Brody Binder commits to play baseball at Troy

photo Ooltewah quarterback Brody Binder throws a pass in this file photo.

Brody Binder has committed to Troy University to play baseball, but football schools still have time to get him because the Ooltewah High School catcher abd quarterback won’t sign scholarship papers until November.

Binder has been getting some looks from college football recruiters, and one said he had the best arm of any quarterback he’d seen. But at Troy he can join his brother, T.J., who redshirted this past year as a freshman.

“What he was looking to do was to try both,” said Jerry Binder, their father. “He has no offers in football but he has been to MTSU, Troy, UAB and Vandy. We’ve made that commitment and we’re pretty strong on honoring it. I know he wants to play baseball.”

Binder didn’t catch until his freshman year at Ooltewah, but he has the power and the arm college baseball teams seek.

“He’s a strong, athletic kid and he has a chance to be a big-time power hitter,” Ooltewah baseball coach Brian Hitchcox said. “He has a good swing and a good arm. I don’t know where [Troy coaches] are thinking about playing him, but he has a chance to be a good college catcher.”

Binder hit better than .400 most of last spring, “and then folks stopped pitching to him and he started chasing some pitches,” Hitchcox said. “At one time his batting average was up around .440.”

Binder had been a first baseman until reaching Ooltewah, and the conversion began.

“He took to it quickly, came on strong. He has the arm strength. He needs to work on some small things, but that’s mostly a matter of repetitions,” Hitchcox said. “He hits the ball to all fields and probably further to right-center than anywhere else. He has a nice, smooth swing, and he runs really well for a guy that’s 6-foot-2, 215.”

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.

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