Current Notre Dame College redshirt sophomore pitcher Kyle Farrell followed his brother Nick as they were teammates a season ago. Nick was the first baseman.
"For me, getting recruited to NDC had a lot to do with my brother Nick, Kyle mentioned. "He played for NDC, so I already knew about the program and the coaches called me to set up a visit on campus. "
Kyle talked about what it was like having his brother Nick as a teammate last season:
"Playing with my brother was a great experience. We have played on the same team since we were kids and having him at first base was great. I knew having him at first base he was going to make every play for me while I was pitching. Only a few kids go on to play college baseball after high school and getting to play on the same team as my brother was awesome. "
Kyle told me that throughout high school (he is a graduate of North Royalton) he was not set on playing college baseball, but about halfway through senior year was when he decided he wanted to continue onto the next level. He has not always been a pitcher. He came to NDC as a pitcher and outfielder but later just turned into a pitcher.
Kyle told me this about his redshirt season:
"The easiest part of my redshirt year was that the season happened to get canceled after just a few games due to COViD-19. The hardest part was all the recovery I needed to do and how slow the return to throw process was for me. "
Then he talked about having a head coach with all that experience at the highest level:
"Coach (Len) Barker has years of experience pitching in the MLB, so he brings lots of experience to the table. Coach (Zach) Santoro played here at NDC and was the graduate assistant coach my first two years in the program. I knew him before he became the assistant coach.
Then he talked about how quickly he built chemistry with his shortstop Johnny Costella:
"The first time I met Johnny was at my house a few days after I moved in and after talking with him, I found out he was good friends with some of my childhood best friends, but I never met him prior to that day. Having a great shortstop behind you when pitching is extremely important because you know that he is going to make every out for you and have a good chance of stealing hits up the middle with great plays."
The spring break trip to Florida is always a challenging one for the Falcons and this year was no different. Farrell gave his thoughts about that:
"Playing games down in Florida is always difficult. This year going down to Florida we had only played three games. Most of the teams we play down there had already played over 15 games. This is a huge disadvantage for us because they had time to work out the kinks of the off season where we are still getting back into mid-season form. I think the main reason that we always seem to start off slow is due to the lack of getting outside before the games start.
Where we are located it always seems to snow for the first two months when we get back from break and this keeps us inside for practice."
Farrell told me that he expects the team to compete within the conference and for himself he expects to give as many innings as he can to the team and keep them in every game.
"Being a pitcher and having Coach Barker as our coach is nice because he has that MLB experience. Coach Barker has taught me the most about certain situations on the mound and what pitches to throw. As well as when to keep batters guessing and off balance,"Farrell explained.
Farrell told me that sports in this area have always been competitive. "There are some great high schools we played every year. The baseball in this area is extremely competitive from travel ball up to high school ball, "he said.
The biggest improvement in Farrell's game, according to him, since he got on campus is his fastball. When he arrived on campus his fastball was 82 miles per hour and now it is up to 87 miles an hour."
This was Farrell's thought about the challenges of this season:
"This year is different for us as a team. We graduated a lot of starters last year. We are a very inexperienced team with lots of talented players who have not played much Division II college baseball."
Then he talked about the home ballpark in Avon:
"The field we play at (MercyHealth Stadium) is great. By far we have the best field in the conference. It is super cool to play on. However it is not close to campus which makes it hard to get students out to watch games."
Farrell's routine is planned like any pitcher. "If I know I'm going to pitch a game my routine consists of stretching bands, driveline balls with a focus on shoulder stretches, then I get on the mound and try to locate all my pitches working both sides of the plate."
He talked about the biggest misperception about being a DII athlete:
"Being a student-athlete at the DII level is lots of work. I would compare it to close to a full time job when you take into account practice, lifting, class, homework, and traveling to games on weekends. Time management is huge for athletes and you have to plan out your time or it will be a struggle to stay on top of school and your sport."
"I have made tons of lifelong friends while playing baseball at NDC. Cam Kern and Alec Mendoza have been here with me since freshman year, and all of us being pitchers, we have practiced for hours together."
Assistant Coach Zach Santoro explained that he and Kyle have had a pretty good relationship from the start. His brother Nick and I were close too. "He has become someone that we can rely on for anything and everything we ask of him. He has continued to develop and kept an open mind to new philosophies that we continue to introduce."
"Kyle has come a long way since his first year here on campus. He has had to deal with a lot since he tore his UCL his first year on campus and then in his first appearance he got out of a jam with the bases loaded. He has continued to be someone that we can rely on and he has made a lot of adjustments to his pitches to make sure he is effective every time, "Santoro continued.
Then Santoro gave his thoughts about the team:
"We have a very wide range of personalities on this team and they have continued to grow together. We have a balance of young and experienced players on the team and a staff that has helped us recently trust what is to come."
Farrell and the Notre Dame College baseball team will be back in action on Friday May 5th when they play host to the Alderson Broaddus Battlers at Mercy Health Stadium in Avon. First pitch for the doubleheader is set for 1 PM.
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