Reds preparing for Tennessee trip

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore Reds midget triple A baseball club will hopefully ride some momentum before making the trek to Columbia, Tenn. to put their skills to the test against some tough teams in this tournament.
With the Reds being streaky as of late, the players know that they will have to be more aggressive in their plate approaches and clean up on the errors if they want to see results.
Some of the players played in the Alaska tournament a year ago and know what it takes to succeed against experienced opponents.
“Going down to Tennessee, we’re definitely expecting a lot of good competition,” said right fielder Reece Debeaudrap, who went on the Alaska trip last year.
“I actually think we’ll find ourselves some better calibre baseball down there, just because we’re going even more south where kids are playing all year. I know a lot of the young guys are really interested to go down and get some of that calibre in and get some playing time against some highly rated players.”
“I think the biggest difference from down here is that we’re going to see a lot more college kids than we do playing up in the NorWest League.”
The Reds will have to be a lot more persistent in the batters box against some harder throwing pitchers who will make life difficult on opposition.
It will be key for the boys to be patient in the counts to pick up reads on pitchers’ tendencies.
“Just sitting back, try to get ahead in the count as much as we can, trying not to see any strikes go by us and try to hit anything we can to in the zone,” said Debeaudrap.
For out-fielder Robert Butterwick this will be his first taste of highly competitive baseball in the States.
He is hoping to learn from his teammates and cherish the experience.
“I just want to contribute to the team, don’t make errors, play my game,” said Butterwick.
The skills possessed by the teams will undoubtedly play a factor in how his overall game is.
“The skill level in Tennessee, I know they’re going to be a real good team, probably going to pitch high 90’s,” said Butterwick.
Bench coach Ryan Kennedy wants his club to be prepared every game to battle and is hoping some of the experienced players will take on a leadership role.
“To take from the previous trip, is to come out ready to play every single game,” said Kennedy.
“I’m hoping the guys that have been around a little while can take that, let the younger guys know that the quality of games are going to be higher, the teams are going to be better, the game’s going to move faster and just having them prepared for actually what we’re going to see.”
He really wanted to emphasize to his players that they need to be more aggressive at the plate and swing at more first pitches.
The Reds played in a tournament down in Libby, Mont. on June 26 before opening up in Columbia on June 30 where the tournament will go until July 7.