No. 1 in the order is on top of his game
The short list of the Houston area’s best teams includes Kingwood next year in part because of infielder Tre Richardson — the perfect leadoff hitter.
Richardson was his district’s Offensive Player of the Year and is also the Chronicle’s Hitter of the Year.
During district play, he was one of the best hitters in Houston with a .604 average, 18 RBIs, 12 extra-base hits, two home runs, 28 runs with 24 stolen bases. He finished with a .421 average, 30 RBIs, 80 total bases, 33 stolen bases and 41 runs.
Kingwood posted another standout year as regional finalists.
Richardson recently withdrew his commitment to the University of Houston, meaning he’ll be a sought-after name for college programs this summer.
Q: What did you do to boost your average this year?
A: “This year I just kind of focused a little bit more on trying to hit anything around the zone. Usually in high school and even during summer ball I’ve always been the hitter to wait out. I’ll take first pitch and just kind of feel my way into the at-bat. This year I started off a little slow because people started knowing me so they were lobbing curveballs over the zone to start off the at-bat. I was taking them and they knew I was going to take them so I’d fall down to 0-2 seeing curveball and no the pitcher has control. Well I figured with the help of my dad and coach Mead and all of the coaching staff, I just really went back to the cages and went back to the lab with my dad I started swinging a little bit. He was like ‘Your issue isn’t the swing. It’s just the fact that you need to start swinging at pitches earlier in the count and swing at anything around the zone and be that hitter. The way I compare it is I look at a guy like Jose Altuve. Obviously I’m far from that but one thing I would say I try to be like him in is I try to swing at anything around the zone. If a pitcher is going to throw me a pitch that painted the black away and I feel like I can drive it, then I’m going to try to drive it. Or at least try to put the ball in play because how am I supposed to know that I can’t hit it if I don’t ever swing at it?”
Q: What is the next step in your evolution as a hitter?
A: “Just trying to build off of this year. Senior year is usually where people who are in my shoes, they get — I won’t say complacent but they know they have college next and they have draft next. Really I’m just trying to come back out here and build off this last year and not wanting to be that senior that ‘He had a good junior year. He had a good sophomore year. He had a good freshman year. But he’s got everything set for him so he’s complacent.’ I was always brought up to never be complacent and never be happy with (what) I get and keep striving to be the best that I can possibly be.”
Q: What is next in your recruiting process?
A: “It’s pretty cool to be going through the process again. I’ve had a few schools reach out but with the next few weeks being kind of busy, I’m just going to listen to what I have an just take it slower and just take it all in and actually experience it this time because I didn’t experience it freshman year. I had one visit and then I had the U of H visit and I was like ‘Ok, I’m sold on U of H.’ So I just kind of want to experience it a little bit and take it slow and whatever happens, happens. I know God’s got my back and that’s one thing. I’ve never been overly spiritual but I do know that He has a plan for everything. I trust in Him and I trust in my ability to go out and play every single day. And if a school really wants me, I’ll find that school and I’ll be able to find a school sometime by the end of this summer.”
Q: Kingwood couldn’t play at Andy Wells Field until last February because of Tropical Storm Harvey damage. What was it like being back?
A: “During the spring, there are all these different sports going around and they hear we’re making noise over here so they’re going to come over from the softball game, they’re going to come over from the soccer game or something like that, you know? It was just cool to have that support system back again. And with, you know, just the students in general, I just felt like they were all kind of behind us a lot more — not to say they weren’t behind this last year — but they were all behind us because we’re back here making noise in our own field.”