CBS 58's Hometown Athlete: Kenosha St. Joe's Dominic Santarelli, a rare baseball talent
KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- "I get told I'm a linebacker," Dominic Santarelli says, "6'2", 230."
No offense to Dominic Santarelli. He doesn't look like a high school baseball player.
"I have the power and speed combo," Santarelli says. "And the speed has been a really big factor in my game the last couple years. Since I started training with Matt Gifford. up in New Berlin at OAW. Ethic Sports is his place. That introduced the speed portion to my game."
The Kenosha St. Joe's outfielder/first baseman is Wisconsin's top baseball prospect, winning MVP at a high school All-American game at Dodgers Stadium and hitting the warehouse at Baltimore's Camden Yards.
"I don't really know. But I was, I was seeing the ball," Santarelli says. "That ball flies there, by the way. We were using big league balls, and I just got one really good."
He's hit balls better than most major leaguers, at more than 118 miles per hour.
"All my hard work. My speed-power combination, it's just, that's what I should do, honestly," Santarelli says.
Every game, major league scouts come to watch him.
"I just kind of block out the outside noise. I mean, I just see it as an opportunity," Santarelli says.
Committed to LSU? College or the pros will be a choice after the MLB draft in July.
"That's been my dream ever since I was a kid, to become a professional baseball player," Santarelli says. "But if it doesn't happen, then hopefully in three years, it does happen again. And if it doesn't happen, I have a really good opportunity at LSU to win a national championship."