Frickey, Hartrick Contrast Playing in Colorado Versus Silver Spring
SILVER SPRING, JULY 20—Every season, the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts see players from across the country suit up at Blair Stadium to improve their skills in the summer circuit. Remarkably, three players made the trek from Colorado to play ball for the TBolts this summer.
Those who watch Major League Baseball may know that the playing conditions in Colorado contrast considerably from the rest of the country. Due to the high elevation and thin air, the ball travels much faster when hit off the bat. On the flip side, pitchers have a difficult time retiring hitters thanks to the lack of offspeed rotation.
This past week, I had a chance to speak with Thunderbolts players and Colorado natives Connor Frickey (Babson) and Wade Hartrick (U Chicago). Both players provided interesting insight on how playing in the Centennial State differs from the rest of the country.
Connor played first and third base at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs. As a primary first baseman this summer, the 6’5” righty is batting .289 with 15 RBIs and 23 walks. On defense, he has made multiple gold glove caliber snags for the TBolts as of late.
Overall, Connor believes there is a sharp distinction in how he saw the ball in Colorado compared to now. He shared, “The way you’re attacked, pitching wise, is a lot different. The ball doesn’t break as much, so there’s a lot of sliders and change-ups out there; you see better looks than the rest of the country.”
Since there are not many competitive baseball schools in Colorado, many of Connor’s talented teammates played at junior colleges in states such as Kansas and Arizona. Due to his lack of options out west, Connor himself played a postgraduate year at The Taft School in Connecticut. He eventually committed to Babson College in Massachusetts, and is currently a rising senior.
After making his move to the northeast, Connor “had to figure out how to hit the sinker. That was the biggest one. Because you don’t get as much sink in Colorado. So, definitely, the balls were getting under my barrel a little bit.”
While he crushes the ball in Colorado and has found a comforting home in New England, Connor loves playing in Silver Spring’s electric atmosphere. He explained, “I’ve had a lot of fun playing in this league because being a D3 guy, you don’t get too many fans out at the games. It’s just a lot of friends and family. So, getting the fans at these games, and having a good atmosphere is overall just a good time.”
Similar to Connor, Wade Hartrick has had a nationwide baseball journey. Growing up in Boulder, Wade was primarily a catcher in his youth. In high school, he played ball at the iconic IMG Academy in South Florida. After his coaches at IMG noticed his strong arm, Wade developed into a two-way player during his sophomore year of High School. From there, he moved on to the University of Chicago, where he is currently a rising sophomore. This summer, the righty has seen action both on the mound as a reliever, and at the plate as a catcher.
Because of his hybrid playstyle, Wade feels he gets the best of both worlds both on the bump and behind the plate. On the mound this summer, the righty has struck out 18 hitters in 12 innings pitched. In 20 at-bats for the TBolts, Wade has three singles, one double, and has drawn five walks.
In terms of pitching, “There definitely is a difference in how much the pitches move. I can tell on my slider, I get an extra little bit of depth, a little bit of arm side movement. Versus back home, it feels a little bit tighter.”
Wade brings some of the most fiery gasoline on the team, with his fastball religiously reaching over 90 miles per hour. When asked how he feels his fastball moves in Silver Spring, he expressed, “I definitely noticed that I get more carry here if that makes sense. Visually, it looks like it stays true—almost like it’s rising through the plate.”
When he first arrived in Chicago, Wade felt he was in tip-top shape compared to his Maroon teammates. At a higher altitude, the thin Colorado air adjusts the lungs to tougher breathing conditions. However, once Wade gets acclimated to sea level, he finds little to no difference between he and his teammates’ endurance. In fact, whenever he goes back to Colorado for workouts, he finds it hard to readjust to the thin air.
Wade also harped on how hitting home runs differs from Colorado compared to other locations. “You can get away with hitting the ball in the air and not hitting it that hard. Just because the ball’s gonna carry, you don’t have to hit it as hard to get it out,” he commented on Colorado’s conditions.
“At Blair, in order to get one out of here—especially to left—you gotta crush it. So it’s like, with me, I can’t afford to miss in the air as much because they don’t get over the fence, and they don’t get over people’s heads. I have to be a lower line drive approach hitter.”
Despite the disadvantages Blair brings for hitters at the plate, “I’d much rather play here, for sure. Just ‘cause I think it’s more true to the equilibrium state of baseball. If you’re watching a Major League game, this is like normal conditions in terms of how much the ball flies, but also the way the ball moves. Altitude is kind of a variable in that system that shifts it out of equilibrium.”
Connor and Wade have both been fun additions to the TBolts, and it has been a pleasure watching them carry their Colorado bravado to the diamond this summer. We wish them nothing but the best with the conclusion of their seasons and the rest of their college careers.