by Vinny Messana
As per the protocol of Chaminade HS, student-athletes are to compete within their age group only. That means no eighth graders on JV and no freshman or sophomores on varsity.
Their Head Coach, Mike Pienkos, has always respected that rule–with one exception.
2016 graduate Straton Podaras.
“Straton was so advanced for his age that it would’ve been almost unfair for him to play at his own level,” said the 34th year Head Coach. “He was too physically mature and so advanced to play with his age.”
With that being that case, it was only natural the upperclassmen would be skeptical, and possibly jealous that this sophomore was deemed good enough to start on a playoff-caliber varsity team in the ultra-competitive CHSAA.
He went out in his season debut and earned his stripes by throwing out the first two potential base-stealers of St. Anthony’s in what would be a 4-3 victory for the Flyers.
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“I felt like I had something to prove,” said the backstop.
The Flyers went 16-5 that season and Podaras was named the Catcher of the Year for the CHSAA conference.
Podaras stated that winning that award has been his best accomplishment in his career. He followed that up by throwing out 70 percent of potential base-stealers in 2015 to go along with a .351 batting average.
By all measures, however, Podaras is not a me-first guy. More importantly, he led the Flyers to the 2015 CHSAA championship over St. Dominic’s 10-0.
He parlayed that success into a scholarship to play for Radford University, who had just come off a 45-win season in which they won the Big South Conference.
“My goal was to play for a winning program and have the opportunity to compete for a national title. Furthermore, I wanted to play for a school where baseball was supported by both the school and the students. When I went to visit Radford, I felt that it met all of my requirements,” he said.
The Radford Head Coach, Joe Raccuia, told the team website that his staff considers him “one of the best catch and throw guys” on the east coast.
But what is it that makes Podaras so effective behind the plate?
“His feet are incredibly quick and I’ve never seen anyone release the ball as quickly as he does. He’s the best catcher I’ve had here and there’s been a lot,” said Pienkos.
Podaras stated that he emulated his game after Joe Mauer when he was younger and more recently he’s been modeling his game after Yadier Molina.
“He’s a phenomenal catcher that takes control of the game. It’s something most people don’t really notice from watching on tv,” he said.
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While Podaras might not be on Yadier Molina’s level, he has carved out quite the reputation for himself already and Pienkos noted that his presence has severely curtailed the running game of their opponents.
He also spoke glowingly about his character.
“First of all, he’s just a tremendous kid and he loves the game,” said Pienkos. “He works very hard at this game.”
He credits that to his parents who “provided me with what I needed” and his coaches that have helped along the way. The Flyers will be counting on his leadership and ability to repeat as CHSAA champs. After winning their first eight games of the season, they “hit a rough patch”, according to Podaras.
They lost six in a row–four of those were by one-run– but have since bounced back and won consecutive games. Podaras called for a team meeting during that stretch. As a team captain he stated he needs to constantly be talking to his pitcher and “tries to keep the intensity of the team up”.
They will have to do some work to repeat as conference champs with Kellenberg, St. John the Baptist and St. Dominic’s all ahead of them but everyone qualifies for a postseason berth and the playoffs provides everyone with a clean slate.
With a pro-prospect like Podaras in addition to Anthony Greco and Julien Arcos, the Flyers have as good of a shot as anyone.
