Senior season

Yea, it's been awhile. Senior season went well. At our final banquet, I was given a DVD from the season. Here's an edit of my outings against Santa Fe Christian HS (red) and El Capitan HS (white).

Busy times

One of my strengths has always been to respond well to pressure. Sometimes I would create the pressure by getting behind a batter in the pitch count. Sometimes I would create the pressure by procrastinating in my school work. While I like that I don’t shy away from pressure, I have gotten smarter in not encouraging it.

With my academic and athletic goals, keeping up (or getting ahead) is the only option. My senior year feels stacked. I think part of it is that this is my last year high school, and my last year being with some of my friends that I have been with since kindergarten. But what is most important to me is that I enjoy it all, and take none of it for granted.

Here are some of the things that are on my mind (in no particular order):

College search
ASB Student Leadership - Commissioner of Athletics
Neighborhood gardening job
Class load peppered with AP courses
Playing for So Cal Dirtbags
Playing for San Diego Halos
Baseball conditioning program at St. Augustine High School
Weekly bullpens sessions with Pt Loma Nazarene College coach Justin James

Last year I went to the Arizona Junior Fall Classic showcase, which was on the same weekend as the Homecoming Dance. I made a promise to myself that I would not miss it again this year. That’s on my mind too.

Recruiting video

I wanted to update my profile video. Here is what we taped on August 31st.



Thanks to Travis Wilkie for catching.

Feed the blog

This summer had a lot of baseball, and I know I went to the beach more this past summer than I probably had in all the previous summers combined. But what I haven’t done much of is feed the blog. So let me try to get caught up.

My Saints teammate Austin Shives recruited me to pitch for the Liberty Lions at the USD Invitational Tournament (July 25-28; San Diego, CA). It went well, throwing four innings of one hit ball against the San Diego Gamers. The Lions ended up winning the tourney. Here is video from my outing:

Immediately after the USD tourney, I was off to the Phil Singer Tournament (July 30- Aug 5; San Diego, CA) to pitch for the So Cal Dirtbags. I started the third game (I think), and pitched a complete game for the win. Going the distance is always a good test of physical and mental stamina, and I know it helps keep the other arms rested for the next games. Unfortunately, the Dirtbags flamed out after my outing.

And then it was off to Lake Powell for houseboat vacation. I had been looking forward to a week of wakeboarding in the warmth of the desert sun. It was perfect. I had tried wakeboarding only once before the trip, but by the end of the week I was feeling pretty good about my ability. It has been rough going back into the cold Pacific Ocean water. We were pretty spoiled at Lake Powell.

Probably my strategic hiccup this summer was pitching for the Liberty Lions at the USA Baseball - NTIS Selection Tournament (August 17-21; Impire City, CA). I had just got back from vacation, and while I thought I was ready to go, I wasn't as sharp as I should have been. I gave up only one run while surviving through five innings, but gave up two in the sixth. While we were still leading when I exited, our relief corp struggled in the seventh and gave up three runs for the loss.

It has been a summer of a lot of showcases and tournaments, and working out as much as my body would allow. I plan to step up the training this fall to lock in my change-up and speed up my fastball.

School started on August 24th. Yep, my senior year. There is a lot of college research going on, trying to find the best fit academically and athletically. Hopefully all the hard work will pay off.

Late bloomer

Hello:

The Scouting News has been updated with a new article of interest ...

Lars Leweck

Class of 2012 RHP Lars Leweck: late-bloomer coming on strong judging by the latest and greatest on the scouting grapevine.

Click here to read the article

Potential low round draft pick

I found my recruiting profile on the Perfect Game USA website. It said ...

Lars Leweck is a 2012 RHP/3B with a 6-2 160 lb. frame from San Diego, CA who attends St Augustine. Medium sized frame, slender build, 3/4 arm slot, long arm action, balanced delivery, has an idea, works ahead, 10/4 CB, throws CB with confidence, sets up hitters well, square stance at plate, rotational swing, contact approach, very good student.

The scouts gave me a PG Grade of 7 which according to their 1-10 scale means I am a ...

Potential low round (draft) pick, DI prospect or top level Juco, DII

Los Angeles

Last week my dad and I made the trip up to Los Angeles where I had the opportunity to visit with two colleges in Los Angeles.

We drove up Thursday night to beat the traffic and then stayed at my cousin’s house, which is about 15 minutes from my first appointment on Friday morning: Occidental College’s baseball camp.

At the camp, myself and another player named Riley Sissung were the only true pitchers so we worked out together for the majority of the day. The pregame ritual of the starting pitcher at Oxy is to play the PS3 that they have in their clubhouse; Coach Wetmore gave us the full treatment and let us play video games before we both pitched. I pitched three half innings and did very well, striking out 5 and not letting up a hit.

After the camp, all of the upcoming seniors were provided a tour of the campus by one of the senior players at Oxy; we even went to the ‘all you can eat’ dining house where I took full advantage. I really enjoyed playing there ... Oxy really captured my interest.

Later that day, my dad and I drove about a half hour to Claremont McKenna College where we met with Coach Town for ninety minutes at the baseball field. He gave us some insight into the school, the team and the league and then showed us around the facility. This was my second visit to the school, and it is also one I am interested in.

Both Oxy and Claremont McKenna compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for Division III schools. All in all, it was a great day and well worth the hours of traffic going home.



Oxy Baseball Field




Oxy Clubhouse - home of the PS3




Claremont McKenna Baseball Field