MaxPreps Florida Team of the Week: Key West baseball

Something has clearly changed.

The Key West (Fla.) baseball program had produced just one winning season since 2007, and the last two seasons the Conchs were a combined 11-24.

But with new coach Ralph Henriquez, a familiar face on campus, Key West is a resounding 24-3-1 and ranked 19th in the state according to the MaxPreps Computer Rankings.

For their remarkable turnaround, the Conchs are the MaxPreps Florida Team of the Week, presented by the Florida National Guard.

It's not like Key West doesn't have a rich baseball tradition. It's won 11 state titles, the last one coming in 2004-05 when Henriquez, who was a coach with the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees, last coached the team.

Key West also won five titles in the 1950s, one in the 60s, one in the 80s and three in the 90s.

"We have rebuilt the program to try to bring back the rich tradition that Key West has," said Henriquez. "We started off the season with training and preparing the kids in order to work on rebuilding everything. I wanted to hold the kids to higher standards and make sure they are fundamentally sound.

"As a coach, I want to prepare these guys for that next level, not just to be high school athletes. Our coaching staff wanted to create an environment that focused on player development and winning."

This season the Conchs have used a potent offense, scoring 225 runs while hitting .357 as a team.

They've whacked 14 home runs, four from senior co-captain Steven Wells (.459 average, 45 hits, 13 doubles and 36 runs). He leads the team in every one of those categories.

"Steven is a kid who has improved so much this season," said Henriquez. "He has learned how to have a serious work ethic and work really hard. That talent has always been there, but he just needed to believe in himself and what he has always been capable of doing."

Sophomore Greg Veliz (.449, 20 doubles, 28 RBI), Hugo Valdes (.409, 24 runs, 36 hits, 33 RBIs and eight doubles) and Darren Miller (.442, 23 hits, 19 RBIs) all have three home runs.

The team doesn't run often with 21 steals, but its only been caught stealing once.

The pitching is led by junior Jay Feathers (5-0, 3.07 ERA), sophomore Veliz (7-0, 0.95 ERA), Brandon Presley (5-2, 1.64 ERA) and Wells (3-0, 0.22 ERA).

Veliz has struck out 71 in 51 innings.

"The first thing I focused on was implementing a new pitching system," said Henriquez. "It's a piggy-back system that always has two pitchers a game, where one pitches 5 innings with about 70 pitches and then they're done for the game. I also developed pitchers who had never pitched before to come in and pitch two innings, like Steven Wells. This season, Steven has improved consistently. He's throwing harder, and he understands pitching more.

"Cutting down on the innings that they've thrown allows them to not be tired or worn out so that come playoffs, if needed they can pitch more innings. ... Our pitching coach, Randy Sterling has been great working with our pitchers. He coached with me during the 2005 season as well. It is definitely a bonus for the kids to have Randy around them.

Key West has gone 10 straight games without a loss (nine wins, one tie), including a 4-3 win over Gulliver Prep last Thursday.

Wells was picked as the Player of the Game in that one with two runs scored and two hits, including a double. He also pitched six innings and struck out 13 to pick up the victory.

"The environment at Key West baseball games is very unique and different," said Henriquez. "Especially at our home games, the atmosphere is great with big crowds, entertainment and concessions. We get the opportunity to play in front of 700-800 fans with a a very loud crowd. Coaches from other areas love to bring their teams down to play in the Key West area because its a great way to prepare for playoffs and get their players comfortable in that kind of environment.

"It is a very cool being a part of that and having those kinds of games for high school players to get to experience."

Key West opens the 4A state playoffs Thursday at home against St. Brendan (Miami) (5-12). Presley, the team's 6-foot-6 ace lefty will likely be a key member of Key West's playoff run.

"It has been very enjoyable as a coach to see where these kids started at the beginning of the year, to where they're at now," said Henriquez. "That was great (Presley) got the no-hitter and we also have other young players (Veliz, Feathers) who have contributed strong pitching for us this year.

"We wanted our program to be a combination of player development and winning because at the next level it is just about winning, so it has been our job to give these players all the tools in order to improve as individual players. Here we want to make sure they are ready for the next level, so we treat them like adults, not high school kids. This process was new to them, but they bought into it, have worked hard to improve, and the winning will take care of itself."

MaxPreps editorial assistant Kirstin Beal contributed to this report.

Do you know a team that deserves consideration for Florida Team of the Week? Email us with your nominations at FLteamoftheweek@maxpreps.com.