Re “Q & A with Coach Prieto”
[Editor’s Note: Our columnist concludes his two-part interview with Culver City High School baseball Coach Rick Prieto.]
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Back row, from left: Juan Alcala, Jay Sterner, Nate Matthews, Daniel Hennessy, Jonathan Im, Eli Bowe. Middle row: Coach Roux, Darian Sylvester, Moises Amador Jr., Max Akita, Kelvin Murillo, Timothy Stewart, Jake Wells, Coach Rick Prieto. Front row: Thomas Graham, David Ko, Michael Netzel.
Q: What about the pitching this year?
Rick Prieto: It’s not as deep as we have had in the past. Last year, we had nine guys who could pitch at the varsity level. This year we have Jay Sterner coming back. He had a great season last year. He pitched a phenomenal game against Santa Monica last year. He beat them 1-0 in seven innings. What an outing. We’re excited that he is going to continue from where he was last year. We have Eli Bowie, a sophomore, coming up from the JV team, as well as Nate Matthews who pitched 14 innings last year and Jake Wells. So we went from nine pitchers to just four. I’m expecting to do a lot with them. Daniel Hennessy will be our closer. We hope to get six to nine outs a week from him. We are expecting three to six outs from Louie Ortega and three to six outs a week from Moises Amador, Jr. They have gotten pitching experience from summer and winter baseball. I believe they are going to go out there and get the job done.
Q: The last couple of years you have had hard throwers and others who threw junk or off-speed pitches.
R.P.: That’s a fair assessment. We have our bulldogs and pitchers—those who hit their spots and change speeds to keep the hitters off balance.
Q: Each pitcher has his own individual style. Will your starters be your hard throwers?
R.P.: Not necessarily. We will have Jay Sterner. He complements his fastball with a really good curve. Nate Matthews will be our hard thrower. He will have to carry on for Tyler Mark and rev it up a little. He’s got a very good curveball when he’s on. He and Jay are going to be our hard throwers. Eli Bowie will be more of a spot pitcher. He’ll change speeds as well as Jake Wells.
Q: You said you have a converted third baseman behind the plate, a freshman at second, a seasoned varsity player in Darian Sylvester at shortstop, and a new centerfielder. So you’re not real experienced up the middle, right?
R.P.: Correct. This will be Timothy Stewart’s first full year in center. That’s why we worked hard on getting as many reps as we could for those players. It comes down to our practice plan: Taking the ground balls, rolling the double plays, taking fly balls to the middle and the corners. We work on what we call our “short toss scrimmage” where we intentionally throw balls over the plate so they can be hit to the outfielders. That way they can see and hear balls hit in the alleys. Timothy Stewart is one of our best outfielders. He has shown us a lot.
Q: What about speed on the base-paths?
R.P.: Darian Sylvester is one of the fastest runners we have and probably in the South Bay/Westside. He definitely has Division 1 speed.
Let’s go around the horn: Daniel runs well for a big guy. Juan works really hard on his running, so he’s average-plus. Mike Netzel is an average runner. Nate’s an average-plus. Timothy Stewart may not look fast, but he runs the bases smart. Jay also is an average-plus running the bases.
Darian has the green light when he gets on base. He doesn’t have to wait for a signal from me. I told him that after he gets on, I want him to go from first to third in three or four pitches.
Q: Is Darian going to be your leadoff hitter or will he bat second?
R.P.: We have played around with Darian’s spot. We put him in a couple of slots. I’ve moved him to second in the lineup and to fifth. I even had Jay (Sterner) lead off. Darian bunts well. That can open up some situations for us. Getting the leadoff man on can lead to scoring quickly. I don’t know yet how I will play my two lefties. I could go righty, lefty, righty, and lefty or I could flip-flop them. It depends on who is hot. At this level, the hitting can be inconsistent. It comes down to the first five guys have to produce runs. As you pointed out, there’s not a lot of varsity-level experience on our team. We’ll have to manufacture runs. We are going to hit-and-run, bunt and run, and delay steal. We are going to do things to keep the defense off balance by moving it around and putting the ball in play.
Q: About the team’s hitting: Do you have players who can hit to the opposite field?
R.P.: No question. Darian can with power. Juan Alcala can, and so can Nate and Daniel. This is part of our batting practice – to hit to the opposite field. There’s three phases when we practice hitting: Phase 1 is the right-side approach. Phase 2 is up the middle, and Phase 3 is when they get to pull the ball. One thing that will help our hitting this year is the addition of Coach Roux. He’s come in from Peninsula. He had been their hitting coach for three years. I was finally able to get him to come here when their head coach was not rehired.
Q: In past years, the Centaurs have hit with a combination of power and small ball. Is this going to be true this year?
R.P.: Most definitely. We have worked on our first and second base bunt-and- runs. It can be so exciting – if it works. If we can make their third baseman field the ball, we not only have the ability to advance the runner, but to score from second. This has been part of our practice, to put the bunt-and-run on and try to score from second base. While the third baseman is concentrating on making the throw to first, we’re going to third. By the time he makes that throw, we’ve already rounded third and are one-third of the way home. That aggressiveness puts pressure on the first baseman to not only make the catch, but to make a good throw to home. This can be tough for some defenses.
Q: Tell the baseball fans out there why they should come out and watch Centaur baseball.
R.P.: It’s simple. It’s for the same reasons they have come out in the past: We play exciting, competitive baseball. Let me tell you our team’s Grade Point Average is 3.5. So come on out. You not only will see good baseball, you will see smart baseball played by our own exceptional young men.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
