Andrew DeBenedictis ’23 began playing baseball at just two years old. Now, he leads Andover Baseball as a Co-Captain with a focus on cultivating strong interpersonal relationships with his teammates.
“The other Captains probably have a different leadership style, but for me, it’s more like a personal one-on-one motivation. I’m not the most vocal leader on the team… I’ll kind of talk to you one-on-one, hype you up that way.” said DeBenedictis.
Marek Krystofolski ’25 commended DeBenedictis for his ability to balance focus and having. Despite not being the loudest on the field, DeBenedictis still brings lively energy to the team.
“He is always a joy to be around. He’s not an energy vampire. He’s just an all around good guy. He speaks up and he is such a good Captain and has always been. He brings good energy to all the games and he makes us smile, but he locks in when he needs to, and that is an important trait for a captain,” said Krystofolski.
DeBenedictis thrives when he is batting. According to Robert Brown ’25, DeBenedictis’ consistency at-bat grounds the team in stressful moments.
“He has put up a solid at-bat. Every time he gets up to the plate, I am confident, as well as the rest of the team is confident, that he’s going to put up a good bat and he’s going to give us a good piece. There haven’t been many times where he hasn’t barreled the ball,” said Brown.
DeBenedictis prioritizes maintaining a positive mindset. In moments of hardship, DeBenedictis strives to be a dependable figure that teammates can look to.
“[I value] energy and enthusiasm. I really strive to bring that every day, whether it’s in practice or in a game, giving speeches before games, or just keeping positive vibes. When you face adversity, I think it’s important to be that strong voice on the team and in the dugout,” said DeBenedictis.
Brown appreciates DeBenedictis’ optimism and words of wisdom during games. Whether it’s long speeches or short phrases, DeBenedictis never fails to help his teammates get into the right mindset, according to Brown.
“Every time we’re behind or we’re struggling as a team or we have a rough inning, he’s always the first one to just say something. It’s not necessarily a big speech with everybody… A lot of times it’s just quick motivation. ‘Come on boys. Let’s stay loud. Let’s stay in this,’ or something along those lines where it kind of picks everyone up and it gets us into a mindset,” said Brown.
