Local children get some pitching tips during annual youth baseball clinic
About 100 children from various Boys & Girls Club chapters got a chance to brush up on their baseball skills with some Los Angeles Dodgers alumni this week.
While the team was out playing in Chicago, the Dodgers organization and Bank of America held their annual youth baseball clinic Wednesday morning at an empty Dodger Stadium.
Although the seats were empty, the outfield was full of enthusiastic children from several Boys & Girls Club chapters, which included a group of about 20 children from the Burbank and Greater East Valley chapter.
One of the children who was eager to get in some practice was 11-year-old Lukas Beltran, who has been playing in Little League since he was 3 years old.
It was his fourth year participating in the clinic, but Lukas said he is always learning something new about how to play the game.
“I’ve learned how to have more fun when I play, but still play the game as good as you can possibly be,” he said.
Lukas said that he’s currently playing a few positions — first baseman, third baseman and pitcher — but he was excited on Wednesday to get some practice time in the bullpen with former Dodgers pitcher Dennis Powell, who played for Los Angeles in 1985 and 1986 and has been at every youth clinic since they started in 2004.
Before letting the children toss a few pitches to catchers who were about 40 feet away, the Dodger alumnus quickly but clearly taught them the fundamentals of a pitch.
He showed them where to stand on the mound, which leg they should be kicking up and how to follow through with their pitch.
After giving them the rundown, Powell let the children have at it, and he said he was pleasantly surprised at the potential of some of the kids, including Lukas.
“Some of those kids had strong arms,” Powell said, adding that he had to push the catchers back to 60 feet — the distance that professional pitchers throw from — for the children who were managing to throw hard strikes.
While many of the children there were happy to get a chance to hone their baseball skills, there were many of them who were just happy to be standing on the outfield at Dodger Stadium.
Jay Jackson, athletic director for the Boys & Girls Club’s Burbank chapter, said he often reminds children who participate in the clinic, whether they have gone for several years or if it’s their first time, to enjoy and embrace these moments in their lives.
“It’s all about moments, and you never forget those moments in your life when you’re a kid,” Jackson said. “You carry them throughout your life and you pass them on. These kids are going to go home, and they’re going to talk about their experience here with their parents. And when they become parents, they’re going to talk about this experience with their kids.”
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
