ESPN's Ravech, area scouts to host baseball Q&A event at Hendricken

Posted 10/21/14

For all the success that Bishop Hendricken’s sports programs have, the baseball program stands above the rest in terms of sending athletes to play in college and at the professional level.

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ESPN's Ravech, area scouts to host baseball Q&A event at Hendricken

Posted

For all the success that Bishop Hendricken’s sports programs have, the baseball program stands above the rest in terms of sending athletes to play in college and at the professional level.

A week from Saturday, Hendricken will welcome in a few guest speakers who know all about the steps it takes to reach those heights, and who should provide a helpful and interesting commentary on the world of baseball in the higher ranks.

ESPN’s Karl Ravech, known most for his role on the network’s “Baseball Tonight” program, will be hosting a Q&A inside Hendricken’s Harrop Theater on Nov. 1, beginning at 7 p.m.

Ravech will be joined by Matt Hyde, who is the New England Area Scouting Supervisor for the New York Yankees, and Ray Fagnant, the New England Regional Scouting Supervisor for the Boston Red Sox.

Also on the agenda for the night are appearances from some of Hendricken’s notable alumni, as the school has reached out to all of its 22 living Major League Baseball draftees, plus others playing college baseball.

It’s a night that should appeal to baseball fans, baseball players and everybody in between.

“I think it will be great on so many levels,” said Michele King, who serves as the director of alumni relations at Hendricken and is the driving force behind the event. “Even older guys who are just interested in baseball. There’s just so much you can talk about with Yankees and Red Sox. And then a younger kid or a current kid playing baseball, it’s an opportunity to ask these scouts what I should be working on in the off-season, how I get myself into college, how do I get seen?”

King got the ball rolling on the event. Her husband, Jim, used to work as a news anchor at a TV station in New York years ago, and Ravech was the sports anchor at the station.

That began the relationship, and since then, Ravech has become a recognizable face in the Worldwide Leader’s baseball coverage. He covers everything from the Little League World Series to the Major League World Series, and will just be finishing up his coverage of the Fall Classic when he makes the trip to Hendricken.

It’s something that Ravech has done in the past, as he and fellow “Baseball Tonight” member John Kruk appeared at the University of Connecticut recently, with positive reviews. Ravech will use that appearance as a foundation for what he’ll do, but the main focus will be engaging the crowd in a Q&A that can cover a wide variety of topics.

“Karl coming out, he’s going to speak for a while and welcome everybody there,” King said. “He’s going to talk a little bit about ESPN. He’s going to introduce Ray and Matt and they’re going to talk a bit about them and their teams and what’s going on with the Red Sox and Yankees. The real thing Karl wants to do is have it mostly be a Q&A thing, and a real lively interaction with the audience.”

Baseball holds a special place in the Hendricken community, with such notable alumni as former Tampa Bay Rays and Red Sox outfielder Rocco Baldelli, first-round draft pick Jay Rainville and current Rays pitcher Jeff Beliveau. King’s son, Mike, is a former Rhode Island Gatorade Player of the Year and currently pitches at Boston College.

Two seniors on this year’s team have already pledged to Division I colleges, with Gatorade Player of the Year Gian Martellini committed to defending national champion Vanderbilt.

In addition to its alumni, the program has won more than any team in the country. Its 13 state championships since 1994 are the most in the United States.

“It’s just been such a successful program here,” King said. “Percentage-wise, the number of kids who go on and play D-I baseball out of here and get drafted, it’s huge. And if Mikey was in sixth, seventh, eighth grade, we would jump on coming to this, just to see what information we could get.”

The event is reserved seating only, and tickets can be purchased online at www.hendricken.com/arts/boxoffice. The cost is $10, and the event is expected to fill up fast.

Assuming availability, tickets can be purchased any time up until the event.

“We’re hoping to get a lot of people to come and fill the theater,” King said.

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