​When Patrick Skellchock coached Eddie Hacopian at Winston Churchill High School, there were times when Eddie’s little brother Chris would tag along. It did not take long for Skellchock to realize that Chris Hacopian would be a special talent. He told me, “When Chris was in 8th grade, I thought wow, he could start on our varsity team right now”.He also made sure to point out that it was not like Churchill was some talent drained program, Hacopian was just that good. By the time Hacopian was a freshman, he was committed to baseball powerhouse Wake Forest and starred alongside his brother at Churchill. Skellchock and his brother who coached with him were already talking about how Chris would be a first round pick one day.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt turns out that those predictions were right on the money. Years later, Skellchock was at the draft party while Chris Hacopian got selected by his hometown Washington Nationals. Skellchock called the experience surreal, acknowledging there is a good chance he will never work with a first round pick again.In our interview, it was clear how much admiration Skellchock had towards his star pupil. He made sure to remind me that he coached plenty of great players at Churchill, but none of them were quite like Chris. Skellchock gushed over Hacopian’s work ethic saying, “He has put more effort in than any of the other kids I have coached. I have had some hard workers, but he takes it to another level”.The work ethic runs in the family, so this determination did not just spring out of thin air for Chris. His dad was a star at the University of Maryland and spent five years in the minor leagues. Eddie Hacopian may not have had the talent of his little brother, but he went from Churchill to community college to Maryland on the back of his hard work and baseball IQ.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAs Skellchock put it, Eddie is Chris’ number one fan, and a role model for him. Playing with Eddie was a big reason why Chris decided to stay home and play at Maryland for the first two years of his career. After Eddie graduated, Chris decided he wanted to challenge himself in the SEC, the best baseball conference in America, and transferred to Texas A&M.That desire to push himself and find the next challenge has always appealed to Chris Hacopian. He actually left Churchill for a baseball focused academy for his senior year. However, he was injured for most of his senior year, which is part of the reason he arrived on campus at Maryland.Hacopian has had a couple injury setbacks over the years, but as Patrick Skellchock reminded me, they really were not setbacks at all. Every time he got hurt, Hacopian would come back better than ever. Skellchock theorized that this show of resilience and his ability to overcome adversity actually helped him in the draft process.While he faced some adversity with injuries, Skellchock acknowledged that Hacopian did not face a whole lot of it at Churchill.