Being a multi-sport athlete and a vital part of three Derby High School teams might cause even the most energetic of teenagers to tire out.
Not Ray Kreiger.
He’s happy to keep playing varsity sports as the seasons change, embracing the opportunity to help the Derby High football, basketball and baseball teams remain competitive — one down, shot and swing at a time.
“I just move from one sport to the next,” Kreiger said last week, anxious to get to baseball practice. “I’m usually looking forward to going into the next [sport]. I wouldn’t know what to do without that opportunity.”
Kreiger, 16, is hardly alone at Derby High School in playing different sports during the academic year. Several of his classmates play more than one sport.
Kreiger stands out because of the age he is and the positions he plays.
Only a sophomore, he is the starting quarterback for the Red Raiders football team (click the NVL Football video to see him in action last season against Seymour).
He is one of the most versatile members of the Derby High baseball team, playing center field, shortstop and serving as the team’s no. 2 pitcher.
In between, Kreiger found time to play on the school’s basketball squad, moving up to starting shooting guard in the middle of a difficult 1‑win season for the Red Raider hoopsters.
And he still manages to keep his grades high.
“The balance is school first and then sports. I really don’t find it that hard,” he said. “I’m usually pretty organized about that stuff.”
He’s also pretty good on the fields of play, according to his coaches, who see the potential for big things from Kreiger over the next two years.
Red Raiders baseball coach Sumner Sochrin said Kreiger is willing to go anywhere on the field for a win.
Although Kreiger is usually the starting center fielder, Sochrin will also put him at the hot corner — third base — or shift him to his left to play short. He’ll also bat third in the order, usually reserved for the team’s best hitter.
“There’s lot of things he can do. He’s got good speed, a strong arm. He’s a very good athlete,” said Sochrin, coach of the Derby baseball squad for six years. “When he came to us from the middle school, he was a catcher. You could put him on the field and he could play any of the nine positions and be pretty good at it.”
Kreiger worked last year on improving his baseball skills at the end of a difficult year at the plate. He worked with his father, also named Raymond, a former baseball player at Seton Hall University.
The missions: hit the ball more often and hit it on a line. It’s worked and he’s now one of the most reliable hitters for the Red Raiders.
His arm is strong enough that he could be Derby’s No. 1 starting pitcher in two years, Sochrin said. Kreiger showed flashes of that pitching talent last week, throwing five shutout innings and six strikeouts in a 15 – 0 win over Platt Tech.
That arm will have to be ready for more work come August.
Kreiger will stop focusing on baseball and begin full-time training for football season — his third campaign for the Red Raiders. Kreiger took over as Derby’s field general midway through his freshman year.
“I was extremely excited to get the opportunity to play,” he said. “The guys have supported me well and I’ve had a fun time playing.”
George French, recently appointed as the new Red Raiders head football coach, saw Kreiger grow as a leader on the gridiron last fall.
French remembers a pair of situations from last fall’s 42 – 40 win over Sacred Heart when Kreiger scrambled for big chunks of yardage after noticing his receivers were covered.
“He just has a good understanding of the entire situation on the field,” French said. “It’s like having another coach on the field. If someone doesn’t know what they’re doing, he tells them. If something changes, he reacts quicker than anyone else on the field.”
With more time at the controls of the Red Raider offense, French says Kreiger has the potential to be one of the best football players in the state.
“We’re looking forward to seeing him blossom and turn into something special over the next two years,” the coach said.
Kreiger said he doesn’t feel any additional pressure to excel, even in a Valley town that loves its football and is eager to see Derby finally notch a winning season after more than a decade on the bad side of .500.
He simply wants to see the entire team get better.
“It’s not just me. It’s our team,” he said. “We would like to have a winning season. We’re focusing on that and performing to our abilities.”
The elder Ray Kreiger calls his son and the other multi-sport athletes at Derby “throwbacks” who play different sports like many young boys did in the years before specialized positions were developed.
The elder Kreiger played four sports during his high school years. But he does not sense his son as feeling pressured. Instead, Raymond Kreiger said his son is a competitive, composed and reliable player and teammate.
“You don’t think about what you’re doing, but what you bring to the team,” the elder Kreiger said. “He doesn’t appear to be more pressured. He feels he’s supported by his teammates and coaches.”
