NYCBL BASEBALL: Warren catches on quickly

Sports

June 29, 2009

By Nate Beutel The Niagara Gazette Mon Jun 29, 2009, 10:59 PM EDT

Before making the trek up to Niagara Falls, Jacan Warren threw one last bag in the car. He decided he might as well bring his catcher’s gear up north as he prepared for a summer with the Niagara Power.

“You never know, maybe our catchers go down with injuries,” said Warren, who usually lines up at third base. “You’re not expecting it to happen, but you just never know.”

Sure enough, less than a week into the season Alejandro Crisostomo and Stephen Cammuso were both out of commission and Warren was pressed into duty. The senior-to-be at Division III Mississippi College calmly squatted behind the dish and tossed out the first would-be base-stealer of his baseball career.

“I thought it was a fluke,” Warren said.

Later in the game, he did it again, firing another strike down to second base.

“I was getting the hang of it,” Warren recalled.

And for good measure, he cut down a third a few innings later.

“This is pretty cool,” Warren said to himself. “Maybe I can do this.”

Warren proceeded to throw out the first six potential base-stealers he saw, a credit to his baseball instincts, according to Power manager Sam Kirby.

“He’s naturally pretty comfortable out there on the diamond,” Kirby said. “He’s raw technique-wise as a catcher, but he gets the job done because he’s a competitor and he knows what he has to do.”

Warren said he has played a handful of positions in college, but he’d like one last shot at catcher next season. And he’s willing to put in the work to get that opportunity.

“With coach Kirby being a catchers coach, I asked him one day if it was something he could see me doing and he told me I had tons of potential,” Warren said. “Now, I have to polish up my skills and prove myself in the fall.”

“He loves the game, so I wouldn’t put anything past him,” Kirby added. “Every time he goes out there, you know you’re going to get his best and that’s why I like the kid so much.”

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