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Player Spotlight: RHP Ryan O'Connell (Lafayette, 2017)

June 9, 2016

Shon Plack
Missouri Scouting Director

Ryan O'Connell (Lafayette, 2017) led his team in every pitching category except strikeouts this spring.  He led the Lancers to a 19-6 record and a district championship. 

The 6-foot 185-pound right-handed pitcher comes from a three-quarters arm slot and topped out at 83 mph at the Class of 2017 Games in June.  Although he has been up to 85 mph in previous events, O'Connell had a good showing at the Class of 2017 Games, attacking hitters.  He struck out four hitters, surrendered one hit and walked one in his inning of work starting hitters with a 2-1 count. 

He showed a sharp slider at 71-74 mph, with a fastball at 79-83.  He threw a high percentage of strikes and showed the ability to repeat his release point. 

O'Connell is currently attending unofficial visits and preparing for his summer season.  Here is a look inside the recruiting process of Ryan O'Connell.

PBR: Have you taken any visits, or have any visits scheduled in the near future? If so, what schools, and how recently?

O'Connell:  I've gone on some unofficial visits to see the schools and find out where I would like to go.  Arkansas State, Missouri State, Butler, Indiana, Ole Miss,  and Mizzou.  I'm planning on checking out SEMO, Illinois State, Eastern Illinois, SLU, Murray State, SIUE and SIUC.

PBR: Are you looking for anything in particular in a school? (Example: high academics, certain academic program, local, etc.)

O'Connell: I'd like to stay within a few hours drive of home.  I don't know what I will be majoring in yet, so that makes it hard to narrow down some schools.  Getting a good education for after college is really important to me.  I'd also like for the school to have a football team to go watch in the fall.

PBR: How did you do your junior year? What were your high school statistics? And how did your team do?

O'Connell: I had a really good year, our team won our conference and district, something the Lancers hadn't done in a long time.  I started both of those games and our final playoff game against SLUH.  It was a tough loss, losing in the 8th inning after we were tied 1-1.

My stats on the year for my Lafayette Lancer team (I led the team in every category except strikeouts):

IP -58.1, W- 7, L-1, BF-246, TS-524, S%-0.628, K-45, BB-18, H-41, R-22, ER-14, ERA-1.68, WHIP-1.011

I was All-Conference, All district, and I was picked as Lafayette's pitcher of the year.

My best game of the year was a one hitter against Seckman, but my favorite was starting and winning the district championship over Rockwood Summit.  They are a really good, tough team and it was great being on the mound for the final out.

PBR: What are you goals for your senior season?

O'Connell: To go farther in the playoffs and win state.  We've got a bunch of good players returning,  Wade Stauss, Ryan Panzitta, Jack Riney, Jackson Bartholomew and some good juniors that will help a lot are coming up too.

Personally  I want to continue to mature as a pitcher.  I'd like to get stronger and add more velocity to my fastball, work on my change up, continue to throw good curve balls and sliders.

PBR: What travel team do you play for? Are you playing fall ball with a team?

O'Connell: I play for the Missouri Warriors 17U team.  It's a good organization, I've been playing for my coach John Lackey since I was four and he's helped me a lot with my pitching,   Jason Simontacchi is our pitching coach in the offseason.  It's great to have a minor league pitching coach to give tips and advice.  I don't play fall ball, I play football.

PBR: Do you play any other sports?

O'Connell:  I play football for the Lancers.  I play QB and I hope to lead that team to a district championship this year as well.

PBR: What are your ACT and GPA?

O'Connell: I have an 25 on my ACT and a 3.44 ACT.

 

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