Kelly's ready for an encore

NEWPORT, R.I. - One award Ryan Kelly (Waldwick, N.J.) will not be eligible for this season is Comeback Player of the Year. Before starting his second year as an outfielder with the Salve Regina University baseball team, the Waldwick, N.J., native is running out of room in his trophy case.

Kelly, the 2013 Commonwealth Coast Conference Rookie of the Year, has been tabbed as an NCAA Division III Top 10 Prospect by perfectgame.org.

His inclusion on this exclusive list recognizes Kelly's significant accomplishments in just one season with the Seahawks, and then additional work in the off-season. Kelly followed up his impressive freshman year on the Salve Regina baseball team with an equally impressive summer as part of the Futures League and was recognized as a Futures League Top 10 Prospect.

Playing for the Torrington (Conn.) Titans last summer, the outfielder hit .326 with 26 hits, nine for extra bases. Kelly stole 11 bases in just 23 games for the Titans, and collected hits in all but five games.

Perfectgame.org ranks the top 30 prospects from each collegiate summer baseball league and Kelly landed 10th on the Futures Collegiate Baseball League of New England list. Six of the nine players ahead of Kelly on the list are Division I players.

A first team all-league outfielder as a freshman, he hit .338 for the Seahawks with three home runs, and was a perfect 29-for-29 stealing bases. Kelly led Salve Regina with 56 runs scored, the third-best single-season total behind 58 (in 2005) and 61 (in 2004), both marks set by his current head coach, Eric Cirella.

With experience replicating success, the first-year head coach has advice for Kelly avoiding the sophomore slump.

"He still has some work to do to be a complete player in all facets of the game," says Cirella. "What he did last season and last summer (in the Futures Collegiate League) was impressive, but he knows he can still improve. His focus needs to be on playing one game at a time and trying to get better and throw the stats out the window. If he can do that and help us win games, his numbers at the end of the season will be equally impressive."

Kelly credits his high school coach, Jim Burt Jr., with having the biggest influence on him. Burt, the son of former New York Giants nose tackle Jim Burt, was an all-state football and baseball player during his scholastic days at Bergen Catholic, graduating in 1999. Burt went on to earn All-American honors for the University of Miami baseball team. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the 19th round in 2004. His Crusader baseball teams produced a 67-43 record (.609) during his four years as Kelly's coach at Bergen Catholic.

"He (Coach Burt) instilled in me a great work ethic," says Kelly. "Don't let anything bother me, prove people wrong. If people tell you you can't do certain things, it shouldn't bother you. He made me self-motivated."

Kelly wasn't bothered by the 18 times he was hit by a pitch last season, a Salve Regina record.

"I stand on the plate and take pride in wearing pitches," says Kelly, who knows the umpires now have the discretion to not award first base to any player not making an effort to get out of the way of an errant pitch. "It'll be interesting to see if I get away with it; if not I'll get another crack at swinging the bat."

Cirella, who found his way to first base via the walk more often than any other Salve Regina player, also has Kelly preparing for a season without the hit-by-pitch option.

Says Kelly of the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year© (Cirella): "Attention to detail … (he has us) taking every swing like it's game-like. You have to play pitch by pitch; you have to have a short memory because you can one bad at-bat, but you can't carry that into the next at-bat if you come to the plate in the bottom of the ninth down by one run with two outs. You can't let anything in the past affect your future at-bats."

Even with all the individual accolades, Kelly's number one goal is team-oriented. "A conference championship is how I measure success. I could have a horrible season, but if we won the championship that would be the ultimate goal; the best thing ever, especially to send the seniors out on top."

Kelly wouldn't mind a run at the Comeback Player of the Year accolade in 2015 if it were as a member of the defending Commonwealth Coast Conference champion Salve Regina baseball team. The Seahawks begin their quest for the title with first game of the 2014 season in Fort Myers, Fla., against Mitchell College on Saturday, March 8.