Rutgers-Newark Athletics

By Jim Hague

In a totally ironic twist of fate, Kyle Van Vliet’s career as a member of the Rutgers-Newark baseball team began with an opposing team against the Scarlet Raiders.

In September of 2010, Van Vliet pitched against the Scarlet Raiders for Bergen County Community College in one of the fall games that year.

Van Vliet was recruited by Rutgers-Newark head coach Mark Rizzi, when Van Vliet had graduated from Glen Rock High School in 2005, but Van Vliet decided to attend Lynn University in Florida instead.

However, things didn’t work out for Van Vliet at Lynn and he decided to leave after one year.

“You had to get up at 6:30 in the morning to run and workout,” Van Vliet said. “Then there was practice in the morning, then classes, then more practice. It was just a lot of work. I didn’t have the maturity back then to do it.”

Van Vliet left Lynn and headed home to Glen Rock. He decided to get a job instead for a few years, working as a valet at the prestigious Ridgewood Country Club.

“I ran the valet,” Van Vliet said. “I drove around in a lot of Ferraris and Porches. I then drove the golfers in golf carts and then back to their cars.”

Included in Van Vliet’s responsibilities was working the Barclays Invitational Tournament, the PGA Tour event that was held at Ridgewood for several years.

Van Vliet got to know some of the golfers.

“Boo Weekley was just an awesome guy to me,” Van Vliet said about the popular golfer from Florida. “Vijay Singh was really in a zone one tournament, but he was really nice to me. I was happy doing that for three years. I made some good money, but I realized I wasn’t getting any younger and I had to do something.”

So Van Vliet decided to go back to college, enrolling at Bergen County Community, where the power-throwing right-hander spent two years.

“During that time away, I never stopped playing baseball,” said Van Vliet, who played with the Bergen Saints of the Bergen County-based semi-pro Metropolitan League, a team that is run and organized by the brother of R-N pitching coach Adam DeLorenzo. “I always practiced my pitching a lot.”

Van Vliet knew that Rizzi and his staff were interested in him when Bergen faced the Scarlet Raiders in that fateful September matchup.

“There was no way I was not pitching in that game,” Van Vliet said. “I had a touch of tendinitis in my elbow, but I was throwing. Adam had already told me that they could really use me. It’s pretty funny how it all worked out.”

Van Vliet said that he spent a lot of time, working at a Mahwah training facility, mixing up his assortment of pitches. He has an uncanny knack of being able to change the speeds on his power pitches, which is very rare.

“I’m able to throw my slider at different speeds,” Van Vliet said. “It gets the batters off-balance more. I never change my arm speed, but I do change the grips and arm slots to mix up the pitches. I’ll do anything to get the batter out.”

Van Vliet enrolled at Rutgers-Newark last fall with junior status.

Rizzi knew that Van Vliet would become the anchor of his pitching staff.

“I thought he’d be lights out,” Rizzi said. “I would stack him up against anyone in the conference. It’s not just about his ability, but it’s also about his attitude. He’s a bulldog. He doesn’t want to allow a single hit. I saw him in the summer and he had good velocity and a big-time slider. When his slider is under control, it’s unhittable.”

Rizzi also likes Van Vliet’s approach on the mound.

“He despises walks,” Rizzi said. “He’d much rather give up a homer than a walk. He openly admits that. The team is very confident with him on the mound and I know he raises the level of the other guys on the pitching staff. They all battle to be as good as him.”

Van Vliet had a sensational first year as the ace of the Scarlet Raiders’ staff, pitching to a 6-2 record with a 3.29 earned run average and 65 strikeouts in 68 1/3 innings.

“We never had a guy like Kyle, who can pitch to a high strikeout total,” Rizzi said. “It helps the whole pitching staff. I think it helps that he’s a little older (24) and more mature than the rest. You can tell he has a different perspective than the rest. He wants to pitch all the time and wants to be on a good team. He’s really been a breath of fresh air for us. He just loves to pitch and goes out there to pitch. It’s nice having him.”

Van Vliet expects to be even better next year.

“I think I was able to get a glimpse of what to expect,” Van Vliet said. “I knew I’d do well. I just had faith. I can never be satisfied with what I did. I will continue to work my tail off to get better. I’ll pitch a lot over the summer. This was just a start.”

Van Vliet said that his success came with a change of attitude.

“I used to show a lot of emotion,” Van Vliet said. “I was a bit of a hot head. My father then told me I should have a poker face, that I shouldn’t show my emotions on the mound. That seems to work.”

Van Vliet is majoring in criminal justice at R-N. He hasn’t decided which field he would like to pursue, but he would love the chance to play professionally somewhere.

“It’s always been a dream of mine,” Van Vliet said. “If someone calls me and tells me that they want me to play pro ball then that would be the best day of my life.”