Talking about making a big impact in a short time.
It took just two full seasons playing on Columbia University’s baseball team for Andy Blake to be elevated to rarified air by Lions’ coach Bret Boretti.
“Andy Blake is one of the best players ever to put on a Columbia baseball uniform and I am excited he got the recognition he very much deserves,” the 18th-year skipper said on the team’s website. (one of those former greats, incidentally, is Lou Gehrig).
Boretti’s praise came after Blake, a 2018 Hopewell Valley Central High grad, was named the Ivy League Player of the Year as a sophomore eligibility-wise.
“I’m very excited for Andy achieving this honor – a lot of hours in the gym and cage preparing for this has definitely paid off,” said HVCHS coach Ken Harrison, who had Blake for three years. “Andy is an outstanding person; respectful, hardworking, down to earth and easy to get along with. He’s the type of person that you root for in anything that he does.”
Blake was unsure who would root for him among the eight Ivy coaches that voted for POY.
“It’s a really cool honor,” he said. “I knew I was in the running for it. My stats were pretty good, I broke a few records at Columbia. I figured I would be near the top but I didn’t think I would necessarily win it. I thought ‘Well, maybe.’”
“Maybe” became “definitely” when the announcement was made on May 18, and Blake had made a pretty good case for himself.
In Ivy League play, Blake hit 322 with an on-base percentage of .423. He stole nine bases in 10 attempts, scored 21 runs and had nine doubles. Overall, he hit .366 with an on-base percentage of .429 and slugging percentage of .644. He had a school-record 75 hits, 11 home runs, 20 doubles, 46 RBIs and 53 runs scored.
Blake led the Ivy in seven offensive categories, reached base in all 45 Lions’ games (a streak dating back to last year of 49 straight games) and had a hit in 40 of them.
“It was just going up to the plate knowing I’m gonna get on, get a hit, get a good pitch to swing at,” he said of his remarkable consistency. “I was seeing the ball really well this year putting good swings on pitches. If they didn’t throw anything I liked I would take the walk.”
This was not the same Blake that Bulldogs fans saw. Granted he batted .411 with 40 RBIs during a three-year high school career. But Andy was a rail-thin 6-foot-3, 160 pounds at the time.
He flirted with going to Georgetown but then-coach Pete Wilk suggested he play a post-graduate year to build up his body. Blake hit .516 with 23 RBIs and Hun to the Prep A title but, more importantly, bulked up enough that the Ivies came calling.
“When Columbia took a shot on me I thought, ‘Oh Ivy League, pretty cool. Let me see if I can work my magic and get in there,’” Blake said. “When they gave me the offer, I couldn’t deny it. You’re in (New York) City, it’s the Ivy League, there’s stuff to do, really good baseball. It’s the best of everything.”
Blake added 25 pounds of muscle while at Hun, and claimed “I got into Columbia and was ready to roll.”
Unfortunately, the season rolled into a drainage ditch, never to be fished out.
It started out well, as Blake earned the starting shortstop job as a true freshman. In the opener at Fresno State he got two hits and was solid in the field.
“I was a little nervous,” Blake admitted. “Big stage, first game. I got a hit in my second at-bat. That kind of took all the nerves away. And once I stepped on the field I got the first ground ball of the game. I was like ‘All right, might as well get this thing started.”
Blake’s confidence was bolstered by playing shortstop, the infield’s most important position. His hitting began to decline, however, but he started the first eight games. And then, the Ivy League became the first college conference to shut down its season.
“No one could believe it,” Blake said. “Obviously, Covid became a huge thing and everyone got shut down, but we were the first league. We were like ‘This is crazy, why are they shutting us down?’”
They became the first to close and the last to open, as the Ivies canceled their 2022 season as well. Blake endured some good and bad during that long sabbatical.
The positive is that Andy got to further hone his game in the summer of 2021. He added another 15 pounds – now standing 6-4, 200 – and would go to the batting cages with his dad, Dave, nearly every day. The moral of that story was don’t let a former tennis star be your BP pitcher.
“His accuracy wasn’t quite perfect,” Andy said with a laugh. “And he’d have to go home and ice his arm and stuff like that.”,
Blake also went to former Major Leaguer Jeff Manto for private hitting instruction.
“He helped develop my swing and put in a leg kick which helped me with timing and power,” Blake said. “Everything came together. He trained the mental side too saying ’You have to do this and that to be a big leaguer.’ Everything was anchored toward the next level. How is my competition training? How do I have to get better?”
Armed with more muscle and an improved swing, Blake was obviously disappointed at losing the 2021 season. Things got worse that summer while playing for the Orleans Firebirds in the Cape Cod League. During a July warm-up, he threw one in from the outfield and felt a sensation in the elbow. It led to Tommy John surgery, which was performed by Yankees team doctor Chris Ahmad.
Blake could not do anything baseball-wise until Christmas, other than work out and physical therapy. When the ‘22 season began, he was Columbia’s designated hitter and returned to shortstop late in the season when his arm strengthened.
His bat took a while to heat up and his average languished at .207 entering April. Andy caught fire when Ivy play started, and went 31-for-78 over the next 19 games to reach a high-level mark of .348. He finished at .307 with 10 homers and 42 RBIs and had two hits and three RBIs in a NCAA playoff win over Gonzaga.
Blake played in a Georgia collegiate league last summer and felt that experience helped when he returned this season. Batting second in the lineup, the shortstop started the season with a 13-game hitting streak and never looked back. He also had a 10-game hitting streak and collected hits in his final six collegiate games.
None of it shocked his high school coach.
“We knew Andy had tremendous baseball talent at a young age and he had the makeup to be a very good player at the next level,” Harrison said. “He was a young senior and the post grad year allowed him to mature physically and prepare for the college level. I knew he was going to be good but the level he has been playing at is amazing, especially since he had Tommy John surgery. Andy works extremely hard and anything he achieves does not surprise me.”
Academically he has achieved a degree in Political Science and Statistics. With two years of eligibility remaining he can no longer play at Columbia as the Ivies don’t allow post-graduates to compete. Thus, he’s going to another academic powerhouse in Duke, which won its NCAA Conway Regional to advance to the Super Regional this year.
“The coach (Chris Pollard) reached out and said ‘I’m really interested in you, I’d love to have a conversation,’” Blake said. “It went from there. I took an official visit in the fall. I really liked Duke and the players. It’s exciting, it’s fun. I’m excited for what the future holds.”
So is Harrison.
“It’s going to be a new challenge for him, something I’m sure he will be up to,” the coach said. “Playing in the ACC is going to be a step up from the Ivy League but I know he will be preparing and ready to put himself in the best position to compete. I’m looking forward to following him in his next challenge and wish nothing but the best for him.”
There is a chance his next challenge may be in the minor leagues, as MLB teams have shown interest.
“There’s definitely talk about it,” Blake said. “The Angels scout texted me. It’s exciting having these teams have interest in me. If I get drafted it’s cool, but going to Duke is pretty cool too.”
Blake is back in Cape Cod playing for Orleans. His season will last until mid-July until he either gets drafted or reports to Duke. Whatever happens, it has gone beyond what Andy ever thought possible.
“I always had a dream and always felt I could do it, but as a little kid I was just playing to play college baseball,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking about any of the accolades that come with it or about being a draft prospect. But it’s exciting. It’s not like I expected it to happen. It wasn’t in the front of my mind. I just put my head down . . .”
And he lifted it up as one of Columbia’s all-time greats.
Andy Blake makes a throw for the Columbia University baseball team. The graduate of Hopewell Valley Central High School and Hun won Ivy League Player of the Year honors this baseball season. (Photo courtesy of the Blake family.),
