Fitness-Conscious Falco Packs Quite a Wallop

When Michael Falco came into the world weighing 10 pounds, the startled doctor remarked, “Look at this boy. He’s huge.”

After four months, he was standing by himself. At eight months, he was walking.

By his teenage years, Falco was lifting weights.

“My nephews came to visit from New York,” said Falco’s mother, Ilana-Marlene. “They looked at him and said, ‘Is this little Michael?’ Myself, when I look at him, I can’t believe this is my little baby.”

Falco’s forearms are 16 1/2 inches and his calves are larger than a cantaloupe.

Put an aluminum bat in his hands, and it’s scary seeing how hard he can hit a baseball.

Body armor might be the equipment pitchers should wear with Falco at the plate.

“What’s Vin Scully’s line? ‘There are few parks that can contain him and that includes Yosemite.’ That’s Michael,” said Coach Bruce Beck of Agoura High.

Falco, a 5-foot-11, 200-pound center fielder without an ounce of body fat, is the Valley’s successor to Brad Fullmer and Gabe Kapler in the physical specimen category.

He’s a young Hercules in a Polo shirt.

“My shirts are a little tight on me,” he said.

Added Beck: “The other coaches drool over him.”

Falco started lifting weights after his sophomore season and the results are overwhelming. Last season as a junior, he batted .405 with nine home runs and 30 runs batted in.

During the summer, he was a key member of the Big League team from Thousand Oaks that won the national championship. In November, he signed with Pepperdine.

“Pound for pound, he’s one of the strongest kids I’ve ever met,” said Coach Scott Drootin of Chaminade, who coached Falco on a Palomino team. “He’s got a great arm, great speed, great attitude and can hammer a ball.”

Falco first displayed great power as a sophomore in a game against Camarillo. He hit a home run that traveled beyond three flag poles behind the left-center field fence, up a hill and over another fence onto the junior varsity field.

“That was pretty amazing,” catcher Nick Hillman said. “Now he does it all the time. He turns his hips so quickly the ball flies off the bat.”

Football coaches at Agoura desperately tried to recruit Falco, especially since he bench presses 330 pounds, but Falco chose to concentrate on baseball.

“He’s just real gifted with muscles,” Hillman said. “A lot of people with his strength and ability could get real cocky. He’s not.”

When he’s playing pickup basketball games against his baseball teammates, no one dares take a charging foul against Falco because running into him is like hitting a brick wall.

Maturity and increased emphasis on practice and workouts helped Falco become one of the region’s most dangerous hitters.

“I didn’t take the game too serious, was laid back and not practicing too strong,” Falco said of his early baseball days. “I had the talent, but talent isn’t going to help you forever.

“After the Area Code games [last summer] and seeing players from all over the country, I learned you have to work your hardest if you want to be the best.”

Falco doesn’t cause trouble only with his bat. Twice this season he has thrown out runners trying to score from second base.

“I love it when I see people rounding third base and I have the ball,” he said.

He also has two saves.

“I’ll go in bases loaded, no outs, we’re up by one, it’s the last inning,” he said. “I love to pitch under those circumstances.”

What separates good players from average players is the ability to improve and adapt with each challenge.

Falco, 19, makes the most of every practice and every learning experience.

“I’ve learned in the past two years, every time you go up at bat, you don’t have to hit a home run,” he said. “They come naturally.

“I’ve learned to relax and take nice, easy swings. Every year, I kept hitting the ball [farther]. Now it’s easy for me to hit it onto the JV field.”

Whether hitting balls for hours in the batting cage or lifting weights relentlessly at the gym, Falco is focused on what he wants to accomplish.

“I love everything about the game,” he said. “My dream is to play professional baseball, and I’ll do anything it takes to get there by working hard.”

Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (8180 772-3422.