Alabama Baseball's Sam Praytor is 'Ready to Play Again'
Sam Praytor knows what disappointment feels like.
After missing his sophomore season due to an elbow injury that he suffered in just the fifth game of the season, the Alabama baseball redshirt-sophomore catcher had high hopes heading into 2020.
“Really I was just excited to be back out there,” Praytor said. “It sucked not being able to play with my team my sophomore year so more than anything I was just super excited to be out there and play and really just try to go out there and win every game we played.”
After returning with his redshirt status, Praytor contributed to a Crimson Tide baseball team that started the season 16-1, the program’s best start in recent memory. Praytor himself accounted for a team-leading six home runs and finished third on the team in hits (21), RBIs (18) and total bases (40).
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On Friday the 13th in March, it all came crashing down. With Alabama slated to begin SEC play against Missouri in Tuscaloosa, the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Needless to say, Praytor and the rest of his team were quite upset.
“It sucked,” Praytor said. “We were all really excited to see what we could do during SEC play because we got off to such a good start. We knew how good we were and how talented we were and we have a really good connection on our team and a really good culture that coach [Brad Bohannon] has created in our program and we were excited to start SEC play and when that got cancelled we were all bummed about it because we were all ready for that challenge.”
After having his sophomore season taken away from him due to injury, Praytor had his redshirt-sophomore season taken away from him in an equally disappointing manner.
With spring break following the weekend where the Crimson Tide was scheduled to play the Tigers, Praytor went home to be with his family. Little did the catcher know that he would not be returning to campus for the rest of the semester.
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After shifting to online classes due to the pandemic, Praytor’s efforts shifted to another important matter: staying in shape without baseball. Due to the coronavirus, all gyms had been shut down during quarantine, making working out and staying in shape difficult.
While it was a struggle, Praytor said that assistant strength and conditioning coach Brett Price formed a plan for the team early on.
“Coach Price actually emailed us an online program that we can just do in our living room and that’s what I’ve been doing,” Praytor said. “Just a lot of body weight stuff. Body-weight squats, push-ups, sit-ups, that kind of deal. Obviously not as fun as lifting heavy weights and whatnot but still I’ve done the best I can to stay in really good playing shape.”
That being said, Praytor is still looking forward to getting in some batting practice and some more strenuous workouts once the pandemic clears up.
“As soon as the cages start opening up around here I’m going to start going to those but until then I’m just hanging out with the fam and working out,” Praytor said. “Now that I’ve finished school and everything I don’t have much to do.”
Several weeks after the season was cancelled, the NCAA announced on March 30 that it would be granting all spring athletes with an additional year of eligibility. While this has stirred the pot of controversy regarding college baseball due to the organization’s strict scholarship and roster size regulations, the rule is intended on benefitting those who suffered the most from the season’s cancellation: the student-athletes.
The magnitude of the NCAA’s decision is not lost on Praytor, who will once again be able to return for technically his third sophomore season.
“It’s huge,” Praytor said. “Everybody wants to play baseball for as long as they can and its really beneficial to get that extra year of eligibility. For guys that were draft-eligible this year and whatever else and now they get to come back and have the chance to play another year of baseball.
“For those seniors that thought that their career might have been over, now they get to come back and play another year of baseball with their friends.”
In 2021, Praytor will return to the baseball field a redshirt-sophomore once again, but it will be his fourth year at the University of Alabama. By all accounts, he should be a senior at this point, but fate has dealt Praytor a different hand.
After suffering disappointment two consecutive seasons, he is just ready to get back behind home plate.
“I’m just ready to play again,” Praytor said. “I feel like I didn’t get to scratch that itch this year. I missed last year and I was coming into this year super excited. I feel like I just got a taste of it and it makes me can’t wait to play even more.
“As soon as we can start playing baseball again I’m just gonna — I’ll be really excited for that.”
