Spring Break
Column: Pitcher Tyler Kehrer feels no pressure
Collin Whitchurch / Assistant Sports Editor
Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: Sports
Sunday's dominant pitching performance by Eastern junior left-hander Tyler Kehrer was impressive for many reasons.
Sure, Kehrer allowed only one hit. Yeah, he struck out 14. OK, he didn't allow a ball to be hit out of the infield all day and retired the final 18 hitters he faced.
However, the most impressive part of his performance is the fact that Kehrer did all of that in front of about a half-dozen major league scouts, all of who were there to see him pitch.
Scouts were seen from the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals, among others, Sunday afternoon with radar guns and notebooks in hand. And these weren't just any scouts.
According to Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz, the scouts in attendance Sunday were the "scout's bosses," meaning scouts who saw Kehrer pitch earlier in the season were impressed with what they saw, reported it to their superiors, and the superiors came out to see him for themselves.
But none of that mattered to Kehrer when he was hurling the first Eastern one-hitter since 2006. His demeanor about it is very nonchalant, and he said the scouts are never on his mind when he's on the mound.
"I don't really know a whole lot about it," he said. "I hear a little bit here and there, but for the most part they leave me alone and let me play my game."
Kehrer said he has received questionnaires in the mail from nearly every team, and the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals talked directly to him last summer.
Schmitz said after Kehrer's last start Saturday against Jacksonville State, where he allowed six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings, he and pitching coach Skylar Meade had Kehrer focus more on pitching, as opposed to just throwing the ball.
"He had the off-speed stuff, the change up and the curveball working," Schmitz said. "When you have all three pitches, it gets you in a rhythm."
The composure Kehrer showed in front of the people who play such a deciding role in his future makes his dominant performance that much more impressive. There is little doubt a major league team will draft him when the league has its draft June 9.
The main question is when and to whom, and these next couple of weeks will be a huge decider of that.
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.
Sure, Kehrer allowed only one hit. Yeah, he struck out 14. OK, he didn't allow a ball to be hit out of the infield all day and retired the final 18 hitters he faced.
However, the most impressive part of his performance is the fact that Kehrer did all of that in front of about a half-dozen major league scouts, all of who were there to see him pitch.
Scouts were seen from the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals, among others, Sunday afternoon with radar guns and notebooks in hand. And these weren't just any scouts.
According to Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz, the scouts in attendance Sunday were the "scout's bosses," meaning scouts who saw Kehrer pitch earlier in the season were impressed with what they saw, reported it to their superiors, and the superiors came out to see him for themselves.
But none of that mattered to Kehrer when he was hurling the first Eastern one-hitter since 2006. His demeanor about it is very nonchalant, and he said the scouts are never on his mind when he's on the mound.
"I don't really know a whole lot about it," he said. "I hear a little bit here and there, but for the most part they leave me alone and let me play my game."
Kehrer said he has received questionnaires in the mail from nearly every team, and the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals talked directly to him last summer.
Schmitz said after Kehrer's last start Saturday against Jacksonville State, where he allowed six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings, he and pitching coach Skylar Meade had Kehrer focus more on pitching, as opposed to just throwing the ball.
"He had the off-speed stuff, the change up and the curveball working," Schmitz said. "When you have all three pitches, it gets you in a rhythm."
The composure Kehrer showed in front of the people who play such a deciding role in his future makes his dominant performance that much more impressive. There is little doubt a major league team will draft him when the league has its draft June 9.
The main question is when and to whom, and these next couple of weeks will be a huge decider of that.
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.
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