The Conejo Royals blog is happy to present a series of profiles of Royals coaches and players. The first edition of Royal Profiles details 10u Head Coach Landry Kiyabu. Kiyabu served as the CLU baseball team’s closer in 2015 and has been a Royals coach for three years. Also being profiled is Andrew Jensen, who plays for the 10u Royals team. Andrew has grown tremendously as a player and has emerged as an up and coming catcher in the Ventura County area.
Landry Kiyabu
When you see fifth-year senior Landry Kiyabu off a baseball field, you see a smart, quiet-natured, reserved personality inside an imposing 6-foot-2-inch, 220-pound figure. That is an accurate description of Kiyabu, who was a Third-Team All West Region selection for the California Lutheran University baseball team in 2015 as their closer.
What you don’t see is Kiyabu’s competitive streak. It was this fierce drive for success that allowed him to lead the Kingsmen in strikeouts-per-nine innings while racking up five saves along with a 2.16 ERA.
The road to success was not a straight line for Kiyabu, who missed the entire 2013 season and the beginning of the 2014 season with an elbow injury. During his first game back in 2014, he gave up four runs on five hits, including a home run, in just one inning pitched.
“Just the idea of the injury in the back of your head constantly, you have to watch what you do, be a little more conservative in everything you do. It’s hard not to push a program and rush your comeback,” Kiyabu said.
Kiyabu rebounded after a rough start and became the Kingsmen’s setup man in 2014, highlighted with a four-inning, five-strikeout performance in the Kingmen’s regional game against Wisconsin-Stevens Point in McMinville, Oregon. His injury allowed him to become more mentally sound on the mound in clutch situations.
“I think mentally [the injury] had the biggest effect, just because you know what it is like to lose a whole year of eligibility. Your tolerance goes up, you’re able to deal with a little more, and the biggest thing is getting through those mental blocks,” Kiyabu said.
His mental toughness carried over to the 2015 season, his breakout season in a Kingsmen uniform. His five saves ranks him seventh all-time, and Kiyabu barely seemed to break a sweat all season no matter how important the game was.
“It’s funny because when you talk about closers in the Major Leagues, you see all of these high energy and enthusiastic closers. I feel like I’m the complete opposite, level headed, I’d prefer to stay that way. It gives me an edge, because as a hitter I’m pretty sure it’s frustrating if you don’t know if you’re getting to him. I just don’t want people to know what’s going on in my head,” Kiyabu said.
Kiyabu’s control of his emotions led to control of his pitches, as his nearly 4:1 walk to strikeout ratio was the best on the team.
Kiyabu has also been able to take his wisdom from his playing experience and pass it on to younger minds, as he has served as a coach with the Conejo Royals for the past three seasons.
“I notice especially nowadays kids have grown up with this guidance of being told what to do and how to do it rather than letting them learn how to do things and why they do them on their own,” Kiyabu said. “It’s nice to see when it clicks in a kid’s head why we’re doing something and they understand the reason behind it.”
Kiyabu said he sees a lot of potential for his current Royals team to go far, and with discipline and hard work they can be successful in the 2015 fall season.
Andrew Jensen
Through hard work and plenty of mental toughness, Andrew Jensen has quickly become a budding star in the Royals program. Andrew cherishes the coaches he has from CLU, and listed it as one of his favorite parts about being on the Royals.
Jensen has the athleticism to play multiple positions, but he has stood out as a catcher. Catching at a young age is no easy feat, and many young players lack the physicality and grit to excel behind the dish. Andrew is not like these players. His work ethic and athletic ability give him the tools necessary to be a defensive stalwart at the catcher position. Catching requires a lot of discipline , attention and pride- all attributes Andrew has displayed this fall.
Andrew was born to be a Dodger fan, and bleeds Dodger blue. The young, exciting talent the Dodgers have such as Joc Pederson and Corey Seager give Andrew hope for the Dodgers future after a tough 2015 NLDS loss to the New York Mets.
In his free time, Andrew enjoys playing basketball, Tae Kwon Do, fishing, and spending time at the beach wake boarding and boogie boarding. He has a twin sister and lives in Camarillo.
Andrew has a bright future ahead of him, and with the right guidance he can do great things in his baseball career. We hope he can continue to exude confidence and success as a member of the Royals Club.
Landry Kiyabu
When you see fifth-year senior Landry Kiyabu off a baseball field, you see a smart, quiet-natured, reserved personality inside an imposing 6-foot-2-inch, 220-pound figure. That is an accurate description of Kiyabu, who was a Third-Team All West Region selection for the California Lutheran University baseball team in 2015 as their closer.
What you don’t see is Kiyabu’s competitive streak. It was this fierce drive for success that allowed him to lead the Kingsmen in strikeouts-per-nine innings while racking up five saves along with a 2.16 ERA.
The road to success was not a straight line for Kiyabu, who missed the entire 2013 season and the beginning of the 2014 season with an elbow injury. During his first game back in 2014, he gave up four runs on five hits, including a home run, in just one inning pitched.
“Just the idea of the injury in the back of your head constantly, you have to watch what you do, be a little more conservative in everything you do. It’s hard not to push a program and rush your comeback,” Kiyabu said.
Kiyabu rebounded after a rough start and became the Kingsmen’s setup man in 2014, highlighted with a four-inning, five-strikeout performance in the Kingmen’s regional game against Wisconsin-Stevens Point in McMinville, Oregon. His injury allowed him to become more mentally sound on the mound in clutch situations.
“I think mentally [the injury] had the biggest effect, just because you know what it is like to lose a whole year of eligibility. Your tolerance goes up, you’re able to deal with a little more, and the biggest thing is getting through those mental blocks,” Kiyabu said.
His mental toughness carried over to the 2015 season, his breakout season in a Kingsmen uniform. His five saves ranks him seventh all-time, and Kiyabu barely seemed to break a sweat all season no matter how important the game was.
“It’s funny because when you talk about closers in the Major Leagues, you see all of these high energy and enthusiastic closers. I feel like I’m the complete opposite, level headed, I’d prefer to stay that way. It gives me an edge, because as a hitter I’m pretty sure it’s frustrating if you don’t know if you’re getting to him. I just don’t want people to know what’s going on in my head,” Kiyabu said.
Kiyabu’s control of his emotions led to control of his pitches, as his nearly 4:1 walk to strikeout ratio was the best on the team.
Kiyabu has also been able to take his wisdom from his playing experience and pass it on to younger minds, as he has served as a coach with the Conejo Royals for the past three seasons.
“I notice especially nowadays kids have grown up with this guidance of being told what to do and how to do it rather than letting them learn how to do things and why they do them on their own,” Kiyabu said. “It’s nice to see when it clicks in a kid’s head why we’re doing something and they understand the reason behind it.”
Kiyabu said he sees a lot of potential for his current Royals team to go far, and with discipline and hard work they can be successful in the 2015 fall season.
Andrew Jensen
Through hard work and plenty of mental toughness, Andrew Jensen has quickly become a budding star in the Royals program. Andrew cherishes the coaches he has from CLU, and listed it as one of his favorite parts about being on the Royals.
Jensen has the athleticism to play multiple positions, but he has stood out as a catcher. Catching at a young age is no easy feat, and many young players lack the physicality and grit to excel behind the dish. Andrew is not like these players. His work ethic and athletic ability give him the tools necessary to be a defensive stalwart at the catcher position. Catching requires a lot of discipline , attention and pride- all attributes Andrew has displayed this fall.
Andrew was born to be a Dodger fan, and bleeds Dodger blue. The young, exciting talent the Dodgers have such as Joc Pederson and Corey Seager give Andrew hope for the Dodgers future after a tough 2015 NLDS loss to the New York Mets.
In his free time, Andrew enjoys playing basketball, Tae Kwon Do, fishing, and spending time at the beach wake boarding and boogie boarding. He has a twin sister and lives in Camarillo.
Andrew has a bright future ahead of him, and with the right guidance he can do great things in his baseball career. We hope he can continue to exude confidence and success as a member of the Royals Club.
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