Plesac relishes living up to expectations with Bethel, Lake County CornDogs

BY STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Frank Plesac welcomes pressure.
The right-handed pitcher from Crown Point, Ind., enjoys facing hitters and the promise that comes with his famous baseball last name.
“There are definitely a lot of expectations,” says Frank of being the brother of a current big league hurler (Zach Plesac) and the nephew of one who spent 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (Dan Plesac).
“I’d rather have the expectations high with pressure on myself. It helps me perform better. I just try to live up to the name.”
Righty Zach Plesac is a starter for the Cleveland Guardians and made his MLB debut in 2019. He is 10 minutes older than twin Ron.
Lefty Dan Plesac won 65 games and saved 158 from 1986-2003 and is in the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and is a regular on MLB Network.
Frank Plesac is coming off his second season at Bethel University in Mishawaka, Ind., where he is 8-12 with a 4.28 earned run average, 129 strikeouts and 31 walks in 138 2/3 innings. In 2022, those marks were 6-5 with a 3.24 ERA, 83 strikeouts and 13 walks in 86 innings which led to an all-Crossroads League first team selection.
All but two of his outings fro Bethel have been in a starting role.
“I love to start,” says Plesac, 20. “I feel like it’s my game and I’m in-control.”
Seth Zartman is the Pilots head coach. Kiel Boynton guides the pitchers.
“He introduced the family aspect of the team, which I never really understood before that,” says Plesac of Zartman, who has been head coach at Bethel since the 2004 season. “I’m glad he gave me the opportunity to really experience that.
“(Coach Boynton and I) talk a lot about pitching. We pick each other’s brains. We try to learn from each other.”
The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Plesac is pitching this summer for the wood bat Northern League’s Justin Huisman-managed Lake County CornDogs, which play at Legacy Fields in Plesac’s hometown of Crown Point.
His coach at Crown Point High School was IHSBCA Hall of Famer Steve Strayer.
“He’s a character and a great coach,” says Plesac of Strayer. “He always pushed us to be our best.
“He impacted the way I viewed baseball and the way I play baseball now.”
The youngest of union carpenter Ron and Registered Nurse Jeannie Plesac’s children, Frank played on the Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth fields in Crown Point then went into travel ball with Morris Baseball and the South Shore Bears. In the summer of 2021, he got reps with a local men’s team called the Raw Dogs.
Through his first seven mound appearances (six starts) with the CornDogs, the 2022 Northern League East All-Star is 1-0 with a 2.11 ERA. In 34 innings, he has 49 K’s and just three base on balls.
Throwing from a high three-quarter arm slot, Plesac uses a Four-seam fastball (which topped out at 93 mph in the spring), curveball, slider and change-up.
What is his best swing-and-miss pitch?
“Definitely the curveball,” says Plesac. “It’s pretty sharp with a deep break. Sometimes I’ll try to get on top of it to get more of a 12-to-6 break. Sometimes I’ll leave the wrist a little open to get more of a slurve action.
“It’s a different pitch every time.”
Plesac, who has two years of eligibility remaining heading into 2022-23, is a Criminal Justice major. He sees it as a natural fit with one of his favorite non-baseball pursuits.
“I’m a big outdoors person,” says Plesac. “I love to hunt. I love to fish. Being a (Department of Natural Resources) conversation officer is everything I want and more.
“They say do what you love. That’s what I love doing.”
Plesac can see the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield in his future.
But first the diamond.
“I’m going to try to ride baseball as far as I can,” says Plesac. “Why not?”

Frank Plesac (Bethel University Photo)

Frank Plesac of the 2022 Northern League’s Lake County CornDogs (Steve Krah Photo)

Ball State’s McDermott makes meaningful changes

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Chayce McDermott has transformed since arriving at Ball State University three years ago.

The right-handed baseball pitcher arrived in Muncie, Ind., as a skinny freshman, carrying about 165 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame. 

“I’ve put on about 30 pounds since I’ve been here,” says McDermott, who turned 22 Aug. 22. “I’m eating healthier and I’m lifting up to twice a day.”

McDermott says he was more of a thrower than a pitcher before college.

A redshirt junior in 2020-21, McDermott is now a solid 195 or 200 and has learned how to refine his deliveries in an attempt to get hitters out.

“I’m more confident (on the mound),” says McDermott. “I understand how to pitch.

“As time’s gone out I’ve thrown a little harder and have a better understanding of my pitches.”

A 2017 graduate of Pendleton (Ind.) Heights High School, where he earned three baseball letters for head coach Travis Keesling, McDermott was a two-time all-Hoosier Heritage Conference selection. 

In his senior year, he went 5-3 with a 2.29 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 49 innings for a team that went 19-6.

Nursing an injury, McDermott redshirted in 2018 — his first year with the BSU Cardinals.

The righty appeared in 10 games (nine starts) as a redshirt freshman in 2019 and went 4-1 with a 3.64 earned run average. In 42 innings, he struck out out 54, walked 26 and held opponents to a .228 batting average. 

In the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, McDermott made three appearances as the “Sunday” starter and went 0-1 with a 5.02 ERA. In 14 1/3 innings, he struck out 20, walked six and yielded a .192 opponent batting mark. He fanned 11 in six no-hit innings in a win against the University of Richmond on March 7.

McDermott was brought to Ball State by head coach Rich Maloney and has worked with two pitching coaches. Larry Scully has led that group since August 2019. Before that is was Dustin Glant.

The 2020 season was Maloney’s 26th in coaching and 16th at Ball State. 

“It’s amazing,” says McDermott of playing for Maloney. “He always has our back no batter what.

“He knows great people in the game. It’s truly a blessing to get his insight.”

Scully has been coaching baseball for 27 years.

“He’s taught me how to work with pitches a little bit more,” says McDermott of Scully. “He’s helped me a lot with curve, slider and change-up, where to throw a pitch and how to think in different counts.

“He’s helped me understand the game a lot better and adjust on pitches as the game goes on.”

Scully has helped McDermott find the strike zone on a more consistent basis.

“My control is constantly improving,” says McDermott. “It’s come along as I worked on things with my delivery and strength.”

Glant, who is now a minor league pitching coach in the New York Yankees organization, is credited for shaping McDermott’s mound tenacity

“Coach Glant was super intense and energetic,” says McDermott. “He taught me how to be tough — kind of cocky, but in a controlled way.

“He helped me with my velocity when I got here and keeping my arm shorter.”

Throwing from a high three-quarter arm slot, McDermott uses a four-seam fastball that sat around 91 to 94 mph and topped out at 96 during the spring and summer.

“I try to keep the spin rate up so it spins over the top of bats,” says McDermott of his four-seamer. “That way I get more swings and misses.”

Deception is the idea behind his “circle” change-up.

McDermott employs an 11-to-5 curveball.

“It’s not straight up and down,” says McDermott. “It has a little bit of side-run to it (going into left-handed hitters and away from righties). I want to get as much movement on it as possible.”

The slider is a “work-in-progress” that McDermott plans to mix in during fall workouts. When thrown the way he wants, the pitch has downward break and runs in on lefty batters.

When the pandemic hit, McDermott had not yet nailed down where he might play in the summer. He wound up being able to commute from Anderson, Ind., and pitched as a starter and reliever for the Local Legends in the College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind. He racked up 33 strikeouts and 10 walks in 14 innings while holding foes to one runs on four hits.

That squad was coached by Butler assistants Ben Norton and Jake Ratz and featured McDermott’s friend and former youth and travel ball teammate Joe Moran.

“I really enjoyed (the Grand Park league),” says McDermott. “It was close to home and had great players in it. It was good to play with guys I knew from high school and meet new guys from around the Indiana baseball scene.”

It was the first summer McDermott has pitched since 2016. He stayed at home and worked the past two summers and went to Ball State early to begin adding muscle in the summer of 2017.

McDermott is on schedule to earn a Psychology degree from Ball State in the spring. He chose the major because he sees it as pair well with his career choice.

“I just want to be a coach and stay around baseball as long as possible,” says McDermott. “Understanding the minds of people will help.”

Born and raised on the north side of Anderson, McDermott played at Riverfield Little League until he was 13.

He played travel ball of two years with the Justin Wittenberg-coached Magic City Orioles and one with Sam Wilkerson’s Indiana Raiders before spending his 17U summer with the Sean Laird-coached Indiana Bulls.

“Coach Laird is enthusiastic and aggressive about everything,” says McDermott. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had a coach that was as pumped about games as he was.”

Chayce is the youngest of Mike and Kim McDermott’s two sons. Mike McDermott is a UPS driver. Kim McDermott is a lawyer’s assistant. 

Brother Sean McDermott (23) played basketball at Pendleton Heights and appeared in 125 games (79 as a starter) at Butler University. The 6-foot-6, 195-pounder is currently exploring professional hoops opportunities.

Ball State University’s Chayce McDermott pitches in the 2020 College Summer League at Grand Park. (D1Baseball.com Video)

Chayce McDermott was born and raised in Anderson, Ind., and played at Pendleton (Ind.) Heights High School before Ball State University. He is a redshirt junior for the Cardinals in 2020-21. (Mike Janes/Ball State University Photo)

Chayce McDermott has made 13 mound appearances for the Ball State University baseball team in 2019 and 2020. He also pitched in the College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., in 2020. (Mike Janes/Ball State University Photo)

Chayce McDermott is heading into his third baseball season at Ball State University in 2020-21. The right-hander is a 2017 Pendleton (Ind.) Heights High School graduate. (Ball State University Photo)

Right-hander Moran sets baseball goals high

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Joe Moran is looking to raise his baseball stock.

Moran, a right-handed pitcher who also swings a potent bat, impressed enough during his time at Anderson (Ind.) University that he became the first player in the NCAA Division III Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference to be invited to play in the prestigious Cape Cod League. 

He would have suited up with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox this summer. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused cancellation on the Cape and Moran wound up with the Local Legends in the newly-formed College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind. Taking the play-and-train option, he also works out at Pro X Athlete Development at Grand Park.

His Business Management degree (focused on organizational management) completed in the spring, Academic All-American Moran decided about a month ago that he would continue his baseball and academic development at NAIA-affiliated Taylor University in Upland, Ind. 

It was not an easy decision. Moran considers Anderson head coach Matt Bair a mentor — on and off the field — and has regular contact with him.

“As a man, I’ve developed so much because of his leadership and all the other coaches,” says Moran. “My sophomore year, I was soft. I hadn’t developed that bulldog mentality. 

“Coach Bair drew that out of me. He helped me compete and make myself better. He never gave me any guarantees. It helped me. I needed something to work for every single day.

“My faith is really an important part of what I am. It’s a relationship I’ll always be grateful for.”

Moran says he plans to enroll at Taylor soon and pursue a masters degree, likely in Transition-to-Teaching while working with the Trojans baseball staff, including head coach Kyle Gould and pitching coach Justin Barber, who was with the Indiana Chargers prior to his current position.

In the first 48 hours of entering the transfer portal, Moran received 13 to 15 offers.

“It was kind of overwhelming,” says Moran. “I turned down a lot of Division I offers.”

Coming out of high school, his outlook was D-I or bust. But that has changed.

“It’s not about where you play, it’s how good you are as a player,” says Moran. “How are you going to help me develop and get drafted? When I sat down with coaches from Taylor I was legitimately blown away. They had a development plan laid out for me.

“I’m 6-foot and a right-handed pitcher. Nothing sticks out about me. My stuff has to be really good to get to the next level.”

Moran mixes a fastball, change-up, slider and curveball.

This summer, his four-seam fastball has been up to 94.5 mph. He is regularly in the low- to mid-90s.

“It has a little bit of a riding action — into a righty (batter) and away from a lefty,” says Moran. 

He is aiming for a high spin rate.

“I want to spin it enough so I can throw it higher in the zone,” says Moran.

It’s a “circle” change and a “gyro” slider than Moran employs.

“It has a late break when it’s on,” says Moran of the slider. “There’s a lot of depth to it when it’s good.

“The curve is 2-to-7 (on the clock face). I spin the curve 2300 to 2400 rpm.”

The curve tends to come in at around 73 mph with the slider around 80.

Moran, a 2016 graduate of Anderson High School, was playing in the summer after high school when he felt tightness in his elbow. 

He went to Dr. Timothy Kremchek, who is also the Cincinnati Reds team doctor, for Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) injections and resumed throwing and playing at Anderson U. in the fall.

Moran wound up having Tommy John reconstructive surgery and was not even on the Ravens roster in 2017. 

“It took about 14 months until I was able to go live in game,” says Moran. “It was two years after my surgery until I was feeling good again and not worrying about elbow soreness or stiffness.”

Making his collegiate debut in 2018, Moran got into 11 games as a pitcher (nine starts) and went 5-2 with a 3.75 earned run average. In 48 innings, he struck out 49 and walked 26.

As a right-handed hitter in 44 games, Moran amassed a .311 average (46-of-148) with three home runs, 33 runs batted in and 25 runs scored.

In 2019, all 11 of Moran’s AU mound appearance were starts. He went 7-1 with one complete game, a 3.20 ERA, 66 strikeouts and 28 walks in 59 innings.

Offensively, his 2019 produced a .362 average (46-of-127) with five homers, 25 RBIs and 27 runs in 37 games.

The pandemic shorted the 2020 season to four games on the mound (all starts). The righty went 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA, 32 strikeouts and seven walks in 20 innings. He averaged 14.4 K’s per nine innings.

At the bat, Moran blazed at a clip of .563 (18-of-32) with one homer, five RBIs, 10 runs and a .667 on-base percentage in nine contests. He was a designated hitter when not pitching. 

While he concentrates on pitching during the summer and knows that is where his future lies, Morgan welcome the opportunity to hit at Taylor.

Born and raised in Anderson by Mike and Stephanie Moran, Joe began playing baseball at 5 at Riverfield Little League. During his 11-year-old summer, his team won a state title and had high hopes of the Little League World Series run the next summer, but the team was dismantled.

One of his teammates was Chayce McDermott. The Ball State University pitcher also plays on the Grand Park league’s Local Legends, coached by Butler University assistants Ben Norton and Jake Ratz.

Moran played travel baseball with the Muncie-based Magic City Orioles then, during high school, the Indiana Prospects. His 18U summer was spent with the Northern Indiana Elite.

At Anderson High, Moran played the first three seasons for Terry Turner and the last for Adrian Heim.

“He’s one of the best men that I know,” says Moran of Turner. “I genuinely mean that. He cared so much about the program and he put his all into it. He loved me from the jump.

“I wish I would’ve had more time with (Heim). He’s knowledgable about the game.”

Moran missed the 2017 summer season because of surgery and spent 2018 grinding it out int he weight room. In 2019, he went to Ontario to play with the Northwoods League’s Thunder Bay Border Cats.

Mike Moran is a grain farmer who tends about 2,000 acres. Stephanie Moran works in Engagement and Adult Studies at Anderson U. The couple have three children — Bobby (26), Joe (22) and Megan (20). AU graduate Bobby played golf and tennis at Anderson High. AU student Megan played volleyball and softball with the Anderson Indians.

Joe Moran shined with the bat at Anderson (Ind.) University. In the COVID-19-shortned 2020 season, he hit .563. (Ali Zoller/Anderson University Photo)

Joe Moran excelled on the mound for the Anderson (Ind.) University Ravens, winning 14 games and striking out 147 batters from 2018-20. (Ali Zoller/Anderson University Photo)

Joe Moran, a graduate of Anderson (Ind.) High School and Anderson (Ind.) University, is playing in the 2020 College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind. He plans to attend graduate school and play at Taylor University in Upland, Ind., in 2020-21. (Anderson University Photo)