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Touching all the bases
By KEITH NIEBUHR
© St. Petersburg Times, Joey Budnick was on the little field last year. Bases were separated by 60 feet, the mound and home plate by 46 feet. It was the same sized field he had played on for years. Today, the 12-year-old Budnick is on the big field. Basepaths are 90 feet long, the mound is 60 feet, 6 inches from the plate and the outfield is about twice as big as before. Welcome to the AAU 13-and-under division. "It's a big change, but I'm getting used to it," Budnick said. Budnick is among about 36 local 13-and-under players in the county, which has three teams playing this fall -- the Citrus Cyclones (Inverness), Citrus County Devil Rays (Crystal River) and Team Florida (Beverly Hills). The division consists of seventh- and eighth-graders and is seen as the stopping point between youth and high school baseball. "It's really getting them ready for high school," said Nick Budnick, Joey's father and a coach for the Cyclones. "Players who play Little League have been playing on the smaller field for as long as they've been playing baseball." The changes are so dramatic that many struggle with the transition. "It's a huge adjustment," said Jerry Mann, a Cyclones coach. "But one difference between this and (the younger divisions) is that out there you have kids who don't want to play but are playing because their parents want them to be there. "At this level, all the kids are focused on playing ball. Most of these kids play year-round. That's a huge difference. It's a higher level of ball." AAU was started locally in 1999 by Rob Willis. He is president of the Devil Rays program, which has 9-and-under, 11-and-under, 12-and-under, 13-and-under and 14-and-under divisions. The Cyclones and Team Florida were formed this year. Each squad has players from various parts of the county. "Our original focus was on the entire base in Citrus County," Willis said. "We wanted more competitive year-round baseball. AAU is very beneficial (to the players). We developed AAU to be a feeder system to the high schools." When Brian Donovan was an assistant coach at Lecanto a few years ago, he noticed that many first-year players -- fresh from youth baseball -- were unprepared to play at the prep level. Donovan, now in his first year as the Panthers' head coach, is among those who have gotten involved with AAU. He and Willis work together to implement training techniques designed to ready players for high school. "Rob asked if I would be interested in helping his team, and really, it has players from all over the county," Donovan said. "It's not just kids from Lecanto. My goal is for as many kids to play baseball as possible. "Many (youth coaches) teach kids the wrong things. I wanted to see kids coming in (to high school) who know how to bunt, how to throw and hit. You can't build a house without a foundation." A stronger foundation could result in stronger prep teams down the road. "The area has needed this for a long time," Mann said. "It helps mold kids for high school ball and gives the high schools better talent."
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