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08/29/2017 12:00 AMSometimes athletes have the craziest stories about how they started playing a particular sport. For Sam Grigo, it was a fib about alligator wrestling of all things that lured him into baseball. Years later, Sam has pinned down his fair share of success on the field, most recently at Brown University.
Sam, a Westbrook High School baseball alum and current Madison resident, was a little reluctant about starting up with t-ball as a youngster, and so his parents told him that he was signing up for alligator wrestling instead. Although this introduction was a little unusual, it all worked out in the end for Sam, who had a great run at Westbrook that saw him get named to the All-Shoreline Conference and All-State teams as a senior in 2014.
This spring, Sam put together an excellent junior season as an outfielder for Brown, a Division I Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island. Sam started all 37 games in right field for the Bears, getting 47 hits, including four triples, for a .313 batting average to go with 21 RBI and 24 runs scored. Sam had 12 multiple-hit games on the year and reeled off a 15-game hitting streak along the way. Upon the campaign’s conclusion, Sam earned First Team Academic All-District accolades from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Sam says that while the white lie about alligator wrestling was what first got him on the diamond, it didn’t take long for him for find other sources of motivation to play. In terms of the recent distinction he received from the CoSIDA, Sam was caught completely by surprise.
“It really was a funny story about how I got started in baseball, but I was a huge Yankees’ fan growing up and I wanted to play first for them growing up, and that was my motivation to play baseball,” Sam says. “The CoSIDA award wasn’t even on my radar, so it was huge to be recognized and kind of shocking. I take pride in what I do in the classroom, and I think it’s more important to be recognized for being a good student over being a good player on the field.”
To be nominated for this academic distinction from the CoSIDA, a student-athlete must be either a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his or her current institution. Sam says that he earned this honor not only on the strength of his work ethic, but also as a result of the Ivy League’s philosophy when it comes to balancing academics and athletics.
“I do a heavier course load in the fall semester when we are out of season. In the fall, the time we are allowed to practice for baseball is limited, so I use that time to get my course requirements in,” says Sam, an economics major. “In the spring, the schedule for baseball is crazy with practice and traveling time, so I have a lighter course load. The way the Ivy League balances things with regulations for time to practice is great for the student-athletes.”
The heat ramped up in more ways than one for Sam when he began his college career. However, Sam concentrated on being ready for the high-speed offerings that came his way, and his offensive production has done nothing but trend upward ever since.
“When I got to college, it was like playing a different sport. The guys were so much stronger and faster, so I had to adjust to fastball velocities. The increase in velocities was a big deal to me, so I struggled at times my freshman and sophomore years. But then I worked on being more in time with the fastball and for every pitch,” he says. “During the hitting streak this year, I wasn’t missing a pitch that I wanted to hit. Some of it was luck, too, with cheap hits, but that’s baseball.”
Brown Head Coach Grant Achilles was pleased to see Sam have a great junior campaign, but says that Sam is ready to accomplish even bigger things in his final season of collegiate baseball.
“Sam is a tremendously gifted baseball player, possessing keen instincts and the ability to make necessary adjustments. Those qualities are paramount to success in our sport,” says Achilles. “He hasn’t even played in 100 Division I baseball games to date, which makes it incredibly difficult to say how high his athletic ceiling could be. He has a tireless work ethic and, when he undertakes any task, we have come to expect that it will be perfected upon completion. Sam will achieve great things and impact the world beyond his baseball career, and we are excited to have him return for what hopes to be his best season yet.”
Sam helped Westbrook see a good deal of success when he was in high school, including a Class S State Tournament semifinal berth during his sophomore season, and he also learned a lot about what it takes to compete at the highest level. Looking to his senior year at Brown, Sam wants to see a strong finish to his tenure, while helping build a bright future for the Bears.
“I loved playing at Westbrook. My head coach Derek Hanssen taught me a lot about pitching. With those guys, I learned a lot about competing. I look back on my time there fondly,” says Sam, who thanks his father Wally Grigo. “Academically, I want to stay the course and keep doing what I’m doing. For baseball, one of the things that drew me to Brown was a chance to help rebuild the program and start a winning culture. We want to be better next year than we were this year. We want to tangibly show we are turning things around with our win-loss record.”