How Penn State Abington’s Ryan McCarty put together the most dominant Division III offensive season

Countless hours reading or perusing YouTube videos from hitting coach Steve Springer and the late sports psychologist Ken Ravizza helped shape the storybook season for Penn State Abington’s Ryan McCarty.

McCarty, who finished his senior season last week, led all of NCAA Division III in hits (100), batting average (.529), homers (29), doubles (27), RBIs (91), runs (89), and a new D-III single-season record for total bases (220) through 40 regular-season games and four more in the United East Conference Tournament.

“I could say I got stronger and made certain swing changes, but that only adds up to a very small portion of what goes into that success,” McCarty said. “Over the last four years, I’ve been working from a mentality standpoint in the game. I follow guys like Steve Springer and Ken Ravizza who preach this sort of freedom in the game. There’s a lot less stress involved.”

Former Nittany Lions assistant coach Joe Brooks introduced the right-handed infielder and part-time relief pitcher to Springer and Ravizza’s teachings in 2018. Brooks left the program in 2019 for the same position at Penn, but McCarty dove deeper into the doctrines of two baseball lifers.

Springer’s YouTube channel houses 105 “tips and tricks” videos for nearly 5,000 subscribers. After a 14-year minor league career with two pro stints, he has pivoted to teaching the game.

His go-to analogy for maximizing plate appearances correlates the pitch count to a hand of blackjack. Hitters, according to Springer, too often go into a 0-0 count with the mindset of hit or bust, as if they’re holding a 16 in the card game.

“I was able to separate, not only each at-bat, but during my at-bats I was able to separate each pitch and stay very focused,” McCarty said. “That allowed me to hit a lot of the pitches that were sort of mistakes and capitalize on pitches like that.”

As the count progresses, one can have a better instinct for whether the pitcher will throw a fastball or an off-speed pitch. Similar to reading blackjack cards.

Springer also emphasizes treating every at bat as if it’s opening day. Hot streaks and slumps don’t exist in his world and, subsequently, in McCarty’s.

Abington coach David Miller joined the Nittany Lions in January after La Salle, where he coached for four years, folded its baseball program. The first few times he saw McCarty hit were limited to the batting cages. Miller didn’t recall seeing anything out of the ordinary.

“It wasn’t until his first at-bat of the season where I thought, ‘Who is this kid?’” Miller said. “His very first at-bat, he gets into an 0-2 hole and then he somehow flicks a ball with his wrists and the ball goes 35 feet over the center-field fence. I’m sitting there like, ‘Wow, what the hell was that?’”

That was Springer’s teachings put into action.

Both Miller and assistant coach Jeff Manto, who was retained on staff after the coaching change, played professionally at the same time as Springer and have continued to push that mentality with the rest of the team.

During their respective professional careers, Miller and Manto were plugged into Ravizza’s philosophies the same way McCarty is.

The renowned sports psychologist was a professor of kinesiology, focusing on stress management, at Cal State Fullerton. He later worked for the Los Angeles Angels (1985-2000), and then followed Joe Maddon to the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs.

Ravizza died in July 2018, but he had a similar creed to Springer, emphasizing the importance of being present in the moment.

“[That’s] more important than anything,” McCarty said. “Some people when they wake up in the morning are already trying to process the game in their head and it can cause stress trying to think into the future too much.”

The example he gave was when a player is putting on his uniform, he’s just putting on his uniform. Miller added, when the player is putting on his left shoe, he’s just putting on his left shoe. The same applies to pregame stretching and plate appearances.

In June, McCarty intends to play for the Harwich Mariners in the Cape Cod League, the top summer collegiate league in the country. His biggest scouting knock has been the lack of strength in pitchers he has faced at the D-III level. Cape Cod will be the litmus test.

Then comes the MLB draft July 17-19. If McCarty doesn’t hear his name called, the Yardley native could find his way into a minor league system as a free agent or potentially use his extra COVID-19 year of eligibility to transfer up to Division I, likely landing in the Southeastern Conference — a hotbed for college baseball.

“Ryan’s daily routine is basically going home, studying, listening and reading hours and hours on [Springer and Ravizza],” Miller said. “Anybody that gets to have Ryan on their team, you’re going to get one of the greatest kids I’ve ever coached.”