ANTHEM, Ariz. – The West Linn (Ore.) High School Lions have become annual attendees at the Perfect Game-sponsored Coach Bob National Invitational Tournament (CBNIT) and they’ve always brought very competitive teams.
In fact, the state of Oregon is always very well represented and very competitive at the event. This year there are 23 schools from the Beaver State – including West Linn – in attendance, competing in one of CBNIT’s seven divisions. The Lions began play Monday morning in the All-Star Division, with Oregon high schools Canby, Lincoln and Sandy joining West Linn in that eight-team field.
They arrived in the desert with a 1-1 record and high hopes of improving to 2-1 when they sent ace right-hander Karsen Lindell to the mound to face Rock Canyon (Colo.) High School in a tournament opener on one of the two beautifully kept fields at Boulder Creek High School.
But victory didn’t arrive for the Lions on this day, as Rock Canyon struck early and then held on for the win, leaving West Linn high and dry under the warm desert sun.
“It’s still real early-on in the season,” a somewhat subdued Lindell said after the game. “I think we’ll come together later on and I think we’ll be pretty good in the (Oregon Schools Activities Association) playoffs, and we’ll have a good run before it’s over with. We have some experience and we’re sort of coming together now.”
Lindell, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound right-hander who has signed with the University of Washington and who PG ranks at the No. 307 top prospect nationally (No. 2 in Oregon) in the 2015 class, was really pretty good in what was his second start of the Lions’ young season. PG national scouting director Jheremy Brown was in attendance for the outing and submitted this report:
“(Lindell has a) good-looking frame that's only going to get stronger and is already showing quality stuff on the mound. Worked consistently at 88-92 mph, touching 93 once while showing a feel for a full arsenal that included a curveball, slider and changeup. Lindell was able to miss bats with his fastball due to his ability to both spot it down in the zone and the late life he generates on the pitch.”
In his previous start back in West Linn on March 18, Lindell threw five hitless, scoreless innings in a 7-0 victory over Keiser McNary High School. West Linn’s website noted that there were about 20 scouts in attendance at that outing and it looked like there might have been at least that many watching Lindell pitch Monday at Boulder Creek HS.
“You can always get better and you just have to keep on going,” he said Monday. “I’m not going to stop until someone tells me not to play anymore and I’m always going to try to get better. I just try to get after it, go right in there and try to dominate as best as I can.”
As noted in Brown’s report, Lindell throws a fastball along with a slider, curveball and changeup; he feels most comfortable throwing the slider of his three off-speed offerings. He has always been a baseball guy and dropped the pursuit of other sports once he reached high school.
“I just love it; I grew up around it,” the native of Washington state said. “As a kid (his family) had season tickets to the Mariners and it was just something that I grew up with.”
He credits his father, Jeff, and his older brother, Kramer, with fueling his passion for the game, and both were in attendance at Boulder Creek on Monday.
Kramer Lindell, a former West Linn player himself and a recent graduate of Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore, where he also played, just returned to the United States after spending the last six months playing semi-pro ball and coaching in a couple of leagues in Perth, Australia.
“I went mostly just to experience Australia and then play a little baseball, as well,” Kramer said. “I wanted to spread (the awareness) of the game down there because in West Australia they’re really trying to build up the game. I went down and shared my knowledge and coached some kids and played the game and had some fun with it.”
Although West Linn wasn’t able to leave with a victory on this day, the older brother seemed to appreciate having the opportunity to watch his younger brother do his work off the mound.
“It’s a good time coming out here and watching him play,” Kramer said. “I helped coach a lot of his teams, along with my dad, and we were always playing whiffle ball in the back yard, and things like that.”
If whiffle ball contributed in any way to the type of player Lindell has become, a lot of young boys must be playing a lot of the backyard game in West Linn. Many of the six seniors and six juniors on the Lions’ Coach Bob official roster played a year ago – six seniors were lost to graduation – on a team that finished 17-12 overall and in a three-way tie with Lake Oswego and Clackamas for the OSAA Class 6A Three Rivers Baseball League championship with 10-5 marks.
This roster is dotted with no fewer than five prospects that have signed with (in Lindell's case) or committed to NCAA Division I colleges.
Junior corner-infielder William Matthiessen (top-500 nationally/No. 5 Oregon, class of 2016) and sophomore outfielder/right-hander Tim Tawa (Nos. 186/1, 2017) have both committed to Stanford. Junior middle-infielder Brayden Pene and junior right-hander Daniel Ferrario are Oregon State commits.
All have been fairly active in PG events during the summer months, and Lindell has played on some pretty big stages throughout his career; he has participated in seven PG events. This is his third trip to Coach Bob, which makes him a seasoned veteran of the tournament.
“It’s such a great atmosphere with such nice weather – it’s a lot better than the Oregon weather,” he said of the experience. “It’s also a good opportunity to do some team bonding; it’s just a lot of fun.”
Lindell was named to the all-tournament team at the 2013 16u Perfect Game World Series in Glendale, Ariz., playing with the Oregon Diamond Jacks; he was at last year’s 17u PG World Series, also in Glendale, with the West Coast Mariners.
He also had the opportunity to pitch in front of hundreds of scouts at last year’s PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., in late October, playing with Team EvoShield. That star-studded roster included 17 other prospects that had committed to Division I schools, with programs like South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Florida State and Vanderbilt represented.
There were also three of Lindell’s fellow Oregonians on that team: 2015 right-hander Jacob Bennett from Tualatin High School (Oregon), 2015 catcher Alex O’Rourke from Pendleton HS (Oregon State) and 2015 outfielder Colton Sakamoto from Westview HS (Oregon). Bennett and Sakamoto are here this week competing at the PG CBNIT with their respective high schools.
Lindell made one start in Jupiter, and shined brightly among all the other stars on hand, working four shutout innings and allowing two hits, while striking out five and walking one; his fastball topped out at 92 mph.
In August, Lindell pitched at the Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif., with the Royals, a team that included many of the top prospects from the Pacific Northwest.
Among them were two of the highest-ranked players from the state of Washington – catcher Brendan Illies from Puyallup High School (North Carolina) and shortstop Ethan Paul from International School (Vanderbilt) – along with catcher/third baseman/right-hander and PG All-American Parker Kelly from Westview High School, the only 2015 Oregon prospect ranked higher than Lindell.
Each of those experiences helped get Lindell to where he is today, and Washington head coach Lindsay Meggs, for one, is excited about what he’ll be getting from Lindell during the next school year.
“Karsen may have the biggest upside of any player we have in the 2015 (recruiting) class,” Meggs said in a university press release after signing day in November. “This is a guy who sits at 88-91 as we speak, yet has way more in the tank. Karsen has just begun to scratch the surface and as he matures and gets stronger we believe he will develop into a legitimate Pac 12 weekend starter.
“Karsen is also a good athlete from a baseball family who really understands the game,” Meggs continued. “When you combine his feel for the game along with his ability to locate his fastball, Karsen has a chance to help us as soon as he gets here.”
Lindell and many of his teammates’ third trip to the PG Coach Bob National Invitational didn’t get off to the start they hoped for on Monday. But with games remaining against Sandy High School (Ore.) on Tuesday, Palmer High School (Colo.) on Wednesday and either a consolation for championship game on Thursday, there’s still plenty time to make this annual trip even more of a positive experience.
“I want to learn some new things but I’m mostly just looking forward to playing the game,” Lindell said. “We’re looking forward to the season ahead of us and this a good way to start things off, with this trip.”