PEORIA — Abram Sherrin finished his final high school season as one of Liberty High School’s most versatile players, leading the team with eight home runs while also posting a 1.70 ERA on the mound for a squad that was eliminated by Chandler in the 6A state playoffs. His performance drew Division I interest and culminated in a commitment to the Arizona Wildcats. But the story behind Sherrin’s rise extends well beyond box scores: he has grown up in a household that includes 22 siblings, a family dynamic his coaches and he say has been central to his development as a player and a person.
Most of the player's 22 siblings pose together on a front porch — the family fan club credited with helping fuel the incoming Wildcat's baseball success.
Sherrin’s early life took shape when James and Lorraine Sherrin adopted him at age 1 while his biological mother, Aundrea Jarred, was recovering from addiction and working full time. The household he joined is far from typical: of the 22 children in the extended family, 16 are adopted. Several siblings still live in the family home and regularly attend his games, forming what Sherrin calls a constant source of encouragement and energy.
“I’d say they’re very outgoing,” Sherrin said of his relatives. “They’re very open. We’re a very Catholic family, so we’re pretty tight. We’d go out of our way to help someone and we give back a lot.” Those family values, he and others say, are evident in how he handles himself on the field, where composure and accountability have become hallmarks of his game.
“I just try to be the bigger person,” Sherrin said. “We’re about our character … so I think holding myself to a standard on the field and off the field is just the biggest thing for me.” Teammates and coaches have noticed that steadiness in pressure moments: instead of reacting to the highs and lows of a long season, Sherrin’s approach has been steady and measured, traits he attributes directly to the environment he grew up in.
Growing up with so many siblings also gave Sherrin a practical education in leadership and adaptability. With brothers and sisters spanning different ages, he learned early how to relate to younger children and to those older than him, and how to lead by example instead of by command. “I see all ages,” he said. “I think it’s having so many brothers at home and then coming out here and having another brotherhood — it’s the same thing. They’re my family, as well.”
The incoming Arizona Wildcat baseball signee during a practice, shown in Liberty baseball gear leaning on the dugout with his glove visible in the foreground.
Liberty coach Chris Raymond recalled seeing that maturity early on. By Sherrin’s freshman season, Raymond said, it was already apparent that the young player had uncommon skill and poise. “His freshman year, he was already really skilled,” Raymond said. “As the year went on, it just became more and more evident that he was going to be a player of that caliber.” The coaching staff moved him into a starting role at shortstop and also relied on his ability to pitch, a two-way role that required consistent preparation and a steady mindset.
Raymond pointed to what he called Sherrin’s “quiet confidence” as a defining trait. “He’s never too high, he’s never too low. He just performs at a constant level. It doesn’t matter what it is, he goes out there and does his job,” the coach said. That temperament, Raymond added, is reinforced by a family structure he described as deeply supportive. “His parents are just tremendous human beings,” Raymond said. “That support structure creates a young man with so many moral values.”
Sherrin’s combination of on-field production, two-way ability and steady leadership helped propel him to the next level: a Division I commitment to the Arizona Wildcats. As he prepares to make the transition from high school standout to college signee, the web of family support — a large, faith-oriented household that attends his games and measures success by more than statistics — remains a constant in his life. For a player who has spent years learning to balance the demands of hitting, fielding and pitching, that backing has been both practical and emotional, and it is one of the threads Sherrin and those around him cite when describing how he arrived at this point in his career.