Photo: Young baseball athletes practice at Mac n Seitz, a premier training facility in Martin City. Photo courtesy martincity.org.
By Sam Kombrink
Fans won’t get the chance to experience a game at “The K” this season, but at least we have the entertainment of “America’s pastime”.
Mac N Seitz Baseball
The Telegraph was able to talk with the new owner of Mac N Seitz Baseball located in Martin City: Danny Lake. Here is what he had to say about what the future holds here in Martin City.
Q: How and when did Mac N Seitz started?
A: “Mac N Seitz started in the fall of 1996. Two former major league baseball players – Mike Macfarlane (‘Mac’) and Kevin Seitzer (‘Seitz’) – saw a need and had an interest in creating an organization founded on the development of baseball and softball athletes.
The Mac N Seitz organization was founded on the basis of player development to the highest extent possible, designed with the goal of preparing players for the opportunity to not only play at the next level, but to thrive once they get there.”
Q: How did COVID-19 affect your business?
A: “We closed our doors from Tuesday, March 24th, through Saturday, May 16th, during the shutdown of non-essential businesses in Kansas City. It was tough for our instructors because they rely on seeing their athletes daily/weekly to help them continue in their development plan and process. Our partners at PSP3 created at-home workout routines for our high school athletes so they could stay true to their workout routine. They found household items that our athletes could use – like vacuums, kid’s toys, and the like – which took the place of weights and allowed the athletes to continue their program. We reopened our doors on May 16th, but we were limited to 25% of our capacity for the first few weeks. We implemented hand sanitizer stations throughout the facility, we had sign in logs to track everyone in and out of Mac N Seitz, and we implemented safe social distancing throughout the facility. For us, it wasn’t tough to social distance because baseball and softball are naturally distanced on the field. We’ve been back to ‘full’ capacity for the last few weeks, and we’re still taking all the necessary precautions (including wearing masks) to make sure we protect our athletes and their families each day.”
Q: What is the target audience for Mac N Seitz?
A: “The target audience is players from ages 8 to 18. The primary focus is development; however, we also need a healthy level of competition for our players to ‘test’ our development and find areas where our athletes may continue to learn and improve.
In our middle school and high school age players, we continue to focus on development in our individual lessons and performance ‘labs’ – pitching, hitting, catching, and fielding – but we also offer sports performance training through our partnership with PSP3 in our 4,500 square foot gym.”
Q: What is your most popular service?
A: “Right now, our most popular service is our instructor lessons. We have instructors who have played at the highest level in the game – from MLB players, to college players, to college and high school coaches – each of them bring a unique skillset to their profession that assists in the continuous development of our athletes in our program.
A close second to our instructor lessons would be our indoor batting cages as well as our ‘themed’ birthday parties for our younger patrons (nerf darts, wiffle ball, kickball).”
Q: What is new at Mac N Seitz for 2020?
A: “We are expanding our partnership with PSP3 to offer a Pitching Program for all of our high school athletes. Next, we are implementing a new hitting program – called the “Swing School.” We also plan to offer hitting leagues via our HitTrax. This fall, we’re going to increase our opportunity with HitTrax to offer team rentals of our HitTrax systems as well as Hitting Leagues. We’ve seen the popularity of the hitting leagues grow in the last few months, and we believe it is time to get in on the fun!”
Royals
Rejoice, Royals baseball is back!
The coronavirus affected sports fans worldwide with the postponement of every major sport. On June 23rd the MLB agreed on a 60-game season starting July 23rd and July 24th. The Royals and the rest of the MLB have held summer camps, playing inter-squad games preparing for the upcoming season. During these inter-squad games, the Royals top prospects have put on a show, including right-handed Pitcher, Brady Singer and Infielder, Bobby Witt Jr. Back in March I wrote my season preview for the Royals and stated that they may roll out the young prospects.
This season Royals have decided to let some talented young players make their debuts in 2020, including the Royals 2018 1st round pick, pitcher Brady Singer. It will be interesting to see with a short season and the postponement of the minor leagues if the Royals will roll the dice and give Bobby Witt Jr., the opportunity to play in the show.
Stats at all levels excluding majors:
- RHP Brady Singer – (age: 23, 91 games, 453 Innings pitched, 2.98 ERA, 36 wins, 15
loses) - IF Bobby Witt Jr. – (age: 20, 37 games, .262 BA, 164 At Bats, 30 runs, 43 hits, 1 HR, 27
RBI, .317 OBP, .670 OPS) - OF Nick Heath (age:26), LHP Foster Griffin (age:24), OF Kyle Isabel (age:23)
- LHP Daniel Lynch (age:23), RHP Jackson Kowar (age: 23), LHP Kris Bubic (age:22)
The Royals have also been dealing with players and new manager Mike Matheney who have or have had COVID-19. Players include, catcher Salvador Perez, starting pitcher Brad Keller, first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, catcher Cam Gallagher and minor league catcher Nick Dini and left-handed pitcher Daniel Tillo. Players were put on the IL due to testing positive. First baseman Ryan O’Hearn has returned to the team, and rookie pitcher Foster Griffin is recovering from a forearm strain.