Saturday, June 25, 2005

CATZ athlete Jason Twomley interview

Reprinted from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (June 26, 2005) Section: D5, SPORTS

By Brendan Hall
LOWELL - At one point or another, just about every kid in New England dreams of playing for their beloved Red Sox, but few are given a chance to fulfill that desire.

Such is the case with Jason Twomley, the former Fitchburg High and UMass standout who was drafted by the Sox with the 25th pick in the 24th round of this year’s Major League Baseball draft, and is now gracing the outfield grass of LeLacheur Park, home of Boston’s Class-A affiliate, the Lowell Spinners. “It’s pretty unreal,” Twomley said before a game last week. “Obviously, getting drafted by the Red Sox is any New England kid’s dream. I’m definitely living a dream that I’ve been trying to accomplish for so long. I’m just thinking about trying to enjoy it as much as I can.”

The third Minuteman to be drafted in the past two seasons (Frank Curreri and Matt Torra were both drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004 and ‘05, respectively), the humble, 6-foot-3, 205-pound left-handed hitter has wasted no time making his presence felt within the Spinners’ organization.

Entering the weekend, he was hitting .333 (5 for 12) with two doubles and four RBIs.

In his first professional at-bat—he was the Spinners’ cleanup hitter and designated hitter—on Tuesday, Twomley cranked a two-run single to center to gave Lowell a 3-0 lead over the Vermont Expos. He ended up 1 for 3 with a walk, twice getting hit by a pitch.

The next night against the Expos, Twomley made up for some fielding miscues in left with an RBI double, part of a three-run fifth inning, in a 4-2 win.

Not a bad first impression for a kid who just one month ago was hitting balls off the rooftops behind the Mullins Center.

”(When I first saw him), I liked his build, his approach to the game, his work habit,” Spinners player development consultant Dick Berardino said. “I like the way the ball comes off his bat. Last night (Wednesday) at batting practice, he hit the ball hard and with authority. He has power.”

It wasn’t always like that, though.

As a star quarterback at Fitchburg High, Twomley led the Red Raiders to their last perfect season in 2000, and consequently drew offers from Division 1-A and 1-AA schools such as Boston College, Maine, Northeastern and UMass. It just so happened that Twomley excelled at baseball as well, and would have to make a choice. He chose UMass—to shag flies, not call signals.

Going into his senior year, however, he had just six home runs, no more than two per year. But with his frame, power was something that could certainly be cultivated.

Enter Dave Jack, a personal trainer who runs the strength and conditioning program at Acton Indoor Sports and helps train many local football, basketball and baseball players. Jack put Twomley through a rigorous program that included a heavy load of conditioning, flexibility, strength, abdominal and core workouts—all essential elements to baseball.

 

“He put my body into the right type of body I need for this game,” Twomley said.

Bottom line: It paid off.

This spring, Twomley led the Minutemen with 16 homers, 98 total bases, a .487 on-base percentage, and a .700 slugging percentage.

As balls hit by Twomley began to go high over the fences at Earl Lorden Field, so too did the eyebrows of scouts, and on the second day of the draft, he got the call. Twomley, in turn, made a call to Jack, whom he credits for being where he is now.

“I told him when I called him up the day of the draft that I couldn’t thank him enough,” he said. “I give him just as much credit as I do myself. Obviously, if my body or my mind wasn’t tuned the way it needed to be tuned my senior year, if I hadn’t had the success that I had, I wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

Now, as he stands in front of the dugout at LeLacheur Park, he notices a more laid-back atmosphere, a change of tempo from the tight ship run by coach Mike Stone at UMass. It’s something he picked up on almost immediately.

“The first rule of thumb that they (Lowell manager Luis Alicea and coaches Walter Miranda and Alan Mauthe) have is not to refer to them as ‘coach,’ ‘mister,’ or ‘sir,’ Twomley said. “It kind of depicts the real relaxed, friendly environment that the Spinners have. They want us to refer to them as their first names or nicknames. We have a lot of fun with it. It makes it more enjoyable to play with a team that’s so relaxed.”

And as for rookie hazing, and the pranks that come with it?

“I’ve luckily been able to stay out of any embarrassing moments,” he said.

Knock on wood.