Few Highline players have had as big an impact or received as many accolades as Ben Guidos from the  Class of 2006.  Ben was named the Seamount League MVP, Seattle Times All-Area, First Team All State and State 3A Player of the Year. We caught up with Ben recently and he fielded a few questions about his baseball career as a "Rat" and a "Dawg.".

HARDBALL:  You actually played a number of different sports growing up and were pretty well accomplished at all of them.  What made you decide to focus on baseball?

GUIDOS:  I basically tried to play as many sports as long as I could until my ability in one sport made the decision clear and easy.  I always put my focus 100% into whichever sport I was playing at the time.  I played baseball, soccer, tennis, basketball, and dabbled a bit in golf.  Though I still continued to play basketball through high school, I knew that if there were a possibility for me to play a sport in college, it would be in baseball.  I enjoyed the competition of all of the sports, but the mental battle that is prevalent in baseball is what really had me hooked.

HARDBALL:  You were a prolific hitter at the high school level and now you are a "pitcher only."  Do you ever miss stepping into the batter’s box? 

 GUIDOS:  I do and I don’t.  I love the opportunity I have now, being able to compete on the mound at the Division 1 level.  Sometimes I wonder how successful I could be hitting at the college level, but there are very few players at this level that can split their focus between two such difficult tasks and be successful at either.  I came in with two players in my recruiting class that both hit and pitched, Brian Pearl and Jacob Clem.  Both eventually became “pitchers only” and I believe the mound is the best place for me as well.  However, whenever I get a chance to take pitcher’s batting practice, I represent for the Pirates with a handful of dead pull line drives down the right field line.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss hitting, but I know that pitching is where I am going to be the greatest asset to the team.

 GUIDOS:  The only lingering effect or concern I have is paying attention to my health.  In order to keep myself from having to sit out anymore games due to injury I make it a point to spend a good amount of time in the training room and the weight room doing what we call “pre-hab.”  Rather than waiting for an injury to occur and rehabilitating the damage done, I focus on doing what I can to prevent the injury from ever occurring. 

GUIDOS:  We talk about this all the time in the meeting rooms here as a Husky.  You have to be able to flip on that switch when you need to.  Whether it is when you wake up on game day, or when you walk through the gate, or when you lace up your cleats, there is a time when you switch into game mode and everything else besides baseball becomes irrelevant.  I have always felt like anybody who was in the other dugout, was trying to take a win from myself and my teammates.  If someone were to walk into my house and try to take my TV I wouldn’t be nice to them, so why should I be kind to my opponent?  Not everyone has to talk trash and embody the bully persona, but it worked for me.  It definitely helped my on base percentage as I got hit by something like 14 pitches my senior year.

HARDBALL:  Highline won two league titles during your four years. They hadn't won one since 1979 and haven't won one since then. What did those teams you played on have that made them so competitive.

GUIDOS:  The answer is in the question…we competed.  We knew how to win and we wanted it more than the ballplayers we faced on the other side of the diamond.  The teams that won league championships weren’t the most talented teams I played for, but both teams were very driven and confident in their ability to compete.  I can’t count how many times we beat people late in games, simply because we knew how to win.  We applied the pressure to the other team, and if they didn’t know how to handle it, which most of them didn’t, they crumbled.  Anybody can have the talent necessary to win a league championship, but if you don’t compete with that talent, it doesn’t matter.

HARDBALL:  Highline has ten seniors and 14 returning letterman this year.   Do you have any words of wisdom to pass along to the current team?  

GUIDOS:  There’s a lot I could say, but one thing that I think was the main problem with our talented team my Junior year, was that this is bigger than you as an individual.  You are just one small part, of a complicated machine, that when working well can do amazing things.  Don’t let personal problems or distractions take away from what the team can accomplish.  You have the talent, you have the coaching, play this season in such a way that when you look back, you have no regrets.  Your years in high school will be some of the most joyful of your life, and the bonds you make playing the game of baseball are precious.  I hope  you understand that.  Go Pirates.