Mattingly Baseball BEAST of the Month

The Mattingly Baseball BEAST of the Month is an award that is given to one of the top hitters in the country. The award is presented by Mattingly Baseball in association with Baseball Factory and Team One Baseball. The player is selected by a panel of Baseball Factory and Team One coaches and scouts.

This month’s “BEAST” is Curtis Casali from New Canaan, Connecticut. He was selected based on his strong performance at the Baseball Express Cape Cod High School Classic. This event was broadcasted on ESPNU and streamed live on MLB.com. The Classic hosts the top 36 high school players in the country and in 2005 17 of the 32 seniors were drafted, five in the first round. When Curtis was told of his selection as the Mattingly Baseball BEAST of the Month he was speechless. Curtis said “[I] didn’t expect anything like this…I am very honored.” Curtis also had the great honor of been a VIP guest at the 5^th Annual Evening with the Dove. At the event Curtis got to meet Don Mattingly and receive his award personally from Don and the President of Mattingly Baseball, Skip Shaw.

Curtis, a senior at New Canaan High, is a catcher, which gives him a unique perspective on hitting. When Curtis is at the plate he believes that in order to be successful, he needs to have the “mindset that the hitter is in charge.” However, Curtis also believes that as a catcher, he has an advantage hitting, because he understands the pitch situation very well. He says he often knows what pitch should be coming and that he “always looks for the fastball when I am up in the count.” Understanding what the pitcher is thinking allows Curtis to be much more productive at the plate. Curtis believes that production comes from confidence at the plate. He said that when batting, “[you] have to go up with tremendous confidence. If you don’t have confidence you won’t get anywhere.” This mentality is what helps separate Curtis from other hitters.

Curtis was selected as a Mattingly Baseball BEAST of the Month because he showed the same tactics at the plate that Mattingly Baseball and Baseball Factory believe great hitters do. Mattingly Baseball’s V-Grip bats are designed to help players become great hitters, like Curtis, by helping them keep the knocker knuckles aligned and shift the bat away from the palm and into the fingers; thus, correctly “power-loading” a batters energy and forcing the batters grip to be in perfect alignment every time they hit the ball.

Curtis told me that patience at the plate is also very important. Curtis said, “I learned that walks are acceptable.” Maybe that is why Curtis believes that he best emulates Albert Pujols. Albert is a very patient hitter taking 124 free passes last season. Curtis also said that he and Pujols are similar hitters in the sense that they both, “have a low stride and twist and torque their body.” Effective hitting comes with knowing what to do with the pitch you are given. Curtis says that he is a spray hitter and that he “hits it where its pitched.”

I asked Curtis about his practice routines, and he told me that his father set up a room in his basement where he takes soft toss. However, the room is very small which makes it very challenging for Curtis’s dad who has to “pitch and duck.” But Curtis thinks this training, especially in the winter, gives him a real boost in the hitting department.

All of the hard work has paid off. Steve Bernhardt, Executive VP of Baseball Operations at the Baseball Factory, said that Curtis is a “quality player on the field and a quality young man.” Steve went on to say that at the plate Curtis was a “big physical presences in the batters box and the ball jumped off this bat.”

Mattingly Baseball and Baseball Factory look forward to continued success from Curtis at the plate in the future. We wish Curtis luck in all his future endeavors and congratulate him on his selection as the Mattingly Baseball BEAST of the Month.

For more information on Mattingly Baseball and the BEAST baseball bat visit www.mattinglybaseball.com.