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ALL-AREA BASEBALL TEAM
player of the year jeremy vasquez
All-Area First Team
Kutter Crawford
Pete Crocitto
CJ Fitzpatrick
Ruben Garcia
Jonathon Herndon
Jarod Huff
ALEX SLITZ/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS
Jarrett O’Leary
Matt Reardon
Brad Rowley
Derek Schwimer
Martin County High School’s Jeremy Vasquez is the 2014 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Baseball Player of the Year. To see more photos, go to TCPalm.com.
‘Don’t let Jeremy beat me’
Martin County’s Vasquez a tireless worker who masters strike zone By Jon Santucci jon.santucci@scripps.com 772-692-8932
Mason Smith
Marc Stewart
Delaney Wilson
KUTTER CRAWFORD
Okeechobee senior shortstop/pitcher Statistics: 7-1, .340 batting average, 10 doubles
PETE CROCITTO
South Fork senior first baseman Statistics: .316 batting average, 15 runs scored, 5 doubles, 10 home runs Poll: Crocitto topped our TCPalm.com all-area readers poll with 42 percent of the votes.
CJ FITZPATRICK
Jensen Beach senior middle infielder Statistics: .357 batting average, 21 runs scored, 5 doubles, 13 RBIs
RUBEN GARCIA
St. Lucie West Centennial senior pitcher/shortstop Statistics: .415 batting average, 6 doubles, 3 home runs, 22 RBIs
Jeremy Vasquez didn’t take anybody by surprise. Not this season, anyway. The Martin County High School senior outfielder/pitcher has been one of the Treasure Coast’s premier hitters during his high school career. Vasquez is a three-time, first-team all-area selection who considers himself to be in a slump when he goes three consecutive at-bats without a hit. Opposing teams made it a priority not to allow Vazquez to hurt them at the plate this season. It didn’t work. Vasquez hit .524 with an astounding .617 on-base percentage. He also led Martin County with four home runs, 15 doubles, 37 RBIs and 31 runs scored this season. As a pitcher, Vasquez was 2-2 with a 1.45 ERA and struck out 16 batters in 29 innings. For his efforts, Vasquez is the 2014 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Player of the Year. He also was named the 2014 Florida Dairy Farmers Class 7A Player of the Year. “It is remarkable simply because other teams’ game plan was, ‘Don’t let Jeremy beat me,’ ” Martin County coach Jerry Smith said. “Because of that, he doesn’t see a lot of fastballs to hit, but he is able to recognize breaking balls and change-ups and he’s still able to get the barrel on the ball. “Most high school hitters live and die on the fastball. He didn’t see many. That’s what separates a great hitter from an average hitter. Teams would make him hit their
Player of the Year
Coach of the Year
JEREMY VASQUEZ
BRYAN RAHAL
Martin County senior outfielder/pitcher Statistics: Vasquez batted .524 with four home runs, 15 doubles, 37 RBIs and 31 runs scored this season. As a pitcher, he was 2-2 with a 1.45 ERA and struck out 16 batters in 29 innings pitched. Vasquez was named the 2014 Florida Dairy Farmers Class 7A Player of the Year. Coach Jerry Smith: “His pitch recognition is excellent. ... He has an uncanny ability to hit his pitch. He never swings at pitches outside of the strike zone. He knows the strike zone so well and that’s what sets him apart.”
pitch and he was still able to do it.” While Smith speaks highly of Vasquez, the hitter doesn’t seem too impressed by his numbers or accomplishments. For him, it’s a pretty basic formula for success. “You want to know the secret? I use the whole field,” Vasquez said. “That’s it. And with two strikes, you have to battle. Once they come in on you, that’s when you let them pay.” It sounds simple enough, but, of course, there’s more that goes into it. While Smith said Vasquez is blessed with tremendous handeye coordinator, he also is known as a tireless worker who has spent countless hours swinging off a tee to perfect his stroke. Vasquez maintains the same pregame routine — tee work, followed by some music to get him focused (rapper Meek Mill was the muse of choice), followed by four rounds of batting practice. He has worked with private hitting coach Roy Silver, in Tampa, and trainer Matt Levine to finetune his approach and his body. And then there’s the pitch selection.
Vasquez often talks about having to be a good two-strike hitter, but Smith said he rarely found himself in that position. Vasquez’s understanding of the strike zone and refusal to swing at bad pitches meant most pitchers fell behind early in the count. “Just about every at-bat, I got at least one pitch to hit,” Vasquez said. “But other than that, I had to go the opposite way. I wasn’t trying to hit for power this year, I was just trying to hit line drives.” A goal-oriented player, Vasquez was motivated by many things — including a desire to top his brother’s career marks at Martin County. James Vasquez, who recently completed his junior year at UCF, was the All-Area Player of the Year in 2011 when he batted .508. Jeremy might be younger, but he wanted to be better. “I wanted bragging rights,” said Jeremy Vasquez, who signed with the University of Florida. “I didn’t check my stats until a week before districts and the only reason I did that is because some people were saying I was getting close to .600. “I think I performed good,
Vero Beach, second year This season: Vero Beach went 21-6, won the District 6-8A championship and won its first regional playoff game since 2003 before losing to Winter Park 2-1 in the Region 2-8A semifinals. Vero Beach graduated 10 seniors from the 2013 team but started the 2014 season with a 10-game win-streak from March 13-April 13 and won 15 of its last 17 games. Quotable: “The team was a pleasure to be around and coach. We had a lot of great kids and it was a team-first group of guys. … We were pretty inexperienced when we started the season and we knew it would be tough early, but we got better as a unit and tried to win the day. We wanted to play our best ball at the end and we did that. We had a lot of great support from the fans, the community and the younger guys. The kids thrived and fed off that support.”
overall. I tried to help our team win every game. I was proud of my team for how far we made it (the regional semifinals). The power numbers could have been a little higher, but I wasn’t really worried about it. I just wanted to make good contact every time and drive the ball.”
JONATHON HERNDON
Master’s Academy junior pitcher/first base Statistics: .553 batting average, 6 doubles, 15 runs scored, 16 RBIs
JAROD HUFF
Vero Beach senior pitcher Statistics: 7-2, 0.60 ERA, 74 strikeouts
JARRETT O’LEARY
John Carroll junior catcher Statistics: N/A
First Team continued MATT REARDON
Martin County senior shortstop Statistics: .407 batting average, 31 runs scored, 33 hits, 22 stolen bases
BRAD ROWLEY
Martin County senior pitcher Statistics: 5-2, 2.73 ERA, 41 strikeouts, .288 batting average
DEREK SCHWIMER
Lincoln Park sophomore center fielder Statistics: .432, 29 runs scored, 18 stolen base, .517 on-base percentage
MASON SMITH
Master’s Academy senior third baseman Statistics: .467 batting average, 2 doubles, 2 triples, 19 runs scored
MARC STEWART
Port St. Lucie senior pitcher Statistics: 6-2, 0.33 ERA, .369 batting average, 11 RBIs
DELANEY WILSON
Vero Beach senior utility player Statistics: .431 batting average, 25 runs scored, 21 RBIs, 0.56 ERA
Honorable Mention CHRIS BATISTA Port St. Lucie senior third base TYLER BAUMAN Jensen Beach senior pitcher RYAN BOLTERSDORF Lincoln Park junior pitcher KEVIN CAPEN Martin County senior third baseman
MATT DINENNA Martin County sophomore infielder BILLY EGNEZZO St. Edward’s senior infielder ENRIQUE ESQUIVEL Port St. Lucie senior shortstop JUSTIN FAGAN Vero Beach senior catcher
RICHIE HENNESSEY Master’s Academy junior utility player SCOTT HUSNANDER Martin County senior catcher VINNIE LUCERA Fort Pierce Central senior utility player
SHAWN RAMSEY Vero Beach senior outfielder AUSTIN RICKER Treasure Coast senior catcher ZACH SAMMONS Community Christian senior catcher NICK SNYDER South Fork senior shortstop
ZACH TAYLOR St. Edward’s senior outfielder JOE TESORIERO SLW Centennial senior second baseman SAM VAUGHN Central senior pitcher/shortstop BRANDON YUST St. Lucie West Centennial outfielder