KING OF THE HILL; MATT STROUP: SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Matt Stroup walks with a nonchalant gait that indicates he's in no rush. It appears like every day is a walk on the beach, as if everything will work itself out.

This has to be eerie to opposing batters.

Stroup, expressionless, catches the ball from the catcher, moseys around the pitching mound as if trying to hypnotize his prey, lull him to sleep. You couldn't tell if he has struck out 10 in a row or allowed four straight hits. He stares in, hardly sweating. Cool as a Devil could be.

Then, SNAP!

The silence is interrupted by leather meeting leather. Strike one.

Stroup, a young man of few words, lets his pitches and his numbers do the talking.

And did they ever say a lot this past high school baseball season.

The Chaffee ace led the Red Devils to their best season in recent memory and for that, he has been selected as the Southeast Missourian Player of the Year.

Can't help but notice

Stroup would rather not draw attention to himself.

Ask him a question and, sure, he'll answer. But he won't give any speeches.

Ask him to have his photo taken and, sure, he'll accommodate. But he won't savor it.

Stroup would manage just fine without the headlines, the photos, the stories.

"He's always been silent and quiet," said Chaffee coach Brian Horrell. "He'd prefer to stay in the shadows and just play ball."

But if someone puts up the numbers that Stroup did, many are bound to take notice.

Save for two or three bad pitches against Cape Central in the season opener, Stroup couldn't have possibly been more dominating on the mound this year. He was the Pedro Martinez of Southeast Missouri.

Consider the following statistics:

* 12-1 record

* 0.76 Earned-run average

* 83 innings

* Nine earned runs allowed all season, 15 runs total

* 122 strikeouts (337 batters faced)

* 10.3 strikeouts per seven innings

* 28 walks

He did all this while playing for the smallest school in the area's toughest conference. And the better the competition, the better he pitched.

In the championship game of the SEMO Conference Tournament, he shut down Sikeston, a team that took second place in Class 3A. In that game, he allowed four hits and struck out 10. Stroup feels that was as good as he could pitch.

Stroup also dominated in the state playoffs. He mowed down South Pemiscot in the sectional round, needing fewer than 70 pitches in 6 innings as the Red Devils won 10-2.

In Chaffee's next game, he struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced and allowed just one hit in three innings of relief.

The keys to success

As far as high school pitchers go, some in the region threw harder than Stroup. At the prep level, Stroup has an above-average fastball that tops out at about 86 miles per hour.

Despite his gaudy statistics against good competition, the numbers on the radar gun weren't good enough to bring the Division I scouts to his door.

But Horrell insists that Stroup has what it takes to excel at the next level. And that next level is Jefferson Community College in Hillsboro, Mo., a top-notch juco program.

"Matt has a game plan," Horrell said. "Some people fall in love with the radar gun. A lot of kids this age throw hard and then, in college, coaches try to teach them to pitch. Matt's the opposite. He's a very intelligent pitcher. It was overwhelming at times how he was able to work a ballgame and remember hitters. That's getting lost a bit nowadays."

When asked why he was so dominating this year, the first thing Stroup noted was his defense, a Red Devil defense that was very sharp almost every game.

But given that he struck out 1.5 batters per inning, he had a lot more than defense behind him.

"Location is the biggest thing for me," he said. "You can have a good fastball, but location is the key for getting outs."

"He hits his spots real good," Chaffee catcher Travis Hanback said. "He had real good control. I've always enjoyed catching him because of his control. His curveball is not overpowering but he changes speeds with it real good."

Since he was a kid

Stroup started pitching competitively at age 9, though his father, Jerry, worked with him even before that.

The sure-fire all-stater went through cycles, though, where the competition would start catching up.

"But after a while, after just throwing every day, I got to where I threw my fastball harder than everybody else," he said.

Stroup gives a lot of credit to Jerry and to Darrell Dannenmueller, a former Southeast Missouri State University pitcher who was Stroup's Junior Legion assistant coach.

"He probably helped me more than anyone," Stroup said of Dannenmueller.

More work to do

Stroup said the main thing he will work on this summer and in his first year at college is his change-up.

He didn't throw his change but three or four times a game during the season and is working on it more this summer for Chaffee's Senior Legion team.

He thinks his curveball still needs a bit more work, too. Given that he is a smart pitcher and can hit his spots, it's logical to think that with improved pitches he will only get better.

"He can move the ball inside, outside, up and down," Horrell said. "If someone will give him a chance, I think he'll be a good Division I pitcher some day. Greg Maddux makes a living throwing 85. A guy like that would be hard to find these days."

All-around player

Stroup's excellent year at the plate was almost drowned out by his phenomenal year on the mound. He batted third for Chaffee and hit .453 with 43 hits, one homer, seven doubles and three triples. He drove in 27 runs.

Stroup was also an excellent basketball player. He set what is believed to be a University High Christmas Tournament record with 119 points in four games. The tournament is 54 years old. He led the 14th-seeded Red Devils to a consolation championship.

Stroup's basketball season ended prematurely, however, as he was suspended from the team after he violated team rules.

Enjoying team success

Stroup is obviously as proud of his team's accomplishments this season as his personal ones.

Chaffee went 25-3 and reached the state quarterfinals where they ran into Clearwater pitcher Jamie McAlister, who was the first Missouri high school player selected in baseball's professional draft. McAlister was taken in the 29th round. Ironically, McAlister and Stroup will be teammates next year in college.

Chaffee, which was ranked second in Class 2A at the time, lost 4-3 and came up short in its quest of a state title.

"I feel we played well all year," Stroup said. "You had to be proud of going 25-3. It's something we'll be proud of all of our lives."