Slippery Rock’s Mineo signs with Ohio State baseball
SLIPPERY ROCK — Sal Mineo was there almost every week, watching from the bleachers.
In front of him, his former football teammates toiled to Slippery Rock High School’s worst season, record-wise, since 2010. They missed out on the District 10 postseason for the first time since the year after that.
It pained Mineo not to be able to help.
“It was definitely hard to see them out there struggling,” he said. “I went to every game that I could make it to, besides one — I was down playing baseball in Florida. ... I tried to give them as much support and do as much as I could on my end to root them on.”
Mineo would have been one of the team’s leading returning tacklers this go-round. As difficult as it was, he never second-guessed the choice to hang up his helmet and shoulder pads — one that has begun to pay dividends already.
“For my personal sake, I think it was a really good decision,” he said. “It was a hard decision, but a really good one for me. ... From more of the growth and development side. I was able to play in 25-30 more baseball games this fall.”
The senior Rockets baseball standout recently signed his letter of intent to continue his diamond career at Ohio State. He competed on the diamond with Team Ohio Pro Select each weekend throughout the football season.
“Sometimes, after football games, I had to drive up to play some baseball in Ohio,” Mineo said. “From a development aspect, I was able to get a lot more done and delegate more time to my future.”
Chris Check, Mineo’s coach with Team Ohio, understood the sacrifice.
“You only get to play in high school once in your life,” he said. ”The one thing I do know about Sal is he gets focused and he gives 100% all of the time. He must have gotten in his mind, ‘This is what I want to do with my future.’ Then went with it.”
The ardor to improve on the diamond couldn’t have coexisted with the demands of a prep football schedule. Mineo wants to be as prepared as possible for what he’ll face at the next level.
“I had a great summer, but I noticed against some of the more elite pitching that I kind of was just going up there without a plan,” he said. “In the fall, already being committed and not having to worry about the recruiting aspect, I was able to focus more on myself and figure some stuff out about my game.”
The aspect of his game Mineo most honed in on was his hitting approach.
“I love attacking the first-pitch fastball,” Mineo said. “So, basically, if I’m stepping in the box, I have my mind set on one thing and one thing only. Getting to a 2-0 count is another thing. If you’re able to work two balls ... my mindset is home run, foul ball. If I get up in the count, I’m able to take a much bigger swing.”
“His ability to adapt to velocity and continually put the ball in play with his speed became better and better,” added Check, a former associate scout for the then-Cleveland Indians. “Then, all of a sudden, he starts hitting for power. He’s one of those athletes that I used to scout for Cleveland and I’m like, ‘I’ve got to see if I can make this kid better skill-wise.’
“Because all the tools are there.”
As for his method with two strikes, he widened his stance and got rid of his high leg kick. Mineo hopes it all adds up to him surpassing 100 base hits in his high school career. He estimates he’ll need 24 or 25 more to get there.
Defensively, if you ask Check, it all circles back to a gridiron sort of mentality.
“One of our center fielders got drafted a few years ago,” he said. “We’ve had three other Division I center fielders. Defensively, Sal is probably the best center fielder I’ve ever had. There’s guys that can go catch balls and run in the outfield. He has a want-to to catch every ball that I’ve never seen before.
“Coming in, going back, going sideways — the effort he put into catching balls ... that’s what a football player does. They go get it.”
