TERRE HAUTE — Zac Niehaus is in the first full day of his first real American Legion baseball road trip with Wayne Newton Post 346, and to say he’s adapting well would be something of an understatement.
He already sounds like a recruiter for manager John Hayes’ team — which is a quality that might come in handy a little less than a year from now.
“I think it’s a blast — a real good experience,” said Niehaus when asked about his Post 34 6 experiences earlier this week. “You get to play a lot of real good ballclubs, and [the other players] treat me well, considering I’m the only Northview kid.”
Both those last two words are significant in Niehaus’s case, but maybe the very last one is more so. Post 346 has had several other significant players from Northview recently, but none of them has been as much a “kid” as Niehaus is. Although he’s already a two-year regular for the Knights, he’s also just completed his sophomore high school season. So if all continues to go well — and it’s going very well right now — Niehaus could be the longest-tenured former Knight when his American Legion eligibility finally runs out.
That would be all right with Hayes.
“I went over to watch Northview play this spring, and the first thing I said to myself was, ‘I like the way that kid swings the bat,’ ” Hayes said this week, “and he hasn’t disappointed me at all.”
So far Niehaus is flirting with a .400 batting average as Post 346 begins play at the Moline, Ill., Tournament with two games today, and has played four different defensive positions. He’s actually played all nine at one time or another, Niehaus said this week, although he admitted he hasn’t been behind the plate in quite awhile.
“Having a kid who can do those things make [being a manager] a lot easier,” Hayes said, “and he’s like A.J. [Reed of Terre Haute South]; he’s going to do nothing but get better.”
Considering that Reed, probably considered Post 346’s ace pitcher and also currently its hottest hitter, is also going to be just a junior at South in the fall, the nucleus of Hayes’ team is young as well as good.
And sticking around the Post 346 program sounds pretty good to Niehaus too, he said.
“I’m excited about next year too,” he said. “I’m definitely going to [play for Post 346 again]. I don’t think there would be any other team I’ll play for.”
Part of the reason, Niehaus said, is Hayes’ emphasis each summer on having a team and not just a bunch of players from different schools.
“He’s keeping us all together,” Niehaus agreed of his manager. “He’s doing a real good job with that.”
Another part of the reason is that Niehaus has kept track of another former Knight who had success with Post 346 — and beyond. The career recent Chicago White Sox draftee Brady Shoemaker has had in college — after being one of the most highly honored American Legion players in the country with Post 346 during the 2006 World Series runner-up season — has been hard for him to ignore.
“It just makes me really excited,” Niehaus said. “Going in the same steps he was going in makes my mind wonder … baseball will be what I want to go to college for; that’s been my dream since I was a little kid.”
Niehaus shares another quality with Shoemaker too. He’s not terribly satisfied with himself, no matter what the statistics say.
Asked about his offensive production so far this summer, for example, he said, “It could be better … I don’t want to strike out as much as I have [even though that’s just five times in his first 60 times at bat]. I hope I get straightened out pretty soon and get into a groove.”
Niehaus by the numbers
Batting average: .388, 26 for 67
On-base percentage: .437
Slugging percentage: .522
Extra-base hits: 6 doubles, 1 homer
Run production: 16 runs, 14 RBIs
Stolen bases: 3 for 3
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Niehaus settles in: Northview standout feels at home with Terre Haute-based Post 346
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