Beau Long '23 Recruiting Profile

            I'm always asked why my life is centered around baseball, and I always respond the same way. I say, it's because baseball makes me happy. Being on a baseball field is where I belong. I feel like the best version of myself that there is, is the one people see on a baseball field. I've had bad experiences with coaches and teammates, and with being someone who believes in God and trusts that he brings good to those who deserve and earn it, I knew that it wasn't the end of the path, it was a roadblock. One that that led me down a different path, a longer haul, but the right one for me. It put me through something that wasn't easy to deal with and get through, but I can see now that it wasn't a reason to quit. It was a test, it was a reason to keep going. I, since then, have not only become a better ball player, but a more understanding and better friend, teammate, and communtiy member. Along with baseball, other sports like basketball and golf are also very important to me. Neither bring me nearly as much joy as baseball, but they give me other things that challenge me to not only work to be better, but to compete. Learn that not everything is going to be easy, or that not everything is going to be fair, and under those circumstances, you can't give up, but you need to push through, learn from it, and prepare for the next time you're put into a situation like that.  

            Although playing baseball and other sports are my favorite things and some of the most important things in my life, those wouldn't be possible without doing well in school, and with me being as able to pass classes in school just as easily as anyone else, but not quite always looking to the future and how I will be effected by what I do in school and especially with my mom being as smart and well prepared as she is (and it helps that she's a teacher too), she pushes me and I push myself to do better in school than just pass. To my moms standards, anything below a B+ is unacceptable, and even a B+ is pushing it, and while I'm not satisfied with anything less than straight A's, I know that I can't be perfect all the time and for whatever reasoning there may be, I can't give 100%, but I can, and I promise myself that I will give 100% of what I have to give under any circumstances. I look to get through high school near the top of my class, and work my way into a college with not only a good academic system in a medical related field, but a great baseball program as well, and as I'm nearing my junior season, I have two opitons that I would have to decide on for a college major when I'm also looking at the college all around, but as much as I love sports, I want to make them my life. I want to pursue a career in either sports medicine as an athletic trainer or a physician with knowlegde in athletic training and such.

            Back to the topic of college baseball, I want to play at the highest level of baseball that I can, whether that end up being profesionally or walking on to a D3 college to play. I love my hometown and homestate, but by no means am I against leaving to go to a bigger and better college to better excel my academic and athletic abilities. Getting into the offensive side of baseball, I can hit from both sides of the plate, but have really focused my hitting from the right handed batters box. I have never had trouble with hitting other than a short slump lasting a game or two like most players have experienced. My hitting is usually quite spread throughout the field, a majority of my hits, though, being up the middle and in the right center gap. In the last year, I've really focused on being able to go to the ball and take outside pitches to the opposite field and being able to pull my hands in on inside pitches and pull them to the left side of the field. Although I have a lot of power, I am able to shorten my swing in a two strike count and be able to put the bat on the ball and prevent strikeouts and give an effort to put the ball in play. When it comes to baserunning, I haven't had the chance to record my 60 yard time, but I run a 5.32 40 yard sprint, and while being one of the slower guys on the base path, I'm still able to record multiple stolen bases and avoid causing preventable outs because of my baseball knowledge and smart baserunning.  Moving to the defensive side of things, I am a third baseman and shortstop who also starts and relieves as a pitcher whenever needed. When pitching, I jump between six different pitches, cutter, 4 seam fastball, changeup, curveball, knuckleball, and slider. My 4 seam fastball crosses the plate consistently between 78 and 81 mph. My cutter has a little movement but not much change of speed from my 4 seam fastball but is difficult to hit when going from one to the other. My changeup tends to drop when nearing the plate and is a major change of speed from my fastball, usually coming in around 65 mph. My curveball is more similar to a slurve than a 12-6 curve, but it has lots of movement. My knuckleball has little to no spin whatsoever, and normally gets really good drop right on the plate. Lastly, my slider doesn't have lots of slice, but does have movement and is a good middle ground between my fastball and curveball. This past season I wasn't given nearly as many chances on the bump as I believe I should've had, but in the 9 pitching appearances and 11.2 innings pitched, mostly as a closer throwing less than an inning at a time with the most innings pitched at once being 5.1, I had a solid .190 opponent batting average, 1.50 WHIP and 1.79 ERA with 18 strikeouts. When it comes to playing the infield, shortstop has always been where I've played for almost all my life. My eighth grade year, I tore my rotator cuff while pitching and couldn't pitch the rest of the season, nor could I make the throw from across the infield, but I made the decision to hold off on surgery and finish baseball, so I was moved to first base, and played there the rest of that season and even through most of my freshman year while still going through the healing process. Through my two years of varsity ball, I've only had 9 total errors in 97 total chances and 78 put outs. While I'd love to continue playing shortstop in college, I know that, at my size, even with a large fielding range and a strong arm, that third bace is the more proper place for me to be, and I can't lie and say that that isn't my second favorite place to play. First base is always an option that I'm open to playing. I'd be lying if I said my skills were limited to playing left side infield, for I've played nearly every position throughout my career of competitive ball, but I will always feel the most confident and comfortable at third and short. 

      During the fall of 2021, I was a part of a fall baseball league run though the University of Iowa. I was put onto a team with players from all over Iowa, most of them being a year or two older than me and from much bigger schools, but I was still able to earn a starting position at shortstop. Throughout the eight weeks of late pratices and games, I played some of the best baseball of my life, finishing the season with  a .590 batting average with 7 homeruns, 4 triples, and 18 doubles driving in a total of 58 runs. In the field, I ended the season with only 2 errors out of the 93 total chances. My team ended at the top of the league with a record of 22-2, Not only did my teammate at third base win MVP of the entire league, I was runner up for the award with only 4 less votes. As well as being the league MVP runner-up, I was named first team shortstop as well as recieving honorable mention as a pitcher, finishing with a total of only 19 innings pitched. Throughout those 19 innings pitched, I managed to record 29 strikeouts, with an opponent batting average of .178, a 1.2 WHIP, and a 1.38 ERA.