Midway through his senior season, Jacksonville Routt’s Conrad Charpentier was getting a little annoyed.
He was 3-3 with an ERA approaching 2.00. He couldn’t pitch to his expectations and was frustrated.
His little brother, sophom*ore A.J. Charpentier, came through with some advice usually doled out by big brothers.
“Actually ... A.J., he was the first one that noticed what I was doing before — I was coming over the top more and trying to pull down more (to)create more velocity,” Charpentier said. “He's like, ‘Maybe try to drop your arm down just a little bit, it might cause more movement and a little less velo, but you might want to want the movement over the velo.’
“When I did that, my velo actually didn't drop that much and I was gaining more movement on the fastball. I’ve got to thank my little brother for that; your little brother is not someone you're always looking for advice from but, you know,I was open to anything at that point. I haven't thanked him, but I need to for that, because he helped me a lot.”
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Charpentier won his final six decisions to finish 9-3 with a 1.41 ERA over 79 2/3 innings pitched. He finished with 104 strikeouts against 22 walks and helped Routt (33-8) to a Class 1A third-place state tournament finish. For his efforts, he was named an Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 1A All-State team pick and earned The State Journal-Register's Small School Baseball Player of the Year award.
“He did everything that we asked of him and beyond,” Routt coach Ryan Turner said. “You know, not only what he provided for us on the mound as far as just being the anchor of our staff, we knew the game that he was going to go out there, we had a very good chance of winning — no matter who we were playing.”
Hitting his lofty expectations
Charpentier committed to play baseball at Lincoln Land Community College, along with fellow all-state teammate, Nolan Turner. That took a load off his shoulders and allowed him to focus on the upcoming senior season.
Following his 8-1 season in 2023 with a 1.86 ERA, he sought to have a career-defining season. It wasn’t until the season drew closer to the end that he found that level.
“My last five outings — really starting in the conference championship and then all the way up until the third-place game — it's what I was capable of,” Charpentier said. “I had my first start of the season when we were down in Memphis (and it) was good. But then I struggled. I don't know if it was because like this year, coach Turner put me on the mound against the best teams we played: Chatham, (Sacred Heart-Griffin), Piasa Southwestern, Jacksonville High School, you know, some of the big(Central State Eight Conference)schools and some of the bigger schools that we play.
“I wanted the ball, as an athlete, as a competitor. I knew I've had better performances, and I knew I was better than that.”
In 15 appearances, he threw 1,247 pitches. Somewhere in the middle of the season, he bucked the norm and started throwing more fastballs.
“In that conference championship game, I lowered my release point a little bit, and I stopped relying so much on my off-speed,” Charpentier said. “I started throwing more fastballs — which a lot of times when pitchers are having trouble and they're getting hit around and stuff, it's because they're not throwing enough off-speed, but I did the opposite. I started throwing more fastballs, and that worked.
“I was glad to have figured that out. It was something like just lowering my release point and throwing more fastballs, like something as easy as that really turned me around. I wasn't having a terrible year, but ... I wasn't very happy with how my season was going.”
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More than capable at the plate
Charpentier hit .374 (46-for-123) with a team-high 45 RBIs, 43 runs scored, 15 extra-base hits and he stole 16 bases. One of those extra-base hits was a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning to give Routt a 12-0 walk-off win over Delavan in the 1A Mendon Unity Sectional championship game. If that’s his last homer, he made it memorable. He will likely be exclusively a pitcher in college.
“That moment, for my baseball career so far, definitely goes in the top three; if not number one,” Charpentier said.
Though Charpentier knows his future is on the mound, his coach said he was vital at the plate.
“Just sitting there in the middle of our order offensively and he turned into a pretty darn good little hitter, as well,” Turner said of Charpentier. “He had a great season offensively and was the leader in RBIs. And just had an outstanding season, all around.
“I think he's more of a hitter than he gives himself credit for maybe. And he just really performed well this year. He finds his way on base, he battles counts, he would foul and fight off pitches and work a lot of long counts and has a good recognition of the strike zone.”
Charpentier struck out just 19 times in 167 plate appearances. It was a mindset change, more than anything, he said.
“I tried to make hitting simpler, if that makes sense,” Charpentier said. “I'm someone that tends to overthink things andjust trying to make trying to make it simpler.
“It's also thinking positively too, becauseyou're considered a great hitter if you succeed three out of 10 times. I took that into account and during (last year’s) travel ball season, I really started every day, hitting off the tee, doing soft toss, stuff like that; just having a bat my hand almost every day.”
Contact Ryan Mahan:788-1546,ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Conrad Charpentier: SJ-R's Small School Baseball Player of the Year
