In the Locker Room With Josh Frenkel

As the sound of spit sunflower seeds and the smell of slow-roasted peanuts seeped into my senses I swiveled to the baseball stadium and found first-year Josh Frenkel.

Where are you from?
JF: Madison, Wisconsin, but I was born in New York.

Where in New York?
JF: Chappaqua. I’m embarrassed to say it now because it’s so yuppie.

Are there a lot of Wisconsin athletes at Oberlin?
JF: Ethan Witkovsky [men’s basketball] is from Madison. We go way back to elementary school basketball.

Did you know back then that he would be a collegiate basketball player?
JF: He was tall.

Do you still play basketball?
JF: I play intramural basketball. I dominate the boards. I’m on team Kazaam. We had a sick team but then all of us left to play spring sports.

Did you win the intramural championship?
JF: We weren’t that good. We were probably the best all-freshman team.

What position do you play in baseball?
JF: I’m a pitcher and a benchwarmer, sometimes.

How many pitchers are there?
JF: I think 10.

Is it usual to have a bunch of pitchers?
JF: We actually don’t have as many as some schools. When you play four games a weekend, you have four different starters and four relief guys.

For how long have you been pitching?
JF: I pitched in Little League but I’ve been doing it seriously since my junior year in high school.

How do you get your pitching technique?
JF: I went to some camps and I do a lot of drills in front of the mirror and some stuff without a baseball.

Was the big mirror that appeared in Jones Fieldhouse this year for you?
JF: I like to think they put it in for me, but no one else would agree with that. It’s broken now but I won’t take the blame for that.

Was it men’s lacrosse or baseball who broke it?
JF: I’m going to say it was men’s lacrosse.

How was your baseball Spring Break trip to Florida?
JF: I forgot my wallet with my credit cards, my ID, my license and I felt really stupid and I sort of had to beg to get on the plane.

But they let you on. So it’s all a myth that you need 31 forms of ID to fly now?
JF: I had an Oberlin ID. They gave me that secret number where you get searched at every checkpoint. I got searched several times. I thoroughly deny that I enjoy getting searched.

The Oberlin baseball team recently beat Case at Jacobs Field. What was it like to play at an MLB stadium?
JF: It was amazing. It’s almost indescribable, the feeling you get when you walk onto the field. Even though the dimensions are the same, the stands go up forever.

Are you an Indians fan?
JF: Not really, I’ll root for them because my grandpa does but I’m not a hardcore fan.

Do you have a favorite MLB team?
JF: My most favorite is the Mets. The NY Mets. Then the Milwaukee Brewers. They’ve had a rough stretch for about 25 years now. But their farm system is pretty solid. They’ll be looking good in about five years.

You’re in the training room a lot. Are you injured?
JF: This is something I take a lot of flack for. I believe in preventing injuries by warming up well and doing exercises before you get hurt.

What sort of things do you do?
JF: I heat with the heat packs a lot. You know the big physio balls? I do some goofy stuff on there. I haven’t been sidelined for an injury.

So it’s working.
JF: Yeah.

Do you have the record for the most uses of the training room?
JF: In one year?

Sure.
JF: I honestly wouldn’t be surprised, but I like to think not. I would never live that down if I had a record.

Do you play table tennis?
JF: Ping pong?

Yes, they are starting a team [see page 14]. Would you want to be on it?
JF: That’s amazing. A ping pong talent like myself...yeah, I think I’d play. I would also be interested in a dodgeball team.

Back to baseball. How’s the season?
JF: Steadily improving.

What was your season low?
JF: I hit a bunch of batters in one game. Four in one inning, I think. I’m pretty sure I’m the conference leader for most in an inning.

Four in a row?
JF: It was pretty close. They were all 0-2 curve balls. So I was throwing well but then I kept hitting guys.

So you brought someone home solely on hit batters?
JF: I gave up more runs than hits by other people and walks. I gave up one or two hits and one walk but then four runs because I hit four people. If you take that away I pitched well. It’s been uphill from there.

An uphill battle?
JF: No, uphill good.

How are the other pitchers faring?
JF: There’s Joe Reisz, the man who cannot get out of the way of a baseball hit back to him. He’s gotten hit at least two times this year while pitching.

Has he been seriously injured?
JF: He got hit in the hand and hurt a finger pretty badly. He got hit in the knee once.

Is he on a reflex regimen?
JF: We’ve tried a few things. We’ve thrown stuff at him to try and have him get out of the way.

What do you throw?
JF: Baseballs, grapes, tables.

Any closing thoughts?
JF: I’d like to point out that I’ve been doing well in my last few appearances.

No hit batters?
JF: Like one, but I have not been giving up runs or walks, which is the key thing.
 
 

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