Orangewood home run record was built in warehouse
Orangewood Christian’s power-hungry baseball team of 2011 wasn’t swinging for a state home run record as it slugged its way through a 31-2 state runnerup season.
The Rams had no idea a record for Florida high schools was even known.
Their tangible targets included the roof of the schools’ two-story athletic building, which sits just beyond the outfield fence at the Maitland private school. Orangewood’s heavy hitters jacked a number of shots to the top of that roof and hammered others against the wall of the building.
Two roof shots were hit on this day in 2011, when the Rams ripped four home runs in a 16-5 region semifinal romp past Daytona Beach Father Lopez and learned afterward they had smashed the single-season state record.
Orangewood entered that home game with 77 homers and tied the previous record of 78, set by Plantation American Heritage in 2008, when Dante Bichette
Jr. cranked a two-run long ball in the first inning. Cody Warren broke the record in the same inning with another two-run shot.
Tomas Nido, a current Major Leaguer, and Vicente Conde, a former minor leaguer, later smacked backto-back blasts onto the roof in right-center.
“When we broke the record we didn’t even know what it was,” said former Orangewood coach Alan Kunkel, who is now a second-year college assistant coach at USF whose primary focus is hitting. “We really didn’t know what the number was until afterward when stories started coming out.”
The Rams hit two more HRs, both by Conde, in a 10-8 region final win against Jacksonville Providence to finish with 83 for the year.
Orangewood’s record is one that almost assuredly will never be broken. Home run totals have diminished greatly since 2012, when standards governing the design of aluminum and composite bats for high school play were changed to permit only those that perform
more parameters established by the league.
However, teams are not required to reopen on Friday. The Magic are still gathering details on how to make the situation work as safely as possible for players and staff and have yet to determine a date for beginning individual workouts, a team spokesman said.
Magic coach Steve Clifford, meanwhile, said Tuesday afternoon on ESPN Orlando AM 580 the team will likely begin voluntary workouts next week.
The Miami Heat and Utah Jazz reportedly are among other NBA teams that have indicated they will more like the wood bats used in professional baseball.
The Rams’ lineup included three current pros: Nido, a New York Mets catcher; Bichette, who was promoted to AAA Fresno of the Washington Nationals organization this year; and Forest Wall, who was a nonroster invitee to spring training by Toronto before the coronavirus outbreak shut baseball down in March.
Nido, then a junior, led the team with 17 home runs. Alex Carter, a senior catcher who started his college career at Notre Dame and finished as a starter at Georgetown, smacked 15. Conde hit 12. Bichette, a senior shortstop and pitcher and the son of a longtime Major League standout, had 10 home runs while batting a ridiculous .640 (55 hits in 86 at bats).
Eleven players hit homers, including freshman Joey Swinarski, who belted seven.
The increase in bat speed and power, Kunkel said, was fueled by countless hours spent taking swings in a warehouse that was owned
not be ready to reopen Friday.
While individual workouts have yet to resume, some players have received approval from the NBA for rehabilitation work at the team facility during the pandemic. Evan Fournier (elbow), Jonathan Isaac (knee) and Al-Farouq Aminu (knee) have been getting treatment for their injuries at the facility, according to WOFL-35’s Adam Shadoff.
The reopening will only allow for voluntary individual workouts; no team activities are allowed. Only four players will be in the facility at one time, with each one by Dante Bichette Sr., a four-time all-star for the Colorado Rockies, and equipped with batting cages and weight training equipment.
“Most of those guys would go from our practices to the Bichette’s warehouse to hit for another couple of hours,” Kunkel recalls. “We’d play X-box and ping pong and guys would rotate into the cages and hit. It was fun and it snowballed. They just fed off each other. They challenged one another. It was competitive, even at the
using his own basket. The AdventHealth Practice Facility has six baskets available for use.
Many players don’t have access to hoops at home, so this will be a big step forward in their training during the shutdown.
Only development coaches and staff will be allowed in the facility, and those present must wear a mask at all times except while working out.
Martins told the task force that the facility be cleaned and sanitized each night to prepare for a new set of players the next day.
“That’s our Phase I,” he said. warehouse.”
Orangewood opened the season with five home runs in 25 bat-bats in a 16-0 rout of Florida Air Academy that went only five innings due to the mercy rule.
Kunkel said the Rams stayed with their aggressive approach in the state tournament.
Orangewood managed just three hits in its semifinal but scratched out a 5-4 win vs. Brooks-Debartolo of Tampa. In the final the Rams faced highly-regarded Tallahassee North
As far as how the NBA proceeds, Martins said the league continues to rely on health officials and experts and government leaders for guidance.
“Similar to what we’re doing here on this committee in the county and what our local areas are doing, we’re following the data. And the data is going to drive when we get to Phase II,” he said.
The next phase will look more like a training camp scenario, with additional coaches and staff allowed in the facility and the hold lifted on team activities and workouts.
“In the meantime, our
Florida Christian lefthander Carson Sands, who pitched a complete game four-hitter in an 8-4 victory.
“We ran into good pitching that kept us at bay,” Kunkel said.
Kunkel parted ways with Orangewood after the record-setting season and later coached at Calvary Christian of Fort Lauderdale to a 2016 state championship. That Calvary team hit 20 home runs.
In the 2019 season, Kunkel’s last at Calvary, his team led all FHSAA member schools with 29 home runs in 30 games played.
“That’s a ton of home runs by today’s standard,” Kunkel said. “I don’t think anybody’s been close to 40 since 2011.” task force at the league is studying how do we get back to playing basketball again? And again, following the data, looking at every possible model,” he said.
Those possibilities include playing at home arenas without fans or bringing teams to one or two locations.
Reports have indicated that the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World and MGM Resorts properties in Las Vegas are two venues that have been discussed by the league.