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10/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Oct. 14, 2009
By MOISEKAPENDA BOWER
There are no casual intrasquads at Reckling Park, not with Rice coach Wayne Graham categorizing every moment as an opportunity to teach.
So it was that a random pitch tossed just off the outside corner of home plate by one laboring pitcher elicited a response from Graham when senior catcher Diego Seastrunk failed to frame it with subtle conviction.
"Hold it," Graham barked as Seastrunk rose from his stance, halfway turned around to acknowledge the command, and fired the ball back to the mound. Another message delivered, another critical lesson learned.
"You want that point made right when the pitch occurs," Graham said. "It doesn't have the impact if you wait afterward. You don't go on and on. You don't stand up and walk down there (to the protective netting behind home plate). You call it and they know what I'm talking about."
Seastrunk knows. In fact, he knew exactly what he was getting himself into when Graham approached him last fall suggesting a move from third base. The Owls needed to make room for freshman sensation Anthony Rendon at the hot corner, and Graham was convinced that Seastrunk could be an asset behind the plate and that his chances for professional advancement were greater at catcher than as an infielder.
Affable to the brink of being overly casual, Seastrunk accepted the challenge, one that would increase the intensity of his one-on-one interactions with Graham. Because he allows his catchers to call games, Graham is routinely demanding of them, a scene Seastrunk witnessed unfold many times during his first two seasons playing with the Owls.
"I knew what I was getting into. I knew he wasn't going to take it lightly on me just because I've been here a while," Seastrunk said. "I knew he was going to be just as hard on me as he's been on any of our catchers in the past, and the thing that made me more comfortable is I knew he had confidence in me. He believed that I could be a great catcher. Him having faith in me and not pulling the plug early helped me out confidence-wise a lot. (It helps) just knowing that, as much baseball as he's seen, (Graham believes) that I could be one of the top catchers in the country.
"Now, with this year, I've made it a point to be one of the top catchers in the country."
Seastrunk undoubtedly had the tools to catch. His squat, compact frame belies his athleticism, and it required all of one catching session for Seastrunk to display the soft hands needed to thrive at the position. As a pitcher Seastrunk can touch 95 miles per hour, so his arm strength was unquestioned. And, as a switch hitter, Seastrunk provided the Owls offensive punch at a defensive position, yet another invaluable asset.
The nuances of excelling behind the plate were the greatest causes for concern regarding the experiment. How well would Seastrunk block balls in the dirt, a dire necessity for Graham with Ryan Berry and Mike Ojala fronting his rotation? Could Seastrunk learn the art of framing pitches just off the plate, and how long would it take for him to erase years of infield training in order for his footwork behind the plate to be sufficient? And, considering how much of a physical grind catching can be, would Seastrunk produce consistent defensive efforts day after day?
"I knew it was going to be tough in the beginning, but I didn't know how draining it was going to be," Seastrunk said. "And I don't think I even realized it last year because you never want to acknowledge the fact that you're tired because you don't want to seem weak. It was something that I needed to address and now I know this year that I do need to address the fact that my legs are going to get tired toward the end of the year but you have to find a way to compensate.
"It was tough. My batting average dropped almost 70 points, and it had a lot to do with my legs. I just wasn't using my legs as much and I was conscious of it toward the end of the year when I started hitting better."
Given the mental and physical strain he endured, it came as no surprise that Seastrunk scuffled at the plate most of last season. After pacing the Owls in batting as a sophomore with a .353 average, Seastrunk hit .288 as a junior. His on-base-plus-slugging percentage dropped 44 points (from .897 to .853), his RBI total decreased by 16 (61 to 45), and he scored 12 fewer runs (58 to 46) and produced 27 fewer total bases (130 to 103). Seastrunk more than doubled his base on balls total as a junior (17 to 44), but he fanned 16 more times (20 to 36) in 32 fewer at-bats.
Behind the plate Seastrunk developed at an acceptable pace. By having the complete trust of his coaches and pitchers, Seastrunk moved past the early miscues of balls skipping by and rolling into foul territory. He improved at calling games, keeping base runners honest, and serving as a confidant to members of the pitching staff. Following a rocky start, Seastrunk morphed into the serviceable catcher Graham envisioned.
"After a little scrutiny behind the plate we knew he absolutely had the tools," Graham said. "Then it's just a matter of his determination and our coaching, and from midseason on I don't think Diego was a negative at all. He wasn't really a negative at the beginning.
"I think he's judged harder than some people because everybody knew that he was a big-time hitter and, more or less, a bit-time college player."
It remains unknown what role perception played in Seastrunk plummeting to the 31st round of the 2009 amateur draft. Prior to his junior season, he seemed a safe bet for selection by to the 10th round, but the dip in his offensive numbers and early struggles defensively likely played a role in his tumbling down the draft board. Seastrunk had no intention of returning to Rice for his senior season, but the draft forced him to reevaluate a decision he didn't anticipate reevaluating.
Seastrunk opted not to play summer baseball, and once he decided to exhaust his eligibility at Rice, he committed to reshaping his body for the grind of catching in 2010. Seastrunk participated in late-summer conditioning sessions with teammates several afternoons per week and volunteered for additional workouts with the conditioning staff during most mornings. He opened fall ball in the best shape of his career, and is mentally prepared to fully embrace the need to develop defensively.
"I had a lot of time to evaluate what I was trying to get from me playing baseball," Seastrunk said. "I really didn't do much extra last year to put myself in the best position. This year is my last year, so I'm out of time. My back is against the wall. I'm going to have to do everything I can to sustain my future playing baseball.
"The thing that I'm happy about this year is I know exactly what I need to work on to get where I was at the end of the year last year, and I have an entire fall this year to get ready for it as opposed to half the fall whenever I was still trying to play some infield. I'm just trying to put myself in the best position I can this being my last year at Rice baseball-wise, to leave my mark here and put myself in the best position at the next level."
The process of turning Seastrunk into an All-American caliber catcher resumed on Oct. 5. But this fall Seastrunk is facing the challenge armed with a season of experience and a catalog of dos and don'ts. Can he handle balls in the dirt? He's done it before. Will he botch the occasional pitch selection? Assuredly, but he'll do so with far less frequency than last season. Will Graham correct him when he errs and do so in a stern manner distinctly Graham? Probably, but Seastrunk realizes he has the unyielding support of a coach with a half-century of baseball knowledge.
Aware of everything his final season at Rice has to offer, Seastrunk is invigorated. He is arguably the most critical position player on the team, he stands poised to rocket up draft boards with an exceptional season, and is accepting of the heaping amount of expectations dumped on his shoulders. He can hear Graham providing instruction behind him, but he already knows what is required. At this point, Seastrunk is allowed a casual glance before resuming his chores. He has earned that right.
"The thing I've said from Day 1 about Diego is he's such a good hitter and he's watched pitchers over and over again from being here at Rice that he knows what to call," Ojala said. "And being such a good hitter he knows what to call in certain situations. He's already got the hardest part down. He's developing the catching skills already if he's not already pretty much there. This year is going to be pretty interesting. He's going to surprise a bunch of people if he hasn't already."
Said Seastrunk: "It's not second nature to me right now. I have 15, 16 years of habits of playing infield and taking that back there (behind the plate). It's a completely different position, and I'm still working out some habits that I had playing infield. Now I know that I can play the position and I can play it well, it's just I have to make it a priority to get back to where I was at the end of the year to start the year and maintain that through the entire season."
