Casey Hendricks '15 Recruiting Profile

Since the age of 4 during the summers I have lived on the baseball field. I live in the small town of Ketchikan, Alaska. The population is around 8000 people. The winters are cold and the summers are wet. The baseball field I have played on since I was 4 is also our football and soccer field. A typical baseball game consists of gale force winds and torrential down pour. I love baseball despite all of it. In a small town like this you can get involved in positive activities or get into trouble. I chose to put my energy into athletics and I work hard at it every day with the support of my friends and family.

Playing baseball at a collegiate level has always been a dream of mine. I participate in CrossFit, which is a strength training class, to improve my stamina and power. I work with multiple coaches in the off season to make sure I keep ahead of the competition and be at peak condition for the season. I have always been told that my best asset of the game was knowledge of situations and strategy as well as the ability to see things with an analytical approach.

My aspirations include improving my pitching abilities. I think the most important quality of a pitcher is their ability to hit locations consistently; I can work on my locations around the plate with my different pitches. I think the best way to work on location pitching is to get as many reps in as you can while focusing on hitting certain spots. The second most important thing in pitching is movement on the ball. For movement of the ball working on finger pressure and grips on the ball to perfect multiple ways of the same pitch can confuse a hitter. The last thing but also very important is velocity. Working out and perfecting mechanics can increase velocity, I have been working out 3-5 days a week to gain muscle mass and working on mechanics at least one day a week.

Consistently setting goals that are realistic is a good way to keep motivated. I have set many goals such as getting quicker around the bases, I obtained this goal by working hard and making sure I take the proper route to each base, as well as improving my stride. Working hard in school and keeping up on my studies has helped me reach my goal of increasing and maintaining a high GPA. Another goal was to increase velocity on my fastball. Continuously working out has helped me reach this goal and will continue to help reach the next level. Some future goals I have are to reach collegiate level baseball at a school that offers not only great competitiveness but also great opportunities and academics off the field.

In summary I think my knowledge of the game, my dedication, and the hard work I have been putting in along with what I am willing to put in would make me a great candidate to play at a collegiate level. Thank you for your time and consideration.