Grizzlies enjoying their Knapp

Andrew Knapp is prepared to take one more swing through the Sierra Foothill League before taking his game to another level. The catcher was the league's MVP as a junior last season, and with a scholarship to UC Berkeley already in hand, he leads the Grizzlies in search of a league and section title in his final campaign. The son of a former professional catcher and infielder, Mike Knapp, Andrew grew up in a home of Cal fans. The Knapp family has deep roots at the university. Knapp's maternal great grandfather attended, his father's parents met there and his father graduated in 1985 before being drafted by the California Angels. Over 13 years since he was five years old, the Granite Bay senior began like many local baseball players, as a star in Lakeside Little League. He joined NorCal Baseball based out of Fremont when he was 13 and has played on the Colorado Rockies scout team and played in the Area Code Games for the Oakland Athletics squad. As an 11-year-old, Knapp's Lakeside all-star team traveled to San Bernardino for the Western Regionals., and his under-14 NorCal team won the national championship at the BCS Tournament in Florida. "That was an awesome experience!" Knapp said. "Having the opportunity to see pitching at that level was an education." In addition to being raised in the game of baseball, Knapp has also played football since he was nine including all four high school seasons as a free safety. This season he was captain and starting free safety awarded the National Football Foundation Scholar Athlete award. "Playing football was a challenge because practice and camps overlapped with my baseball schedule, but all my coaches really worked with me to make it happen," Knapp said. "There were many times where I had to immediately leave a Friday night football game and get on a plane to travel to a baseball tournament for the weekend." School has always been important to Knapp and said he is proud of his 4.1 GPA. He is also involved in numerous community camps, clinics and umpiring. He loves being active in his church and skiing, but may find the latter more difficult to pursue down in the Bay Area next year. "There were many reasons why I chose Cal over the other schools that recruited me," Knapp said. "I ultimately narrowed my search to Pac-10 schools. I knew I wanted a big school with a big college environment and big football games, and when I met the Cal coaches for the first time, I really felt a connection that I didn't feel with other coaches. Of course the education I will receive from Cal is first rate. I also wanted to be close enough to where my family would be able to watch me play." Knapp's father has always been involved in his successes calling them a blessing to be a part of. "It pains me to say this but when we started saying 'Where do you want to go to school', Stanford was on the top of his list. Obviously common sense prevailed," Mike said. Mike played at Sacramento City College and after being drafted by the Angels he played 11 years of professional baseball in the Angels, Cubs, Royals, Reds, Orioles and Mariners organizations. "Andrew going to Cal is a real blessing for us as a family," added Knapp. "Cal has been and will continue to be a big part of our family. We are very proud Andrew not only has the athletic talent to play at Cal but he also did the work in classroom to get into Cal. I am very proud of him and excited he will be able to live out his dream." On the front lines of Knapp's recent accomplishments, Granite Bay coach Pat Esposito saw the success coming a long way off. "He was eleven years old and I watched him hit a home run in all-stars on the fist Lakeside Little League team to go to San Bernardino," Esposito said. "You could definitely tell he was going to be a player." "Andrew leads by example. He is very competitive and those competitive juices fuel his desire to be better than most other players. He has baseball in his blood and he is very analytical. He will definitely have a chance to play professionally some day and it came as no surprise that he got a scholarship." That scholarship offer was given on the spot when he visited Berkeley last May. But before he jumps to the Bears, he wants to lead this year's Grizzlies on a deep postseason run. FYI:Andrew Michael KnappAge 18, 6-foot-1, 185 poundsCatcher2009 SFL MVP as a junior (.500, 6 HR, 37 RBI) Family: Father Mike (a professional baseball player for 11 seasons); mother Julie and 15-year-old brother Aaron; dog Rusty.Favorite baseball memory: "When I got to see the Tampa Bay vs. Boston game in Tropicana and Big Papi laid down a base hit bunt and then hit a homerun in the same game."If you could face any pitcher, past or present, who would it be? Tim Lincecum of the GiantsIf not catcher, what position would you play? "I would play center field because it seems like fun running balls down and throwing people out at home."Major League team you would most want to play for? The Giants (favorite team and close to home) Interesting facts about Andrew Knapp: Didn't start catching until his freshman team needed someone to play there so he moved from infield to catcher. Originally a right-handed hitter, Knapp began switch-hitting as a 12-year-old at the suggestion of former Major Leaguer Lloyd Moseby. Thoughts from a father:Mike Knapp's thoughts on having a son who has succeeded on the diamond: "He had a bat and a ball in his hand before he could walk. When Andrew was four or five-years-old, he would come out on the field with me during batting practice and hold his own. That was fun. Also he could mimic every player in the line-up's batting stance. That was funny.""The exciting thing for me as a dad is to see Andrew love the game, and to be honest he does things now I could never do even as a professional player."