His Game Isn’t Meant to Be a Walk in the Park : Estancia’s Conrad Colby Takes His Swings Whenever He Can Get Them

Conrad Colby of Estancia High School steps into the batter’s box and rests the bat on his shoulder.

Ball one .

Saddleback catcher Chris Silva is in a crouch, and pitcher Mike Arroyos is throwing at full velocity. But the pitch isn’t even close.

Ball two .

Two innings earlier, Colby had hit a belt-high fastball for a solo home run to tie the score, 2-2.

Ball three .

Colby resigns himself to the fact that he won’t get anything good to hit.

Ball four .

Colby drops his bat and trots to first base. Another at-bat without anything decent to hit.

It’s Colby’s 13th walk of the season, 7 of which have been intentional. And that’s not to mention the numerous other at-bats in which Colby has been so frustrated that he has hit pitches out of the strike zone.

It seems strange that a player who is not being charted by professional scouts or courted by college recruiters is shown so much respect. This is a player who figures to play for a community college next season.

“I think a lot of college people are underestimating Conrad, and he’s the type of guy that will put it back in their face,� Tustin Coach Vince Brown said. “He has the ability to beat you any time he steps to the plate.�

This season, Colby is hitting .523 with 3 home runs, 13 doubles and 33 runs batted in. He has 28 career doubles, just 2 shy of the Southern Section record held by Brian Greer of Sonora (1974-77).

It may be a form of respect, but Colby doesn’t like having the bat taken out of his hands.

“Earlier in the season, I would get really frustrated when they would walk me. I wanted to hit,� said Colby, who plays first base and also pitches. “But I’ve come to accept it. I guess it’s really a compliment.�

Colby, who is 5-feet 11-inches tall and weighs 185 pounds, could always hit--even in Little League, he was one of the top hitters. But he refuses to rely on raw talent.

Every chance he gets, Colby will swing a bat. At Estancia, Orange Coast College or any other place that has a batting cage.

“I have a saying: If all the hitting you’re doing is here at school, then you’re not getting enough hitting in,� Estancia Coach Ken Millard said. “Conrad is one of those guys that is the first person here (at practice) and the last to leave. And usually when he does leave, he goes someplace else to hit.�

Said Colby: “Wherever there’s someone to throw to me, I’ll go there and hit.�

Colby hit .300 as a sophomore on the Estancia varsity and .385 as a junior. Still, he wasn’t satisfied.

So during the summer he worked with Steve Kraiss, a former Estancia assistant coach, to continue refining his swing.

But what helped his hitting even further was his taking the mound last summer. Estancia had only one pitcher returning for the ’88 season, and Eagle coaches persuaded Colby to give pitching a try.

“It’s turned out to really help me at the plate,� said Colby, who is 5-3 this season. “I learned how other pitchers would work me as a hitter, throwing me inside to set up another pitch. I was able to start guessing on pitches at the plate.�

Still, converting to pitching had its rough moments. During a summer league game, he gave up three home runs to Greg Pirkl of Los Alamitos. The next time Estancia played Los Alamitos, Paul Troxel, Estancia assistant coach, wanted Colby to walk Pirkl intentionally.

“He didn’t want to do it,� Troxel said. “I had to go out and tell him it was something that had to be done, and that people may even do it to him the next season.�

Little did they know.

When Sea View League play started, Colby noticed that he was being pitched to rather delicately.

Brown was so concerned with Colby that earlier this season he had his pitcher walk him intentionally with runners on first and third.

“He’s just too dangerous of a hitter,� Brown said. “He almost killed my first baseman with a line drive.

“There are times when Colby is coming up that you almost hope there’s a runner on second so you won’t look like an idiot if you walk him intentionally. But if you have a base to put him on, it’s better than pitching to him. Especially with runners in scoring position.�

Even then, there’s no guarantee that that will work.

In a game earlier this season, Saddleback tried to walk him, but Colby refused the free pass.

“They had a runner on second with Colby up and I told our pitcher to put him on,� Saddleback Coach Bob Mangram said. “Well, he throws two pitches outside, but on the third, Conrad reaches out and pokes it down the left-field line for a double. I ask my catcher why they threw him a good pitch and he told me it was at least a foot outside.�

Troxel said: “Probably one-third of Conrad’s hits have been on pitches that were out of the strike zone.�

But even with the respect and the hits, Colby can’t seem to get any attention. The only schools vying for his services are Orange Coast, Golden West and Rancho Santiago.

“If Arizona State came to me tomorrow and said they wanted me, all expenses paid, I would jump at it,� Colby said. “But at the same time, there’s nothing wrong with the community college teams in the area. They all have great programs.�