(Editor’s Note: This is our third installment of our ‘Up Next’ Series in which we profile the top middle school and JV players on Long Island. Our first two athletes were Christian Alicea and Liam Bowes. Now is Kyle Chase, a freshman at St. John the Baptist.)
Baseball is not supposed to be easy. It is a humbling game, and you can easily make the argument that hitting a baseball with a round bat is the single most difficult task in sports.
For one week in 2017, Kyle Chase laughed at that concept. He not only made it look easy, but he treated it as if it was the most rudimentary of tasks. He batted .833 (25-for-30) while leading the Body Armor Titans to first place in a 104-team Cooperstown tournament.
He was not just hitting singles, either. He crushed 11 HRs and drove in a ridiculous 26 runs over over 11 games.
He was just 12-years-old.
“My best memory from Cooperstown has to be being with my teammates all day and making so many great memories with them i will definitely never forget that experience , and at the plate my mindset was just to put the barrel on the ball and to not over swing just because the fences were 200 feet i just wanted to keep my swing simple and it worked out great.
Now a 9th grader at St. John the Baptist, he has a chance to make a name for himself at the varsity level. The Cougars are the reigning CHSAA champs, having knocked off St. Dominic in the championship at Hofstra University in May. They graduated many of their most impactful players, but they now will usher in a new-era of players.
Chase will bring excitement and optimism to their team, which he already showcased during the football season. Head Coach Casey McKay, one of the brightest and passionate coaches on the island, had the following to say about him.
“Kyle is a tremendously gifted player who has the chance to develop into one of the top players in the area. He has tremendous skills in all facets of the game but perhaps the most impressive part about Kyle is his makeup. He absolutely loves to compete and loves to compete in big moments. He understands how to have a slow heartbeat in pressure situations which stems from is success and experience in multiple sports.
“During the football season, he was asked to step into a playoff football game as a freshman to play QB our to injury. Without hesitation, he welcomes the challenge and threw for over 200 yards and two TDs.
“I think in today’s day and age, we spend so much time isolating skill development that we forget to teach our players how to compete. When you couple Kyle’s natural talent with his compete level, you have a recipe for an incredible amount of success.”
They are fortunate to have him, as he only recently decided to transfer to private school after being the Island Trees district through middle school.
“The main factor behind me transferring to SJB was definitely the coaching coach–Casey is a one of a kind coach and I can’t wait to get to work with Coach Casey and Ronnie McKay. Also, to be excited for this season is an understatement, I can’t wait to play at SJB for the next 4 years and hopefully bring back the Catholic League title.:
With that being the case, it is no wonder he cited Derek Jeter and Max Scherzer as his two favorite MLB players in history.
Despite the high praise, he remains humbled and committed to improving this off-season, citing his opposite field power as his primary focus of improvement.
With the absence of Logan O’Hoppe, it is likely that SJB will not be considered the favorite to repeat as champions, plus the improvement of teams like St. Dominic and St. Anthony’s.
Nevertheless, there will be no shortage of star power in the CHSAA yet again in 2019, and young players like Chase and Sean Lane ensure that the pipeline of Division-I prospects will not run dry for the next four years.
