Simpson excels at next levels

BURLINGTON — Austin Simpson has the same dream as many have who play sports. Make it as a professional in your favorite athletic endeavor.

To further that career goal Simpson has played baseball in the Prospect League the past two seasons after his high school career as a Trojan ended and after his first two seasons at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington. Simpson will attend Quincy College this fall and is planning a business major.

Fairfield High School coach Josh Allison said Simpson has the attributes to excel because he was a “Great leader, tremendous defensive first baseman and had a great batting average.”

It helps that he has a 6-foot-4 build with 235 pounds packed on it.

“Austin is a competitor and wants to be great at his craft,” Allison said. “Even back as an incoming freshman in high school, he would be down in the cages working on his swing. I knew that work ethic would help him reach his goals.”

The main difference of playing for Fairfield and playing for the Burlington Bees is the travel.

“We’re traveling every other day then we’re playing at home. There’s a lot of time on the road but the bus rides are not like the school bus ride, just a lot nicer.”

In college there’s a lot of travel as well so getting schoolwork done is a challenge although there is only one school night a week with a doubleheader. “You just have to prioritize. Two doubleheaders on the weekend so I make sure to discipline myself and get the homework done during the week so you’re not worried about it when you’re traveling. You can focus on the game that way.”

Another noticeable difference is the amount of fans and the amount of games.

"It’s just constant movement and I like that. I’m always around the field so it’s great. I’m not going to complain when I’m outside every day playing.“

He calls it playing but practicing to improve at a sport takes constant work to step up to the upgrade in the talent.

“The competition is better and you get to meet people from everywhere and I really like that. People I know I see on other teams, from having played with or against them. It just seems like being around baseball means you know half the world.“

Then he added a qualifier. ”Well the baseball world anyway, the world that counts.“

There is a plan, a method to the constant life on the road and the play between the lines.

“I want to play at the highest level possible,” Simpson said. “Every goal I achieved, I’d make another one so that’s how life works. You can never settle. You have to keep moving forward constantly, keep working, keep working harder and I will just work my tail off and see what happens.”

Hopefully the business career can wait until the baseball career is over and hopefully the baseball career isn’t over until he’s played in the major leagues.

Better competition and more competition helps one grow as a player and elevate to the level of the competition. Simpson was often above the competition at Fairfield.

Simpson helped the Trojans post a 26-5 record as a senior, 30-9 as a junior, 26-12 sophomore year and 27-8 freshman season.

Simpson’s senior year in Fairfield produced a state-leading 16 home runs (tied with two others) and his slugging percentage (SLG) was third at 1.065.

Simpson’s 99 total bases were second in Class 3A. His batting average of .473 was fifth behind teammate Kosta Papazogolou’s fourth-place .474. His runs batted in total of 49 was third in the class. His on-base percentage (OBP) was sixth at .571. He laced seven doubles and drew 17 bases on balls. He was one of 15 players in Class 3A with seven strikeouts or less. He had a fielding percentage of .989 with just two errors.

Simpson’s junior year brought eight doubles, 10 home runs, 47 RBIs, .339 batting average, .498 OBP, .679 SLG, 29 walks, 18 Ks, and his fielding was at .984 with four errors.

Simpson’s sophomore season saw him connect on nine doubles and four home runs with 54 runs batted in while batting .433 with a .507 OBP. He had 15 walks, five strikeouts, 73 bases, .433 batting average, .507 OBP, .608 SLG, and had eight errors for his .968 fielding statistic.

As a freshman, Simpson started all 35 games and struck out 10 times with 11 walks. He hit one homer and 13 doubles while batting .368 with a .451 on-base percentage and 55 total bases. His slugging percentage was .618 with 38 RBI. He made two errors for a .990 fielding percentage.

After going 0-for-3 in stolen base attempts as a sophomore, he was 3-for-4 as a junior and 4-for-4 his senior year.

In 15 games played as a freshman at Southeastern Community College, he had one home run, he hit .326 with 11 RBIs, 14 runs and seven stolen bases. He had a lone error.

His sophomore season was 34 games, .317 BA, seven home runs, 39 RBI, .490 OBP and .594 SLG. He had two errors for a .991 fielding percentage.

Simpson doesn’t take anything for granted. He can’t. Most of the 2020 season was lost to the pandemic.

“Because of Covid, it really wasn’t that big of a season. Covid was hard on everybody,” Simpson said. “Getting used to the lockdown and not being able to do anything was frustrating but to shut down high schools was sad.“

There were 23 of the 57 games the Blackhawks played lost when his favorite sphere injured him.

During batting practice, his coach is hitting balls for him to field. As a ball is hit, Simpson fields one and turns to look to throw to the guy shagging all the balls.

“Next thing I know there’s another ball coming, takes a bad hop and hits me in the head so I was out for the season after that,” Simpson said.

With two whole seasons not whole for him, the Prospect League was just the ticket for a baseball junkie to get his fill.

The Prospect League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. So as to maintain their college eligibility, players are not paid.

Simpson, a first baseman, was hitting league pitching well enough to carry a .312 batting average in 42 games.

Simpson has 154 trips to the plate and scored 33 runs. Of his 48 hits, six have been doubles and he tagged four home runs. Simpson has batted in 23 runs, struck out 24 times, drawn 15 walks and been hit by a pitch seven times.

He has found the time to get to his sister Hannah Simpson’s softball games this past season.

"We share insight all the time. She racked up some big numbers and she’s got another year to play. I tell my sister not to swing for the hills on every pitch.“

With baseball a constant, he played football and basketball until his senior year. “I didn’t play football because I was traveling for baseball. Hannah has her own life and she needs to make her own decisions if she’s not going to go out for basketball, that’s her choice, her life, whatever is best for her.”

She’s got an older brother to look up to and his choice to play baseball instead of football definitely helped.

“It was a matter of playing the game I love and facing better competition which prepared me for the game at the next level. The exposure I got made a difference and it was fun.”

In much the same way the Prospect League and college ball gives him more at bats as he stays in the game, stays on the field, stays around baseball, stays sharp, sees different pitching, and the most important stay. “I stay competitive and that helps me keep a competitive edge. The more I’m around the field, the happier I am.”

Simpson learned crucial elements of his game from Coach Allison. Stay on an even keel, especially mentally. Control body language and thoughts, which is really key with baseball because it’s such a mental sport.

“I had great coaches that helped me learn these things, Josh Allison and Corey Klehm. I look at the next part of the game as learning to control my actions and my thoughts. I thank all my coaches for what they taught me.”

With his college major going to business he wants to keep it broad, “so that I keep my options open then I can branch off into some specific areas if available. Quincy has a good program but I chose them because of their baseball.”

Now that he is at the next level, Simpson’s game has elevated in a number of areas. His defense has definitely improved. He has learned how to hit the ball the other way.

“It’s so important to be a threat everywhere not just on the pull side. That’s really helped me out a lot.”

Simpson’s knowledge has increased just from the amount of time he spends around other players but he has put effort into elevating his knowledge.

“Anything that entered my brain I have retained in regards to baseball,” Simpson said. “Anything I’ve learned playing through my whole life still is with me today and I’m still using it.”

Even the pickup games growing up in Fairfield have contributed to the Intelligence Quotient of Simpson.

Collegiate pitchers know a lot more, so much more. It’s not about just throwing strikes. Most of them have a plan and set up an at bat so that they have a plan as to what combination of pitches is going to get the out.

“Every now and then in high school, you run across a good pitcher and that just happens more often at this level,” Simpson said. “But the high school guys, even the good ones, I don’t think they thought ahead like they do at this level.”

Simpson is thinking ahead, making the plan, a method to the constant life on the road and the play between the lines.

“I want to play at the highest level possible,” Simpson said. “Every goal I achieved, I’d make another one so that’s how life works. You can never settle. You have to keep moving forward constantly, keep working, keep working harder and I will just work my tail off and see what happens.”

Hopefully the business career can wait until the baseball career is over and hopefully the baseball career isn’t over until he’s played in the major leagues.

The Prospect League did not go as planned though.

"It’s not going as well as we thought it would. With being on a new team I expected us to do better.“

Simpson left the team before the season was over.

“We didn't issue press releases this season for roster changes,” Bees general manager Tad Lowary said. “As for Austin Simpson, I don't have any details as to why he left the team. For most of the players it was just a decision they made on their own for any number of reasons.”