Exeter’s Alex Kelsey brings rare joy, and talent, to the diamond
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Even with a batting average well above .500 Alex Kelsey finds hitting a pitched baseball frustrating at times.
Like that time earlier this season when Wilson’s Ben Kulp surprised him with a two-strike splitter and caught him looking at a third strike. The Exeter senior, expecting a fastball, was furious. It was his first whiff of the season.
“I love hitting,” Kelsey said, “but it just ticks me off sometimes. I hate getting out.”
There aren’t a lot of bad vibes surrounding Kelsey these days. The Eagles’ leadoff batter is hitting a fat .524 through 15 games, second-highest in the Berks League (to Gov. Mifflin’s Bryce Detwiler).
He’s got a .643 on-base percentage, also second-highest in the league, and a 1.333 OPS, which ranks third. He’s again leading the league in stolen bases, with 17. He swiped 21-of-22 bases in a junior season that saw him land on the All-Berks team.
Kelsey is arguably the fastest player in the league – maybe the fastest athlete in the county. He clocked a 6.58 in the 40-yard dash at the East Coast Pro Showcase last summer, a blazing time that puts him in the company of his favorite baseball player, 11-time All-Star Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels.
That 6.58 is better than a few other players you may have heard of: Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Bryce Harper.
And it got the immediate attention of college coaches and pro scouts. He met with the Cleveland Guardians in the offseason and had talks with the Atlanta Braves and Chicago White Sox. He received several college offers. He accepted one from St. Joseph’s University last fall.
Kelsey is the complete package when it comes to baseball: He can run, hit, throw, and field. He’s 5-11, 175 pounds and has plenty of pop.
“He’s a guy that can change the game in any situation,” said Justin Freese, Exeter’s baseball coach for the past 29 seasons. “He can hit the ball out of the park, or if you give him a walk he’ll steal a base or two.
“He gets on first base, a lot of times it’s a triple. Twice this year he’s scored second from second on a ground ball. He reminds me of a kid who can play at the next level because of the speed.”
That plus speed is what jumps out to scouts. When you can run like future Hall of Famers such as Trout and Harper you’re going to garner lots of attention.
Before heading off to baseball showcases last summer Kelsey went to Berks Elite Training in Wyomissing where he spent a few weeks working on his explosiveness and running technique. His trainer, Christian Linfoot, was immediately impressed.
“I could see he has the explosiveness, the physical ability to really run fast,” Linfoot said, “(and he) has the want and the desire (to excel).”
With a little more training he could envision Kelsey as Berks sprint champ in the 100 meters.
“He could run 10.8 to 11 flat, easily,” Linfoot said.
Kelsey thought about it for a second or two but he loves baseball too much to not spend every second of the spring and summer on the diamond.
It wasn’t always that way. Growing up his first love was basketball, which he has continued to excel at in high school. He was a key spark off the bench as a junior when Exeter won its first District 3 title and went all the way to the PIAA championship game.
He earned all-division honors this season when he averaged 12.6 points per game, second on the team, and helped the Eagles reach the second round of the state tournament.
Kelsey still loves basketball; it only took a few seconds to see the passion oozing out of him when he was on the court for the Eagles.
When he reached high school he realized he could have a future in baseball. Freese had him slated for the JV team his freshman season, 2021, but several outfielders came down with COVID at the start of the season and he brought Kelsey up as a stopgap.
“He never went back (down),” said Freese, who saw Kelsey bat .292 over 13 games.
He batted .385, stole 21 bases, scored a team-high 30 runs, and earned all-division honors as a sophomore. Last season he batted .410, stole 22 bases in 23 attempts and scored 26 runs in 23 games. He followed that up with a big season with the Berks County Bulls and by being selected for Pennsylvania’s Big 26 Classic.
He has continued to refine his game this season. He has improved his plate discipline (he has 14 walks with just two strikeouts) and is running deeper counts. Freese said he’s had at least eight two-strike hits.
Kelsey’s doing it as the focal point on a young team than that doesn’t offer the lineup protection he was afforded last year.
“He might be one of the best players ever to play for us,” said Freese.
Kelsey is quite possibly the fastball baseball player Exeter has ever had, and perhaps it’s best center fielder. He runs down balls from gap to gap.
“We’ve had some very good outfielders,” Freese said, “but none of them track it like Alex does. He goes and gets it. He gets a jump on the ball and with that athleticism he makes plays look routine.”
Kelsey has been thrown out just once this year trying to steal. That came early in the season when Muhlenberg’s standout catcher, Shane Rosenberry, made a tremendous play on a high fastball that gunned to second base.
“I got a really bad jump there – and Shane’s pretty good,” Kelsey allowed. “We play together on my travel team. He’s always throwing kids out. I love him for that, though.”
Dangerous as he is with a bat or on the bases Kelsey’s favorite part of the game comes when he’s patrolling center field. He never gets caught looking there.
“I just love gliding around the field, snagging balls, stealing hits from people,” he said. “It’s just makes me happy. It brings joy to the game.”
