By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
Trent Rice is 18 years old, just graduated high school, and he admitted to some nerves coming into a situation where he has to face older, experienced players.
And then you see him racing across left field at Community Field to catch a fly ball twisting into the corner and then you realize he’ll be just fine in the Prospect League.
Rice was a late arrival to the Burlington Bees — his high school season in Michigan was just wrapping up when the Prospect League started — but he has made an impact.
Rice is batting .400, which would put him seventh in the league in hitting if he had enough at-bats to qualify, and has proven he can handle himself against the college players in the league.
“Obviously, for me, there’s a lot to learn,” said Rice, a three-time first-team All-State selection at Cardinal Mooney High School in Macomb, Michigan. “I’m the youngest guy here and I’ve never really been a part of something like this. The college kids, they’ve taught me a ton since I’ve been here.”
Rice went 1-for-4 in his first start at Clinton on June 11, starting a six-game hitting streak that included five multi-hit games.
“He was smacking the ball around all on this last road trip,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said.
Oreskovich likes Rice’s speed, which he showed in Saturday’s 8-7 win over the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp.
Rice, batting at the top of the Bees’ lineup, beat out an infield hit in the first inning, and then in the fifth inning chased down a fly ball in foul territory down the left-field line for the second out.
“There aren’t many guys who get to that ball,” Oreskovich said. “I’ve got confidence in him because he’s got confidence in himself. I didn’t even ask him if he’d ever hit lead-off. I just put him in there. He’s a mature kid, no doubt about it.”
What has helped with his confidence, Rice said, was the advice of his teammates.
“The first couple of days were rough, getting into the swing of things,” he said. “But, the guys really took me in and showed me the ropes early on. And I’m glad they did.”
“I came in late to the season, so I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew I would be battling uphill, and it was going to be tough. But I came in, and the guys were extremely excited for me to be here, and that helped.”
The Prospect League is for college players, but teams can have four players who have completed their high school careers and have signed a letter of intent or have a financial aid agreement with a college. Players are not eligible until after their official graduation date. Rice, who signed a letter of intent with Oakland University, and infielder Drew Gaskins, another Oakland signee, are the only high school players on the Bees’ roster.
“I was actually at work one day — I worked at a pizzeria for two months — and one of my coaches called me and asked me if I wanted to go to Burlington,” Rice said. “I had no idea what it was, but I thought if it was an opportunity for me before college, I wanted to take it.”
Rice played baseball and basketball throughout his time at Cardinal Mooney, a school of just 140 students. He was a 1,000-point scorer in basketball, and also played one season of football, as a wide receiver and cornerback.
“Baseball and basketball were my two sports growing up,” Rice said. “ I actually started playing basketball before I started playing baseball. But just everything that went with baseball in the summer, that’s what I wanted to be a part of. And my skills are geared more toward baseball.”
He is getting a lesson in the off-field side of summer baseball. Nine of Rice’s first 11 games were on the road, including a five-games-in-six-days trip that included two games in Jackson, Tenn. and single games in O’Fallon, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Alton, Ill.
“Obviously it’s something I’ve never been a part of,” Rice said. “It’s a little tiring — the traveling, the hotels. It’s tiring for me, because I’ve never been a part of it. So it’s going to help me a lot along the way. I just have to get used to it, and keep grinding.”
It’s all about the experience, Rice said.
“I think I’m going to get a ton of growth out of this,” he said. “Not only just being around these college guys, but my skills as well. Hitting is the big thing for me. I wanted to get better at that, not only with power, but having a mentality at the plate, knowing what pitches are coming, things like that.
“It’s already helped me. I’ve seen the best pitching I’ve ever seen. It’s really going to prep me for college, for sure. Just to see the arms, the different curveballs, the different off-speed pitches, even if I don’t hit as well as I would like to, it’s going to help me out, no matter what.”
Top photo: Trent Rice is hitting .400 in his first season with the Burlington Bees. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
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