If you are a member of the press and wish to contact Rijo Athletics, please call Jose' Rijo-Berger at (425) 486-4878 or e-mail info@rijoathletics.com.
IT’S OPENING DAY FOR RIJO ATHLETICS AND PROBATTER SPORTS
ProBatter Baseball Pitching Systems Give Greater Seattle Ballplayers the Major League Treatment
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Milford, CT (February 17, 2010) – Baseball players in the Eastside have good reason to celebrate with the acquisition of breakthrough ProBatter pitching simulators at the Rijo Athletics training facility in Woodinville. Dedicated to teaching and developing ballplayers of every age and performance level, the complex is the premiere facility of its kind in the region.
Used by major league teams including the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds, the ProBatter system combines the latest video and computer technology to almost perfectly duplicate the experience of facing live pitching. Offering a jaw-dropping simulation of reality, the unit can sharpen hitting skills better than any other pitching machine available.
Rijo Athletics caters to all ballplayers in Greater Seattle and beyond, providing each student with sound fundamentals and a thorough understanding of the game. To that end, the complex is committed to offering the finest facilities and staff available anywhere, giving each player every advantage possible to help them improve and excel.
“The best way for a hitter to improve is to face live pitching and the ProBatter system puts them in an extremely realistic setting, very nearly like game conditions,” said Jose Rijo Berger, owner of Rijo Athletics and himself a former player in the New York Mets organization. “We’re all about developing athletes at every level, whether its Little League or professional, and helping them reach their potential. ProBatter is the best training tool I’ve ever seen and really helps the learning curve by giving hitters more live at-bats.”
The ProBatter system allows a hitter to face the life-sized image of a real pitcher winding up (or throwing from a stretch) and delivering a pitch on a video screen. An actual baseball is fired through a small hole in the screen by a computer-controlled pitching module to astonishingly realistic effect.
A variety of ProBatter models are available. The top-end PX2 can serve-up any pitch that a human pitcher can -- fastballs, sinkers, cutters, curves, sliders, change-ups, etc. -- at speeds up to 100 mph. Pitch velocity can be varied in increments of two mph and thrown to predetermined locations inside and outside the strike zone with pinpoint accuracy.
In addition to major league clubs that have installed ProBatter units, Division I college teams, including Michigan, Ohio State, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Connecticut, Maine, Navy, Ohio, Old Dominion and Nevada also use ProBatter systems in their training regimen.
Established in 1999, Rijo Athletics is the premiere athlete training complex in the Pacific Northwest, offering every conceivable amenity for ballplayers looking to improve their game. It is the only facility in the region offering full-featured indoor and outdoor training areas. Every conceivable amenity is provided for ballplayers seeking to achieve maximum performance.
A full-sized outdoor playing field is complemented by a 9,000-square-foot indoor complex furnished with artifical turf. The complex offers hitting tunnels dedicated to its crown jewels -- two ProBatter pitching simulators -- and features four additional practice tunnels configurable for hitting, pitching and catching.
Other highlights include a full weight room, pro shop and lounge. Flat screen televisions and wireless Internet access are available to patrons throughout the facility.
Players ranging from age five to adult pro level can also avail themselves of expert personal training with a staff consisting entirely of former collegiate and professional baseball and softball players. The results speak for themselves. An astounding 40 baseball players who trained at Rijo Athletics under the guidance of its instructors have been drafted by major league clubs in the past ten years.
Besides baseball and softball training, Rijo Athletics also offers a full array of training for athletes of all sports. The complex is dedicated to maximizing the potential of individuals and provides every component necessary to help them achieve their goals.
CONGRATULATIONS CASEY FITHIAN!
Casey Fithian to play on first 16U All-American team
Woodinville, WA (March 9, 2010)
By Christopher Huber
It’s not often a 16-year-old gets to spend his summer playing baseball tournaments across the country for a Major League Baseball manager. But Eastlake sophomore Casey Fithian gets to this June and July.
The catcher from Sammamish recently was named to the 16U Bobby Valentine All-American Team, according to the All-American Foundation. In its first year, the team is comprised of 21 of the country’s most elite 16-year-olds. He earned a spot on the select roster after a weekend of tryouts Jan. 30 and 31 in Tucson, Ariz.
“I’m both honored and humbled being selected amongst the best 16U baseball players in the country,” Casey said in an e-mail. “There was some stiff competition in Tucson.”
The foundation has yet to announce the 2010 roster, but Casey will be among those mentioned on ESPN in late March to early April, said foundation assistant Joe Beninati. Founded in 2009, the All-American Athletic Foundation created the 16U Bobby Valentine All-American Team to give youth around the country opportunities to further develop their passion, skill and devotion to baseball, according to the organization’s Web site. It also gives them an opportunity to work with seasoned professionals like Valentine, former manager of the New York Mets and gain exposure necessary to make it to the next level.
“I really wanna see what it’s like to play rookie ball,” Casey said. The road to making a national youth baseball team began when Fithian was about four. Like most boys, he played T-ball and Little League, but by age nine, Casey found the spark. He continued in Little League but left a year early and began playing select ball and practicing for most of the year. He could pitch harder than most boys his age, but ended up finding his niche behind the plate at age 13, as a catcher. “I like baseball because most people don’t think it’s an active sport,” Casey said. “You really get a lot of chances. You have nine chances to get out and the rest of the field is yours.”
Since finding his passion, Casey has worked long and hard to develop his leadership and overall strength and conditioning, he said. He’s trained year-round for the past seven years, and in elementary school, Casey played catch with his dad every day, Casey said. He currently trains three to four days a week at Rijo Athletics in Woodinville, he said. “It’s like a second home,” he said. Former pro ball player Jose Rijo-Berger runs the facility and said, of the thousands of youth he’s instructed, Casey is one of the top all-around athletes. “He understands the game,” Rijo-Berger said. “The intangibles are sometimes hard to teach, he knows them.” Being a leader behind the plate is one of those intangibles. And it shows, said his father, Scott Fithian. Casey is one of the only players he knows that looks the umpire in the eye and shakes his hand before each game, Scott said. He said Casey didn’t start out as a great athlete — Casey will be the first to admit it, too — but his dedication and focus has paid off. Rijo-Berger said playing with the national 16U team will give Casey a taste of the real world of baseball.
“It’s going to open up his eyes to outside the Northwest here,” he said. “He’s a great kid and a hard worker and the sky is the limit.”
Casey chose baseball on his own, Scott said. As parents, Scott and Barbara Fithian supported their children in their respective activities, as long as they committed fully and gave it their all.
“We never pushed him,” Scott said. But, Scott said, he still isn’t sure where Casey got his devoted love for baseball. It didn’t come from him, he said. When he played baseball as a child, no one ever trained for it.
“It boils down to the love of the game and, again, I don’t know where it came from,” Scott said.
Casey is looking forward to playing for the Wolves this season, too.
“He shows leadership in the sophomore class and will be a competitive force on the team,” said Eastlake baseball coach Skip Hulet, a day after tryouts. Casey still has things to work on. Speed is not his forte, he said. “I still have to work on that today,” he said. He said he thinks about the challenges of starting for a team like the All-American team, but is looking forward to the experience. “You really have to work 100 percent all the time,” he said. “Baseball humbles you really quickly.”
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.