Austin Pierzynski, an NECBL All-Star, follows his famous father’s footsteps
Austin Pierzynski of the University of Alabama at Birmingham plays in a game against Florida earlier this year. Pierzynski, who played in the NECBL All-Star game on Sunday in Sanford, is the son of two-time All-Star A.J. Pierzynski. (Gary McCullough/Associated Press)
SANFORD — If Austin Pierzynski looks familiar, it doesn’t take long to figure out why.
Between his looks and mannerisms as he sets up behind the plate, the sophomore-to-be at the University of Alabama at Birmingham resembles his father A.J. Pierzynski, who had a 19-year career in Major League Baseball. A two-time All-Star and a World Series champion with the White Sox in 2005, A.J. Pierzynski hit .280 with 188 home runs and 909 RBI in 2,059 games.
A.J. Pierzynski’s career included a 72-game stint with the Boston Red Sox in 2014.
“I think I was like seven or eight years old (in 2014),” said Austin Pierzynski, 19. “I have some memories (of Boston) but not a lot. It was only half a year, and a great experience, but I was super young.”
Austin Pierzynski is finding his own success in baseball. This summer he plays for the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, which includes the Sanford Mainers. Pierzynski was a member of the South team Sunday in the NECBL All-Star Game at Goodall Park in Sanford. He went 0 for 1 and the South team lost to the North, 5-0.
Pierzynski is hitting .246 with 18 RBI in 18 games for the Sharks this summer.
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“He’s a young catcher but you wouldn’t know it by the way he plays the game,” said Sharks manager Peyton Fuller. “He sees really well, he throws really well. He plays like an older guy. Some of that is the byproduct of being the son of a 19-year major leaguer, but his feel and pulse for the game is really, really good.”
Austin Pierzynski was a high school standout at The First Academy in Orlando, Florida. The 6-foot-1, 215 pound Pierzynski committed to Division I UAB after his junior year of high school.
A.J. Pierzynski was known as one of the great agitators in MLB during his career, a constant pain for opposing players. Austin Pierzynski looks at the game from a different angle.
Atlanta catcher A.J. Pierzynski reacts to a call during a game on Aug. 18, 2015. Pierzynski played 19 seasons in the majors and made two All-Star teams. (Gregory Bull/Associated Press)
“Similar, I think the will to win and relationship with the teammates,” Austin said. “We’re different in the fact that he always had to play with a chip on his shoulder, and I don’t really play like that. (The game) was about him versus the opponent, whereas it’s me versus baseball. It’s just a different mindset when we play.”
Austin said he wanted to following his father’s footsteps as a catcher, even if A.J. wasn’t sure that was the best idea.
“He was jokingly like, ‘I don’t know if you want to do it,’ knowing how hard it is,” Austin said.
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The pressure of being the son of an MLB player is something Austin said he felt during his high school career.
“When I was 15 or 16 years old, I was really down in the dumps,” Austin said. “I was really looking at the negative stuff. But with (my dad’s) help, I became my own person, and now I’m having fun with it.”
A chat with his father helped change Austin’s perspective.
“I don’t really care about what other people think, only what people I care about think of me,” Austin said. “It definitely was a process. But talking to people I care about was really the biggest thing, emphasizing that I’m more than a baseball player.”
This spring at UAB, Pierzynski hit .240 with seven home runs and 18 RBI. He was named to the American Conference all-freshmen team. UAB went 32-26 overall and 15-12 in the conference.
Austin said he learned from his father how difficult it is to be a catcher.
“My dad always said that when he finished his games, he was more tired mentally than physically. You have to read every (batter’s) swing, you have to build a relationship with the umpire. You have to control your pitcher’s emotions, you have to be a leader on the field.”
Fuller has seen Austin’s potential up close this summer.
“We’ve seen improvement,” Fuller said. “He’s come up here and worked really hard, just really building for his future.”
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Tagged: Sanford Mainers
Dave Dyer is in his second stint with the Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel. Dave was previously with the company from 2012-2015 and returned in late 2016. He spent most of 2016 doing freelance sports. More by Dave Dyer
