Chadwick Catcher Seneker Balances Books and Bats : Prep Baseball: He is batting .537 to lead Dolphins, but manages to find time for academics.

He dons the “tools of ignorance” every day, but Todd Seneker is no ignorant catcher.

Seneker plays baseball for Chadwick School in Palos Verdes Estates, where the future doctors, lawyers and rocket scientists outnumber the prospective professional athletes by a ratio of about 100-1.

“You definitely have to learn to manage your time,” Seneker said.

Especially when you’re 17, are for calling all the pitches in Chadwick’s games, and are stuck in the middle of a 3,000-word fiction writing project for class.

“It’s always amazing to me what these kids are able to do on the field with all the academic stress they’re under,” Chadwick baseball Coach Jim Drennen said.

So far, what Seneker has done on the field is rattle up a team-leading .537 batting average and drive in 22 runs for a Chadwick team that will be the No. 2 entry from the Prep League in next week’s Southern Section Small Schools Division playoffs.

Chadwick is 11-5 and finished 5-3 in league play, a game behind first-place Pasadena Poly. Poly beat visiting Chadwick on Tuesday behind the three-hit, 14-strikeout pitching of left-hander Todd Dietrick.

One of the three hits off Dietrick was Seneker’s double.

“Todd’s a real quiet kid except for what he does on the field,” Drennen said. “He’s not a rah-rah type of guy, but everybody knows we all look to Todd to handle the ball with the game on the line. He’s just a competent all-around ballplayer.”

Seneker has been a good hitter since batting .370 as a freshman. Seneker, Chadwick’s No. 3 hitter, and first baseman Mike Harris (.400, five home runs) are the Dolphins’ top offensive threats.

Seneker runs well enough for a catcher to turn some of his line drives into extra bases. He has six doubles, three triples and a home run among his 22 hits.

But the Dolphins look to Seneker for big plays on defense as well. Drennen put Seneker behind the plate in his sophomore year, and the 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior’s catching skills have improved steadily since.

This year, Seneker has thrown out 68% of the base runners trying to steal against him. He’s even picked runners off base while throwing from his knees.

“Todd can gun people down at all three bases,” Drennen said. “He’s a blue-collar catcher. He works hard all the time and does all the things that aren’t a lot of fun to do.”

Drennen also looks to Seneker to take charge of the game from his command post behind the plate. The Dolphins are a young team, with only two senior starters on the 16-man roster.

“If I have to call one or two pitches a game, that’s a lot,” Drennen said. “Todd is really good at helping the pitchers change speeds and locations and keeping hitters off balance.”

This season, Seneker has worked closely with sophomore right-hander Mac McKinnie, who has emerged as Chadwick’s ace. McKinnie is 4-2 with an earned-run average of 1.14, and one reason for that success is the understanding between pitcher and catcher.

“Mac’s not an overpowering pitcher, but he’s got great location,” Seneker said. “The best thing about him is if I set up in a certain spot, Mac will hit it. He knows what I want to do and I know what he wants to do. If we win the game, the pitcher gets the credit, but I feel like I’ve done my job if I’ve helped him along.”

McKinnie, right-hander Tom Mayrhofer and relief specialist Brad Cebeci have kept Chadwick’s team ERA at a steady 3.40, with Seneker’s guidance.

Seneker became a catcher almost by accident, but he doesn’t regret it.

“They just kind of stuck me back there one day in Little League,” he said. “But for some reason I loved it. You have control of the game, you can see the whole field, and it makes you think. It’s challenging.”

And, like almost everything else at Chadwick, it takes serious study.

During a family vacation to Florida in March, Seneker got a chance to watch Kansas City Royal catcher Bob Boone in a spring training game at the Royals’ Baseball City, Fla., facility. Seneker videotaped Boone in action and has analyzed the tapes in slow-motion on his VCR at home.

Watching Boone has helped Seneker throw out more runners this season. He also discovered a flaw in his throwing motion that led to a sore elbow last year. Seneker saw that the 41-year-old Boone keeps his arm high when he throws, which puts less strain on the elbow.

“Todd’s analytical about the game, but he keeps things in perspective,” Drennen said. “He realizes baseball isn’t brain surgery every day.”

But that doesn’t stop Seneker from wanting to take the game up to the next level. Seneker, who quarterbacked Chadwick’s football team this year and played fullback on the Dolphin soccer team, has aspirations of playing baseball in two years at a big-name Division I college.

He has his sights set on Stanford, where the academics are as challenging as athletics.

“I’m sure I can play at a big-time college,” Seneker said. “I might not excel right away, but if I work hard I can make it.”

Seneker’s older brother, Mark, 21, was an undersized third baseman at Chadwick who was good enough to play in the South Bay All-Star Game in 1987. Mark Seneker is now playing baseball at Cornell University.

The elder Seneker is one of four Chadwick products in Division I baseball ranks. Adam Schwindt is a pitcher at the University of San Diego, Greg O’Riordan is pitching at Fordham, and Jeff Karnes is an infielder at Bucknell.

Drennen doesn’t think Chadwick’s small size and relative lack of exposure will hurt Seneker when he goes to choose a college.

“If a kid is a good player, then coaches realize that,” Drennen said. “If you come from a smaller school, sometimes you have to work a little harder to prove you’re a good player. But baseball is still baseball, and stats are stats.”