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McCaskey grad Kevin Richards has been involved in baseball for as long as he can remember. When he was younger he used to go to his older brother Eric’s high school baseball games and it wasn’t long after that when Eric started teaching Kevin the tricks of the trade.
“He used to get down in the catcher’s stance and I would do the same,” said Kevin. “When I was 2 or 3 I learned the game from a catcher’s standpoint.”
His senior year at McCaskey, Kevin batted close to .300, led the team in RBI’s, threw o ut more than 25 runners, and started every game with only 3 errors. He also had the fastest pop time from home to second base: 1.85 seconds.
Currently a physical Education major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), Kevin was only on IUP’s baseball team for a couple of weeks.
“I thought I would get batting time and get treated like a player,” he said. “I was told I was a manager and was to just show up, catch the pitches, and leave.”
The coach at IUP even told Kevin that he didn’t have what it took to catch and be on the team; the players and coaches at the Lancaster Barnstormers feel otherwise.
Kevin started as a bullpen catcher with the Camden Riversharks. He wore their jersey, played for “the other team,” and did such a good job that he got the call again, this time to fill in for the Barnstormers.
Find out how it all started, Kevin’s role as a Barnstormer and what it takes to be a bullpen catcher in the words of catcher Gerard Haran, Pitching Coach Bill Bliss, and former Manager Von Hayes.
Kevin wraps up the season within the next couple of weeks and will return to IUP for his sophomore year. When asked of his chances of getting called up to the major leagues, he said it’s not impossible.
“You never know who’s going to say, ‘Hey we need a catcher’.”
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