Cabe Reiten makes playing shortstop appear easy.
The Olympia High School junior sucks up groundballs and backhands short hops with ease.
“You hit a ground ball anywhere near him,” said one Narrows League coach, “and it’s an out.”
The defensive wizardry wasn’t always second-nature for Reiten, The News Tribune’s 2011 All-Area Baseball Player of the Year.
“It never did come natural,” Reiten said. “I came across a bird dog who scouted the area and he told me I had athletic ability and I needed to go to this guy name Bill Stubbs. For the Northwest, he is the top guy for infield. Ever since I’ve gone to him, everything has started coming.”
What makes Reiten such a defensive standout?
“His feet are outstanding, his instincts – you don’t see Cabe get bad-hopped very often,” Olympia High coach Todd McDougall said.
“He is able to read the ball, to get his feet in the right position to where he’s in the correct position to field the ball every time. He always has his body in the right spot at the right place. That’s a combination of vision, eye-hand coordination, foot quickness and just God-given ability.”
Reiten stood out from his peers, McDougall said, since the first day of his of freshman season.
“It was really evident after first ninth-grade practice that Cabe was not like the other freshmen,” he said.
“We brought him out to practice with varsity the second day. On the third day, Carter Manning, a returning starter, walked up to me and asked where I was moving him to. So, it was pretty evident from Day 1.”
Reiten is the only player in McDougall’s 18 seasons at Olympia to start every game as a freshman, sophomore and junior.
Of course, Reiten isn’t perfect.
“Oh, he has some errors,” McDougall said. “He’s human. It’s probably single digits for three years combined.”
Those errors – rare as they are – push Reiten to become better. He emphasizes defense, but doesn’t overlook other aspects than can be improved.
“If I feel like there’s something lacking in my game, that’s what I go after,” he said. “If I feel like I’ve got that under control, it’s time to reevaluate my game and go after the next thing.”
Reiten, who stands 6-foot and weighs 165 pounds, entered the 2011 season intent on improving his offense.
After batting .413 and leading the Bears with 33 hits and 11 doubles, the co-MVP of the Narrows League 4A has made strides and is ready to work on another facet of his game.
Reiten gave an oral commitment last summer to attend Gonzaga University, but he’ll likely be tempted by pro scouts in the coming months. The prime scouting season for Class of 2012 players is the summer.
McDougall thinks Reiten’s talent stacks up with major league players from the South Sound.
“Jared Sandberg, Taber Lee, I’d put him with those guys, definitely,” McDougall said. “Travis Ishikawa, Lyle Overbay, they may have been a little ahead in the batter’s box, but defensively he’s better than those guys.”
Doug Pacey: 253-597-8271 doug.pacey@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/preps
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