’20 Chesterton grad Weller winds up at Arizona Western College

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Max Weller did not get to have a senior baseball season at Chesterton (Ind.) High School.

Now he’s enjoying a unique diamond and educational experience in the sunny Southwest. 

Batting in the No. 3 hole, the righty-swinging freshman center fielder is hitting .412 (21-of-51) with two home runs, two triples, six doubles, 23 runs batted in, 21 runs scored, 12 walks, six times hit by pitch and three stolen bases for Arizona Western College in Yuma. 

The Madators (14-4) are members of the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference and National Junior College Athletic Association Division I.

Max (19) is the youngest of Matt and Jennifer Weller’s three sons. Trent (23) and Sam (20) both played soccer at Chesterton.

Max decided a day or two after Christmas 2020 to transfer from Wabash Valley College in Mount Carmel, Ill. — where he spent the fall — to Arizona Western College (a school that also recruited him in high school). He packed up all he had at his Illinois apartment in his truck and went with his parents on a 26-hour drive.

“It was a journey out here,” says Weller. “But all for the good.

“I loved it out here. We get to practice outside reps every single day.”

Using a machine, AWC outfielders field pop-ups and work on their communication.

Most teams on the Matadors’ schedule use wood bats.

“The metal bat games would drag out too long,” says Weller. “The (wood bat) barrel is definitely smaller and does not have as much pop. But there are many truer hits and it’s so much more satisfying.”

Good wood is what 6-foot, 180-pound Weller got on the ball in the first game of a home doubleheader March 9 against Chandler-Gilbert Community College and smacked a homer over the right field fence at Walt Kamman Field. His other college bomb came in a Feb. 18 win against Northeastern in which he plated seven runs.

Weller’s lone four-bagger in high school came as a sophomore in a junior varsity win at LaPorte.

Weller played on the CHS freshmen team in 2017, moved up to JV in 2018 and was on the varsity in 2019, sharing time in right field with Tyler Nelson and at designated hitter.

Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Jack Campbell leads the Chesterton Trojans.

“He taught me the foundations of the game and how to move runners from first to second,” says Weller of Campbell. “I came to understand the concept that everybody has a role. 

“You’ve got to trust the system.”

For a time in high school, Weller was called “Sunshine.” Then wearing long locks, he resembled Ronnie “Sunshine” Bass from the movie, “Remember The Titans.”

COVID-19 took away spring sports in Indiana in 2020. But Weller found a summer baseball home.

Many circuits canceled their seasons, but the 12-team College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., sprang up and Weller was one of a few who had not yet played past high school to participate. 

“I loved it,” says Weller, who was assigned to the CSL’s A-Team. “There was a lot of good talent.”

Cole Barr, Cooper Trinkle, Daylan Nanny and Hayden Wynja were among his A-Team mates.

Weller’s weekly routine was to travel from northwest Indiana to his grandparents’ lake house in Monticello, Ind., on Sunday night and then drove back and forth for Monday and Tuesday games at Grand Park.

Weller’s says he has connections for the Grand Park or Valley League in Virginia this summer, but could land elsewhere.

“It’s about finding an opening,” says Weller.

Having chosen to attend Wabash Valley, Weller joined the Warriors in the fall of 2020. Because of the pandemic there were no outside games, but lots of intrasquad action against players bound for NCAA Division I or — in some cases — those that had already played at that level.

“I saw all these great pitches,” says Weller. “I learned how to play with a (ball-strike) count. 

“We were practicing everyday for every single week. I was managing that load as student-athlete. All those reps were beneficial.”

Wabash Valley, currently ranked No. 1 in NJCAA D-I, has been led for a quarter century by Rob Fournier.

“He had a lot of knowledge on the game,” says Weller of Fournier. “He was a really personable guy, but he worked you really hard during practice.”

At Arizona Western, Drew Keehn is the head coach. Weller works closely with assistant Zeke Mitchem.

Keehn played at Central Arizona College and in the Colorado Rockies organization.

Mitchem, who played at Brown Mackie College and Tri-State University (now Trine University in Angola, Ind.) has coached at Georgia College, Henderson State University, Drexel University and Marshall University as well as in Germany, Australia and Costa Rica.

Being at AWC has also afforded Weller the opportunity to learn about many cultures and bond with young men from all over the globe.

Arizona Western College is home to international students from over 30 countries.

Besides Indiana’s Weller, there are two Matadors with hometowns in Arizona plus one each from California, Georgia, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania and Utah plus seven from Dominican Republic, three from Netherlands, two from Australia, two from Saskatchewan, two from Venezuela and one each from Czech Republic and Mexico.

Weller’s roommate is Nevada’s D.J. Contreras. They share a dormitory suite with two Dominicans.

“Everyone is open-minded here,” says Weller. “It’s one of the best groups I’ve ever been a part of so far.”

Contreras is from Las Vegas. Weller smacked three doubles for the Matadors in a Feb. 19 trip to Vegas to play a doubleheader with the College of Southern Nevada — the same school where slugger Bryce Harper played prior to pro ball.

Associate athletic director Tim Slack calls the action — home and away — on the Arizona Western College Athletics Facebook page.

Weller is working toward an Associate Degree in Science at the two-year school. This term he is taking Calculus, Chemistry and Astronomy (online).

He takes most of his meals in the campus cafeteria. 

“I load up on lunch and get the calories up,” says Weller. “You’re definitely going to burn them in practice.”

After playing in a local league, Weller started playing travel ball at 10U with he Chesterton Slammers. Uncle Brian Eaton was his head coach for three summers. The team then changed its name to the Indiana Strikers. Weller played his 14U summer with the Indiana Breakers.

Rob Kucharski was Weller’s head coach at 15U and 16U with the Chicago-based Elite Baseball Training team. That squad had many northwestern Indiana players.

At 17U, Weller played for the 18U Midwest Rangers. The Jeff Bohlen-coached team based out of Chicago Heights, Ill., featured South Central (Union Mills)’s Carson Husmann and Kyle Schmack.

That fall, Weller was with the Cangelosi Sparks with Andrew Massey as head coach and Lucas Fritsch as an assistant.

Weller split the summer of 2020 between the Grand Park league and the Midwest Irish 18U team coached by Shane Brogran.

Among Weller’s other travel teammates has been Frank Podkul, who played at Andrean High School and Franklin College.

Max Weller, a 2020 Chesterton (Ind.) High School graduate, is a freshman center fielder on the Arizona Western College baseball team in Yuma, Ariz. (Arizona Western College Photo)

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Fouts, Purdue baseball adjusting to new recruiting norms

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

A buzzword during the COVID-19 pandemic is “new normal.”

For Purdue University baseball recruiting coordinator Cooper Fouts and the rest of the Boilermaker coaching staff, scouting and evaluating talent has changed during a time when recruits missed out on a 2020 high school season, others had their college campaigns cut short and traveling is discouraged.

“It’s taken a different turn,” says Fouts. “We’re really putting a emphasis on relationships.”

The NCAA recruiting calendar was changed and keeps changing.

“At first, it was we can’t recruit until April 15 and then get back on the road like normal,” says Fouts, 37. “But they kept pushing it back. That just didn’t happen.

“This is our normal right now.”

Fouts, who works for Boilers head coach Greg Goff after spending the 2019 season with Mark Wasikowski (now head coach at the University of Oregon), has been gathering as much information about players as possible.

“We look at video and honest video with some failures,” says Fouts, who also serves on a staff that includes Chris Marx, volunteer Harry Shipley, director of player development John Madia and supervisor of operations Tim Sarhage. “On our level, there’s more failure than they’e used to. They have to learn and make adjustments. Expectations are even higher.”

In many ways, coaches glean more from failure than success.

“We like to see what their body language looks like,” says Fouts. “When they’re struggling, you see a lot more truth.

“We’re cross-checking more and making more calls since we can’t see for (ourselves). We don’t get to see interactions. And we want to see the whole package. This makes you trust your gut more.”

Ninety minutes of Fouts’ morning in July 8 when spent in a FaceTime call with a player in Texas, talking about and showing them the facilities at Purdue.

There are plenty of conversations with high school and travel coaches, including the opponents of the player.

NCAA rules dictate that players do coaches and not the other way around.

“There’s a large amount of emphasis on how they communicate on the phone,” says Fouts. “I’ve never offered a kid we haven’t seen in-person. That’s a huge change.

“That virtual tour allows (recruits) to make the right decision. We do it multiple times every week.”

Fouts has been coaching since right after college graduation and has done his best to serve the interests of the man in charge. At Purdue, that’s been Wasikowski and Goff.

“It’s the preference of what those head coaches like and how they want to build a team,” says Fouts. “I’m a follower of their desires.”

With Goff, Fouts has a little more freedom with hitters and their day-to-day instruction and planning. 

Fouts has not seen players already on the Purdue roster in-person since March. The hope is that they will be reunited Aug. 24. That’s when the 2020-21 school year is scheduled to begin at Purdue.

The Boilers have players in the College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., Midwest Collegiate League and had hopes of placing some in the Coastal Plain League.

Prior to coming to West Lafayette, Ind., Fouts spent the second of two stints at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. He was on the Waves staff 2011 and 2012 with head coach Steve Rodriguez (now head coach at Baylor University in Waco, Texas) and 2016-18 with Rick Hirtensteiner at the helm.

“He’s my biggest mentor,” says Fouts of Rodriguez. “he was so good at giving guys the freedom to play. 

“He wasn’t a micro-manager. Players were not paralyzed by a thought process. That allowed them to be successful. He does the same thing at Baylor. He knows what his players can and can’t do. They absolutely play loose.”

Hirtensteiner was an assistant to Rodriguez during Fouts’ first tenure at Pepperdine. 

“He’s an absolute great man of faith,” says Fouts of Hirtensteiner. “He treats his player so well. He gave me a ton of freedom on the coaching and recruiting side.

“He’s just a thoughtful individual. He’s not emotional. He was never overwhelmed by a situation.”

In between his seasons at Pepperdine, Fouts was on the staff of Eric Madsen at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah (2013-15). Madsen taught him much about the mechanics of hitting and more.

“He’s a really good offensive coach and a great human being,” says Fouts of Madsen. “He allowed me to make a lot of mistakes.”

In 2010, Fouts was an assistant at the College of Southern Nevada in North Las Vegas, where Tim Chambers was the head coach and Bryce Harper earned the Golden Spikes Award as the nation’s best amateur baseball player. 

Harper graduated high school early so he could attend College of Southern Nevada and was selected No. 1 overall in the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Washington Nationals.

Fouts was 11 when he first met Chambers, a man who also coached him his first two years at Bishop Gorman High School in Summerlin, Nev., and for one year at CSN.

“(Chambers) was awesome,” says Fouts. “He’s one of the better managers of people I’ve ever been around.

“He let guys play aggressive and make mistakes.”

Fouts played his final two varsity seasons at Bishop Gorman for head coach Kenny White.

Originally committed to Auburn (Ala.) University, the righty-swinging catcher played three seasons Texas Tech University in Lubbock (2003-05), playing alongside older brother Nathan Fouts. Cooper appeared in 156 games, hitting .265 (114-of-431) with two home runs, 77 runs batted in and 76 runs for Red Raiders head coach Larry Hays.

Fouts remembers that Hays was pretty hands-off as a coach and led assistants tend to day-to-day details.

“He was a great mentor as a Christian man,” says Fouts of Hays, who concluded his Tech run in 2008. “Larry was beloved in that Lubbock community.”

Besides his brother, Fouts got to be teammates with Big 12 Conference Triple Crown winner Josh Brady, who also played at the College of Southern Nevada, and future big league pitcher Dallas Braden.

“(Braden) was one of the two best competitors I’ve ever been around in my life

(the other is Harper),” says Fouts, who still has occasional contact with the two players.

Fouts was drafted twice — the first time in the 26th round by the Oakland Athletics in 2001 — but decided a pro baseball playing career was not for him.

He picked up his diploma on a Saturday and began coaching on Brandon Gilliland’s staff at Lubbock Christian School two days later in 2006.

Fouts was born in Kokomo, Ind., in 1983. At 7, he moved with his family to Indianapolis, where he attended St. Thomas Aquinas School. 

After Cooper turned 11 in 1994, the Fouts family moved to Las Vegas and lived there through his high school days with the exception of a one-year stay in Memphis, Tenn.

Cooper and Bri Fouts are to celebrate 10 years of marriage July 24. The couple have three children — daughter Harper (who turns 8 July 29) and sons Emmit (who turns 6 on July 10), and Nash (who turns 4 on Aug. 18).

Cooper Fouts has been a Purdue University baseball assistant coach since the 2019 season. He is a native of Kokomo, Ind., and played high school and junior college baseball in Nevada and NCAA Division I baseball in Texas. (Purdue University Photo)

Quinzer pushes work ethic for Mount Vernon Wildcats baseball

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Paul Quinzer instructs students about rocks and athletes about playing hard.

Quinzer is a teacher of earth space science, integrated chemistry and physics at Mount Vernon (Ind.) High School.

He is also the head baseball coach at the Posey County school, a position he has held since the 2002 season.

“My philosophy is to work hard and play hard,” says Quinzer. “When we practice I’m always on them about working hard. If they work hard, we’ll have fun.

“We set goals and we try to achieve those goals. I want to get the boys into some kind of work ethic, not only for baseball but later in life.”

Quinzer is a 1982 graduate of Castle High School in Newburgh, Ind., where he was a four-sport athlete (baseball, track, basketball and football).

His baseball coach was Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Famer Al Rabe.

“He believed in what I could do,” says Quinzer of Rabe. “He allowed let me try new things. He did the best he could to help me learn how to pitch.”

Quinzer played in the 1986 College World Series with Indiana State University and graduated that year with a geology degree.

ISU Hall of Famer Bob Warn was the Sycamores head coach when Quinzer was playing in Terre Haute.

“He really recruited me hard,” says Quinzer of Warn. “He made me feel like he really wanted me.”

Right-hander Quinzer was selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft — 1982 by the Montreal Expos (12th round) and 1986 by the San Diego Padres (10th round). His professional playing career went until 1990 when he played at Triple-A Las Vegas.

When he was done playing, Quinzer looked for a job in geology, wound up getting his teaching license and began at Mount Vernon in the fall of 1993. The first of eight seasons as an assistant to Dave Bell came in the spring of 1994. Bell led the Wildcats for 22 years for his retirement.

Mount Vernon (enrollment around 610) is a member of the Big Eight Conference (with Boonville, Jasper, Mount Carmel of Illinois, Princeton Community, Vincennes Lincoln and Washington).

Each team plays one another once to determine the conference champion.

“We are spread out big time,” says Quinzer. “The closest conference team — Boonville or Princeton — is an hour drive.

“We drive a lot at our school.”

The Wildcats have won the Big Eight seven times since Quinzer has been head coach.

Non-conference opponents include Carmi White County (Ill.), Castle, Evansville Central, Evansville Mater Dei, Evansville Memorial, Evansville North, Evansville Reitz, Gibson Southern, Heritage Hills, Henderson County (Ky.), Linton-Stockton, North Posey, Tecumseh and Webster County (Ky.).

This year will mark the first in a dozen that Mount Vernon does not play in the Braves Bash at Terre Haute South Vigo. The Wildcats will go to Webster County during spring break. Quinzer says he hopes the team can go to Nashville, Tenn., during break in the future.

The Wildcats are part of an IHSAA Class 3A sectional grouping with Boonville, Evansville Bosse, Evansville Memorial and Heritage Hills. Mount Vernon has won 17 sectional crowns (five with Quinzer on the MV coaching staff and four with him as head coach) — the last in 2015.

Quinzer has his largest coaching staff to date with Nathan Groeninger, John Schelhorn, Mark Wezet and Ron Upshaw. Wezet is the pitching coach.

Former assistant Kevin Krizan, who played at the University of Evansville, was with Quinzer for 15 years.

Krizan stepped away a few years ago to follow his sons — senior right-hander Austin Krizan and sophomore center fielder Bryce Krizan — on the diamond at the University of Southern Indiana.

Other recent Mount Vernon graduates that moved on to college baseball are Drake McNamara (USI), Clay Ford (Oakland City University), Troy Paris (Kentucky Wesleyan College) and Walker Paris (Vincennes University).

Two other alums — Cody Mobley and catcher Logan Brown — are playing pro ball. Mobley was selected in the eighth round of the 2015 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Seattle Mariners and Brown was chosen in the 35th round of the 2018 draft by the Atlanta Braves.

MV graduates also taken in the draft include catcher Ryan Spilman (Cleveland Indians, 15th round in 2003), left-hander Bryan Rueger (New York Yankees, 20th round in 2005) and right-hander Matt Huff (San Diego Padres, 27th round in 2006).

Mount Vernon plans to field three teams in 2019 —  varsity, junior varsity and freshmen/C-team.

“We want to get as many games as possible for those younger kids,” says Quinzer. “The more games they can play, the better they’re going to be.”

A year ago, there were 38 players in the program. There are 30 this year, including 12 freshmen. Half that number are expected to play for the varsity.

The Wildcats play at Athletic Park. The on-campus field features a center field fence that is 417 feet from home plate.

“Since we went to the BBCORs, we don’t hit too many home runs,” says Quinzer.

Over the years, the facility has added new backstop — netting with bricks at the bottom. The next project is batting cages with turf.

“It’s a a little of this and little of that,” says Quinzer.

Paul and Cindy Quinzer have three children. Alexandria Quinzer is a senior nursing student at USI. Savannah Quinzer is a sophomore education major at USI. Bronson Quinzer is a junior shortstop at Mount Vernon. He hit .405 as a sophomore.

Paul Quinzer is head baseball coach at Mount Vernon (Ind.) High School.

Paul Quinzer is a teacher of earth space science, integrated chemistry and physics and head baseball coach at Mount Vernon (Ind.) High School.

ABCA smashes convention, membership records, keeps growing baseball

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Imagine if you will 6,650 folks all in the same place for the purpose of learning, improving and networking.

If you were in Dallas Jan. 3-6 for the 75th annual American Baseball Coaches Association Convention, you don’t have to imagine. You experienced it.

The largest number of registrants ever gathered for the annual event Jan. 3-6, 2019 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center to listen to speakers, attend the ABCA Trade Show (with about 300 vendors) and participate in award celebrations, committee meetings, hotel stove panel discussions while also catching up with old friends and making new ones.

The worlds of professional, college, high school and youth baseball all collided for the advancement of the game.

It was the third time in four years convention attendance has gone up.

The ABCA, which was founded in 1945, continues to grow. The organization estimates it will have more than 12,000 members by the end of 2019.

By comparison, the highest convention attendance four years ago was about 4,500 with membership around 6,000.

Can the organization keep growing?

“I’d say the sky’s the limit,” says Jeremy Sheetinger, ABCA’s College Division Liaison. “But it is about the experience of the coaches in attendance.

“We want to make sure we’re doing right by them.”

It’s a matter of logistics when putting on the world’s biggest baseball convention. There are countless consideration. Some of those are size of the venue and available seating and who will speak and when.

Sheetinger, a former assistant at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., and the host of the ABCA Calls from the Clubhouse Podcast, says the addition to the full-time staff of Youth Liaison Andrew Bartman has helped at the grass roots level of the game.

“From our board on down, we’ve taken a more focused approach to serve our youth coaches,” says Sheetinger. “We’re very excited to see the influx of youth coaches. A second day of youth clinics (in Dallas) was well-received.”

Bartman is scheduled to be a speaker at the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association State Clinic, which is scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 17-19 at Sheraton at the Crossing in Indianapolis.

Indiana was well-presented from outgoing ABCA President and Ball State University head coach Rich Maloney to several coaches at various levels, Indianapolis Scecina High School coach Dave Gandolph has been an association member for four decades and attended many conventions.

Matt Talarico, a former Fort Wayne Dwenger High School and Manchester University player and now assistant coach/director or player development at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, presented on the big stage about base stealing.

An announcement is slated in the spring about the dates and locations of the ABCA Barnstormers Clinics, which run from September through December.

The 2020 ABCA Convention will be held Jan. 2-5, 2020 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville. The event returns to the Music City for the seventh time. Registration opens Sept. 1. Room blocks will also open on that date for official ABCA Convention hotels.

The convention is slated for Washington, D.C., in 2021, Chicago in 2022, Nashville in 2023, Dallas in 2024, Washington, D.C. in 2025, Las Vegas in 2026 and Chicago in 2027.

Indiana native Lance Lynn was represented at the trade show of the 2019 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Dallas. (Steve Krah Photo)

This is one of the many panel discussions held during the 2019 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Dallas. (Steve Krah Photo)

Mishawaka Marian grad Rinard adding to his coaching responsibilities for Dixie State baseball

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Exciting things are happening in Bobby Rinard’s baseball world.

Entering his fifth season as an assistant coach at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah, Rinard is now a full-time coach and has added recruiting coordinator to his job description.

Dixie State is an NCAA Division II program and has nine fully-funded scholarships. Rinard is learning how to disperse scholarship money on a roster of about 35, taking into consideration things like the needs of the team and Title IV and other NCAA rules compliance.

At present, 47 percent is the most any one player is getting in terms of a full scholarship.

“There is really no such thing as a full-ride scholarship for a baseball player,” says Rinard. “We carry a fall roster of about 40, which matches our male-to-female student ratio.

“Some guys will be walk-ons and some will have the grades that won’t count toward the nine scholarships.

“The tricky part is that you don’t get a clean slate after each year.”

What the program has to work with is based on who leaves and who returns.

Rinard, a South Bend, Ind., native and 2007 Mishawaka (Ind.) Marian High School graduate whose father Jeff Rinard ran the Chasing A Dream training facility in Lakeville, Ind., says excitement is also in the air around St. George because Dixie State is exploring moving up to NCAA Division I with its athletic programs.

Information is being gathered through town hall meetings and consultants and a vote to decide is expected at the end of November.

“I hope we do go Division I,” says Rinard, who turned 30 on Nov. 9. “But it could go either way.”

NCAA Division I baseball can give 11.7 fully-funded scholarships and hire two full-time assistant coaches. There is a push to get a third full-timer.

At the D-II level, with a limited recruiting budget, Dixie State keeps to the southwest region and looks for players that fit their style of play.

Trailblazers head coach Chris Pfatenhauer, who has worked at the junior college and D-I levels, favors what Rinard calls the “West Coast” style of baseball. There is an emphasis on speed and athleticism. Batters are expected to be able to lay down a sacrifice or squeeze bunt in a crucial situation.

“We’ll put pressure on the defense,” says Rinard. “But we’re not all runts.”

There are also a few players on the roster with some power.

“We don’t talk about launch angle at all,” says Rinard. “Knowing exit velocity can help guys understand what kind of swing they should be taking to the baseball.

“We want to develop a head-high line drive swing. If you can build a repetitive swing like that, your exit velocity is going to be very good.”

Two major recruiting events that the staff ends are the Arizona Fall Classic in Peoria, Ariz., and Baseball Northwest events in Washington. It’s about a six-hour drive from St. George to the Phoenix area.

“We’re really, really selective with what events we go to,” says Rinard, noting that Las Vegas, Nevada, area is full of talent and is about a two-hour drive from St. George.

Dixie State baseball will be competing in a new conference in the spring of 2019. The Trailblazers were in the Pacific West Conference.

Besides Dixie State, the Pac West had eight baseball-playing schools in California (Academy of Art, Azusa Pacific, Biola, California Baptist, Concordia Irvine, Fresno Pacific, Holy Names and Point Loma Nazarene) and two in Hawaii (Hawaii Hilo and Hawaii Pacific) in 2018.

The Blazers were 25-25 overall and 21-19 in the Pac West.

Following the lead of the DSU football program, baseball is now in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

In addition to Dixie State, RMAC baseball features eight institutions in Colorado (Adams State, Colorado Christian, Colorado Mesa, Colorado State-Pueblo, Colorado School of Mines, Metropolitan State, Regis and Colorado Colorado Springs) and one in New Mexico (New Mexico Highlands).

Pfatenhauer saw the change coming, he wasted no time in purchasing heavy jackets. Adams State in Alamosa, Colo., is 7,543 feet above sea level.

Does the altitude effect pitching? Colorado Mesa had the best team earned run average in the RMAC in 2018 at 4.83. Adams State was last at 9.59.

Dixie State’s staff carried a 6.29 while competing in the Pac West and at 2,500-seat Bruce Hurst Field (former big league pitcher Bruce Hurst is a St. George native and a benefactor), where the fences are 12 feet high from the foul poles to the batter’s eye in center, which extends to 20 feet high. Dimensions are 330 down the lines and 390 to center.

St. George has an elevation of 2,860. Located in the southwestern part of Utah. At one time it was a cotton-growing region (thus the name of the school).

Rinard says the high desert climate is typical of Las Vegas, Nevada. The day-time highs this week (Nov. 11-17) have been in the high 50’s and low 60’s.

“I really don’t remember what it’s like to be cold,” says Rinard, who played two seasons as a righty-swinging outfielder at Yavapai College in Prescott, Ariz. (2008 and 2009) and two at the University of Arizona (2010 and 2011) before a stint in professional baseball and a season as an undergraduate assistant at Arizona in 2014.

Rinard was selected in the 43rd round of the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the New York Mets, but did not sign.

After his two seasons in NCAA Division I baseball with Arizona, he signed with the New York Yankees as a minor league free agent in 2011 and played one season a rookie-level Staten Island.

His independent ball stops came with the Frontier League’s Normal (Ill.) Cornbelters in in 2012 and United League’s Edinburg (Texas) Roadrunners in 2013.

Rinard also works with the Trailblazers’ outfielders and hitters and helps coordinate camps.

“I’m helping with everything,” says Rinard, who plans to join the staff Jan. 3-6 for the American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Dallas.

Immediate plans call for Rinard to come back to northern Indiana this weekend to be in the wedding of former Bethel College player and Concord High School baseball coach Walter Lehmann. Rinard and Lehmann played together in high school.

Bobby Rinard (right) is an assistant baseball coach at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah. Going into his fifth season with the Trailblazers in 2019, he added recruiting coordinator to his job description last summer. (Dixie State University Photo)

Bobby Rinard, a Mishawaka (Ind.) Marian High School graduate who played at Yavapai College and the University of Arizona, is heading into his fifth season as an assistant baseball coach at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah, in 2019. (Dixie State University Photo)

Return to college swing helps Mets catcher Plawecki

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Six seasons into his professional baseball career, Kevin Plawecki went back to his college days and it helped him finish strong at the plate in 2017.

For the year, the former Purdue University catcher hit .328 in 64 games at Triple-A Las Vegas and .260 in 37 games (.348 in his last 10 appearances) with the big-league New York Mets.

Plawecki wore a Boilermakers uniform for three seasons (2010-12) and credits assistant coach Jeff Duncan (now head coach at Kent State University) for guiding his offensive game.

“(Duncan) got my swing where it needed to be in college,” says Plawecki, a right-hander. “He’s one of the best hitting coaches I’ve ever worked with. “He’s very relatable and very good at explaining what he believes in. He had been hitting to the middle of the field and the right side. He had me staying under my legs (with a wide stance). I drifted quite a bit in college and got away with it (even in the minors) because my hands worked so well.

“In the majors, I got exposed. Over the years, my stance got narrow and my hands were moving a lot.”

So with the help of Mets hitting coach Kevin Long (who moved on after the 2017 season), Plawecki studied films of his Purdue at-bats.

He again spread out his stance and his swing became shorter and more compact.

“It really allowed me to use my whole body, especially my legs,” says Plawecki, who turns 27 Feb. 26. “I had been getting more and more upright and it was causing more movement in my head, legs and hands. I was trying to be too perfect.”

It’s that swing he polished at Purdue that helped the 2009 Westfield High School graduate have a super 2012 campaign. That spring, he hit .359 with 47 runs batted in was second team All-America by Baseball America, Perfect Game USA and College Baseball Insider, finished as a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award as the nation’s top collegiate catcher, semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy and became the Boilers’ first Big Ten Conference Player of the Year. He was also chosen as Most Outstanding Player in the Big Ten tournament and Purdue’s Male Athlete of the Year.

Plawecki struck out 29 times in 638 career at-bats with the Boilers.

The Mets made Plawecki a compensation pick in the first round of the 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He was the third-highest Purdue player selected in program history. Only right-handed pitcher and Brebeuf Jesuit graduate Sherard Clinkscales (31st in 1992) and outfielder and Anderson Madison Heights graduate Jermaine Allensworth (34th in 1993) were picked earlier.

Plawecki was also Purdue’s highest draftee since 6-foot-6 right-hander and Mishawaka High School graduate Chadd Blasko was picked 36th overall in 2002.

The catcher made his MLB debut on April 21, 2015. He split time between the Mets and Triple-A in 2015, 2016 and 2017, playing a total of 158 games in the big leagues. He was on the Mets postseason roster for the National League Division Series, National League Championship Series and World Series, but did not see any game action.

In 2011 at Purdue, Plawecki hit .341 and drove in 39. He started 55 games — 45 at catcher, six at designated hitter and four at first base. The first-team all-Big Ten selection was a Johnny Bench Award semifinalist. That summer, played for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks of the Cape Cod League

His first collegiate season (2010), Plawecki led the the Boilers in batting average (.343) and established a Purdue freshman record for RBIs (53). He played 54 games and started 52 times, primarily at catcher. He was named a Freshman All-American by both Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. His summer team was the Richmond (Ind.) RiverRats of the Prospect League.

Doug Schreiber was head coach at Purdue during Plawecki’s stay in West Lafayette.

“He was a hard-nosed guy,” says Plawecki of Schreiber (now head coach at McCutcheon High School). “He didn’t take a whole lot of crap from anybody. People respected him. He was always at the morning workouts with us. That goes a long way. He may not have been lifting, but he was up there grinding with us. He fought for us. He had our backs. That’s why we were so successful at Purdue.”

Plawecki grew up a Bolier fan. Several family members, including father Jeff (who was a member of the golf team), mother Lynne and brother Aaron, are Purdue graduates. Aaron is scheduled to complete graduate school at Northwestern University in December.

During Kevin’s freshmen year at Purdue, he met soccer player Tayler Francel and they married in 2015. The Plaweckis are spending their off-season in Arizona, where they are closer to her family in San Diego. He lifts weights four days a week and plans to begin throwing and hitting again in early January before heading to spring training with the Mets in Florida.

Plawecki, who was born in Hinsdale, Ill., and moved to central Indiana about the time he was beginning school, played travel baseball for the Westfield Indians in his early years then the Indiana Bulls and Indiana Dirt Bags before heading to Purdue.

He played many positions growing up, but settled in at catcher as a Westfield sophomore and got pointers from former Purdue backstop Mike Hansen, who is now on the Shamrocks coaching staff led by Ryan Bunnell.

“He helped me with drill work and set the foundation,” says Plawecki, who was part of Westfield’s IHSAA Class 4A state runner-up team in 2009. He was a two-time all-Indy North, all-Hoosiers Crossroads Conference and all-Hamilton County selection and earned four varsity letters in baseball at Westfield and was a team captain as a junior and senior. “I got bored everywhere else. I was not being very good anywhere else and a pretty good catcher. I like the involvement and challenge it brings.”

He gives many propers to his high school head coach.

“Burnell taught me ab out accountability,” says Plawecki. “I was just a young kid at the time, trying to find my way and stay out of trouble. That’s where my work ethic started. It started with those early-morning workouts. We were working hard and letting the results take care of themselves. I learned a lot from him — on and off the field.”

Now, Plawecki not only shares the field but catches some of the best pitchers in baseball. There’s Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, Zack Wheeler, Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo in the starting mix.

“It’s a lot of fun,” says Plawecki of receiving the collection of aces. “It makes my job a lot easier. It also brings high expectations. Last year, we couldn’t stay healthy.”

Why all the injuries?

“It’s pretty crazy,” says Plawecki. I’ve never seen anything like it. If we could pin-point it as players or as trainers, we would have done it. Good thing is it’s just one year. We’ll learn from last year and be ready to go.”

Travis d’Arnaud, who played 112 games and hit .244 for the Mets in 2017, is ahead of Plawecki for the top spot on the The off-season MLB.com depth chart.

Can Plawecki win the starting job?

“I just try to go out and play and have fun,” says Plawecki. “I want to take advantage of the opportunity that given day. Leave that decision up to (the Mets).”

Mickey Calloway, who was pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians in 2017, is now the Mets manager. He has been quoted as saying he is considering letting starters go through the order twice before going to the bullpen. Some say this approach could tax the bullpen.

“He’s in-tune with pitching and what it takes to stay healthy,” says Plawecki. “If he thinks that’s the route to stay healthy then that’s what we’ll do. I don’t know if there is a perfect pitch count or innings limit. Everyone’s body is different.

“The success he had in Cleveland with those pitchers speaks volumes.”

Sabermetrics and analytics have become a big part of baseball. Data is used to decide where teams are going to position their defense against certain hitters.

“We don’t look at (the analytics) as much,” says Plawecki. “We’ve got a lot on our plates learning the weaknesses of the other players.”

Plawecki says the coaches are the ones who move the defenders. As a catcher, he calls the signals in stealing situations. Bunt coverages are called by the third baseman.

Kevin Plawecki, a 2009 Westfield High School graduate and former Purdue University standout, is a catcher with the New York Mets. (New York Mets Photo)