Tri-Cities captain: St. Charles North's Ryan Richardson

A professional baseball player himself, St. Charles North coach Todd Genke doesn't use the word lightly.

Yet it is just the word he sees fit to use when talking about his three-year starting shortstop Ryan Richardson.

"Professional hitter," Genke said. "He just goes up there and has a great approach. He knows what he wants to hit and he usually gets that pitch to hit. Our guys learn from watching him hit."

Genke actually spoke those words after Richardson's junior season, one in which he hit .460 with 35 runs, 40 RBI and 18 doubles.

He upped those numbers to .484, 48 runs and 32 RBI as a senior for the 34-5 North Stars, earning himself captain honors of the All-Area baseball team.

Genke could have said the same thing about Richardson after this season, or after a sophomore season when he also hit over .400, or probably even shortly after Richardson was born.

Genke recalled an at-bat against Lake Park this year. Richardson had been wearing the Lancers out hitting the ball up the middle and the opposite way, so Lake Park shifted and left the left-field line open.

Naturally, Richardson stroked the next pitch down the left-field line for a hit.

"He's a kid that is very difficult to pitch to because he sees the ball so well," Genke said. "He hits the ball where it is pitched. You try to get your kids to do that but he's been doing that probably since he's come out of the womb."

Richardson, whose father Jeff played baseball at Eastern Illinois and sister dances at Wisconsin-Whitewater, started playing baseball at 5.

He's played on a mix of baseball organizations and travel teams since then. From 10-12 he played for the Wasco Warriors; at 13-14 St. Charles, as a freshman the White Sox Academy, at 16 Top Tier, and the last two years with the Downers Grove Hot Shots.

Richardson played one year of lower level baseball at St. Charles North and then cracked the varsity lineup as a sophomore. He hit .420 that year wasting no time proving he belonged competing against the best.

"I have always been confident but I didn't predict I'd have the success I did have (as a sophomore)," Richardson said. "As the season went on I started to gain more confidence and relaxed knowing I can do this thing. As the season got going I got a lot more comfortable."

Richardson has only gotten better since then.

"He's gotten stronger so some of the balls that were ground balls are now line drives in the gaps," Genke said. "His approach at the plate with his vision has gotten better. He just sees the ball so much better than anyone else. He picks up spin. He will hit the ball wherever it is pitched."

That approach, Richardson explained, is to get a fastball. If it's early in the count, so be it.

"I try to be as aggressive as possible," Richardson said. "I believe the first pitch you see is going to be one of the best pitches to hit because they are going to try to throw strikes. I look first-pitch fastball over the plate pretty much. I swing at the first pitch which might be a little contradictory to a lot of other people's approaches."

Richardson's defense might not get as much attention but he has been a steady hand at shortstop with 4 errors this year.

He's done it all playing in a town with a rich high school baseball tradition on a field as beautiful as they come.

"It is a blast, I can't imagine playing anywhere else," Richardson said. "The coaches are phenomenal, they really know what they are doing. They take care of us and care about us and they are passionate for the game. The teammates are on the same page, there isn't anyone who doesn't care. Everybody cares. The field is unbelievable. It's great to come out here every day and call this our home."

Genke also gives Richardson props as a team leader, something he witnesses as a teacher at St. Charles North.

"He's a fun kid to be around," Genke said. "Tremendous leader, vocal leader plus he leads by example. His baseball IQ is phenomenal. He knows the game in and out. He's going to be a great coach someday. He knows the situation. He thinks two or three innings ahead which is rare for this age of kids."

Before coaching Richardson hopes he has many years ahead of him playing the game, starting in the fall at Nebraska.

Richardson said his baseball idol has always been former Astros second baseman Craig Biggio for the way he hit to the gaps with power and hustled. Second base could be a position he switches to at Nebraska. It will be his last time playing amateur baseball before we get back to that word - professional - again.

"That's (professional baseball) always been a dream of mine," Richardson said. "That's something I can picture myself doing.

"It's going to take a whole lot more hard work. I have a good start but I have to get a whole lot better. I have to get faster, stronger, a lot more consistent on defense. I have to improve every part of my game 10-fold."

Genke, who played minor league baseball for 10 years, won't bet against Richardson doing the same.

"He's going into a Division I program next year and he's going to have to prove it all over again," Genke said. "He's the type of kid you only have to tell him once and many times you don't even have to tell him once.

"He's a hitting machine. He's a great kid because he's so coachable. He's the kind of kid you want on your team and when he is on your team he makes everyone better."

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<h1>More Coverage</h1>

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<h2>Related documents</h2>

<ul class="morePdf">

<li><a href="/pdf/tribaseballfront10.pdf">Tri-Cities all-area team Page 1</a></li>

<li><a href="/pdf/tribaseballteam110.pdf">Tri-Cities all-area team Page 2</a></li>

<li><a href="/pdf/tribaseballteam210.pdf">Tri-Cities all-area team Page 3</a></li>

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