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Panagoulias Changed His Stance for the Better with Post 48 Juniors

Baseball is a game of adjustments and, for Guilford Junior Legion rookie Ben Panagoulias, he made all the right moves to find his sweet spot at the dish this summer.

Ben, a center fielder who will be a freshman at Guilford High School this year, started playing baseball, along with soccer and basketball, when he was five. Although the wins were hard to come by for the Post 48 Juniors this season, Ben made the most of it by adjusting his batting stance to earn the No. 3 spot in the lineup and help Guilford nab a few victories late in the campaign.

“What I love about baseball is just playing with my friends and the teamwork that comes from it,” says Ben, who bats and throws right-handed. “I just honestly changed my stance a bit at the plate. I brought my hands in more, which helped give me a better view of the ball and helped me hit inside and out. I used a lot of trial and error with changing my stances, along with other things when it comes to hitting.”

Ben took a similarly steadfast approach with his defense by putting in countless hours of practice to find a groove that helped him snag fly balls in the outfield.

“This year, I improved a lot on my defense by taking reps to the point where I knew I had the right form,” Ben says. “I like playing in the outfield because you have a lot more time and opportunities to make the plays.”

Post 48 skipper Jon Reinecke says that Ben emerged as a defensive force for his club this year, while also providing plenty of spark on offense.

“He played a great center field all year long. He gets reads off the bat and his speed allows him to track down fly balls in both alleys. He’s really improved his ability to throw from center to home,” says Reinecke. “Ben is at his best offensively when he is hitting the ball up the middle and to the right. He had a walk-off hit when we defeated Wallingford and another game was when we defeated Madison under the lights. He seemed faster that night and tracked everything down.”

Ben collected two hits and stole three bases in the victory versus Madison. Ben had to trade in a metal bat for the lumber in the recent Legion season, but by doing so, Ben feels that he actually got a better feel for the game, while playing nearly every day.

“The main thing for me in playing Legion this summer was the changing over to wooden bats. I thought it was a big change, but better for me overall,” says Ben. “With the series format of scheduling, we had a lot of games and played some teams four times in a weekend, so it was a lot of baseball.”

Ben says that Guilford’s athletes developed some great camaraderie as the 2016 campaign wore on. That’s something Ben also wants to experience one day as a varsity player for the high school squad.

“As the year went on, we developed more as a team. We also had some wins at the end of the year because of that and we grew as friends, as well,” says Ben, who thanks his family and all of his coaches. “At Guilford High, I want to earn a spot on the varsity roster in the future and I want to hopefully start.”