Pitching Prospect Needs A Lift Kempton Drops Off Draft Lists After Losing His Fastball This Spring
Ryan Kempton of Post Falls knows he didn’t have a good senior season. He doesn’t know why.
Neither does his baseball coach at Post Falls High School, John Pettoello. Neither does his future coach at North Idaho College, Jack Bloxom. Scouts are mystified.
Touted as one of the best high school prospects in the nation a few months ago, the sleek 6-foot-4 right-handed pitcher wasn’t selected in the recent amateur draft and he had limited college opportunities after a 4-6 record this spring.
The record wasn’t the problem. The absence of fast on his fastball was. He was clocked at 91 miles per hour last summer. This spring, he topped out at “85-86,” according to Pettoello, and occasionally failed to reach 80 in games.
“I have no clue, no idea (what happened),” said Kempton, who isn’t playing American Legion ball this summer because he is working.
It is important to note that Kempton blames no one, makes no excuses. Pettoello said Kempton never resorted to a woe-isme routine or complaint of injury.
“He was always at practice and he always had his head up,” Pettoello said. “He really is a great kid.”
Albeit one with a confusing baseball career. The theories for Kempton’s dropoff are so thick, they could fill the Sunday newspaper.
Among the hypotheses:
Weight lifting had a negative effect. Kempton started lifting last fall, mainly for his chest and arms.
“The modern day attitude of having to lift weights drives me crazy,” NIC’s Bloxom said. “For every pitcher that has lifted, a high majority have been hurt in terms of their ability to pitch. I’m not adverse to weights; I’m adverse to lifting heavy.”
He’s a warm-weather thrower. Pettoello recalls that Kempton wasn’t particularly dominating last spring.
“I honestly believe if he played this summer, you’d see a different speed,” Pettoello said. “He threw one really good game (in the spring of 1994), and that was on a hot day in Lewiston when he struck out 17. He’s so tightly strung musclewise. When it’s cold out, I don’t think he gets loose.”
His devotion to baseball isn’t wholehearted. Perhaps, but as Pettoello pointed out, Kempton wasn’t one to skip practice. On the flip side, Kempton acknowledges that he didn’t throw between the end of Legion ball last summer and the start of the high school season.
“He’s getting married and that’s obviously important to him,” Pettoello said. “He’s working to get some money to take care of that. And it’s hard to knock him for that because that’s what’s important to him.”
His mechanics deteriorated. “He just hurried, tried to get the ball and throw, like the sooner he got rid of it, the better chance of striking out somebody,” said Bloxom, who has kept an eye on Kempton for about five years.
He felt pressure from his designation as a top prospect. “A couple of scouts told me he was one of the top three (righthanded high school pitchers) in the nation,” Pettoello said. “He said the scouts (at games) didn’t bother him because he saw them all last summer, but that would have to effect any kid.”
Theories, one and all. What does Kempton believe?
He admits extensive lifting made his muscles tighter. Lifting “is what I thought would help,” Kempton said, “but I’m not saying that was what it was (the reason for the loss of velocity).”
Kempton said his arm does seem to loosen up in warmer temperatures. He felt his mechanics were shaky because he didn’t throw between seasons.
As for his dedication to baseball, Kempton said, “In a way, I want to get a life going and I have stuff to take care of this summer. But if I’m there (playing baseball), it’s the top thing.”
It is Ryan’s hope that he can get back to where he once was.
“I think I can,” he said, “but it’s going to take time.”
Bloxom shares similar sentiments. “I didn’t sign him because of what he did this spring. I signed him because… let’s put it this way: He’s proven he can do something.
“I’ve told him to be ready to pitch on the first day (of fall practice) because he’s not playing this summer.”
, DataTimes