Move over, Mickey Mantle.

There's another Mickey looming on the horizon - and he strikes out a lot less.

Mickey Fennell, 11, of Butler Township recently put together a combined Little League regular season, all-star tournament and AAU baseball season that featured 232 at-bats - and only 10 strikeouts.

All 10 strikeouts occurred during the 59-game Beaver Valley AAU season. Fennell had 165 at-bats for that team.

"It's practically impossible to go through an AAU season without striking out," said his father, former Butler High School baseball coach Jay Fennell. "The pitching's just too good."

Through 10 games and 27 at bats for East Butler in the regular season, the 4-foot-11, 83-pound Fennell never struck out.

Through 11 all-star tournament games and 37 at bats, he never struck out.

In fact, this is Mickey Fennell's third straight season of local baseball without striking out.

"He almost became obsessed with it," his father said said. "He would get himself so worked up before each game, he'd always have to run to the bathroom.

"He was more worried about striking out than getting a hit. It took me a long time to convince him that it was OK to strike out. You have to try to get your share of hits," he added.

No problem there.

Fennell's 2005 season numbers for 81 games: 132 hits in 232 at-bats, 38 walks and a .569 batting average.

"I don't feel any pressure anymore when I walk up to the plate," Mickey Fennell said.

He had 24 hits in 37 at-bats - a .649 average - for the East Butler 11-year-old all-star team.

"It's all the practice he's had that makes him so good," said East Butler all-star coach Bob Williamson. "He plays every week and practices every day.

"That boy just loves baseball. It's amazing to watch him hit. He knows the strike zone inside and out."

He pitched 33 innings for East Butler's all-star tournament team this summer, allowing two earned runs while striking out 60 and walking four.

"He's a rock-solid pitcher who hardly ever throws a fastball," Williamson said. "He'll throw sidearm, has a curve. … He throws one pitch, I don't know what you'd even call it. And he throws everything for strikes."

The Fennell family has a regulation Little League diamond in its back yard. When his father, who runs the Nothing But Baseball instructional service, works with hitters at the plate, Mickey shags flies and fields grounders.

"I don't think it makes me any better," he said. "I just like to do it."

Mickey Fennell's oldest brother, Jason, played six years of minor league baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization.

Mickey's been playing baseball since he was 5.

"It's hard to compare when Jason was 11 and Mickey now because they're two different types of players," Jay Fennell said. "But Mickey has more foot speed, he knows the game better and he's better defensively.

"He's just little. If he grows to even 5-10 or so, Mickey will be playing this game after high school."

Dan Farrow, his coach at Beaver Valley, doesn't doubt it.

"I've been coaching baseball for more than 10 years and he's the best hitter I've ever seen for that age," Farrow said. "He's a fast kid, an ideal leadoff guy. His hand-eye coordination is incredible."

The only home runs Fennell hit this year were of the inside-the-park variety..

"His power will come into play next year," his father said. "Size doesn't matter. He can hit a ball over a 200-foot fence now.

"All Mickey's life, he's been playing in leagues with kids a year older than he is. That's really helped his development."

When he was 7, 8 and 9 years old, he played on older brother Ryan's all-star teams. Ryan is a year older than Mickey, whose birthday is April 30. The age cutoff for youth baseball is May 1.

"That just means Mickey will always be the youngest player in his league," his father said. "That's not gonna hurt him."