Being a freshman on Varsity is a tough ask for any athlete, but this week's Athlete of the Week, Ryan Kristof was one of Windsor baseball's finest a year ago and now as a sophomore is taking on an even greater role. Our latest Athlete of the Week brought to you by Amphenol Aerospace.

In high school baseball, a lot is asked of its players, especially the stars. But for pitcher and shortstop Ryan Kristof, he makes it look easy, whether it's hitting, striking out hitters, or even being the captain of the infield. Whatever you ask of Ryan, he'll get it done.

"He's just a kid who is a sponge. He takes information, he absorbs it and he's always wanting to get better," said head coach Nate Mills.

One of the two most important lessons he learned during his first year on varsity.

"You need to be like mentally tough, like there's gonna be days where I didn't have it and things don't go your way," Kristof said. "But you got to learn to like play the next play,  next game, just completely flush it and be ready for the next thing is gonna get thrown at you."

And he's really good when he is literally being thrown in.

"Hitting is definitely his biggest strength," said assistant coach and cousin Chris Dattoria. "He always has an approach at the plate and he knows what he's supposed to be doing whether it's a two-strike approach, runner on second movement and moreover, he just mentally, he knows what's going on.

The same way on the mound.

"If there's a day where my curveball or my changeup it's not really working," Kristof said. "I know I have that fastball that I can always throw strikes."

Last season coming in for a save opportunity with runners on the corner.

"And he comes in, no doubt that he was going to do it in my mind," Mills said. "No doubt he was going to do in his mind. He shut them down and I know that was just like a small tidbit and I was thinking I think that speaks a lot to his mental toughness and confidence that we have in him."

But that doesn't mean he doesn't have fun. Whether it's with his cousin now...

"I coach first base so I love when he gets down there on first base and I'm with him. It's a good moment. Him being my cousin and everything. It's a fun, fun moment to share with him," Dattoria said.

Or with him back in the day.

"When he started dunking on me in basketball," Dattoria said. "He's always been really athletic but he's a couple years younger than me, he caught up to me pretty fast."

Now as a sophomore, he wants that fun to never stop.

"Just continue my career because I never want this to stop," Kristof said. "I mean like everybody, everybody has that moment where they realize that you're done playing baseball and I don't want that to come for a very very long time."

And it looks like no one's gonna stop it.

"If you're up in the count as a hitter and you see a fastball," Kristof said. "You got to use that power and try and turn on one to another gapper, maybe pulling over the fence."