The field is my classroom: Meet Andrew Bellatti

July 13, 2010

Young but learning quickly would be one way to describe Princeton Rays' pitcher Andrew Bellatti. He will not even turn 19 years old until August 5 but is already well into his second year of professional baseball and currently occupies the number two spot in the starting rotation for the 2010 Princeton Rays. Appearing here is an interview of (and story about) Bellatti conducted recently by P-Rays' media intern Alex Knudson, a student at Northern Michigan University. This story first appeared in P-Rays' program/yearbooks sold as part of a previous home series. There is a new player profile issued with program/yearbooks for each new P-Rays' home series in 2010.

Andrew Bellatti gets to live a dream every day. Every day he walks into a professional baseball team's clubhouse, gets dressed for daily workouts, laces up his shoes, grabs his glove, and runs onto the diamond at H.P. Hunnicutt Field in his role as a pitcher for the 2010 Princeton Rays.

"I'm having a blast so far," said Bellatti. "Growing up a Rays fan it is pretty much a dream come true to be in a Rays uniform and be with their organization."

Bellatti, a 18 year-old right handed pitcher from La Mesa, California was drafted out of Steele Canyon High School near San Diego by the Rays in the 12th round of the 2009 draft. He turned down a baseball scholarship to Cal-State Fullerton to pursue a career with the Rays.

"Coming out of high school everyone said I should have gone to college, but I wasn't the best student," said Bellatti. "I wanted to be a pro ball player, and be in the bigs one day; this is what I want to be doing."

In his first season of professional baseball with the Gulf Coast League Rays in 2009 Bellatti compiled a 1-0 record in 12 games with a 3.38 ERA with 29 strike-outs in 29.1 innings pitched.

Though Bellatti might not be the best in a traditional classroom setting he is definitely a student of the game and is working hard to improve his skills.

"Personally I am working on pounding the zone with my fastball, which is what most of the guys in this league are doing," Bellatti said. "But I'm also trying to work off my fastball with my other pitches; my slider and my change-up."

So far it seems to be working. Over his first 17 innings pitched this season, Bellatti had 16 strike-outs and was among the top 20 in the Appalachian League in ERA with 3.18. However for Bellatti that is not good enough.

"My personal goal is to have a sub-2.0 ERA," Bellatti commented. When asked about his other goals for the season Bellatti elaborated, "I want to be able to progress through the season and not hit walls; really I just want to get better as the season goes on and move on to the next level."

As a kid growing up in the San Diego area, Andrew was naturally a Padres fan. Though he doesn't model his game after any one particular pitcher he likes to emulate the energy that former Padre and current White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy brings to each game. "I grew up watching him since I was 12," said Bellatti. "I saw the energy that he brought to every game he pitched and it really inspired me to do the same."

As for his current surroundings, Bellatti loves where he is at. "I think that Princeton is a great place," he explained. "The change in weather from Florida to here is nice, and really it reminds of San Diego a little bit. The atmosphere is great."

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