DPS article

After a long, hot summer season, Bradley Ramsden has finally returned to his home, Ronald K. Drews field, at Sarasota high School. The high school sophomore jumped straight back into football after his summer baseball season and won a spot on varsity as a quarterback. "It is tough trying to transfer back to football after two months of baseball because the mechanics in the throwing motions are completely different," mentions the two-sport athlete but Ramsden is no stranger to this. He has been playing baseball since he was three years of age and football since he was ten. The star athlete says," I have been playing baseball for a long time so after football season, it is like riding a bike, i just start playing and it all comes back to me, but after my long summer of baseball, it was tough converting back into a quarterback." Ramsden played for the Florida Burn over summer, a nationally ranked program with over 20 different players moving on to the collegiate level last season. " The coaching staff for the Burn is what i like so much about the program because they always switch up our positions to give us a feel for every position." Ramsden started as a shortstop at the beginning of the season but after he got switched to play outfield for just one inning, he loved it so much that he stayed out in the green grass for the rest of the season. Over the two month summer of baseball, Ramsden played in 13 tournaments with his team, and individually playing a total of 314 innings himself. Ramsden made just 4 errors all summer and in 173 at bats, Ramsden struck out just 9 times. Ramsden had a batting average of .341 over summer with 41 singles, 11 doubles,  3 triples, and 4 home runs." I am very proud of how i played over summer, i saw major improvement in my overall game and i cannot wait to see what next high school season has in store for me," said Ramsden.  As a team, The Florida Burn platinum went 39-11 over summer placing them at number three in the nation. They won 8 tournaments including the WWBA 16u world championships and the Perfect Game 16u national championship.The athlete said, " Football season was tough on my body, I am not a big guy and as a quarterback for a triple option offense, i was getting tackled almost 20 times per game." Ramsden suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the 8th week of the season that caused a lot of fear for head baseball coach, Clyde Metcalf. The legendary coach has been running this baseball program for over 50 years now." This baseball program has a history of producing great players and it is amazing that my guys are playing other sports but it always scares me when i watch them play football or basketball because i know they are way more prone to an injury. Ramsden is one of my better underclassmen and i can only hope that his injury does not affect his baseball season. The kid will go places." Last season, now collegiate baseball player at the University of Central Florida, Jack Duffy, who also played basketball for Sarasota High School, suffered a knee injury during basketball season. He did not have the senior season he was hoping for so we will see what how Ramsden overcomes this injury. Ramsden said, " I have been seeing the training staff and i can tell my ankle is progressing, it is just a matter of time before i am back to 100%, but i should be fine before baseball season starts." This Sarasota High baseball team is full of great potential all over the field and Ramsden just adds more." The toughest part of the high school season is trying to juggle baseball and acedemics," said Ramsden who is taking college level classes at the AICE program at Sarasota High School." Coach Metcalf always says academics comes first. If we ever need to miss a practice for school work, we are always welcome to do that. It sucks that the state tournament is happening right during finals week becuase i know i will be excited for the playoffs but i also have to focus on my school work." Ramsden has a 4.4 gpa and is a straight-A student.  Hoping for a Florida state championship run this year, the Sailors have started preparing for the season and Ramsden is grinding to earn a spot on this heavily stacked varsity baseball team. There are six seniors and ten juniors who earned a spot in the program last year. Nobody is for sure on the team yet, but Ramsden is a top prospect for this program and the sailors hope to continue the tradition of baseball success.