2015 SPRING ALL-AREA: Roupp bursts onto scene for Faith Christian with impressive sophomore season
By FOSTER LANDER ROCKY MOUNT TELEGRAM
Sports Writer
When Landen Roupp tried out for the Powerade State Games as a freshman, his lone goal – besides making the team, of course – was to hit 80 miles per hour on the radar gun.
He reached that barometer one time in the tryout, by throwing as hard as possible with no regard to where the ball ended up.
That day seems eons ago, given the progress Roupp has made over the last year. He grew from a 5-foot-9, 140-pound freshman to a 6-foot-3, 165-pound sophomore and increased his fastball velocity from 76 to 86 miles per hour, as the 2015 Telegram All-Area Pitcher of the Year only started to crack the surface of his potential.
“I think a lot of that jump just came from his maturity,” Faith Christian pitching coach Al Carter said. “He learned that he had to be a student of the game. He’s got plenty of God-given talent but that was only going to take him so far.”
Michael Roupp, Landen’s father, said that one 80 mph pitch was a turning point. Landen had reached one goal, but he realized he wanted more and began long-tossing, using stretch bands, and lifting weights at Planet Fitness on a regular basis.
“I told him, do something every single day to make yourself better,” Michael Roupp said.
The weight hasn’t quite caught up to Landen’s height, but a byproduct of his lanky frame is what college coaches love to see: ‘easy’ velocity, to where the delivery looks leisurely.
That Roupp throws in the mid-80s already, with plenty of lower-body strength still to gain, is encouraging, especially when Landen says 90 mph is the next milestone.
“He knows when you look at college pitchers, they’re all throwing around or above 90,” Michael said.
The first sign that Roupp would be a force in the Twin Counties came in an early-season start at Faith Christian’s fierce rival Rocky Mount Academy. Roupp, snapping off his tailing fastball and a big, sweeping curveball, struck out 13 on that cold night. Several weeks later, he struck out 17 Eagles hitters, though all those strikeouts may have been harmful to his psyche.
“I started trying to strike everybody out,” Roupp said. “Coach Carter had me realize that a first-pitch groundout was just as good or even better than a strikeout on a 3-2 pitch.”
That led to perhaps Roupp’s finest all-around outing of the season in a 3-0 shutout of NCISAA power Arendell Parrott. He struck out eight in that game but went in to far fewer deep counts than in previous starts.
Roupp doesn’t necessarily open up to strangers right away, and Carter said their initial relationship took time to develop, and for Roupp to trust him. Once the coach and pupil built that foundation, though, Roupp began to blossom.
“The biggest thing has been him learning how to work,” Carter said. “He doesn’t just go down to the bullpen, throw 30 pitches and call it a day. He uses that time to actually get better now.”
As Roupp’s pitches have developed, so too has his mentality on the mound, as was evident at the State Games this June. The rising junior pitched against the strongest hitting team in the entire tournament on a rainy Saturday at N.C. State’s Doak Field.
Roupp, a life-long Wolfpack fan, induced a double play to escape trouble in the first inning. Even as the team consisting of players from the Fayetteville area plated several runs, and as rain caused two delays, Roupp’s demeanor never changed, and it was on to the next pitch.
“That was what I told him I was most proud of that day,” Michael Roupp said. “That was a tough team. He could’ve pouted and gotten down on himself, but he stayed with it.”
For Roupp, it provided a taste of what he might see in a few years at the college level, proof of how far he’s progressed, and of how far he still has to go.
He’s traveled around the South this summer with the Dirtbags, an organization that has provided a showcase for many of the top baseball players from North Carolina in recent years.
He’ll return to Rocky Mount armed with a new-and-improved arsenal, including a cut fastball or slider, depending on who you ask, a sharper curveball with a less-severe break, and a changeup with a grip that’s closer to a circle-change, one that Roupp already is more confident in throwing.
One college coach from an in-state school said he’d seen Roupp only briefly and that the ingredients were there; but that underclassmen were hard to project two years out.
“A coach told me once, ‘Billie Shoemaker didn’t win the Kentucky Derby on the back of a mule,” Carter said. “Landen is one of those kids that makes coaches look better than they are.”
By FOSTER LANDER ROCKY MOUNT TELEGRAM
Sports Writer
When Landen Roupp tried out for the Powerade State Games as a freshman, his lone goal – besides making the team, of course – was to hit 80 miles per hour on the radar gun.
He reached that barometer one time in the tryout, by throwing as hard as possible with no regard to where the ball ended up.
That day seems eons ago, given the progress Roupp has made over the last year. He grew from a 5-foot-9, 140-pound freshman to a 6-foot-3, 165-pound sophomore and increased his fastball velocity from 76 to 86 miles per hour, as the 2015 Telegram All-Area Pitcher of the Year only started to crack the surface of his potential.
“I think a lot of that jump just came from his maturity,” Faith Christian pitching coach Al Carter said. “He learned that he had to be a student of the game. He’s got plenty of God-given talent but that was only going to take him so far.”
Michael Roupp, Landen’s father, said that one 80 mph pitch was a turning point. Landen had reached one goal, but he realized he wanted more and began long-tossing, using stretch bands, and lifting weights at Planet Fitness on a regular basis.
“I told him, do something every single day to make yourself better,” Michael Roupp said.
The weight hasn’t quite caught up to Landen’s height, but a byproduct of his lanky frame is what college coaches love to see: ‘easy’ velocity, to where the delivery looks leisurely.
That Roupp throws in the mid-80s already, with plenty of lower-body strength still to gain, is encouraging, especially when Landen says 90 mph is the next milestone.
“He knows when you look at college pitchers, they’re all throwing around or above 90,” Michael said.
The first sign that Roupp would be a force in the Twin Counties came in an early-season start at Faith Christian’s fierce rival Rocky Mount Academy. Roupp, snapping off his tailing fastball and a big, sweeping curveball, struck out 13 on that cold night. Several weeks later, he struck out 17 Eagles hitters, though all those strikeouts may have been harmful to his psyche.
“I started trying to strike everybody out,” Roupp said. “Coach Carter had me realize that a first-pitch groundout was just as good or even better than a strikeout on a 3-2 pitch.”
That led to perhaps Roupp’s finest all-around outing of the season in a 3-0 shutout of NCISAA power Arendell Parrott. He struck out eight in that game but went in to far fewer deep counts than in previous starts.
Roupp doesn’t necessarily open up to strangers right away, and Carter said their initial relationship took time to develop, and for Roupp to trust him. Once the coach and pupil built that foundation, though, Roupp began to blossom.
“The biggest thing has been him learning how to work,” Carter said. “He doesn’t just go down to the bullpen, throw 30 pitches and call it a day. He uses that time to actually get better now.”
As Roupp’s pitches have developed, so too has his mentality on the mound, as was evident at the State Games this June. The rising junior pitched against the strongest hitting team in the entire tournament on a rainy Saturday at N.C. State’s Doak Field.
Roupp, a life-long Wolfpack fan, induced a double play to escape trouble in the first inning. Even as the team consisting of players from the Fayetteville area plated several runs, and as rain caused two delays, Roupp’s demeanor never changed, and it was on to the next pitch.
“That was what I told him I was most proud of that day,” Michael Roupp said. “That was a tough team. He could’ve pouted and gotten down on himself, but he stayed with it.”
For Roupp, it provided a taste of what he might see in a few years at the college level, proof of how far he’s progressed, and of how far he still has to go.
He’s traveled around the South this summer with the Dirtbags, an organization that has provided a showcase for many of the top baseball players from North Carolina in recent years.
He’ll return to Rocky Mount armed with a new-and-improved arsenal, including a cut fastball or slider, depending on who you ask, a sharper curveball with a less-severe break, and a changeup with a grip that’s closer to a circle-change, one that Roupp already is more confident in throwing.
One college coach from an in-state school said he’d seen Roupp only briefly and that the ingredients were there; but that underclassmen were hard to project two years out.
“A coach told me once, ‘Billie Shoemaker didn’t win the Kentucky Derby on the back of a mule,” Carter said. “Landen is one of those kids that makes coaches look better than they are.”