Columbine's Tommy Gillman Interview
August 28, 2014
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By JEFF LETOFSKY
PBR Colorado Senior Writer
Tommy Gillman doesn't have to venture far to follow in the footsteps of his father. That's because his father is his high school coach.The Gillman's are trying to put Columbine High School on the prep baseball map in Colorado. The father and son duo has a good start.
"It's hard at times (playing for his dad)," Gillman said. "But it's good. We can relate. He was a hard-nosed player and we can relate. I love playing like that, playing for him and doing exactly what he used to do."
Tommy enters his junior year with the Rebels as one of the top prospects in the state of Colorado.
The switch-hitting middle infielder/catcher is a joy to watch as he provides speed, a pretty left-handed swing and can field almost anywhere on the diamond.
He played for Slammers Black this past summer, a travel team that did just that ... travel.
"We went to a lot of tournaments all over the country," Tommy said. "We had a lot of good pitching so everywhere we went scouts came to watch our pitching. That was good for us as position players as well because we got seen at the same time."
Gillman is making the transition from catcher, where he has played his freshman and sophomore years, to the middle infield.
"This summer, I mostly played shortstop and hopefully I'll play there my junior year," he said. "But it's good to have catching as a backup thing. I've gone to camps over the summer where I play shortstop but also take reps and get pop times at catcher in case I need to play another position because of an injury or something."
At the plate, Gillman has always been a switch hitter but it's obvious his left-handed swing is much better than from the other side of the plate."I'm naturally a righty but I'm way better from the left side because I see the ball so much better," he said. "I really need to work on my right-handed swing.
Toward the end of the summer I was hitting so bad that I just started hitting left-handed against both right-handed and left-handed pitching."
A former three-sport standout who played baseball, basketball and football, Gillman has now become a one-sport star.
"I don't like being a one-sport athlete," Gillman said. "But if this fall goes well with baseball and my spring and summer go well, I'm thinking about playing football again my senior year."Gillman is adamant about improving in baseball."I really need to work on my right-handed swing and polish it up," he said. "Left-handed I'm confident with two strikes knowing I'm going to put the ball in play no matter how good the pitching is."Defensively, I want to try and get faster. I do need to work on my arm as far as strength is concerned."
Gillman has yet to commit to a college, saying he's talking to Oregon State and looking at possibilities like Clemson, Texas A&M, Arizona, Northern Colorado and Air Force. He's planning on studying business.
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