Freshman catcher adjusts his stance on first collegiate baseball season

Casey Smith
Tue, 02 Mar 2021 01:12:52 +0000
Faces of Ohio State

The Ohio State baseball team implemented strict virus protocols and hosted fewer organized team activities throughout the summer and fall. Although this has helped slow the spread of the coronavirus, it has hindered Evan Ulrich’s adjustment to becoming a college baseball player.

During practice, in one of his first college at-bats, Ohio State freshman catcher Evan Ulrich watched two fastballs and a slider blow by him, striking out looking on three pitches.

Ulrich, coming off of a successful high school career, said he was thrown off by the increase in pace initially, but that COVID-19 has contributed the most toward his struggles to catch up to college-level heaters.?

The Ohio State baseball team implemented strict virus protocols and hosted fewer organized team activities throughout the summer and fall. Although this has helped slow the spread of the coronavirus, it has hindered Ulrich’s adjustment to becoming a college baseball player.

“Usually, we’re supposed to be here in the summer –– we weren’t able to be here in the summer,” Ulrich said. “A lot of guys are behind because we didn’t get that jump-start.”

Ulrich said the team’s first full-team practice was Oct. 11, beginning his repetitive schedule. He practiced six days a week, beginning at about 2 p.m. each day and ending after his weightlifting session finished at about 6:30 p.m.

Practices began with coaches and trainers taking each player’s temperature prior to play. After all the players were cleared, Ulrich said they followed safety guidelines by staying at least 6 feet apart and wearing masks at all times.

The Buckeyes’ organized summer workouts were canceled, which Ulrich said had a huge impact on his physical condition.

“A lot of the freshmen are kind of underweight,” Ulrich said. “[They have] less muscle mass than a lot of the guys because we weren’t able to get into the weight room early.”

Ulrich said another problem slowing his development was not seeing as much live pitching as he normally would be since team practices were broken down into smaller groups.

“[Seeing live pitching] is crucial because if you haven’t seen that velocity very much, you’re going to struggle,” Ulrich said.

Ulrich hits on his own in his spare time, but he said hitting off a tee or a machine does not have the same effect as taking cuts in a game-like atmosphere.

“It’s hard to get timing down,” Ulrich said. “You’re not going to see the pitcher’s movement; you’re not going to see the arm angle.”

Ulrich said he has improved his hitting a little since the fall, facing pitchers in practice such as? juniors Jack Neely and TJ Brock who can run up the radar gun in the upper 90-mph range. He credits his hitting adjustments to catching them often, as well as the work he put in over winter break to make up for the time he lost over the summer.

It took Ulrich one at-bat to realize how big of an impact the COVID-19 setbacks had on his development as a hitter at the college level — something he battled over the winter to prepare for the season.

Over winter, Ulrich said he gained 18 pounds from lifting weights four days a week — and changed his batting stance.

“I have a little wider base, changed the hands a little bit, changed the load so it’s a little bit quicker,” Ulrich said. “With the [pitch] speed difference, the longer load is going to screw me … so I made the swing a little bit more compact — a lot more directional.”

Although he is slated to be the third-string catcher on the roster behind redshirt senior Brent Todys and senior Archer Brookman,Ulrich said he hopes to learn as much as he can from their experience.?

“It’s like being a rookie quarterback in the NFL — you’re learning from the veteran guys,” Ulrich said. “I think there’s two sides of it: you want to play, but also there’s a big jump from high school to college, so it’s good having those guys you get to be behind and get to learn from.”