Alex Binelas may be on the verge of becoming a professional baseball player, but in some ways he already lives like one.
The senior standout from Oak Creek, a third base prospect who plays shortstop for the Knights, is considered by scouts to be a top-five round talent in the Major League Baseball draft June 4-6. But if there is one thing that stands out more than his raw abilities on the diamond, it’s his work ethic.
Binelas works out three times a day. He watches what he eats and can’t even estimate the number of swings he’s taken over the past year. He’s always down to hang out with friends — unless it coincides with a workout session.
My work ethic, a lot of my friends say, is crazy,” Binelas said. “They’ll say, ‘Come hang out with us, just skip this workout,’ but I can’t.”
Few have seen Binelas’ devotion to the game closer than Oak Creek head coach Scott Holler.
“I tease him now because the last two years he’s been living like he’s on a schedule of a professional athlete,” Holler said. “He goes right from school to baseball and working out. That’s every day. He has a lot of friends but he doesn’t go out a lot because he’s so consumed with baseball.”
Does Binelas at least allow himself a week or a month off to relax?
“Never,” he said with a chuckle. “No time off.”
Read the rest of the story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel