“The other team has no chance” – Getting to know Adam Reifer
Posted on October 11th, 2008 by erik in Adam Reifer, Affiliates, Interviews
Drafted in 2006, Jeff Luhnow called Adam Reifer the “sleeper of the draft”. No one is sleeping on him any longer, as Baseball America rated him the top pitcher of the NY Penn League. Armed with a 95-99 MPH fastball, a nasty hard slider and an abundance of confidence, he helped steer Batavia to their league’s championship. I was fortunate enough to catch up with Reifer for a little Q and A.
Congrats on winning the NYPL championship. Can you describe the experience of winning it all?
Winning the NY-Penn was an awesome experience. It was the first championship that I have ever won, so this will forever stick out in my mind, especially being out there to close out the game. And to do it with the guys we had on our team just made that much more special. We had one of the best group of guys that I have ever been a part of.
How would you describe Adam Reifer, the ballplayer?
Adam Reifer the ballplayer is intense and wants no one to get an edge on his game. He wants to be the best and will stop at nothing to try an get there.
And Adam Reifer the person?
Adam Reifer the person is laid back and takes life as it comes. He tries not to take life to seriously because life is short and stress could make it shorter.
What was the key to your success this past season?
The key to my success would be my dedication to let nothing get the best of me, because I did start this year on a sour note by not coming out of the gates healthy. But I knew I was better than that, and knew what kind of pitcher I was. I knew I would get through that bump in the road.
Baseball America ranked you the best pitcher in the NY Penn League. What does that mean to you?
Being ranked by BA as the best pitcher lets me know all the hard work I have done to be best has paid off. It also means a whole lot that I have been recognized by my peers and higher end guys that I was the top pitcher in the league.
How would you define a “closer’s mentality”?
I define a “closers mentality” as a cocky mentality. A closer tries and lets nothing get the best of them. They go out there for an inning or maybe more and they give it their all. You go out there giving your best every pitch and want no one to beat you because you really know there is no one better than you out there on the mound.
What is going through your mind when your called to record the last three outs?
When I get called to record the last three outs I am not thinking a whole lot, actually. A lot of my thought process comes before I’m called out there. I start preparing myself in about the 7th inning when I kind of separate myself from the the rest of the bullpen. A lot of my thought process is that I tell myself I am the best, and the other team has no chance. I begin to grow a hatred for the other team as well. I do a lot of things basically to build myself up. So when I actually get the call to go out there, everything now is just how I react than actually think.
What would you say was the most important thing you learned this past season?
Most important thing I learned would probably don’t get to ahead of myself. Take each day and outing as it comes because they are all different.
Is there a closer in the big leagues that you particularly enjoy watching?
Jonathan Papelbon is my favorite pitcher and favorite closer. I just love his intensity, the way he goes after every hitter with authority and he has electric stuff. He’s a pitcher I try to model myself after, but I want to better and just want to be me.
Give me your quick prediction – Who do you think wins the league championship series, who do you think will win it all, and why?
I think the Dodgers have a real good chance to win even though they are down 2-0 now, but I just think they have some firepower and have a lot of momentum still that can take them to the World Series. The Rays would be my pick in the ALCS because they are just a complete team and I just really want them to go. To win the whole thing…I will say the Dodgers will win even though I really want the Rays to win it all.
Thanks to Adam for taking the time to talk with us. I would say he has a very good shot at rocketing through the system given his stuff and demeanor.
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“A lot of my thought process is that I tell myself I am the best, and the other team has no chance. I begin to grow a hatred for the other team as well. ”
To steal a line from Robocop, “I LIKE IT!”
This attitude may not play well in the Show, however. There must be a degree of collegiality among major-league players; you see it in the chit-chat on the field. It’s probably a necessity given the fact that players keep running into each other over the years (which shouldn’t be the case at NYP; players should only stay there a year or so) and are getting traded for each other, becoming teammates through free agency, etc. I’m not convinced that’s compatible with the “hatred” that he describes.
Any chessplayers out there? This kind of psych-up makes it sound as if Reifer is trying to turn into a baseball-playing Viktor Korchnoi. If he played chess, that wouldn’t be a bad thing — Korch was one of the best players in the world for literally 40 years — but chess is not baseball.
methinks that mentality worked out OK for Bob Gibson
Thanks for doing these interviews! Interesting stuff.
Right, nms, but have you ever heard Gibby hold forth on how different things are today? How some of the stuff in today’s game would have resulted in a pitch stuck in somebody’s ear back when he was playing? And how they treated the other team as The Enemy, none of this palling around? I can’t help but think there’s selective memory going on there, and Gibson was considered a redass even by the standards of his time. Still, I have to wonder whether Reifer’s way of doing it is anachronistic and may get him in some trouble as his career progresses.
I dont think it is a long lived hatred for the players just for the other Jerseys. If that guy is wearing something different from me then I hate him type of thing.
The kid seems old school……I like it.
Hopefully he can rocket through the system so we can have a 7-8-9 of Reifer-Motte-Perez. Would love that kind of firepower in the bullpen.
i kinda hope reifer moves quickly…he could be an interesting trade piece….man i wish he was a lefty
[...] case you missed it, over the weekend I posted interviews with Adam Reifer and Sam [...]
Interesting to see someone refer to himself in the first, second, and third person is the same interview.
hes my cousin :)