| Alec Schmenk |
PERRYSBURG — Alec Schmenk’s already having an impressive senior season for Perrysburg’s baseball team.
And he hasn’t even thrown a pitch yet.
The right-handed pitcher has earned a scholarship to play collegiately at the University of Toledo.
He’s 9-1 with two saves and a 1.49 earned-run average in two season for
the Yellow Jackets, including a 6-0 record and a 0.84 ERA last season.
“When they talked to me about how they did their pitching, it was a
mirror-image of what I was like in terms of how I pitched and what I did
normally,” Schmenk said.
He also was one of 33 pitchers selected to Louisville Slugger’s
preseason All-American high school baseball team earlier this month.
“I felt like I would fit in there fine,” he said of Toledo.
Schmenk has pounded the strike zone the last two seasons, mainly with a
fastball that was clocked at 89 miles per hour last season. He’s even
tougher because he’s able to keep the ball low in the strike zone, and
uses both sides of the plate. And by doing so, he usually has a low
pitch count.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pounder struck out 51 and walked eight in 50 innings
last season, and totaled 38 strikeouts and 11 walks in 30 innings as a
sophomore.
“They like to go at batters,” Schmenk said of Toledo’s pitchers. “They
don’t like throwing waste pitches. They like to go after hitters one,
two, three; you either get the ball in play or get the batter out in
four or five pitches, that’s what I like to do.”
Toledo first started watching Schmenk as a sophomore two years ago and was at many of his games last
season.
The Rockets are coming off one of their best seasons in school history
in 2010, going 34-22 overall and finishing second in the Mid-American
Conference West Division with a 19-8 record to qualify for the
conference tournament.
“He is the ultimate strike thrower, commanding his fastball down in the
zone on both sides of the plate and he throws nothing but strikes,”
Toledo coach Cory Mee said. “His fastball has really good movement,
which leads to a lot of ground balls and that’s what we want from all
our pitchers.
“I’m really excited to see him grow and develop as a pitcher as he improves and develops his off-speed
pitches.”
A second-team All-Ohio pick last season, Schmenk has allowed just 23
runs (17 earned) on 61 hits at Perrysburg. Last season, he allowed just
nine runs (six earned) and 33 hits.
“He just goes at people,” Perrysburg coach Dave Hall said. “He doesn’t
care if he gets a strikeout as long as he gets them out. He believes in
100 percent in his fastball. He works quick and he’s coming at you. He’s
going to challenge you. His ball moves well. He’s a competitor. He
doesn’t waste many pitches.
“A lot of his at-bats are only four or five pitches,” Hall added. “He’ll
get his strikeouts, and they’ll be three or four pitches. He doesn’t
waste time setting people up. He attacks. He’s a bulldog because he’s
always in attack mode. He works fast and doesn’t like to lose. He’s a
competitor.”
Ninety-percent of his pitches last season were fastballs. He also throws
a slider and is working to improve his curveball and changeup.
His fastball is outstanding for the high school level, but he’ll need to
improve his off-speed pitches to be effective in college since most
college hitters are able to hit the fastball.
He also expects his velocity to increase as he improves his strength.
“If he gets a little more confidence in his other two pitches (curve, changeup), he could be very, very
good,” Hall said.
“I still have a lot of room for improvement with my off-speed pitches,” Schmenk said.
Schmenk was recruited solely as a pitcher, although he’s hit .362
(54-of-149) in two seasons at Perrysburg. He also has 35 runs scored,
one home run and 33 runs batted in. He plays second base and first base
when he’s not pitching.
He has a 3.7 grade-point average and expects to major in construction engineering.
“This takes a lot of pressure and stress off my high school season
because I have a college now,” said Schmenk, a member of the Perrysburg
basketball team. “I don’t have to worry about where I’m going to go, and
now I can just go out and play and enjoy my senior year.”
Schmenk will be one of the major strengths for Perrysburg this season as
it tries to match last season when it was 26-6 overall and advanced to
the Division I regional final. The Yellow Jackets return many of the key
players from that team.
“We’re expecting a great year from him,” Hall said. “He’s going to be
very good for us and we expect him to continue to get better.”
