R!vAL

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Former New Britain High baseball star Kevin Rival had his pedal to the metal to the extent which the law allows. The cornfields and dairy farms zipped by. If only he could get to Appleton in time.That’s Appleton, Wisconsin, home of the Appleton Foxes of the Midwest League. His new team was playing a night game there and its newest pitcher was on his way.After parts of three seasons playing the independent circuit, Rival finally was on a more direct path to his big-league dream. Rival, 24, was on his way to signing a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers to play Class A ball with the Beloit Snappers."I can’t wait to get there. I want to get there and play," Rival said from his cell phone Saturday as the last leg of his journey neared completion. "I wish they had a uniform ready so I could throw the ninth inning."That wouldn’t be the case. The Snappers won handily. Rival will have to wait for another day, but that day’s coming.Rival’s rise has been dramatic. After graduating from Central Connecticut State University in 2002, he signed a contract with the Johnstown (Pa.) Johnnies of the independent Frontier League.In 12 games (10 starts), the right-hander was 2-8 with a 7.41 ERA. In 54 2/3 innings, he allowed 77 hits, walked 34 and struck out 40. The Johnstown franchise was shifted to Florence, Ky., just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, and Rival went along.His role shifted to the bullpen but his numbers did little to attract attention. In 36 games (32 in relief), he was 0-6 with a 4.05 ERA and six saves. He yielded just 66 hits in 67 innings and struck out 70 but walked 38.It was time to get more serious if he was to make a run at a spot with an affiliated club. He enlisted good friend and Florence Freedom pitching coach Chris Hook to help him out."He made me kill my legs and work on my balance," said Rival, who played second base and outfield in college when he wasn’t pitching. "After we got through working on my balance point, it got a lot easier to throw strikes. I wasn’t lunging anymore. It made it easier to throw hard."Hook, who pitched for the San Francisco Giants in 1995-96, recognized Rival’s potential and was intent on bringing it to the surface."What I saw was a guy with fantastic stuff and a strong arm. But he looked like a guy who was a player transforming into a pitcher. He was poor mechanically," Hook said."We started him in the rotation and it didn’t go well. We decided to put him in middle relief. He wants to be in there every day since he was an everyday player. He did a nice job."We taught him the slider," Hook added. "He had a change but wasn’t getting the counts to use it. We had a joke about keeping his head on the target and his body square. Things just started happening for him. He went after the hitters and was aggressive. He learned how to pitch."Rival’s radar-gun readings reflected his hard work. His velocity was up three miles per hour, sometimes more. He continued his work with Hook and his manager at Florence -- former Cincinnati Reds lefty Tom Browning -- and the outcome was stunning.When he tossed his final pitch for the Freedom, he had a 2-2 record, nine saves and an 0.55 ERA in 25 relief appearances. In 32 2/3 innings, he allowed just two earned runs, 26 hits and a mere nine walks. The strikeouts soared to 43. He was mixing in the change to compliment his fastball and slider. Now major league scouts noticed.The Reds and Dodgers scouted him but the Brewers nabbed him."I think he can pitch, and not just in A-ball," Hook said. "He can locate well now, and knows when to elevate in the zone. His slider is of good quality. I really think he can be a middle guy in big leagues. He has the inner drive."Rival hoped for a crack at Double-A but the Brewers Double-A club was at full strength. The numbers game requires him to test his stuff at low Class A."Personally I think I needed to go to independent ball and learn from Browning and Hook," he said. "I needed to learn how to pitch to people, what to throw them and when. After all, I was playing outfield and infield all my life. Now it’s time to move up."-------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------i work hard,i like to have fun..i used to play baseball,i love my family and i'm an artist.here's prety much my life story..f..
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