This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

Botte Was in the Center of the Hornets’ Success

Jordan Botte is a student of baseball who’s well-schooled in playing the outfield. For the last three seasons, Jordan manned the center field position for the Hornets’ baseball squad.

“All throughout middle school and high school, I mainly played center field, even on my summer and fall teams,” says Jordan. “I’ve been told I have an above-average arm, and I’ve always felt personally that I have a really good understanding of the game. I was always a play ahead in the outfield and knew what to do if the ball was hit to me.”

Jordan, who also plays for Branford’s Senior American Legion team, has patrolled plenty of real estate in the outfield throughout his career. There’s currently no fence at the high school field, and the same was the case in Jordan’s sophomore year. However, there was a fence there during Jordan’s junior season, and so he had to adjust his game accordingly.

“It definitely mixed up how I played. Without the fence, I tend to play a little bit deeper to compensate for long balls into the gaps,” says Jordan. “Playing without a fence, I feel like I have to compensate for someone hitting it deep, because there are no automatic home runs or ground-rule doubles. Everything is in play, so that puts more weight on the outfielders’ shoulders to get to the ball and get it in. Playing with a fence, you always know exactly where the ball will end up, so it wasn’t a big weight on your shoulders.”

Branford’s Senior Legion skipper Ryan Santoro coached Jordan for one year when they were with the Junior Legion program. It didn’t take long for Santoro to realize that Jordan is one of the best outfielders in the area, and it also didn’t take long for Jordan to get the call-up to the Senior team.

“When I coached him in Junior Legion, he definitely had a good arm and had great bat speed. After one year, he moved up to the Senior Legion team, because those coaches really liked him,” says Santoro. “I watched some of his games this fall and was like, ‘Wow.’ He has a plus arm, was hitting the ball all over the field, and was stealing bases. He’s turned into a complete player. He’s absolutely got to be one of the best center fielders in all of the SCC. He’s grown into a great player.”

Santoro adds that Jordan will likely hit third for the Post 83 Seniors this summer, just like he did with the Hornets as a senior. Jordan discusses his approach in the batter’s box.

“Ever since I was young, my dad taught me to hit with everything I’ve got, and I’ve adopted that in my swing. I hit third this year for the team, and my goal was to get the big hits and bring in runs. I felt I did my job at the plate,” says Jordan. “My main struggle as a hitter has always been the offspeed stuff, especially curveballs. This year, though, I became better at hitting the curveballs, which is why I had a good year.”

Jordan was also one of the Hornets’ captains alongside shortstop Nikko Liguori in the recent season. The duo helped the Hornets play some great baseball down the stretch on their way to an 18-7 record with berths in both the SCC and State tournaments. Jordan wound up earning All-SCC honors for his performance.

“I loved being the captain. I felt like I could say it was my team. I was proud to be a part of the team and to be a leader for this team. I’m very grateful to say I was a captain for this year’s team,” says Jordan. “[Nikko] and I had opposite styles of leadership. He was louder and rallied the team, while I was kind of the example setter. I just kept everyone cool, especially when we were down or a big play happened. I kept everyone’s head in the game, so that was my main role.”

Next year, Jordan will continue his baseball career at Eastern Connecticut State University. Jordan drew interest from other schools, but in the end, he knew that Eastern was the place he wanted to be.

“Junior year, in the summer Legion season, [Head Coach Matt LaBranche] got a look at me and contacted me. I went to a few showcases, and he took a big interest in me and took the risk of putting me on his team,” says Jordan. “I’m very excited and nervous, but I’m hopeful, and can’t wait to be a part of that team.”