When a guy is hitting .222 it may not seem like a big deal. Consider, however, that he was hitting .109 just seven games earlier, and it becomes pretty impressive.
That was the saga of West Windsor resident Ryan Strype this season, who had just five hits in his first 46 at-bats during West Windsor-Plainsboro’s first 16 games of the Mercer County American Legion baseball season. In the next six, however, Strype began getting some breaks and hitting the ball the way he is capable, collecting 9 hits in 17 at-bats to boost his average 113 points in a week.
“It was mostly mental,” Strype said. “Early in the season I was hitting the ball hard, I was just hitting it at people. I was thinking too much at plate. ‘Am I gonna get a fastball? Am I gonna get a curveball?’ Now I kind of just relax and get in the box and just think ‘Hit it hard and it will find grass.’”
Strype said his early struggles were a mixture of some bad luck and not making good contact.
“It was a lot of tough luck and there was a little stretch where nothing was going well,” he said. “Now I’m just getting back into the swing of things.”
It takes a special mindset for a player to emerge from such an extended slump. Especially considering it has not been the best of seasons for WW-P, which was 7-15 entering its final two games of the year this week.
“He’s always willing to tweak different things to get better at the plate,” said first-year manager Justin Ely. “He’s the type of guy who doesn’t get deflated either. He struggled early in the year. As far as getting balls to land, he was hitting bullets right at guys. It was just a matter of trusting his ability to come through.”
Strype had a simple explanation for how he does that.
“Baseball you pretty much play every day and get two to three at bats every day,” he said. “So I just thought, ‘You got the next one, you got the next one.’ It’s not like I’m never going to get another at-bat, or I’m never going to play another game. I knew if I focused, I’d get back on track.”
Strype began playing baseball in the West Windsor Little League, and played for the 10-year-old District 12 championship team. He soon went to travel baseball, where he played for the New Jersey Elite.
He opted for Babe Ruth over travel and played with the West Windsor-Plainsboro 14-year-old All Stars. That group reached the District One finals and, needing just one win for a title, it dropped both games to Ewing-Hopewell.
“It was brutal, but we still had the state tournament to look forward to (by virtue of being district runner-up),” Strype said. “So, not all hope was lost.”
It was role reversal in the Southern New Jersey states, as Hopewell came out of the loser’s bracket and beat Nottingham to force a winner-take-all championship game. But Nottingham won the final to move on to the Mid-Atlantic regionals.
“The (Ewing-Hopewell) coach said once you win the first one the second one is easy,” Strype said. “Once we won the first one we were very confident. It was a very close game, it just didn’t go our way.”
From there Strype played for Grover Middle School and opted for legion ball the summer before his freshman year at Hun. He played JV in 9th grade and got some time on varsity as a junior. He also returned to travel ball for two more years before coming back to legion this season.
Strype also played football his freshman year. But with the players the Raiders have on their team, it was a bit much for his 5-foot-11 frame.
“Those kids are 10 times bigger than me, so I didn’t want to get hurt,” he said with a laugh. “They’re massive. I got a concussion that year and I didn’t want to get any more.”
This past spring, he became the Raiders’ full-time catcher after years of playing predominantly first base.
“I caught a little bit in little league and when I played travel for 13s, I caught mainly,” he said. “For Hun they needed a catcher this year, my coach asked and I just went for it.
It was a struggle at the beginning, I wasn’t the best at blocking the ball. I didn’t have the strongest arm but during the season it got easier and I got better.”
Strype helped improve himself by catching bullpen sessions for the pupils of former Steinert great Mike Rogers, who is now a pitching instructor. “That helped me get used to it,” he said.
At the plate, he got some foreshadowing to the legion season when the hits were not dropping early in the year.
“I was hitting the ball hard, just hitting the ball at people,” he said. “But I ended up hitting pretty well.”
By season’s end, Strype decided to play legion again.
“I didn’t want to play travel, I kind of wanted to stay close by,” he said. “Legion is right by my house, so it’s easy to go to practices, and I get to play with all the kids I got to play with in little league with, so it’s fun. It’s just like the old days.”
And despite the losing, it remains fun.
“I’m having a great time just playing with my friends,” said Strype, who has played third, first and catcher this summer. “We go out every day, we do everything we can. We lose a lot of close games but its’ fun. Every once in a while we get a win, so good for us.”
Ely could not be happier to have Strype on board. He was aware of his capabilities, and when he was putting out the word that players were needed, Ryan was one of the guys he had his sites set on.
“He leads by example and he keeps other guys in the game,” the manager said. “Even when we went through that tough (seven-game) losing streak, he brings that positive attitude to the field every day. He comes out ready to go every time.
“He keeps the feelings light in the dugout. That’s what keeps guys focused. During that losing streak where it was kind of a grind, he helped keep everybody’s moods light. But when the time comes, he definitely keeps locked in. He’s got that balance.”
The skipper also likes Strype’s approach at the plate, saying “he has a good feel up there. The biggest thing I like about him is he’s aggressive. He knows pitchers in this league are going to get ahead in the count early and he doesn’t want to expose that. He tries to be counteractive and it’s been working out lately. He barrels up and he’s on base more often than not.”
With the season having ended this week, Strype is now preparing for some college visits and will look for a summer job. Although Ely feels Ryan has the potential to play college ball, Strype has pretty much ruled it out.
“Last summer I was on a team where you go to showcases and it was just a lot,” he said. “I don’t feel like I was dedicated enough. This year will probably be my last year of baseball. I’ll play at Hun and I’ll definitely be back playing legion.”
And there’s no doubt his hot finish to the year will help make the rest of the summer more enjoyable.
“It actually helps a lot, it makes me feel so much better,” he said. “If I’m getting out a lot, leaving runners on base, I’m thinking how I could have done something and it bothers me. But if I know I did my job, I did everything I could to help the team, than I feel a lot better.”
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