Tyler Ras comes from New Jersey with Alabama love

Baseball: Shore Conference Quarterfinals No. 9 Christan Brothers vs. Middletown North

Tyler Ras, seen here playing for his high school in Middletown, N. J., is one of five Alabama freshmen from out of state.For NJ Advance Media

It’s been a soggy few days in Tuscaloosa, where those not familiar with the climate in Alabama could reasonably wonder if it’s monsoon season.

Downpours and thunderstorms have rolled into the area, soaking the university campus here.

“But I’ll take the rain over the snow any day,” said Tyler Ras, the Crimson Tide’s starting freshman pitcher who moonlights as a position player.

Ras is from New Jersey, and he’s the most intriguing newcomer on a team that has won three of its first four games and will face Ball State in a weekend series that starts Friday.

The one loss blotting Alabama’s record — rather ironically — came in Ras’ debut on the mound last Saturday against Presbyterian.

But he did little to contribute to the setback, striking our five batters and surrendering one run in a little less than four innings of work, leaving before Presbyterian broke a deadlock and sowed the seeds for a victory.

His coach, Brad Bohannon, praised the performance, noting that Ras was aggressive and composed after feeling an initial adrenaline rush that usually accompanies first-time experiences.

Ras is the jewel of Alabama’s most recent signing class, having committed to the Crimson Tide before Bohannon was hired in 2017. According to the website, perfectgame.org, he was ranked the 74th-best prospect in 2018 and was good enough that the Chicago Cubs took a flyer on him in the 33rd round of the MLB draft this past June.

But Ras became enamored with the idea of playing college baseball in the South, and in particular, T-Town.

“What’s not to love about Alabama?” he said.

It’s a reaction that isn’t uncommon from out-of-state recruits even as the baseball program remains in a transitional phase, Bohannon has learned. Yes, Alabama hasn’t been good as of late, having finished dead last in the SEC each of the last two seasons. Yet the Tide remains an attractive option for pitchers and hitters alike who want a taste of high-level competition.

“Alabama is just so much more of a national brand than I realized until I got here,” Bohannon said. “I think initially I thought a very large portion of our team would be Southeast guys because they’re so many players within a four- or five-hour drive. But as I have been here for 18 or 19 months now, you can call kid anywhere in the country or Canada and their ears perk up when you say Alabama. I think a lot of it is the brand of our school and what the football program is doing for our entire university and the athletic department. So over time, our roster will be a true melting pot with kids from anywhere.”

Five of the nine freshmen grew up outside of Alabama, and the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Ras is the best of the bunch.

He has an arsenal of quality pitches, headlined by a fastball that has clipped 94 miles per hour, which sizzles in any climate.

“Growing up north,” Ras said, “you want to go down to where the warmer weather is.”

He’s arrived, settling in Tuscaloosa, where he’s soon learned the higher temperatures are usually accompanied by something less inviting.

“It rains a bit,” he said dryly.

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin

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