Tradigo a dual threat for Scotties’ baseball

By Rich Fisher

The way Eli Tradigo looks at it, if he’s pitching and the team commits seven errors behind him, it’s his fault. He feels he shouldn’t have let the batter hit the ball.

“I want to take all the blame on myself, I don’t want to put it on anyone else,” the Bordentown High junior said. “I’ve pretty much been like that my whole life. I don’t like showing emotion, ever.”

It is that kind of mindset that keeps Tradigo from getting flustered at the plate or on the mound, even if all hell is breaking loose around him.

“Nothing really seems to bother him,” Scotties baseball coach Chris Glenn said. “Whether things are going great or a total mess behind him he shows the same emotion, be it in the box or on the mound. I love that about him.”

Composure mixed with talent has made Tradigo one of the top dual-threat players in the Burlington Scholastic League’s Liberty Division. Through 10 games this year, the righthander was 2-1 with a 2.19 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 16 innings. During that same period, the speedy centerfielder was hitting .314 with eight walks, 11 stolen bases, five RBIs and a team-high 12 runs scored out of the leadoff spot.

“Getting him on base to start games is huge,” Glenn said. “You look at the games we’ve won (the Scotties were 4-6), he’s been able to get on ahead of Luke (Guire) and Luke’s been able to get him over. So we kind of go as he goes right now.”

When it comes to pitching vs. hitting, Tradigo’s approach is starkly different. He works at throwing the ball, treating it as his craft. It’s a different story with a bat in his hand.

“Raw,” is how Glenn described it. “You’re not gonna film him and show young players how to break down mechanics. But he’s competitive. The oldschool saying — see ball, hit ball, that is him. He’ll just get in there and he’s just working to get hits.”

It’s pretty basic.

“I just react,” Tradigo said. “In the past years, I haven’t been that good of a hitter. I’ve been like a ground ball hitter. Once I got more confidence in myself, I feel like I’ve grown into a better hitter.”

It’s a different story on the mound.

“My entire life I’ve been primarily a pitcher,” said Tradigo, who started in the Bordentown Little League, moved to the Iron Pigs travel team and is currently with the West Jersey Wildcats. “I like pitcher. I feel like I’m commanding the entire field and the entire team. Everything revolves around me. I’ve just always liked pitching and I’ve always been good at it.”

Tradigo became Bordentown’s No. 1 starter as a freshman and endured the usual growing pains. He led the team with 27.1 innings pitched and forged an ERA of 5.63. Location was an issue as Eli allowed 18 walks and hit eight batters while striking out 31. He only had 10 at-bats that season, but garnered a .300 average.

Last season, Tradigo won the centerfielder’s job and hit .312 with 18 RBIs and 10 runs scored. “He’s super athletic, we needed another outfielder and he won the spot,” Glenn said. “He wanted to play every day, he didn’t just want to be a pitcher. He just proved himself in that position.”

On the mound, Tradigo was second to classmate Connor Bell in innings pitched with 41.2 and had a solid 3.36 ERA with 34 strikeouts. Control was still an issue with 20 walks and 5 HBP, but improvement was evident.

“He was very raw as a freshman,” Glenn said. “He had a live arm from the start and then got a start in our first tournament game (against Rumson-Fair Haven) that year. He took his lumps a little as a freshman.

“Last year he came back against Rumson, they had almost the same exact players back and he kept us in the game. I think mostly he’s been working on how to pitch. He always threw hard, but now it’s location, what pitches to throw in what situations, what he’s confident in. I just think you’re seeing his confidence grow year to year.”

One of the most noticeable differences this season has been Tradigo’s strikeouts, as he was fanning nearly two batters per inning. He was three short of last year’s career-high with half the season remaining.

“I think I’ve definitely gotten stronger,” he said. “My whole body has developed a lot more. I’m throwing more strikes than last year and getting more people out. My delivery and everything has been basically the same, I’ve just been in the gym working out.”

In the offseason, Tradigo does a lot of cardiovascular and strength work “just to get my legs going.” He works on his offspeed pitches and considers his curveball and change-up his main pitches. By throwing 100 pitches per week, he came into the season strong and ready to throw. And despite more strikeouts, which mean more pitches, Tradigo’s pitch count is down because it’s taking him fewer throws to get guys out.

“He’s missing more bats,” Glenn said.

“I think that comes with confidence and learning how to pitch a little more. Last year he’d get ahead of guys, he’d get guys down on the count and had a tough time missing bats. He wouldn’t hit his spots and would leave it too much over the plate. But this year he’s doing a better job at finishing the at-bat.

“That helps keep his pitch count down compared to the last couple of years. He’s able to get those outs. Instead of sevenand eight-pitch at-bats where guys are fouling it off and fouling it off, he’s been able to finish the at-bat quicker.”

Tradigo’s pitch count limit is just over 100, as he went from 86 to 91 to 105 in his first three starts. “He’s working his way up,” Glenn said. “Because he throws all winter long, he’s one of those guys coming in in March and his arm is almost where it needs to be.”

Tradigo works with pitching coach Mike Oliver to find weaknesses in batters and discover better ways to pitch them later in the game.

“Sometimes he knows he can throw it by a guy, other times he knows he’s gotta rely on that breaking pitch,” Glenn said. “He’s still a junior, and still learning intricate things about the game and becoming a more well-rounded, complete player.”

And although the studies pitching more than hitting, Tradigo still reduces it to simplistic form. “I just throw,” he said. “I just go out and trust my stuff.”

Whatever happens from there, he will never make excuses.

A glimpse into the Gilder Age

Part 1 of 2

Poets such as William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), and John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) expressed in pen and paper the same sensitivity as walking in the woods. Their influence as diplomats, academic scholars, and journalists, shaped the country’s political spectrum at the time. Furthermore, their printed sentiments about life in general embraced the common man.

A postcard showing the birthplace of Richard Watson Gilder. (Courtesy of Reece and Linda Gilder-Palmer.)

Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909) considered himself a disciple of the fireside poets. Born in Bordentown to

Ballet Theatre challenged him to try something else. In 1842, the Gilders returned to Bordentown. Always the preacher, the good reverend decided to establish the Belle Vue Female Seminary For Young Ladies, on the sacred ground that he knew so well.

Rev. William Henry Gilder (1812-1864), a Methodist minister, and his wife, Jane Nutt (1816-1885), he was the fifth child of eleven siblings, eight of whom survived to adulthood. His home, called “Belle Vue,” was originally built in 1725 to compliment the small farm. In 1788, Samuel Rogers (1725-1813) built the prominent two-story section.

Every room was immaculate and fresh. Tuition and room and board for the year cost $118. As enrollment for the school grew, so did his family. In the upstairs bedroom besides the glowing embers of a crackling fireplace, Richard Watson Gilder was born in 1844. Four years later, the family moved to Flushing, Queens in New York where Reverend Gilder opened the Flushing Female Seminary as headmaster. At a young age, Richard was the only boy educated in a school of girls. In addition to learning about reading, writing, arithmetic, and English, he also studied French and Greek languages. When he wasn’t in class, he would walk to the office of the Long Island Times and watch the movements of the mechanical press through the window. Soon his curiosity led him to ask the editor on how to set type. It wasn’t long after that he accomplished writing issues for two of his children’s publications, the St. Thomas Register and The Leaflet.