Daniel Welch is a pitcher for Brigham Young University's baseball team. He was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but grew up in Florida, Australia, and Utah. Welch was a three year starter for Danny Schoonover at Lone Peak High School in Highland, Utah. He tossed a two-hiiter in his final regular season game against Pleasant Grove High School.[1] Welch went on to lead the Knights to a first round win against Bingham High School in the state playoffs.[2] Welch was named as a 5A All-State pitcher [3] and went on to lead the 5A All-Star team to victory as well as being named the MVP of the event. He was also named All-Valley and All-Region IV.[4][5] He finished his senior season at Lone Peak with a then-record 70 strikeouts in 53 innings. He signed to play collegiately for BYU.
At BYU, Welch appeared in 14 games for the Cougars, starting four games as a true freshman. He struck out 17 batters in 19 1/3 innings and had a record of 0-2 with a 9.78 ERA.[6]
Following his freshman season, Welch left to serve an LDS Church mission to Curitiba, Brazil.[5] He is scheduled to return July 2010.
He is also an Eagle Scout and is majoring in business. He was tutored by former BYU lefty Todd Newman.[5]