By Jeremy McDonald
jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– Blanchet’s Drew Bartels describes his passion, his love and his drive for the game of baseball as just having that bug for it. That itch he needs to itch and so on.
It’s the grid of the work that goes into it, it’s enjoyable for Bartels. Being around his friends and teammates, and the on-the-field demands that comes with playing. And it led to Bartels signing to be a two-way player, to pitch and to play the field, at Centralia College up in Washington.
Bartels topped out at 88 miles an hour last Spring with the Cavaliers, who reached the 2A/1A State Semi’s before the squad returned to the 3A Classification this year. With the demand for quality arms at any level, High School, JuCo, Four-year and so on, Bartels had to start working on his craft. And that’s where an example of that passion, that drive and work ethic came in clutch for Bartels in his pursuit of continuing his baseball career.
“For me, as a freshman, I was high-70’s. Then I was low-80’s when I was a sophomore and I was like, ‘if I don’t put the work in now, I won’t be able to seperate myself’. I knew I had to get myself on a throwing program, I got to get some weight, work on my mobility and hone in my mechanics so I can separate myself,” he said.
In addition to taking his game to the next level, he also spent this last Summer playing with the NW Diamond Sports to start the Summer and in The League in August. The competition helped Bartels improve on all faucets of his game going up against some really good players, some going to D-1 schools even to give him a taste of what he may be facing here beyond his senior season.
“You gotta fight for it, you gotta separate yourself. Not just physically, but mentally also. Just being an Alpha on the field was something I’m really going to work on,” said Bartels.
Bartels and his Blanchet teammates came close to getting that State Championship in the past three years. Twice they’ve reached the State Semi’s, once Bartels’ freshman year against Santiam Christian and this past year against Umpqua Valley Christian and actually getting to the Title Game his sophomore year when they fell to Kennedy in the final game of the year.
And now, with a good core of seniors coming back this Spring, they’re hoping that this is the year that it all pays off.
“We got a really good core of seniors this year and I think we all have that goal in mind. We’ve gotten there before and we’ve got a lot of guys who put the work in like me and we’re trying to get that ‘Chip. We’re going to work hard and we got some younger guys that we’re going to help out. We got a lot of experience on our team, we’re going to go for it this year,” said Bartels.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
