By Greg Williams
PA Director of Scouting

Christian Helsel has been preparing for college baseball for a long time. The 6-foot, 195-pound infielder was a four-year starter at Altoona High School for Coach Tom Smith. During the summer and fall he played all over the country for the Evoshield Canes M-A (now known as Chandler Baseball).

Helsel is now a true freshman infielder at Ole Miss and has just completed his first semester as an SEC baseball player. The former All-State performer is now preparing for his first trip through one of the most highly respected Division I baseball conferences in the country and was willing to sit down with Prep Baseball Report to discuss what he has learned.

PBR:  Now that you have completed your first semester of college baseball what has been your biggest adjustment?

Helsel:  I’d say that my biggest adjustment was my time management skills. College is totally different than high school in so many ways. My first couple weeks were overwhelming. I had so many responsibilities and so much new information that I had to remember that it began to stress me out. I learned that to be a successful Division I student-athlete you almost have to have your entire day planned out to the minute. Between classes, meetings and practices, I would say we had about 3-4 hours total of free time a day. How you used that time would determine how successful you would be. My mom wasn’t around anymore to tell me to do my homework so I had to be disciplined and use my free time to finish my work. 

PBR:  Can you briefly describe your baseball schedule for the first semester?

Helsel:  Playing DI baseball is definitely time consuming. I had an 8:00-8:50am class, a 9:00-9:50am class, a 10:00-10:45am tutor, an 11:00-11:50am class and a 12:00-12:50pm tutor. I would grab lunch and get to the field around 1:15 to get my early hitting in. Practice started at 2:30 and would usually run until 5:00. We would then hit the weights at 5:30 and I would get back to my dorm at about 7:00pm. I would usually work on school work until 8:30 or 9:00pm. That was my typical day this fall and it was definitely an adjustment.

PBR:  What type of advice would you give to potential recruits who are just beginning the recruiting process?

Helsel:  College coaches love tough, blue collar guys. They want guys that are going to play their butt off every single day and put their bodies on the line to help their team win. So when you’re playing, take every chance you can get to hustle on and off the field or take a hard turn around first on a pop-up, because they are watching everything. It’s not all about tools; it’s about your heart and what you’ve got on the inside. Focus on what you can control (your effort, hustle, energy, etc.) and don’t worry about what you can’t control (Velocity, power, speed, etc.).

PBR:  You played your high school baseball for Altoona HS and your travel baseball with the Evoshield Canes M-A (now Chandler Baseball). How did these two programs prepare you for Ole Miss and SEC competition?

Helsel:  At Altoona Coach Smith gave me an opportunity to play varsity as a freshman and to play against older guys. I think this was an extremely important experience in my development as a baseball player.  From that moment on I always believed I could play with anybody no matter how old they were and that mentality has definitely helped me out a lot this year at Ole Miss. By playing for the Canes, I was able to play against some of the best players in the country and see what they looked like. I was able to compare myself to these players and do what I had to do to compete with players of that caliber. Because I had so much exposure in past years I wasn’t awestruck or surprised at the competition when I got to Ole Miss. Although I have a lot of room for improvement, I was mentally prepared to compete in the SEC.

PBR:  What are your goals for your freshman season at Ole Miss?

Helsel:  Just like every other player on my team, my goal is without a doubt to earn a starting position. It would be a big accomplishment to do so my freshman year, but it’s not impossible. We have an amazing team this year and I want to be on the field when we get that last out of the Super Regional and punch the ticket to Omaha.