Benjamin Kittay '18 Recruiting Profile

In the summer of 2014 my family moved across the country from Westchester County, New York to Garland, Texas. I had grown up in Briarcliff Manor, NY for all of my life and the move came as a surprise to me and my twin brother Dylan. I was enrolled in the 9th grade class at John Paul II in Plano, Texas. John Paul is a very challenging private catholic school, with rigorous academics and competitive sports programs. The culture was also drastically different then where I came from. Most, if not all, of my fellow students at JPII had grown up together or went to school together and I knew no one. My brother was enrolled at Dallas Academy, a different school that catered to his specific issues.

My Dad recognized that moving as this time was a major disruption and tough on me and Dylan, but he asked me to step up and do the best I could to help everyone adjust, especially my brother. But truthfully, I was also worried for myself. Aside from having to move, I was also concerned with being able to compete athletically in Texas. I came from a small baseball town in NY. and sports and especially baseball has always been my passion, and playing baseball in college has always been my dream. I did not want to lose that dream, and knew that I had to commit to doing whatever I had to do to be successful in Texas. I set athletic goals for myself, with my first goal to make the varsity team as a sophomore, which I accomplished. My second goal was to get into the starting lineup, and that too I was able to achieve. My third goal was to make an impact, and I did that making All District Teams and being a player that the team needed to perform well to win.

I can't say what might make me different from other recruits, but I will say that I’ve set more goals, and they include demonstrating to college coaches that I can be an impact player at the college level. 

I do not take anything for granted and take no days off. Moving to Texas, while hugely disruptive at the time, has proven to be the best thing for me and my brother. It helped me define my goals and caused me to work harder to try and achieve them.

I want to play college baseball, and I am fully committed to doing whatever it takes to achieve that. If a coach is looking for a person who embraces leadership, can handle adversity and responsibility, will work hard and set an example every day on the field and in the classroom, loves baseball and believes he can play with anyone, then he should consider me.