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Rangers’ offense has Insider edge
By COREY ROEPKEN
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After a successful sophomore season with the junior varsity, Hinsley said he thought he would do well at high school’s highest level. As the season has progressed, Hinsley has turned into one of Houston’s most feared hitters.
Clements enters this week’s Region III-5A championship series against Houston Memorial as one of the best offensive teams in Texas. The Rangers averaged 11.1 runs in 17 district games and have averaged nine runs in eight postseason games. Hinsley’s .529 average and 43 RBIs are a big reason why.
“I expected to do well,” he said. “But never anything like this.”
Hinsley is not the only Clements player seeing significant improvement at the plate. The Rangers’ hitters have great statistics from one through nine. Coach Israel De Los Santos credits the purchase of the Insider Bat as a major reason the Rangers are hitting so well.
The Insider Bat is a memory tool designed to remind hitters of the ideal swing path to the ball. It is bent in the middle after the grip and extends into a spatula-type surface on the end. Without the proper technique, it can make the hitter feel foolish.
“When we started with it I couldn’t do it,” Hinsley said. “We did it every day and that’s when I started hitting it. When I started doing that I got better in games.”
The Insider Bat emphasizes the palm up/palm down hand position before, during and after contact with the ball. It trains hitters not to roll his or her wrists or sweep the ball before or during contact. It teaches them to keep their hands inside the ball.
“If your hands are in the right spot the spatula part is flat and the ball will shoot right up the middle,” De Los Santos said. “If you roll over it you will completely miss.”
Cleanup hitter and senior first baseman John Stanford said he was the worst on the team when the players were introduced to it. It has paid off for him, too.
He hit one home run last year and had a .569 slugging percentage. This season he has eight home runs and a .767 slugging percentage. His improvement is similar to the rest of the returning starters. Last year’s Clements team was all or nothing. The Rangers had a lot of extra-base hits, but hit for a low average.
Cline Andrews is hitting .352 this year after hitting .286 in limited time last year. Matt Sugar is up from .267 to .337. Blake Johnson had four at-bats last year and is hitting .326 in a starting role this season. Samm Wiggins is up from .222 to .271.
Last year’s .316 batting average has risen to .342 this season. The Rangers had 56 extra base hits last season and have 98 so far this year.
“Last year we were a poor hitting team. That was our main problem,” Stanford said. “This year, if (the Insider Bat is) the reason, it’s been doing a great job.”
Clements likely will need all of its talented hitters to come through this week against Memorial. The Mustangs have been one of the top teams in Houston all season. The best-of-three series will be played Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Rice University’s Reckling Park. Thursday’s game is at 7 p.m. Friday’s game is at 8 p.m. If Saturday’s game is needed, it will be played at 4 p.m.
De Los Santos said Memorial is the type of team he would expect to see at this stage in the playoffs.
“They have pitching. They have hitting. They have a great coach,” he said. “They have older guys who are leaders and younger guys who have done well. They’re one of the best teams we’ve faced all year.”
