Andrew Charles Benes III
6/23/2015
CONGRATS TO FORMER PROSPECT
FOR THE HONORS OF
AND BEING SELECTED FOR
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!!!
We would like to announce our new
partnership and welcome Mercy!
The Preferred Healthcare Provider for
!
the
______ www.mercy.net ______
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As we enter July I am reminded of the dog days of the
summer. The weather is hot and the travel can be tough, but
the game remains the same. I want to encourage each of you
to push hard and finish strong! I’ve enjoyed seeing many of
you play this year and have been impressed by what I’ve seen.
Continue to represent yourself and the prospects well.
Sincerely, Andy Benes
WWW.STLPROSPECTSBASEBALL.COM
HOMETOWN: Eureka, MO
COLLEGE: Central Missouri
POSITION PLAYED: Shortstop
FAVORITE MLB TEAM: STL Cardinals
FAVORITE MLB PLAYER: Craig Biggio
FAVORITE FOOD: Steak
OTHER FAVORITE SPORT: Golf
Craig Ringe ------GREATEST BASEBALL MEMORY: Competing in the D2 College World Series
YEARS WITH THE PROSPECTS: 2nd year coach of current team (STLP 16u)
YEARS WITH COLLEGE/PROFESSIONAL TEAMS: played with the Texas Rangers
for 6 ½ years, coached at Kansas State for 2 years, and coached 2
summers in the Alaskan College league (Won championship both years)
FAVORITE PROSPECT TRAINING DRILL: Caper Drill- infield double play drill
WWW.STLPROSPECTSBASEBALL.COM
6’4”, 205 LBS
LUTHERAN SOUTH HIGH
Position: P
St. Louis, MO
WHAT DECIDING FACTORS POINTED YOU TO MARYVILLE? One of the factors
that lead me to choose Maryville was that we had a new coach that had begun recruiting players that would help us
be competitors in the playoffs. Also, I knew I would be able to grow as a player. Another factor was the academics.
Even though I want to play baseball beyond college, getting an education was extremely important to me.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE PART OF COLLEGE BASEBALL SO FAR? My favorite part of college baseball
so far has been getting to play with guys I can call my brothers. My teammates are my family in college, even more
so than in high school. This gives me something to play for.
WHAT HELPED YOU GET BETTER AS A PROSPECT? All of the coaches in the Prospect organization were able to
help me with improving, as well as getting exposure. One of the biggest things that helped me be a better prospect
was getting to play against highly competitive teams teams in different areas of the country. Playing these teams
allowed me to better myself as a player because I was able to compete against some top teams in the country.
WHAT DID BEING A PROSPECT MEAN TO YOU? Being a prospect meant that I was part of an organization and a
team that would compete and win against high caliber teams. It meant that not only was I a part of some team, but I
was a part of a team that worked hard and gave it their all. Being a prospect helped lead me to college ball and
hopefully beyond.
CAN YOU OFFER ANY WORDS OF ADVICE
TO YOUNGER PROSPECTS?
My advice would be to enjoy playing baseball. Enjoy
competing. Also enjoy working hard to get better. If you
don't put in the work it shows. When you do put in the
work it pays off. Not just during the season, but also the
offseason. Coaches and scouts notice all the hard work,
but they also notice laziness. Don't take plays off. Make
every play your best.
WWW.STLPROSPECTSBASEBALL.COM
DOUG BLETCHER | HEAD COACH
LINDENWOOD UNIVERSITY
WHAT MADE YOU GET INTO COACHING? I was 18 years old and couldn’t make
a juco team out of California (Mt.Sac JC) and wanted to stay in the game. Started
coaching summer baseball along with a freshman team in high school.
WHEN RECRUITING, WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU LOOK FOR IN
A PLAYER OFF THE BASEBALL FIELD? There is a lot you look for actually. How the athlete carries himself, the type or
group of people he hangs around with, how he treats his parents, or friends, any social media issues, other sports that he
might have played or still plays. Just looking for any red flags that might be out there. You don’t expect to recruit angles
WHAT IS THE BEST THING YOUR COLLEGE HAS TO OFFER POTENTIAL STUDENT-ATHLETES? Outstanding
academic programs, much to do socially on and off campus, and mixing in great athletic facilities. Our student-athletes
(SA’s) are extremely well taken care of whether at home or traveling on the road. So often, when other SA’s from other
schools see what we have they comment that we have it better than many DI’s in this country. We may not be SEC caliber
but we have so many strengths it will sure to get their attention. We want and many times are now getting that mid-major D1
type of SA. A huge advantage in recruiting is simply to get the SA on campus and see for themselves what we have to
offer….and to be sure, we are very proud of what we have to offer academically, socially and athletically. We encourage our
prospective student-athletes (PSA’s) to visit other institution and then visit our school and compare. We like our chances.
WHEN DOES RECRUITING START FOR YOUR PROGRAM? This is ever evolving but certainly knowing and being
aware of sophomores in high school (16 year old). The actual recruitment date will be on or after June 15 th after their
sophomore year.
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY FOR A PROSPECTIVE STUDENT-ATHLETE TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU AND TO
LET YOU KNOW HE IS INTERESTED IN YOUR PROGRAM? Writing an e-mail to us with YouTube type video after
their sophomore year so we have a chance to figure out when the best time is to able to see the PSA in action and have
follow ups, if need be.
IF A PLAYER GETS A LETTER FROM A SCHOOL, DOES IT MEAN HE IS BEING RECRUITED? Great question. Not if
it comes from the Admissions department of that school. The Admissions department and athletic programs are separate
from one another...and for our baseball program, we do not send out letters. Generally, the PSA’s know we are interested
once we get out and watch them play or participate in a showcase type event. Then, we will follow up with a phone call.
WWW.STLPROSPECTSBASEBALL.COM
Parents: Robb and Colleen Bock
Favorite Food: St. Louis Style BBQ Ribs
Sister: Nicole and Shannon
Hobbies: hunting, fishing, shooting, and working out.
Favorite Movie: Toss up 42 and American Sniper
Favorite Other Sport: Soccer
Favorite Prospect Training Drill: BP on the field. I love working on driving the ball to all parts of
the field; and hitting is just an exciting part of the game for everybody.
My Favorite Baseball Memory: living the dream and playing at Cooperstown, NY. 104 teams from
around the nation and that week you literally eat, drink, and breathe baseball. When you are 12, it doesn't
get any better until you turn pro.
WWW.STLPROSPECTSBASEBALL.COM
_-
-_
CBC Class of 2019
Position: C, 3B, 1B
Height 5'10" | Weight 170 Lbs. | Bats R Throws R
Kurtis has been playing baseball since the age of 5, and at 10 he
started playing select baseball. If Kurtis is not playing in a
game he is in the batting cage, doing drills, or studying the game.
He models his game after Ivan Rodriguez (Pudge). Kurtis
wears the number 23, in honor of David Freese. Kurtis lives,
plays, and dreams of baseball. His goal is to play D1 baseball
for LSU (Louisiana State University).
WWW.STLPROSPECTSBASEBALL.COM
| BEGIN | “It seems so easy, especially for a Major League pitcher -- someone who has theoretically been an
ace throughout Little League, high school, college and the Minors. Start a batter off with the best pitch of all:
Strike one. Well, it isn't so easy. Nothing about the big leagues is easy, as it turns out, and careers seem to hinge
on pitchers' ball-to-strike ratios, walk rates and command of the ins and outs of that invisible square over home
plate. Matt Harvey was a serious pitching prospect. Everyone in the Mets organization and most of the rest of
the baseball community knew it, and how could they not have known it? In 2011, his first professional season at
the age of 22, Harvey, New York's first-round selection in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft, had used his high-90s
fastball and above-average complement of secondary stuff to garner 156 strikeouts in 135 2/3 combined
innings between Class A and Double-A. Last year, he made 20 starts for Triple-A Buffalo and struck out 112
batters in 110 innings and had a 3.68 ERA. He looked even better in his first taste of the Majors. Harvey made
his big league debut on July 26, and by the time his season was over, he had pitched to a Major League ERA of
2.73 in 10 starts, striking out 70 batters in 59 1/3 innings. All those numbers looked good, but there was a
problem with command. Harvey averaged 3.1 walks per nine innings in 2011 and 3.9 in the Minors in 2012. In
his 10-game spin in The Show, Harvey's walks per nine innings stayed at 3.9. That's too high a number for acelevel pitching. It leads to bloated pitch counts, lots of baserunners and potential big innings. But Harvey has
discovered something this year that has made him an early-season frontrunner for the National League Cy
Young Award. That would be the sometimes elusive strike one. Harvey's walk rate is down to 2.2 per nine, and
he entered Wednesday ranking 18th in the Majors with 66.9-percent first-pitch strikes, according to FanGraphs.
That's a big reason why he's 4-0 with a 1.28 ERA and almost pitched a perfect game against the White Sox on
Tuesday night. "He has an idea what he wants to throw and obviously has confidence in all his pitches," Mets
catcher John Buck said, "It makes it very tough, gives you a lot of options. He has the ability to miss out over the
plate with his stuff and still get swings and misses with very good hitters." That last quality might be the key for
someone like Harvey. By getting more strikes on the first pitch -- and this includes foul balls and batted outs -he is maximizing his already-way-above-average ability to get hitters to miss, even on pitches that land out of
the strike zone. Harvey, through Tuesday's games, was third in the Majors in swinging strikes, behind only Yu
Darvish and Ryan Dempster and ahead of Max Scherzer and Felix Hernandez, according to FanGraphs. So
there's the stuff, and then there's the ability to use it. Statistical analyst Eno Sarris has been studying first-strike
percentage for years. Now with FanGraphs, he says first-strike percentage is important enough to explain
"almost half the variance in walk rate." "So half the battle is getting strike one," Sarris says, "and half the battle
is having good control. Hitters are just not changing, as a whole, their approach when it comes to swinging at
the first pitch. In fact, they're swinging less and less while first-strike percentage from pitchers is going up."
Sarris' numbers show that hitters swung at the first pitch more than 30 percent of the time in the early and
mid-1990s, and that number went down in the late 1990s and is sitting at around 27 percent now. Meanwhile,
first-pitch strike percentage went up to 59 percent by pitchers last year and is at 60 so far this year, the first
time in history it's cracked that barrier. But not everyone goes with the percentages. One of the great recent
anecdotes regarding this conundrum came about in 2009 when former Braves and current ESPN commentator
Jon Sciambi read that Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones, he of the probable Hall of Fame career, saw the
second-fewest number of first-pitch strikes in the Majors. The only player who saw fewer was Albert Pujols.
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
WWW.STLPROSPECTSBASEBALL.COM
CONTINUED: Sciambi, who has been known to delve into the sabermetric side of things in his broadcasts,
approached Jones with the information and was surprised to find that, well, Jones was surprised that he wasn't
more patient with first pitches. "I went on to ask why he'd swing at so many first pitches when the numbers
suggest it's not a great play," Sciambi wrote in an article for Baseball Prospectus. "Chipper explained that the
first pitch is often the only time he'll get a 'heater' the entire at-bat. "'OK,' I say, 'but clearly, mathematically,
factually, you're not getting a ton of strikes.' We go round and round for a bit without concession on either side
and eventually I go upstairs to broadcast the game. "Fast-forward to the top of the first. San Diego's Tim
Stauffer is on the mound. Chipper digs in and takes a 91-mph fastball right down the middle. He steps out of the
box, finds our broadcast booth with those great eyes and, well, here's what follows: Chipper Jones 1, Stats 0.
But, Chipper, sample size!" This year, Anthony Rizzo is in a similar scenario. The Cubs' second-year first baseman
had nine home runs through Wednesday, and four of them were hit on first pitches. He also had 34 strikeouts
in 130 at-bats. "The objective of the pitchers is to throw first-pitch strikes," Rizzo said. "If it's there, I'm going to
hit it. If I don't recognize it, I'll lay off it. That's just how it goes, if that first pitch is a home run. It doesn't matter
if it's the first pitch or pitch [No.] 10, I'm just trying to put the ball in play and hit it hard." The difference
between 1-0 counts and 0-1 counts is so staggering that you'd figure even the most old-school of baseball
evaluators would have these numbers at their disposal during every Spring Training workout and in-season
batting-practice session. Through Tuesday, according to Baseball-Reference.com, after almost 15,000 total
plate appearances in 2013, hitters who take a first-pitch ball have a slash line of .269/.383/.442. Hitters who fall
behind at 0-1 are flailing away to the tune of .221/.261/.341. Furthermore, a 2004 study by Craig Burley of
Hardball Times that's oft-cited in the analysis community showed that in 2003, the percentage of first-pitch
strikes that turned into hits was 7.3. Those numbers, Sarris says, have not changed much in the ensuing 10
years. It could explain why Atlanta's Kris Medlen, who leads the Majors this year with 72 percent first-pitch
strikes, has a 3.25 ERA through Wednesday and was 10-1 last year. It could explain why his teammate, Tim
Hudson, who's second in first-pitch strikes, is 4-1 at the age of 37. It could also explain why Miami's Kevin
Slowey, who ranks fifth in the Majors in that category, has a 1.81 ERA and 36 strikeouts over 44 2/3 innings
through Wednesday, even though he made only eight starts in 2012 and they were all in the Minors. "It's weird
that hitters haven't caught on to the fact that pitchers are throwing first-pitch strikes more and more," Sarris
says. "Then again, one of the easiest things to tell a hitter is to take until you see something good. That's what
they've always been taught. "Maybe it's time for them to reconsider." | END |
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/47041624/with-first-pitch-strikes-pitchers-gain-a-substantial-advantage
PROSPECTS PITCHING GOAL: THROW MORE 1st PITCH STRIKES… GET AHEAD! Control the count.
PROSPECTS HITTERS: HUNT FASTBALLS TO HIT EVERY SINGLE PITCH. BE READY TO HIT… EVERY PITCH.
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