Podkul’s path takes him to Yinzer Baseball Confederacy

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

Frank Podkul’s baseball journey has taken him to many places in North America.
The trek began in northwest Indiana. Podkul’s first organized experience came at Schererville Little League. That was followed by a Lake Central travel team, Northwest Indiana Shockers (coached by John Mallee), Indiana Playermakers (coached by Dave Griffin), Hammond Seminoles (coached by Ryan Pishkur, Tyler Oche and Matt Pobereyko), Hammond Chiefs (coached by Dave Sutkowski) and Midwest Irish (coached by Shane Brogan).
Podkul graduated from Andrean High School in Merrillville, Ind., in 2014. He helped the 59ers (steered by Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Dave Pishkur) win an IHSAA Class 3A state title that year.
Younger brother Nick Podkul played up on most of Frank’s teams, including Andrean. Nick went on to Notre Dame and is now with Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.
“We talk just about everyday,” says Frank. “We’e really close.”
Frank and Nick grew up in a neighborhood with kids who played many different sports — football, basketball, baseball, tennis etc.
“When you build that culture growing up you get a better appreciation for everything,” says Podkul, who turned 26 June 3. “:earn to be an athlete first. Everything else falls into place after that.
“It hurt when people want to specialize early. Let kids be kids.”
After he thought he might be a pitcher in college since he didn’t swing a potent bat in high school, Podkul played four seasons in the infield for Lance Marshall at Franklin (Ind.) College (2015-18).
“He’s just the best,” says Podkul of Marshall. “He would do anything for any of his players — no matter what. The way he’s built that program over the years it is one big family.
“On the baseball side of it, he let guys be themselves and got the best out of everybody.”
A corner infielder for the Grizzlies (mostly third base his last two years), Podkul appeared in 132 games and hit .290 (134-of-462) with 29 home runs, 25 doubles, 122 runs batted in, 109 runs and a .946 OPS (.414 on-base percentage plus .532 slugging average).
In 2018, Podkul hit .327 (53-of-162) with 16 homers, 10 doubles, 57 RBIs, 52 runs and a 1.129 OPS (.444/.685) while Franklin went 39-5 and ending the season at the NCAA Division III Central Regional.
“We had a ridiculous lineup,” says Podkul. “The amount of times we scored four or five runs in the first inning was almost comical.”
With baseball workouts and games, classes and his duties as a student athletic trainer, Podkul felt like a two-sport athlete as a senior. In the fall, he would awake at 5 a.m. for soccer practice, followed by classes, baseball practice and weightlifting then football practice and staying on top of his homework.
“At Franklin you have to be a good student,” says Podkul. “There’s no gimme classes.
“Everything is challenging.”
In his first two college summers, Podkul played for the Midwest Irish in 2015 and in the Virginia Beach (Va.) Collegiate Baseball League in 2016.
Podkul got a kickstart to his senior season at Franklin by spending the summer of 2017 with the Medicine Hat (Alberta) Mavericks of the Western Canadian Baseball League.
“It was amazing,” says Podkul. “There’s really good competition in that league. Learning some stuff from those guys helped me in my senior year.”
One of his fond memories is playing a game in Fort McMurray, Alberta, which is 890 kilometers (428 miles) north of Medicine Hat and seeing the sun out at 1 a.m.
After graduating from Franklin as an Athletic Training major with minors in Exercise Science and Coaching, Podkul went through some workouts in the independent pro Frontier League. Nothing came of those and he went to the California Winter League where he landed a spot with the Frontier League’s Joliet (Ill.) Slammers in 2019.
In the fall of that year, Podkul contacted Joe Torre (not that Joe Torre) of Torre Baseball Training LLC in Ridgewood, N.J. He runs an independent ball spring training camp in Palm Beach, Fla.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and much of baseball was shut down, a four-team league — the Yinzer Baseball Confederacy — was established with all games played in Washington, Pa., run by Torre and Washington Wild Things president/general manager Tony Buccilli.
Podkul split his time between the Road Warrior Black Sox and Baseball Brilliance Sox. The Frontier League put in the two other teams — the Wild Things and Steel City Slammin Sammies.
The YBC is back for 2021 with the Road Warrior Black Sox, Baseball Brilliance Sox, Killer Bees and Wolfpack. Players are not paid. They are reimbursed clubhouse attendant dues if they are picked up by another league.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Podkul is with the Carson McCurdy-managed Black Sox — playing corner infielder and occasionally in the outfield. Through 32 games, he was hitting .284 (27-of-95) with five homers, 10 doubles, 13 RBIs, 16 runs and a .981 OPS (.433/.547).
The Yinzer league provides the opportunity for players to stay sharp and build up their numbers while looking to catch on in independent leagues. Rosters are set a month at a time.
“It’s real games,” says Podkul, who plays daily — either afternoon or night — at Wild Things Park. “It’s not a showcase.
“You’ve got to play and get in front of (coaches and scouts). You go where you’re going to be a good fit.”
Since January, about 60 Yinzer league players have moved to other clubs.

Frank Podkul with Andrean High School.

Frank Podkul with Franklin (Ind.) College.

Frank Podkul with Franklin (Ind.) College.

Frank Podkul with Franklin (Ind.) College.

Frank Podkul with the Medicine Hat (Alberta) Mavericks.

Frank Podkul with the Road Warrior Black Sox of the Yinzer Baseball Confederacy.

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Former Andrean, Georgia Tech hurler Ryan reflects on first pro season

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Zac Ryan does not have to be the last pitcher on the mound for his team to act like a closer.

Ryan, a 2013 Andrean High School graduate, learned in his first professional baseball season in 2017 to take a game-ending mentality to him no matter the situation.

“Even in my one start, I was told to act like you’re closing,” says Ryan, who went 2-2 with a 1.95 earned run average while finishing 14 of 21 games at Orem and Burlington.

The 6-foot-1 right-hander was selected in the 23rd round of the 2017 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Los Angeles Angels.

Ryan was a closer at Georgia Tech where he posted a 3-5 record, 3.33 ERA and team-best five saves in 27 appearances (all in relief) as a senior. In four seasons, he was 16-12 with a 4.65 ERA and 14 saves in 89 games (77 as a reliever).

“I was really happy with my season,” says Ryan, 23, of his first pro experience. “I worked with some really good pitching coaches and coordinators. They taught us grips and different pitches and helped us get better. It wasn’t a cookie cutter type of program where they tried to get everybody to do the same thing.”

Jonathan Van Eaton and Mike Burns shared pitching coach duties for the Rookie-level Pioneer League’s Orem Owlz while Jairo Cuevas led hurlers for the Low Class-A Midwest League’s Burlington Bees. Tom Nieto was the Orem manager while Adam Melhuse was the Burlington skipper.

The Angels organization wants its pitchers to attack hitters and — when possible — get outs within the first three pitches.

“They wanted us to go 0-2 (in the count) as much as possible,” says Ryan. This approach was to keep pitch counts down and to give hitters less opportunities to see what the pitcher had to offer.

Ryan found that the big difference between college and pro ball is that minor league batters are more aggressive.

“It was easy to get people to chase pitches (for strikeouts and out pitches) in pro ball,” says Ryan. “You also had a lot more freedom (as a pro). You do what you want to do with your career, but they are going to guide you with it. In college, they give you a role.”

As an Angels farmhand, Ryan says he worked the right side of the plate often with his sinker and slider, looking for ground balls or weak contact. He also mixed in a change-up.

While his velocity sat at between 92 and 94 mph and touched 95 and 96 mph a time or two, Ryan continued to stay away from being a max-effort pitcher.

“That way I can get more movement and place it where I want to,” says Ryan. “I’m serious with mechanics. I’ve never been too jerky-jerky and had a slow wind-up and slow delivery.”

Since he reached his limit during the spring and summer, the Angels opted not to send Ryan to instructional league or winter ball. Instead, he will follow a prescribed program while also working with his personal pitching coach since age 7 — John Coddington of Michiana Sports Medicine.

“He’s like a second dad to me,” says Ryan, who lives in Chesterton and is the son of Henry and Jill Ryan and has an older sister named Kelly.

At Georgia Tech, Ryan played four seasons for head coach Danny Hall and had Jason Howell as his pitching coach the while time.

“He taught me about sequencing and how to use pitches to set up pitches,” says Ryan. “I learned a lot of about who I was as a pitcher. I never threw a slider before college. I also learned the mentality I needed to be a closer. That brought me all the success I’ve had.”

Ryan was a freshman at Andrean with a 3-1 record when the 59ers won the IHSAA Class 3A state title in 2010 for Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Dave Pishkur. Ryan was in the rotation for the season, but it was senior left-hander Sean Manaea (now with the Oakland Athletics) that took the ball in the semistate and senior right-hander Ken Mahala in the state championship game.

Ryan credits the Pishkurs — Dave and his son Ryan — for teaching him tenacity.

“They taught me how to take a leadership role,” says Ryan. “That gave ave me a lot of confidence, which is something you need on the mound.

“That program is about fighting and never quitting. That’s the biggest takeaway you get from there. And it’s any part of your life. It doesn’t have to be sports. You have to keep on pushing because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Zac Ryan, a product of Andrean High School, made his professional baseball debut in the Los Angeles Angels organization in 2017. (Burlington Bees Photo)