Exclusive Interview
                                                       Ryan Lavarnway

                                  By: Joshua Fischman

 

June 14, 2008 - Interview with Ryan Lavarnway

You can call him "Yale's All-Time Home Run King" or "the 2007 NCAA Division I Batting Champ". You can also call him the sixth round draft choice of the Boston Red Sox.

Or you might just try his birth name: Ryan Lavarnway.

It's all semantics. Just don't call Lavarnway "the Day 1 Mr. Irrelevant" because nothing is irrelevant about the last man to be selected on Day 1 of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft.

Lavarnway is a student-athlete from Yale University who can hit the long ball while also batting for average. Fellow Yale Bulldog Theo Epstein (a personnel genius as the current general manager for the Red Sox) seems to have scored big again on draft day with Ryan. Lavarnway, a catcher, figures to be a solid prospect for the defending champs.

But now the question becomes: what decision will be made regarding this young prospect's future? Will the junior Lavarnway return to Yale to earn his degree and finish his college baseball career? Or will he sign with the Red Sox and make his boyhood dream come true?

I had the opportunity to interview Ryan for a peek into the inner-workings of the brain of a scholar-athlete.

Joshua Fischman: Ryan, before I begin the interview, I want to congratulate you on being drafted by the Red Sox.

JF: First, please discuss what it meant for you to be such an integral part of the city champion El Camino Real team in 2005 (El Camino was named the California High School team of the year). What characterized that team and the program as a whole (having turned out many successful baseball players, such as Shaun Kort, Eric Pettis, Tyler Kolodny, and, even further back, Conor Jackson)?

Ryan Lavarnway: When playing for El Camino, excellence was expected. My family moved into the district so I would be able to play there. The program has a winning tradition. The coaches would settle for nothing less than your best. We all knew the kind of talent we had. Every day we talked about winning at Dodger Stadium (where the championship was held). That was a special group of players. We worked together during games and always put the work in during practice to acheive our common goal.

Most of the players had played together for years. Tyler and I had played together since age 8, and Eric since age 10. Conor Jackson was a few years ahead, but even he had come back to my Little League and help coach me in high school. Other very talented players have gone through El Camino also: Chad Boyd, former 9th round pick for the A's (recently retired), Gabe Cohen (currently playing at UCLA on scholarship), and even Randy Wolf (current big leaguer and former All-Star). All these guys still occasionally come back to play catch, or just say "hi". It's great to be a part of that.

JF: What was it like playing in the CIF section, a league that is always among the most plentiful in talent in the nation? Who were the best players you played with, and against, in the league?

RL: To be honest, playing in the CIF section was all I knew. Until I got to Yale, I didn't think our league was much better than the competition. I realized that Chatworth, our rival, was the highest ranked team in the country my sophomore and junior years and that at one point [during] my senior year we were ranked third in the nation, but I never put too much thought into it. It wasn't really until I began speaking with the other players at Yale that the gravity of it hit me. A couple of the guys would say that they were the only player to play Division 1 out of their high school, or even their league. It was crazy to me when we had four to six [players in Division 1] every year. Playing against (Mike) Moustakas and (Matt) Dominguez was just another day at the park.

JF: Describe the academic career you have had thus far at Yale. What major are you pursuing, and how has Yale suited your academic interests?

RL: My parents always preached that academics should come first. That is why I had the grades to get into Yale, and that is what helped me survive once I got there. I am majoring in Philosophy. I have maintained a B average and the high level of expectations in the classroom drives me the same way high expectations drive me on the field. Being at Yale, surrounded by so many intelligent people, helps spark great conversations and classroom debates that have supplemented the education I would have received from books and professors alone.

JF: Talk about your baseball career at Yale. Please discuss the adjustments you made in your transition to catcher, and what you like and dislike about the position. Is there a certain catcher who you have modeled your defensive game after?

RL: I definitely matured a lot as a player at Yale. Beyond physically maturing, I gained a more serious mindset and approach to the game. Some of that came from discussions with my hitting coach, and some of it came along with the transition to catcher.

Playing catcher is something I've always wanted to do. I played catcher in Little League. Being part of every pitch, having a definite impact on the game defensively drives me. One of my favorite players, before he retired, was catcher Charles Johnson. He was an under-the-radar, humble, defensively-oriented player. I loved that.

JF: What does it mean to you to be Yale's all-time leading home run hitter? How did you suddenly become such a prolific power hitter?

RL: It is an honor to be in the record book with all the great players who have played in the Ivy League throughout history; these men helped develop the game from a fraternity activity to make it what it is today. My power started developing with my new, more mature approach. Realizing that I don't have to hit it 500 feet to get it out of the yard helped a lot. I stopped over-swinging and began staying within myself.

JF: Talk about how you felt in the days leading up to draft day, and then the feelings and thoughts you went through when you were drafted. What does it mean to be drafted by a team that has been so successful in developing prospects in recent years, and that has won championships at the major league level recently?

RL: Leading up to the draft, [getting drafted] was all that many of my friends and their parents wanted to talk about. I knew I would be drafted but I didn't know when or by which team. I tried to keep myself as occupied as I possibly could. When I got the call that the Red Sox had drafted me, I felt a range of emotions ranging from relief to excitement. I found myself thinking back to Little League and looking into my future playing days as a professional. The whole day of the draft is something I will never forget.

I couldn't be more excited for a specific team than I am with the Red Sox. I was quickly converted to a Red Sox fan when I entered school in the northeast. The success they've had, both on the field and with player development, makes me very excited to become part of the organization.

JF: What type of decision process will you go through in determining whether you will sign with the Red Sox or return to Yale for your final year of school, and baseball, in the Ivy League?

RL: Playing pro baseball has been my dream since I [can] remember. The decision will involve my weighing of the kid in me, who would play for free, and my more responsible adult side, deciding whether it is worth not finishing my education right now.

 

 

 

 

 

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