Sam Simpkins is back on the field for the Ewing High School baseball team, and that has helped the young Blue Devils start well.
One of just four seniors, Simpkins is the regular shortstop when he’s not pitching, has even filled in at catcher for the first time in high school, and he’s been a big bat for Ewing which won five of its first eight games after winning just four games all last year.
“We’re starting pretty good right now, even with our young squad we have,” Simpkins said. “We’ve just been fighting through adversity with everything happening this year. We’re still getting used to each other because we’re a pretty young team and we’re just still working through everything and still getting used to each other.”
With as many as six freshmen in the lineup for games, the Blue Devils are lucky to have a seasoned veteran like Simpkins back. He was around the team all last year, coming to every practice and game, but a torn labrum in his shoulder kept him off the field.
“It was hard because I’m really athletic and I love playing baseball,” said Simpkins. “It’s one of the best games to play. I just missed it a lot, missed playing with my guys. And it was just hard just seeing them play and I’m just sitting here not helping them, just sitting on the bench when I know what I have and I could have helped them last year.”
Simpkins suffered the labrum injury playing football for Ewing. He thought he could work through it, but by the time March came around it was clear that he could not play and he had to undergo surgery to repair it as well as some minor damage to his rotator cuff. He was hoping to avoid surgery, but the shoulder was giving him pain every time he took the mound in practice.
“I didn’t want to do the procedure, but I knew if I really wanted to keep going with baseball, with my baseball career, I knew I had to do it,” Simpkins said. “My parents made sure I did it. I didn’t really want to because I love playing baseball and I just didn’t want to miss my most important year, which was my junior year.”
He missed the entire baseball season following surgery. The physical therapy was some of the hardest part, but the stretching and strengthening have put him back in position to play both football and baseball. He gained confidence in the repair while helping the Ewing football team to an excellent season as one of their top receivers. In the winter, he built back his pitching conditioning so he was ready for this spring.
“Offseason I was working with pitching coaches, throwing coaches,” he said. “They were getting me right, making sure that my body was healthy and ready to go for the season. And I’m really back to normal. And I feel like I’m 100 percent and maybe even 110 percent. I feel like I’m way better than what I was.”
Simpkins has proven it on the hill. Through his first four appearances, he has pitched 21 innings, struck out 17 and walked just eight and has an earned run average of 2.67. Ewing won three of his four appearances.
“He’s extremely important,” said Ewing coach Dave Angebranndt. “He’s an everyday guy. He’s been an everyday guy since he was a freshman. Unfortunately, to lose him last year to the arm injury was pretty hurtful for us as a program. But I think he kept the mindset where he needed it to be. He showed up every day last year. He helped us keep the pitching charts. He worked with our pitching coach to kind of keep himself involved. And it showed at the start of the year.”
He’s also been able to deliver with the bat. After going hitless in two of the first three games, he was hitting .323 with seven RBI and nine runs scored through the first eight game. He’d also stolen four bases.
“He started off a little bit shaky offensively, but I think just his presence in the lineup and defensively at shortstop or on the mound or behind the plate really proves to the younger guys how well the game can be played when you play it the right way,” Angebranndt said. “And he’s done a terrific job leading some of the younger guys, educating some of the younger guys and bringing them under their wing to just model how the game is supposed to be played the right way.”
The young players have made an important impact. The freshmen are Jake Bush, Colton Bush, Kyle Chianese, Mason Chisolm, Ashton Ford, Zachary Greener and Thomas Ordini. Chisolm, Greener and Ordini all were hitting .333 apiece through 10 games. Simpkins was confident in them from the start, even with limited experience.
“I haven’t played with them at all,” he said. “But this winter, this off season, we went to the cages together, got used to each other, and we just built from there. Our freshmen are pretty good. They have really good experience in baseball. So I just trusted my guys and we’ve just been working every single day together and getting better each day.”
Simpkins was in their shoes not so long ago. He played as a freshman for the Blue Devils, and he remembers coming in confident and learning on the fly as he took over at shortstop. He didn’t pitch until the following season.
“I’m not going to lie, I did come in with a heavy head,” Simpkins said. “Like I knew what I had and I showed what I had as a freshman. I didn’t do too good, but I was just nervous because I knew I had to fill in a big spot from losing Ryan Leary and how good he was at that position. So I knew I had to come in and show what I had and help out the team.”
Simpkins has continued to help the team however possible. Last year, he lost some of that on-field presence, but he’s come back in a bigger role than ever. Taking on the catching duties has been a change, but something he does to help on days when Michael Gamboa Ordini pitches. Simpkins had just a little experience as a young player behind the plate.
“We lost our catcher last year, and I just knew somebody had to step up,” Simpkins said. “And one of our sophomores, he’s the catcher right now, and he also pitches for us. So I knew after him, we don’t have another catcher. So I knew I had to step up because I know I could play anywhere anybody puts me because it’s just hard work mentality.”
His willingness to play a new spot is another way his leadership has shown itself. He’s done whatever he can to put the team in position to win. It’s all part of being one of the more experienced players and jumping into a leadership spot.
“I just knew what was coming this year,” Simpkins said. “I knew that we were going to be a young squad, and I knew this year I had to become a leader. And we don’t just get stuff handed to us. We have to keep working, and we just can’t move slow.”
Simpkins does have slower moments, but only when he’s not going all out for either of his sports. And in those moments, he can be found walking around his neighborhood, or finding a quiet spot to do some fishing.
“It’s soothing to me,” he said. “It’s like my calm place.”
That’s important when he’s got so much on his mind with baseball. He’s a big part of a Blue Devils team that has designs on making a run in the Colonial Valley Conference and the sectional playoffs.
“If you don’t have the expectations to make it to the later rounds of the county tournament and the state tournament, it’s kind of hard to motivate the guys,” said Angebranndt. “So I think that with us having a little bit of success early, I think makes those goals a little bit more achievable.”
Sam Simpkins has been a big part of those goals. He’s looking to make the most of his final year of high school baseball, and excited to have the opportunity to make an impact on the field for Ewing after missing out on last year.
“This means a lot to me right now,” he said. “I’m still looking for somewhere, some place to call home, a college to be looking for me right now. After missing last year, I’ve just been working overly hard and just making sure that I still help my team out and making sure we still come out with a winning record this year hopefully.”
Sam Simpkins has returned to the field as a key leader for Ewing baseball, contributing on the mound, at shortstop and at the plate after missing last season with a shoulder injury.,
