Posts belonging to Category High School Baseball

June 2, 2010

I recently told Arlo that I would attempt to make more frequent Sombrero posts, but this weekend was a busy one for me.  I was in Denver attending the Calcote/Lucero bachelor party.  Jason Calcote is a lifelong friend of mine and was kind enough to invite me to be one of the groomsmen in his upcoming wedding.  Garret Lucero is another friend of mine, and the two decided to have a combined party up in Denver so that we could catch part of the Dodgers/Rox series.  It was a fun weekend.  I’m going to leave it at that.

A lot of baseball stuff happened over the weekend, though, so I’m going to attempt to condense it all into a reasonably brief post.  Probably the sweetest thing for New Mexican baseball that took place over the holiday weekend was UNM’s at-large bid into a regional.  The selection, which took place early Monday morning, was the program’s first selection in almost half a century.  They open up against Stanford as a three-seed in the Fullerton regional.  I truly believe they have an honest to God shot at making it into the round of 16.  With wins against Texas, TCU, and a couple other schools that have spent time in the top-25, this group appears to have all the requisite preparation for games of this magnitude.

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May 26, 2010

Of all the projectiles used in today’s four most popular professional sports, no air-borne apparatus is more deadly more than the baseball.  The worst damage a football or basketball will usually ever do is jam a finger or break a nose (sorry, Stuart Scott).  A hokey puck is comparable to a baseball in density and velocity, but players wear full-face helmets the entire game and goalie is the single position dedicated to sacrificing himself in the line of fire.  Only in baseball is a primary element of the game defending your opponent’s best attempts at using a large club to bludgeon a cork filled piece of leather into oblivion. I’ll leave the exact physics to the Grinnell guys or whatever other link you wanna put up for that), but the simple fact is that the right swing connecting with the right pitch can produce a devastating amount of force, something any player, coach, or fan can attest to.  In fact, the book Death at the Ballpark documents over 850 unique ways people have died either playing or watching America’s pastime.  There are close calls every game, with line drives and foul balls zipping this way and that.  Usually, people get out of the way.  Sometimes, they don’t.

On March 11, 2010, Marin Catholic High School pitcher Gunnar Sandberg was struck in the head by a line drive during a scrimmage.  The 16 year old was placed in a medically-induced coma and had part of his skull removed during one of many surgeries.  But just two months later Gunnar is well on his way to recovery, and with a protective helmet currently covering his recuperating cranium, he has thrown out opening pitches for both the Giants and A’s in the past two weeks.  He is also looking forward to returning to his high school team next season.  That’s tough, kid.

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May 24, 2010

I was talking to Dee the other day about something that I find to be one of the coolest parts of the game of baseball and its inherently individualistic nature, walk-up intro music.  There is no other team sport in which every player on the field gets so many exclusive moments.  A Hall of Fame NFL lineman could go his entire career without ever hearing his name over the stadium loudspeakers, yet even bottom rung Major Leaguers get three to four chances on average to strut out into the spotlight.  Even high school varsity teams throw on players’ own personal pump-up tunes on their way to the plate.  I didn’t play baseball long enough to get to walk out in front of a cheering stadium to a song of my choosing; the closest I have to compare is whatever I put on my IPod before a big ski run, but I totally understand the motivation of music and think it has a particularly interesting place in the game people come here to read about.

In my research on the topic I came across an article published Sunday in the Sacramento Bee that beat me to it, pretty much summing up everything I wanted to say about the topic along with a lot of big league insight that I would not be able to provide.  It’s really worth checking out, and big ups to back to back Cy Younger Timmy “Dirty Hippy” Lincecum on selecting The Doors’ Break on Through.  You are now firmly cemented as my favorite active player (more on that later). Another interesting bit I came across actually talked to the music people behind the scenes for all 30 MLB teams and got the skinny on all of them.  So I’m going to save myself a lot of time on this one and get straight to what I wanted to do with this piece in the first place.  I know all the guys that write on here have at some point walked out to their own intro music, along with most of the people who are reading here on a regular basis, and I’d love to hear what you guys’ thoughts are on it.  What did you walk out to and why?  If you’ve never had the pleasure of walking up to the plate to cheering fans and your own musical motivation, think for a minute that you’re in the on-deck circle of your favorite stadium and your team needs a big hit.  What’s it gonna be?  I want to hear from you on this one, Golden Sombrero Nation.

Responses:

Dee: the three walk-up songs i remember using were shook ones, gun ballad by the pharaohs (paz’s verse), and the whoa instrumental from bad boy. i really thought all of those beats were just heavy and brought me to the competitive and focused state of mind i needed to be in. i have heard some of the guys i go to dental school with, who also happened to play in college, say a lot of shit about players who use hip-hop as their walk-up jam like that we are all fake thugs and wankstas. it’s not like a could not have found a great punk rock piece that i would have loved. the problem is that even 3-chord punk songs demand more than the 5 or 6 seconds it takes to walk from the circle to the box. all of those hip-hop tracks i mentioned used samples that were only around 4 seconds and then looped. i really feel like battle rap is the way to go with walk-up songs.

Mark Wilcox: At Grynul, I walked out to a beat mixed by Griff and Hodges a few summers ago when we were drinking beer and watching Chris dominate his guitar. Apart from it being a pretty dark and intimidating beat, I liked it for the memory it conjured. Having a cold one with friends will forever be a favorite pastime; I could relax and think about how cool it was that I was there when that little piece of intellectual property was created. Plus I knew no one else in the world walked out to that shit. Confidence and comfort were the reasons I chose my walk out music.

May 18, 2010

When Vicente Padilla landed on the DL, the Dodgers decided to call up John Ely from AAA.  For those who have not heard of him, Ely was one of the players that the White Sox surrendered in the Juan Pierre trade.  No, I’m not bringing this up because I wish he were doing this for the White Sox.  Actually, I played against the Homewood-Flossmoor High School alum in various showcases during both my junior and senior high school seasons.  As I reflect on Ely’s immediate success with the Dodgers, I cannot help but recall my memories of him as a 16/17 year old flame thrower.

My first encounter with the major league winner was during the Jack Kaiser Memorial All-Star game which placed some of the best Illinois, prep prospects against each other.  I’m going to go ahead and boast here for a second because, well, I can.  At the beginning of the summer, I was selected to play in the Northwest Suburban Junior All-Star Game, which was essentially the premiere, prep scouting combine in the state; I’m talking radar guns, stop watches, sun glasses and collared shirts everywhere, literally lining the fences.  Every conference within state was represented by a 25-man squad whose constituents were selected by the coaches association.  I played pretty well that weekend and followed with a ridiculous summer that ultimately lead to my selection for the Jack Kaiser Memorial All-Star Game.  Essentially, it was an all-star game of the all-star game.

I had heard Ely’s name off and on for the previous two years and was therefore psyched to learn that he was the starting pitcher for the other team.  As I stood at the top of the dugout with a few teammates, watching him warm up in the opposing bullpen, I found myself marveling at his every pitch.  It was, without a doubt, the fastest I had ever seen.  Back then he was not the 6’2″, 200lbs. pitcher that he is now.  There was no way that he could have been anything more than 6’0″, 170lbs. at that time.  But how could this skinny bastard throw so hard?  Well, he had a unique, wiry frame that allowed him to generate an absurd amount of tilt and arm speed.

On that day, Ely only made it through the first inning.  While I don’t exactly recall his line, my guess is that it was something like 1 IP, 6 ER, 3 H, 5 BB, 3K, 2 wild pitches.  With every pitch, Ely let out a grunt that indicated that he was either giving birth, or just trying to light up the radar gun for some scouts(I believe both).  There was no denying that he threw hard, but his control and overall makeup were suspect.  Due to the fact that I was part of the second wave of players that entered the game in the 5th inning, I never got to face Ely that day.

The next fall arrived and I was still unsure as to where I might be playing the following year.  I had it narrowed down to what I believed to be my four best options, but was nowhere close to making a final decision.  One of these schools, Miami University(OH), had invited me to their final showcase before handing out scholarships; I had performed well at their summer camp and was looking to make one final, lasting impression.  You can only imagine how I felt when I learned that I would be facing Ely, who apparently was already a scholarship lock.  I guess no major programs wanted to risk a scholarship on him- probably due to his mechanics, attitude or height.  I was skeptical of him as well.  After all, I did witness his disastrous first inning only a few months before.

That day, Ely put on one of the most impressive pitching displays I have ever seen.  His previous composure and control problems were gone and a new pitcher had been born.  Topping out at 91 mph, he struck out 7 of the 9 batters he faced- one of which was me.  My at-bat went some like this.  1st pitch: absolute gas on the outside corner, called strike.  2nd pitch: took a late hack at a letter-high fastball, strike two.  3rd pitch:  fouled off a devastating slider. How? No clue, especially considering that I always struggled with good sliders.  4th pitch: an even more devastating slider that I really struggled with.  I was one of three batters who managed to make contact while only one of those was put in play- a weak groundball to second base.  The next year, our first season of collegiate baseball, Ely was a Freshman All-American at Miami(Ohio).  Need I say more?

After watching each of Ely’s 4 starts this season, I am beyond impressed with what I have seen.  He is no longer the skinny, smoke thrower that he was when I faced him then.  In fact, quite the contrary.  Ely’s fastball consistently sits in the high 80s and is complemented by a sharp curve and change-up that drops off the table.  He also features a 2-seam fastball in the low to mid 80s that generates tremendous, late movement that reminds me of Jake Peavy’s.  He is a strike throwing machine who is making a name for himself as a control expert.  Here are what his first four starts looked like:

April 28th at Mets:  6 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 4 K, 3 BB – 116 pitches    Loss (0-1)

May 6th vs. Brewers:  6.2 IP, 4 H, ER, 7 K, 0 BB – 108 pitches   ND (0-1)

May 11th at Diamondbacks:  6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 6 K, 0 BB – 105 pitches   W (1-1)

May 17th vs. Astros:  7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 8 K, 0 BB – 97 pitches   W (2-1)

2010 Overall:  2-1, 25.2 IP, 21 H, 10 ER, 25 K, 3 BB  –  3.51 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, .219 BAA

No you are not misreading those stats.  Ely has not walked a batter in his last three starts which spans 19.2 IP and 84 batters – the longest active streak among pitchers.  While I doubt that he will continue at his current, absurd pace, I honestly believe that Ely will continue to succeed and warrant the opportunity to throw every 5th day for the Dodgers.  It is already clear that Ely is a pitcher who just knows how to get guys out and stay within himself while doing so.  Still, there is no way that he will continue his freakish control; there will come a day when his pin-point accuracy is slightly off and he gets knocked around.  It happens.  However, the moxie that Ely has displayed leads me to believe that he will have no problem bouncing back when this happens.  In this era, an era where all of the top pitching prospects are smoke-throwing phenoms, Ely’s success is a refreshing deviation from the norm.  It has reminded me that young, intelligent pitchers still exist in baseball but are just buried beneath all of the hype and mayhem that surrounds the game’s well-known prospects.

Plus, I get to tell people that I have faced a guy who out-dueled Dan Haren in a game where Haren struck out 9 in his first 3 innings.  I’m just saying….

May 8, 2010

Friday evening saw what will go down as a historic District 1AAAA title game between Farmington High and Piedra Vista High. The game saw two Division 1 signees in dead lockstep on the mound, extra innings, and victory for the home team. As FHS 3B, Joe Cervantes, touched home in the bottom of the 8th, the Scorps raced from the dugout to celebrate at the plate while the Panthers sauntered off of the field. All was not lost, however, since, due to a rule which is ripe for amendment, the Panthers still retained enough of a runs scored/allowed difference to collect their school’s first title.

The following morning, coaches from both schools carpooled and caravanned together southward to scout various potential opponents they may face in the upcoming state tournament in what will surely go down as another first. Prior to this season, the coaching staffs of the two powerhouses were bitter rivals and enemies. With a new generation of coaches at both schools has come a sense of cooperativity both in the school ball season and the club seasons. It is the opinion of the local baseball community that this cooperation was entirely overdue. The rivalry at times destroyed friendships, resulted in criminal activity, and, most importantly, stalled players’ development. No doubt the schools shared some of their scouting information in an effort to ensure the state title comes home to Farmington. It’s about time that eastside and westside Farmington were viewed as a single baseball community.

Sunday morning the two schools snagged the top two seeds in the state tournament bracket (PV at the top) ensuring that the earliest the two clubs can meet is the title bout. The road will be tough for both schools with a number of strong Albuquerque metro schools as well as a couple strong squads from the southern half of the state. Nevertheless, none of these schools should stand in the way of what should break the current tie between the two powers from up north.

PV has never won a state championship, but they have played in a handful.  They are the heavy favorite to win their first one this month, but what FHS proved last weekend is that this juggernaut has a weakness or two. Most notably is the fact that their entire lineup is right-handed. Scorpion starting arm, Eli Freese, held the Panthers to just two hits and never allowed a ball into the outfield in the air. Good downward and heavy action from righties will cause PV trouble at the plate. They play exceptional defense and have easily the strongest rotation and bullpen in the state, but other schools possess a more diverse offense. Don’t get me wrong, though. PV has proven they can scrape runs across when they need primarily by means of speed and an aggressive approach to running bases.

The state tourney kicks off this weekend with both Farmington High and PV hosting regionals at Ricketts against Bernalillo and Deming respectively. The visiting squads should not beat either of the home junior varsities, so let’s hope the Scorps and Panthers can get some of the early postseason jitters out Friday so they will be ready to attack in the quarters the following weekend.

As an alum of both of these programs (played at FHS and coached at PV), I am not sure I have ever been as proud to be a member of the Farmington baseball community as I am now. The way these two rivals have turned their war into something that benefits everyone has been nothing short of inspirational, and both schools will reap the rewards for generations. The perception held by kids now is not that they will eventually be a Panther or a Scorp but rather that they will represent their town in a way that is shared and owned communally. Finally. Best of luck to both of these schools. Leave no doubt in anyone’s mind where the blue trophy belongs: Ricketts.