Adam Rice '24 Recruiting Profile

My name is Adam Rice and I play baseball at Waconia High School in Waconia, Minnesota. My goal is to play baseball in college so I train at Tier 1 Performance and train/play baseball for Nevers Larkin Baseball (NLB is a club team owned by Gene Larkin & Tom Nevers). Through NLB Winter Club Hitting Program, NLB Velocity and Command Throwing Program and Tier 1 Performance training (training program designed for athletes who play baseball) I have been able to increase the intensity of my training and make significant improvements to my game.

I plan on pursuing a sports management degree. My long-term goal is to be a General Manager of a Professional Organization, however coming out of college my desire is to start at an entry level position for a professional team in their front office. When not working to improve in baseball and academics, I am working part time at Jersey Mike's in Waconia. With any remaining spare time, I enjoy spending time and relaxing with my friends, hanging out, playing sports or playing video games together such as Warzone, Madden, and Fortnite.

Now that I have shared a little about myself as a person I will tell you who got me into baseball. Baseball has been part of my family since way before I was even born. Both my grandpas are huge Minnesota Twins fans and they are the ones that inspire me to compete at the highest level that I can play. Since T-Ball I have always enjoyed when they come to my games. We sometimes go out to eat afterwards and talk about the game, the Twins or other baseball topics. 

The last two winters I have done most of my training at NLB and Tier 1 and I plan to continue each winter going forward. I enjoy training with different players and learning from different coaches.  When I step into the NLB building every day, I enjoy the atmosphere and culture that they have built, which is important to me.  They have high expectations yet are approachable and open minded. I want to feel part of a baseball family when I join a team and that will be a main focus when looking at different universities/colleges.  This is important to me because through some of the events in my young baseball career I learned that it takes more than one person, it takes an entire team to win baseball games on a day to day basis and when people start going off in different directions it can cause a team to breakdown. When one person is struggling, the others need to be there to pick him up.

The next section includes player review feedback from my 2021 NLB Fall baseball coach.

Hitting

Adam is a hard worker, and I can tell is constantly trying to improve himself. As a hitter, when he gets his “A” swing off it can go a long way. He led the team in doubles this Fall. Anything on the middle to inside part of the plate is his sweet spot. He’s got quick hands and rarely will ever miss that pitch. What I’d like to see from him in the future is to continue working on his approach and ability to hit to all fields. He has no problem making contact (only 3 K’s all Fall), and I think it would eliminate the guessing if he looked for tendencies in pitchers in those counts. Adam led the team in walks so no doubt he does a great job of controlling the strike zone and putting himself in hitters counts. Now it’s just capitalizing on them.

Pitching

Adam mentioned to me that he is newer to pitching and I’m so glad he was able to get on the mound as often as he did this Fall. I think this will go a long way in his development. He got consistent playing time and threw multiple bullpens in practice where he worked on mechanics. Two goals we had for all pitchers this Fall were to 1) throw 65% first pitch strikes and 2) 65% strikes. The first two tournaments of the year Adam struggled with his command. During bullpens at practice, we emphasized him finding a consistent landing spot during his stride and keeping his glove side shoulder closed and going towards home plate. I felt he made solid adjustments and his last two outings were very encouraging. He walked less batters in more innings than the first two tournaments and his strike % improved almost 10%. Adam has a big frame and definitely has the ability to pitch at higher levels. I’d encourage him to keep working on this craft and it could benefit him to work with a pitching instructor during the offseason (Adam followed the coaches advice and joined the Velocity and Command Throwing Program at NLB). I think there’s more untapped potential with him.

Defense

Adam has no problem making the plays that are required of him. During games he often took charge when needed, which is good to see. He also has good baseball instinct. He knows where to be during cutoff plays from the outfield and correctly moves his body to get in a position to make plays on relays. Where I’ve noticed he can get into trouble are the plays that demand a quick first step moving to his left or right which will be crucial at first base in his future. Adam is a big kid but that doesn’t mean he can’t be quick!