Ryan Jordan, of Finksburg, has been playing second base and shortstop in little league baseball since he was 5 years old, but began pitching just a few years ago.
"It was like one of those things where our team only had three or four pitchers and they all got tired," Jordan said. "The coach was like, 'who wants to try it?'"
It turned out that Jordan was pretty talented at pitching, becoming good enough that now, at age 14, he utilized that strength to come in first place in Major League Baseball's Pitch, Hit and Run Championship contest at Orioles Park at Camden Yards on June 29.
The contest consists of a pitching component, where athletes attempt to throw strikes, a batting contest where they hit from a tee and are scored on distance and accuracy and a running component where competitors run from second to home place as quickly as possible for time, according Ryan's mother, Sandi Jordan.
"They have to pitch from 45 feet to a target and it's the best out of six pitches," Sandi said. "Ryan made five out of six [pitches]."
Ryan said that the hitting component, where the ball must travel in as close as possible to a straight line over second base, was the most difficult portion.
"I was okay at running, but hitting was probably the worst of the three," Ryan said. "You have to hit a fly ball to the outfield. You've got to swing pretty hard. I did pretty good; it was a little past the outfield line."
Ryan came in first place for the 13- to 14-year-old age group, competing against the two best boys in that age group from Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia, according to Sandi.
"The event at Camden yards is kind of a tri-state competition," Sandi said. "You have to win a local competition first and then the next level, called a sectional and then the one at Camden Yards is a championship event."
According to Matt Engleka, spokesman for the Pitch, Hit and Run program, each major league ball club in the country hosts a championship event at their stadium like that at Camden Yards and the top three competitors from across the country go on to the national championship at the All-Star game.
Unfortunately, Ryan did not score high enough to make it to the national championships, but Engleka said he put in an impressive performance at Camden Yards.
"[Ryan was] very poised that in the fact that to walk out on a major league field, standing on home plate exactly where their heroes stand; it takes some composure for a 14-year-old kid to do that," Engleka said. "At that age, the rarity sinks in ... Manny Machado is six years older than Ryan, and the thought that he's standing there where Manny Machado does 81 home games per year is a really cool concept."
While he did not win the chance to compete in the national championship at the all star game, Sandi said Ryan will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at three minor league stadiums next month, taking the mound at games with the Bowie Baysox, Aberdeen IronBirds and the Frederick Keys.
According to Engleka, the Pitch, Hit and Run event was first formed in 1997 as a way to promote baseball amongst youth in the wake of the baseball strike of '94 and '95, and it would seem to have worked with Ryan, who says that now that he has aged out of the program - the competition being limited to those 14 years of age and younger - he still plans to continue playing baseball.
"My school doesn't have baseball, but I am going to do club teams next year, maybe a tournament team," Ryan said.
As one of the winners at Camden Yards, Ryan's victory was announced prior to the Orioles game that evening and his name was displayed on the video screen.
"To be recognized on the field prior to the game, that's just over the moon, your name is in lights and on the video board," Engleka said. "It's a taste of the high life we'll say. It's a pretty unique moment that connects them directly to those in the Major Leagues."
All the children who competed also received two tickets to the Orioles game that evening, which Ryan said made his victory that much sweeter.
"They faced the Yankees and we won by a pretty decent amount," Ryan said. "It was a good game."
