Local athletes compete at baseball showcase

From July 6 through 8, Prep Baseball Report (PBR) held the 2020 New York State Games in Cortland, a massive showcase that featured over 400 uncommitted high school athletes from all around New York attempting to impress college coaches.

Four local athletes were among the groups of ballplayers looking to make their mark – Ithaca’s William and Benjamin Ruth, Lansing’s Zachary Sperger and Trumansburg’s Ethan Fulton.

The showcase started with a few drills to get statistics on players, measuring speed and power among other metrics. After batting practice and fielding drills, there were 16-inning games between the 24 teams that the 400-plus athletes were divided into. For the Ruth brothers, this was the first time they had played organized baseball in 10 months.

“I was very excited,” William said. “Baseball is one of those things where once you step in a dugout, all those kids, they become your brothers. I’ve never met any of those kids except for my brother in the dugout. It’s just the feeling of being on the baseball field. It’s just amazing. You get to meet all these new kids, and you all have something in common.”

Sperger agreed with that statement, recalling the friendships he’s made through baseball and opportunities like this one. The range of ages at the showcase also helps him with his development as a player.

“You meet new people and get their Snapchat and you can just stay in touch with them,” Sperger said. “Then they’re friends for life. It’s a good experience overall because as a 2023 [graduate], there are 2021s and 2022s there. You get to play with all age groups. You see what they’ve been through too and get some even advice from them, which is nice.”

During the pre-game drills, PBR helps players track their personal progression using advanced statistics rarely seen at the high school level like exit velocity (the speed of the ball after it is hit), launch angle (the trajectory of the ball after it is hit) and position velocity (the speed of a throw in the field rather than a pitch).

“Those numbers, they don’t just help me know where I am,” William said. “It shows coaches and they’re going to see that my spring or winter of my sophomore year, I was small and didn’t have the numbers that I needed to be a college player. They can see that just even in just six months, the amount of improvement that I had, and they’ll be able to see that and just project to see where I’m going to be in the next two, three, four years.”

William was set to take part in his first year of varsity baseball earlier this year with the Ithaca Little Red as a junior, but COVID-19 scrapped the spring season. That was the same case for Sperger, who will be heading into his sophomore year when school opens. After his first varsity season was canceled, he’s been doing his best to stay active.

“It’s definitely been a tough adjustment,” Sperger said. “I’ve been hitting obviously, and I’ve been trying to put the pitching machine up to faster pitching, but it’s just not the same as an arm. Obviously, it’s been a little bit of a slow start to the [summer] season but we’ll get into it.”

Getting those live reps against some of the best players around the state is incredibly valuable, as Sperger alluded to. That’s especially the case for Benjamin Ruth, who is heading into his sophomore year and faced a pitcher who threw 90 mph at the showcase. Along with some training alongside recent IHS standouts Holden Lazarus and Andrew Alise, the Ruths are staying very busy.

“I’m playing for Ithaca here and I’m also playing up at Baseball U (in Syracuse),” Benjamin said. “We’re going to about six tournaments. We’re going to a tournament almost every weekend. Then, we’re playing a couple games during the week.”

For William, all the hard work is to make up for that lost time. His first year of varsity was going to be with a Little Red team that was expected to win the Section IV tournament. After an exceptional senior class graduated, it’s up to William and the other rising seniors to capture that glory that slipped away from them.

“We have to take advantage because nothing is for sure,” William said. “Especially since we were expecting to win sectionals this year, we had to turn that into motivation for next year because this year was supposed to be our year. We need to realize that just because something got taken away from us, it doesn’t mean that we can’t work hard and win it again the next year.”

Seeing the progression of their statistics from the showcase led to big goals for the players there. William hopes to hit .450 and steal bases while seeking that sectional title after seeing his speed numbers improve at the showcase.

Sperger, who’s been taking part in PBR events since eighth grade, hopes to be a leader on a Lansing team that he sees competing for sectionals. Benjamin will be entering his sophomore year and wants to show that he’s one of the hardest working players in Ithaca as he looks to be a future force on the varsity squad.

Every opportunity to play counts, especially in a year where COVID-19 might end up eliminating multiple high school sports seasons before all is said and done. Now, they’ll take what they learned and contribute to their respective schools as they continue toward a college career.