Why this North Boone pitcher is everything a batter doesn't want to face
POPLAR GROVE — Chandler Alderman is tall, left-handed and throws hard.
Pretty much everything a batter doesn’t want to see in a pitcher.
“That’s the trifecta,” North Boone coach Drew Baden said. “Those are all things I don’t want to see as a hitter. It’s an uncomfortable at-bat for sure. Especially as a left-handed hitter: That ball looks like it’s coming behind you and in your ear hole and all of a sudden it’s in the strike zone. It’s hard to not bail out on that.”
As if being a 6-foot-4 lefty who can throw 88 mph isn’t enough, Alderman’s best pitch is actually his slider.
“I would not like to bat against him,” North Boone catcher Adrien Raabe said. “His slider is pretty hard to catch sometimes. I can’t even imagine hitting it.”
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Alderman also starred in football this fall, leading the Big Northern in passing with 1,879 yards and 26 touchdowns as a junior. But that is a familiar role. His immediate two predecessors were Britton Morris, the BNC’s all-time leading passer with 7,501 yards and 83 touchdowns in three years, and Logan Emanuel, who passed for 3,637 yards and 40 touchdowns in only 14 games.
“I had all those kids to mentor me,” Alderman said. “Learning from them, it was easy to transfer over from JV to varsity. It was the same offense, the same kids, the whole time.”
But now he may be going where no North Boone pitcher has ever gone. Baden can’t remember another pitcher this good at North Boone. Alderman is being recruited by several NCAA Division-I schools.
And on the days he pitches, North Boone (5-6, 5-4 Big Northern) can beat anybody in the BNC. Last Tuesday, in what Baden termed the team’s “signature win,” Alderman went the distance in a 4-2 win over Rockford Christian, striking out nine and also hitting a two-run double off the top of the fence against the Royal Lions (8-4, 7-2). He struck out 14 in Monday's 15-2 win over Winnebago.
“The days he is on the mound, the whole game takes on a different feel,” Baden said.
“It’s exciting,” North Boone first baseman Bryce Nolen said. “We get to watch a pretty good show.
"Sometimes it gets a little boring out there because you don’t get much action in the field because he’s usually dealing pretty well, but you are back in the dugout pretty quick talking about the inning. And it’s really nice seeing him do all the things he can do, using different pitches, setting up batters the way he wants to and then finishing them off with a strikeout, blowing it right by them. It’s a good time.”
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Alderman has a school-record 67 strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings this year, with a 1.41 ERA and nine walks. He struck out 45 in 30 innings as a sophomore. And received his first recruiting calls after attending a camp at Illinois State last spring.
“It was crazy,” Alderman said. “We got a call right after the camp. My dad was all teary-eyed. It was just great.”
Chandler and his dad, Kevin, were having lunch at a Normal restaurant when the call came.
“We were so excited, we didn’t even finish our lunch," Kevin Alderman said. "It was a surreal moment. His dream has always been to play in college. His dream is getting closer. I was proud beyond words. It’s surreal.”
Chandler says his dad “is just crazy about baseball.” It has also always been Chandler's favorite sport, too. Their favorite sport together. Kevin Alderman coached Chandler until he turned 14. He coached his son's teammates, too. Kevin Alderman coached six of the current North Boone players for the Poplar Grove Power in travel ball.
“My favorite moment is also probably the saddest one,” Kevin Alderman said. “I caught Chandler between innings, warming him up for the last time when I coached him. That’s probably our coolest memory, but also the saddest memory.”
Chandler Alderman said he picked up his slider two years ago as a freshman.
“My travel ball coach that year told me you can’t stick with just the fastball, so I found the slider grip,” he said. “That’s my knockout pitch now. I use it whenever I get up in the count. It feels great to know you have another weapon.”
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His fastball keeps getting to be a more potent weapon, also. Last year he threw 84 mph. This year he has upped it to 88. And has another year left in high school to get into the 90s before he ever gets to college. He keeps his arm limber by playing a lot of “long toss,” throwing the ball 150 to 250 feet on the sidelines in warmups.
“When I first started getting recruited, a coach said I need to start throwing harder,” Chandler said. “He said long toss is going to give you what you need. That’s what I do over the winter and breaks between baseball seasons, just long toss and playing long catch. That gets everything loosened up. That’s what’s helped me gain a bunch of velocity.”
Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at mtrowbridge@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @MattTrowbridge. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: North Boone left-hander Chandler Alderman is NCAA Division I recruit
