almost time to pack their bags and make the two-hour drive down the coast to Cape Cod, where Rizy’s grandparents would rent a house to enjoy the festivities for a week.

And while the activities ranged from beach days to nights around the campfire, it was the Cape Cod Baseball League that captivated a young Rizy’s attention.

Rizy would attend Brewster Whitecaps games, racing against the other kids to track down foul balls and asking the seemingly larger-than-life players for their autographs.

Now, years later, the roles are reversed.

It’s Rizy, all grown up into his 6-foot-9 frame, who’s fielding requests and signing baseballs after he takes the mound in Brewster.

“I think the perfect word for it is full circle,” Rizy said. “Finally being able to put on a Cape Cod League uniform and go compete with the best college baseball players in America is one of the best feelings in the world.”

Rizy, 21, is now in his second summer of living out his dream, playing for the Whitecaps — but just because he’s donned the jersey doesn’t mean he’s content. The right-hander is working tirelessly to improve his game with the intention of leaving the bullpen behind at Louisiana State and cracking the starting rotation as a rising junior at his new school, Ole Miss. But most of all, he’s on a mission to leave behind a positive legacy.

“Individually, (I) definitely want to start,” Rizy said. "But I think my biggest thing in life is, I don’t want to be remembered for the play, I want to be remembered for the person I am. I think leaving my mark on (Ole Miss) in a different way than just my play would be a great goal of mine.”

When Rizy arrived on campus in Baton Rouge as a wide-eyed freshman, it opened up a world of both feelings and possibilities.

Rizy found himself in a development factory. A program that’s produced the likes of Paul Skenes, Aaron Nola and Kevin Gausman, and led by head coach Jay Johnson, who’s won at every stop in a coaching career that’s spanned three decades.

But he also found himself to be on the other side of the country, a nearly full-day car ride away from his family for the first time in his life.

He was homesick.

Luckily, Rizy had a new fighter in his corner with him, his freshman roommate and fellow right-hander, Casan Evans.

“He was my best friend within a week,” Rizy said.

The blossoming friendship was a cultural exchange for the New Englander and the Texan. Rizy was introduced to hunting by Evans, and in turn he introduced the Houston native to northeastern seafood classics like lobster rolls.

The two also talked, and the big heart on the smaller of the two righties gave Rizy an ear when he needed it.

“We would talk about anything,” Evans said. “What was bothering him, what I could do to fix it or help, and that was the main thing. I didn’t try and do anything extra or make him try to tell me anything he didn’t want to. I was just there for his help with whatever he needed.”

As time passed and Rizy grew more comfortable, so did his role on the team.

Johnson called Rizy’s number out of the bullpen a team-high 24 times, and he posted a 4.74 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 24.2 innings as a true freshman facing SEC competition.

Rizy played a key role in LSU’s path to Omaha, the home of the College Baseball World Series, tossing scoreless frames against Little Rock and West Virginia. When the Tigers closed out their ride to the championship against Coastal Carolina, he was there to celebrate and lift the trophy.

Still, while Rizy will always have the ring, the impact of people like Evans means even more.

“That’s what I remember about LSU,” Rizy said. “I think of the good kids there that have huge hearts. That’s the most important thing to me.”

After the triumph of 2025, Rizy spent one more season at LSU before entering the transfer portal. The decision to find a new home wasn’t an easy one for him. He knew he was leaving behind the only collegiate space he knew, the friends he made and the coaches who helped him improve along the way.

His sophomore year saw a slight decrease in his ERA (4.22), and his strikeouts per nine innings pitched jumped from an already impressive 10.6 to 11.8, which would’ve put him inside the top 50 pitchers in the nation if he met the innings limit to qualify.

His growth was clear to those around him.

“His mentality changed completely from year one to year two,” Evans said. “Year two you’re kind of within yourself, and you know what’s right for you, and you know what you like. That’s when I saw him at his best; when he started listening to his body and listening to himself, and he went out there and did what everybody on the team knew he could do.”

Yet, Rizy wanted more. He wanted to push himself to start, to be consistent and build confidence for the upcoming collegiate season. Those desires led him to the portal, and to Brewster for his second summer with the Whitecaps.

Knowing Rizy’s aspirations, Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik put the Massachusetts native in the rotation at the start of the campaign, giving him the opportunity to settle into a role he hadn’t held since his high school days when he was Perfect Game’s No. 30 RHP prospect in the class of 2024.

Getting back to starting has always been Rizy’s goal. Controlling the game’s tempo, helping the team in the biggest way possible. It didn’t exactly halt his ambitions to see a relative do it at the highest level of baseball, either.

Rizy’s uncle, Alex Cobb, enjoyed a 13-year MLB career as a starting pitcher, owning a career 3.84 ERA across 1,327.2 innings pitched, and even earned a National League All-Star nod in 2023 as a member of the San Francisco Giants.

“Having a family member doing your dream sheds some light at the end of the tunnel and makes it more reachable,” Rizy said. “He’s been such a good outlet … having him as a mentor has been the biggest blessing.”

While Cobb has a wealth of baseball knowledge, it’s his guidance on the mental side of the game that’s helped Rizy the most.

Cobb preached to Rizy to “keep it fun” when he’s on the mound, noting that all the preparation that goes into a start is done by the time a pitcher steps onto the field. Cobb’s mentality is that by that point, all you can do is pound the strike zone, and you might as well do it while having a great time.

“‘Have fun like you’re the little kid playing Little League,’” Rizy remembers Cobb telling him.

Cobb isn’t the only family member that Rizy has borrowed advice from. Rizy’s older brother, Kyle, pitched for Bryant University from 2022-25, and Rizy has taken pages out of his notebook since his time in high school — literally.

Kyle’s sophomore campaign at Bryant ended abruptly in his third game as he suffered a season-ending elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery, keeping him out for his junior year as well.

During his rehab, Kyle began to journal, documenting the good days and the bad, so that on those bad ones he could look back for motivation to keep chugging forward. Rizy adopted his brother’s tactic, altering it to fit his needs.

Rizy wrote out every step of his starting routine, and he referenced them before he took the mound in the Whitecaps home opener against the Falmouth Commodores on June 14.

“I write out everything to the minute,” Rizy said. “So, I looked back at the starts in high school and what I would do and modified it to what I’m doing now. I think having that schedule is so important.”

In his summer debut against the Commodores, Rizy went three innings, striking out five while walking three, giving up four hits and two earned runs. The right-hander consistently worked himself into and out of trouble, a trend that continued throughout the first half of the season.

Walks have been the biggest issue for Rizy. He came to the Cape off the back of walking eight hitters per nine innings at LSU and with the goal to improve his command. Unfortunately, things haven’t gone his way.

After Rizy’s fourth start on July 5, his walks per nine rate stood at 8.5, and his ERA, as a result, sat at 5.68.

Still, there’s reason to be optimistic about Rizy’s ability as a starter.

“He’s got a full playbook,” Whitecaps pitching coach Brian Del Rosso said. “There’s stuff that he has in his arsenal that’s unique from a release height standpoint. Leaning into more of what makes him successful, I think, is the most important thing for him to do.”

Del Rosso has worked with Rizy all summer, formulating and executing an individualized plan to get better day by day. The numbers listed above might not fly off the page, but they also don’t tell the full story.

“(Del Rosso) is so good in the sense where he simplifies everything,” Rizy said after his July 5 start. “He’s not trying to overcrowd you with information, but he’s going to let you know when he sees something wrong, and he’s helped a great deal. I think my changeup is the best it’s ever looked, and I credit that a lot to him.”

The people around Rizy believe in him and his quest to start. And it’s not empty encouragement.

Evans raved about his former roommate's fastball, calling it “one of the best-performing fastballs in the SEC,” citing the whiff percentage and weak contact percentage generated by the pitch. He also claimed that once Rizy “fills the zone up” with his curveball and slider, it’s “game over.”

Of course, there’s also the obvious.

Rizy’s 6-foot-9 frame. The undeniable first thing anyone notices about him gives him a unique advantage.

“I wouldn’t want to be in the box if Mavrick was pitching,” Evans, who arrived at LSU as a two-way player, said. “It messes with the hitter’s head. It’s hard to track the ball when you have a guy throwing from that slot, who’s that tall.”

Then, there’s what only the people who are closest to Rizy see — what Kyle has watched with his own two eyes.

Kyle has seen his younger brother recover from a string of knee surgeries between eighth grade and his sophomore year of high school. Kyle has seen his younger brother beat the odds to play baseball at the highest collegiate level. Kyle has watched him put in the hours.

“He’s beaten all the challenges that have come at him,” Kyle said. “To be honest, he is probably, I would say confidently, the hardest worker on the Cape without a doubt. I would put him up against anybody. He sticks to his routine, he’s invested in his success and, frankly, he wants it more than anybody I can think of.”

The two brothers, separated by three years, grew up playing baseball together, and their relationship has blossomed into one that’s incredibly important to each of them. Rizy refers to Kyle as his “best friend,” while Kyle tries to impart his younger sibling with the knowledge he's accrued.

Whether it be pitching advice, life advice or advice on the transfer portal, Kyle has been there.

When Rizy took that leap and entered the portal on May 26 — his brother’s birthday — he found himself in uncharted waters. Kyle, however, had already experienced the unknown, entering the portal after his senior season at Bryant.

The older right-hander, admittedly, “dislikes” the way “college baseball is trending” but understands the importance of finding the right home, and he played his part to help ensure his younger brother eventually found the one — even when Rizy spent that first day in the portal fielding phone calls left and right.

“I think it was an excellent decision,” Kyle said. “But all I told Mav was, ‘Go somewhere where you’re comfortable, and you think you can have a high level of success.’”

Rizy had offers from a multitude of schools and a tough decision to make, but his conversations with Ole Miss pitching coach Joel Mangrum, who helped a college-baseball leading eight arms get drafted a season ago, made the choice easier.

“It was two and a half hours of straight information,” Rizy said. “The investment, already, was what stood out to me the most. I felt like he was so invested in my career and I hadn’t even picked Ole Miss yet. That’s what really stuck out to me the most.”

Now, when Rizy steps onto campus in Oxford, Mississippi, in the fall, he’ll be doing it with an army in his corner, a talented coach in his ear and the powerful ambition to be in the starting rotation come spring.

But even if Rizy is back in the bullpen — a role he would take if that’s what will help the team — he’ll be content because his role on the diamond isn’t what’s most important to him. It’s his impact as a person.

Rizy wants to start, he wants to get back to Omaha, but he also, if not more so, wants to be the type of person that Evans was to him. He wants to be the type of person that kids look up to. His platform gives him the opportunity to give back, and that’s something Rizy wears with pride.

As Kyle told him, “‘If you’re not a good person to the people around you and the kids that look up to you, all of it is worth nothing.’”

Rizy is watching that dream of leaving behind a positive legacy come to fruition, as now he’s no longer a kid running around Whitecaps games attempting to acquire autographs and high-five the stars of tomorrow.

He’s the one handing them out.

“When people think of Mavrick Rizy, I don’t want them to think about the baseball; I want them to think of the kid that he is. The caring person that is going to help anyone no matter what. That’s so much more important than baseball,” Rizy said.