{"id":760,"date":"2014-03-21T19:57:17","date_gmt":"2014-03-21T19:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=760"},"modified":"2014-03-21T19:57:17","modified_gmt":"2014-03-21T19:57:17","slug":"pitcher-of-the-week-neu-talks-baseball-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2014\/03\/21\/pitcher-of-the-week-neu-talks-baseball-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitcher of the Week Neu talks baseball, future"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rachel West<\/strong> – Managing Editor<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The name \u201cKyle Neu\u201d in Centre\u2019s baseball program has almost become synonymous with the term \u201cPitcher of the Week.\u201d<\/p>\n

It might seem like a joke, but it\u2019s not: senior pitcher Neu has won conference Pitcher of the Week multiple times through two different conferences (Centre\u2019s former conference of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) and their current conference of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA)) in his four years at Centre.<\/p>\n

Neu is a mainstay of the baseball program; last year, he tied the school record for most complete games in a season and is on track to bring down some more records for his final season.<\/p>\n

His most recent SAA Pitcher of the Week award from Feb. 25 came on the heels of a week that included his first complete game of the season and thirteen innings in which he allowed no earned runs.<\/p>\n

Despite his own personal successes, everything Neu says and does continues to be focused on the team and the their efforts rather than on his individual work.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s seen four teams of varying skill level come and go and worked to find his own place on the team. For him, the most important change of the team culture and atmosphere during his time at Centre is the camaraderie that has developed.<\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/a>
Senior pitcher Kyle Neu fires a strike to home plate in action earlier in the season. The Colonels defeated Mt. St. Joseph on Wednesday 12-3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDuring my time the team has grown much closer together. We like being around each other and that\u2019s something that will also pay off in the long run,\u201d Neu said. \u201cHard work doesn\u2019t seem like work at all, just fun with the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the current team in particular, Neu believes in the goals that the team has set for themselves, which he calls goals about \u201cthe process of playing the game, rather than the outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

These goals include ideas about the way players act both on and off the baseball diamond: \u201clive a full day, everyday;\u201d \u201cwork to dominate on and off the field;\u201d \u201chold yourself and everyone else accountable;\u201d \u201cbe the inspiration and the motivation;\u201d \u201cpush beyond comfort;\u201d and \u201chave fun and LOVE playing baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing forward with the season our last goal of \u2018have fun and love playing baseball\u2019 really resonates with me,\u201d Neu said. \u201cThis could be my last season of organized baseball where it really matters and I\u2019m going to try to have the most fun I can as well as love every second of it regardless of the results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Neu isn\u2019t forgetting about the outcomes of the games, and he has strong hopes for the team and their prospects this season. \u201cI would like to see more wins coming our way,\u201d Neu said.<\/p>\n

Yet he remains focused on the importance of the way the team moves forward regardless of the win-loss record. \u201cWhat I\u2019d really like to see is for us to compete in every one of our games going forward and be able to look back and say, \u2018That was fun. I\u2019m exhausted. Let\u2019s do it again tomorrow.\u2019 No matter what the score is I\u2019d like to see an attitude like that come to the forefront because win or lose that is a fun way to play baseball and is quite rewarding regardless of the result,\u201d Neu said.<\/p>\n

Neu admitted that this year\u2019s team is very young, but he still thinks the team has good odds for this season and for future seasons. \u201cIt\u2019s of course hard to talk about development with such a young team,\u201d Neu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are places I could see the team in a few years if the guys who are currently playing keep working hard to get better. There are a lot of young guys (freshmen and sophomores) who are getting to play a lot and that experience will pay dividends down the road and this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about his own personal training programs, Neu attributed his training program to former Centre baseball player Joe Nash, class of 2013, who he says helped him create his training style.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got me into the velocity program that so much of the team is on now. I owe a lot of my success and ability to go deep into games to this program,\u201d Neu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did Joe introduce me to the velocity program, but he showed me a weight program he was doing that has also contributed greatly to my strength. It was a lot of hard work and the results have been very rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neu added that he also trains hard so that when he is on the field, he can get ahead of the batters. \u201cI know what kind of pitcher I am and I cannot go out there and blow the ball by people,\u201d Neu said. \u201cTo be successful I have to get ahead in counts and utilize my off-speed pitches.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability to throw these pitches for strikes in any count has been a huge reason for some of my recent success. No batter likes to get a 2-1 changeup or slider, but often they swing anyways thinking it is a fastball until it\u2019s too late. When I can get weak groundouts even when I\u2019m behind in the count, that\u2019s when I have everything working,\u201d Neu said.<\/p>\n

While Neu\u2019s accomplishments on the baseball diamond are more than impressive, he is also recognized for his accomplishments off the field.<\/p>\n

Neu is a double major in International Studies and Financial Economics, and he has been awarded the SAA Academic All-Conference Award each year for his high academic achievement.<\/p>\n

In addition to his academic work and athletic achievements, Neu has also interned at the Cincinnati Zoo, worked at Phillips Edison & Company as a part of their Non-traded Real Estate Investment Trust, and studied abroad in both Strasbourg and Thailand.<\/p>\n

Neu admitted that it takes a lot of work to juggle academic and athletic commitments, but he thinks that he was well prepared upon entering Centre for the challenge that awaited him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played three sports throughout the entirety of my high school career and I learned how to manage my time very well with that schedule,\u201d Neu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI simply applied what had worked in high school to Centre with the simple caveat that I had to start some assignments earlier than I would have in high school. There was not much of an adjustment from playing three sports to playing one year round.\u201d<\/p>\n

When looking ahead at his own future now that he is a senior, Neu is making sure to keep his options open. \u201cI currently plan to enter the workforce and get a master\u2019s degree in a few years in either business administration, finance, or health administration or get a MBA while working,\u201d Neu said. \u201cThat\u2019s the plan right now, but we\u2019ll see what happens with upcoming opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about whether he would like to continue with his baseball career in the future, Neu is optimistic but practical about the possibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to keep the option to continue my baseball career open, but I have to plan like that won\u2019t happen; otherwise, I will have no other options if something doesn\u2019t pan out,\u201d Neu said. \u201cIf I am able to continue with baseball, that would be great, but I have to prepare as if it won\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Neu\u2019s work ethic and accomplishments, it seems a sure bet that whether he becomes an all-star pitcher or a finance minister, he\u2019ll knock it out of the park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rachel West – Managing Editor The name \u201cKyle Neu\u201d in Centre\u2019s baseball program has almost become synonymous with the term \u201cPitcher of the Week.\u201d It might seem like a joke, but it\u2019s not: senior pitcher Neu has won conference Pitcher of the Week multiple times through two different conferences (Centre\u2019s former conference of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}