Lentz Puts Past Troubles Behind, Looks To Lead Crimson to Ivy Title

Sophomore Brian Lentz is probably going to be a member of the miniscule three percent of Harvard undergraduates that leave without getting a degree.

That fact hardly bothers Lentz, however, as his destination will be somewhere a little more glamorous--a major league ballpark near you.

Lentz, the Crimson's starting catcher, is the key component on a baseball team that will thrive on pitching. He is a solid hitter (.283 last season with 16 RBI and five stolen bases), but his main strengths come behind the plate, where his game-calling ability and accurate arm make any pitcher feel at ease-- and any baserunner think twice before stealing.

"I take a lot of pride in calling a good game and making a pitcher look good, doing all the little things," Lentz, last season's All-Ivy first team catcher, says. "The reason catching lacks in pro baseball is that a lot of guys aren't enthusiastic about the position, but I've been catching since I was five."

While he will no doubt have a storied career before he leaves Harvard, his road to college ball is just as interesting.

Raised in Manchester, Mass., Lentz was the consummate jock during his time at St. John's Prep, a regional school in Danvers, Mass. His senior year, Lentz was a tailback on the nationally-ranked football team, starred on a hockey squad that was in the Super Eight and led the best baseball team in the state. He was always playing something, and the powers that be in baseball noticed.

"I always had a lot of exposure when I was younger, as I played on some national teams, including the 16-year old national team that beat the Cubans twice during the Pan Am Games," Lentz says. "So my senior year came and I was draft-eligible, and people were talking about me all over the place. Catchers tend to go a lot higher than people expect, because there's a shortage of them."

Lentz was in a position to go as high as the third or fourth round. Local scouts, followed by national cross-checkers (scouts who follow certain players), kept an eye on Lentz. At least twenty clubs contacted the all-star catcher, with the most persistent being the Red Sox, Reds, Royals and Padres. But Lentz was skeptical.

"I got to the point that, well the way I was raised--both my parents are college-educated--playing ball right out of school was not something I wanted to do," Lentz says.

His first shot at college baseball, however, was disappointing.

"My No. 1 choice, no-holds-barred--meaning I was ready in October of my senior year [1997] to commit--was Stanford on a scholarship," Lentz recounts. "I was out there in October, turned in my application and it was supposed to be a done deal in a week because the admissions officers were looking at all the baseball players then."

Stanford wasn't impressed.

"They wouldn't let me in," Lentz says. "They said they had never admitted a baseball player with under a 3.0 [GPA]...my grades were just too low in high school."

While the rejection hurt, Lentz still wanted to go to college.

In March he was accepted at both Harvard and Yale and thought about his options. Lentz was worried about rejecting a possible offer from a big league team after being drafted in a early round. He consulted with Lennie Merullo, a friend who ran Major League Baseball's scouting department in the Northeast and was a former major league infielder to boot.

"Mr. Merullo knows all the local guys who were thinking of signing me, and I told him that I wasn't going to sign, that I didn't want to be drafted by some team and have them pissed off at me when I'm draft-eligible again," Lentz says. "So I wrote a letter which he forwarded to all the teams."

Lentz entered Harvard in the fall of 1998 and almost immediately began having problems. Signed by Harvard football coach Tim Murphy as a football recruit as well, Lentz twisted his knee before the football season started and needed arthroscopic surgery to remove some of the cartilage. At that point he decided to drop football and concentrate on catching.

But he messed up again.

"Beginning the second semester, I was already on academic probation," Lentz says. "I just wasn't taking it seriously, blowing it off, and spring came around. I missed a Sunday morning baseball practice--slept through it--and [Harvard Coach Joe] Walsh cut me from the team."

Having already been in trouble earlier in the year for an alcohol-related incident, Coach Walsh was sending Lentz a clear message--clean up your act.

The freshman had a decision to make.

"It's tough...when you need that [achievement in high school athletics] to get into a school like Harvard. You never have that option of taking some time off after high school," Lentz says. "When things began to go bad, I decided I couldn't avoid the problems. I decided the best thing would be to get out of here for a couple months."

Lentz withdrew from Harvard for the spring semester and had to re-enroll in 1999 as a freshman. He came back and started every game behind the plate and was one of the few Crimson players who had a successful season. Though the team overall had trouble getting the bats going, Lentz finished first in on-base percentage (.363), second in hits (39), and third in RBI.

More importantly, he helped develop the young pitching squad that Walsh depended on. Lentz only allowed four passed balls and gunned down 19 of 55 (34.5 percent) potential base-stealers.

He was also a clutch offensive power. In an early season double-header at Cornell, Lentz drove in Harvard's only runs in a 2-1 victory. In the second game, he hit a game-winning triple in the ninth inning.

If the Crimson wants to return to form after a lackluster 2000 season, Lentz's all-around game must figure prominently in Coach Walsh's plans. Moreover, this season might be the last in which the Crimson can rely on the man in the mask for leadership: He may bolt at the end of the year.

According to the rules of Major League Baseball, once a player enters a four-year college he is draft-eligible after three years or when he is 21.

Lentz qualifies either way.

"I think the problem is that I'm a sophomore, and I always knew that when you go to college you lose a lot of bargaining power with the pro guys because there's nowhere else for you to go after your eligibility's up," he says. "I always knew I would like to leave early for that reason, but I always wanted to be in a position to leave only two semesters away from graduation."

It might be a moot point a year from now if Lentz can't reclaim the eligibility of his first freshman year. Scouts still badger him with calls and the pressure is intense to make the hop to the big leagues. Lentz is so tired of it that he has made it known to major league teams that most calls should go to Merullo first.

"After a while, you just don't want to talk on the phone anymore," Lentz says.

Obviously it's hard to keep a low profile when many consider you the best catcher in New England. While Lentz appreciates the accolades, he knows that New England is just small beans.

"It's kind of irrelevant," Lentz says. "I would never want to be known as the best catcher in New England--I would like to be known one day as the best catcher in baseball."

He'll have to wait a while for that title and focus on the Crimson's impending season. While he's been in plenty of academic and disciplinary trouble in the past, Lentz feels that he has some of those more destructive impulses under control.

"I think more than anything it's a matter of maturity," he says. "I think a kid like me coming to college--well none of this [the off-field distractions] was new to me, it was stuff we did in high school. I don't mind making mistakes as long as I learn from them."

The Crimson and Walsh hope he has. Though Lentz might play next year's Opening Day in front of thousands of fans, the team needs him and his defense here and now to reclaim the Ivy League championship.