Walking around the beach volleyball courts at last weekend’s AVP New York City Open at Hudson River Park, seven-foot-one
Ryan Doherty
seemed like the most obvious choice for a volleyball player. Long and
lean with a standing reach that easily extends way over the net, Doherty
appears to the casual observer that he’s spent a lifetime developing
his volleyball skills. Little would they know that Doherty is a relative
newcomer to the sport who only started playing once the door was closed
on a burgeoning professional baseball career.
Doherty grew up in Toms River, New Jersey where baseball was king. A
standout high school pitcher, he was a two-sport athlete at Toms River
East until his senior year when he gave up basketball to focus solely on
baseball. His inspiration for the decision came from newly minted Hall
of Famer, Randy Johnson.
“I started to fall in love with baseball right around the time Randy Johnson was making a name for himself with the Mariners,”
Doherty said to ESPN in 2002. “I had a hero for life.”
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| Ryan Doherty / Yakima Bears |
Doherty took his talents on a baseball scholarship to Notre Dame where he earned
third-team All-American honors in 2004.
Armed with a fastball in the low-90s and a release that put the ball
seemingly on top hitters before it left his hand, Doherty was set on a
path to the major leagues. He was so eager to get to the show that left
Notre Dame before his senior year to sign as an undrafted free agent in
2005 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“Those long arms and legs will eventually be a consistent advantage
because when he's right, he's actually releasing the ball closer to 50
feet from the plate, rather than the 52 or 54 feet most pitchers are
releasing the ball from,”
one scout remarked.
From the moment he stepped on the mound, Doherty made history. As the
tallest player in professional baseball, he was determined to show the
baseball world that he was more than a footnote in the record books. In
his second professional season in 2006 with the South Bend Silver Hawks,
he posted a 9–1 record with a 2.59 ERA. Based on his outstanding
performance, the Diamondbacks moved him up to their advanced Class-A
team in Visalia, California to start the 2007 season.
Surrounded by a team filled with heralded prospects, Doherty surely
was on the right track. He spent time with his pitching idol Johnson,
who was in Visalia rehabbing his way back to the major leagues. He
opened the season by pitching three scoreless innings. Heading out of
the gate with what seemed to be a strong push, Doherty’s train suddenly came to a screeching halt.
The Diamondbacks abruptly released him,
saying they didn’t see him projecting as a major leaguer.
Not a single major league organization reached out for his services. He
finished the 2007 season with the independent River City Rascals of the
Frontier League with his baseball career in the rearview mirror.
“I left the Diamondbacks organization and it wasn’t my choice; I was
released,” Doherty said at the New York City AVP Open. “I basically was
an ex-athlete all of a sudden. I wasn’t a baseball player and I was 24
years old.”
So how did Doherty, who never played beach volleyball in his life,
start the transformation from a flame-throwing pitcher to stymieing his
opponents in the sand?
“When I was living with a friend of mine [Steve Johnson] down in
South Carolina, we just happened to find a beach volleyball court and I
fell in love with the sport,” he said. “I played it as much as I
possibly could. It was a new great competitive outlet for me. I decided
that I wanted to play this every day as long as I can.”
Initially, Doherty struggled mightily, serving as easy fodder for all
comers. Playing with Johnson on the beach, the two former baseball
players were out of their league even against low-level amateurs on the
sand.
"We were terrible,"
Johnson said to Scott Stump in 2013. "Here we have a former D-I athlete and a former pro athlete, and we're getting embarrassed by the worst players on the beach."
Not one to be deterred by his early failures with the sport, Doherty
was bit by the volleyball bug. In 2009 with only $5,000 to his name, he
packed up his car and headed out to California with aspirations of
making the professional tour. He made ends meet by delivering pizzas on a
bicycle, managing the little money he had similarly to when he played
in the minor leagues, making a dollar stretch in a variety of ways.
“I was very good at being poor from years of practice,” he said. “I
didn’t have any money, but I knew that if I was going to play beach
volleyball, I wasn’t going to do it for the money; I was going to do it
because it is a great life. It’s something that would keep me engaged
and passionate.”
With a work ethic born out of enduring the daily grind of a baseball
season, Doherty hit the beach daily early in the morning to build his
skill set. Once in awhile, he would get invited to play in high level
games while working out at the beach because players didn’t show up.
Despite his height (which earned him the nickname “Avatar”) being a
tremendous asset in volleyball at the net, the many finesse areas of his
game were lacking and easily exposed.
“It was definitely all of the skill aspects [that were
hard to learn],” Doherty said. “Being seven feet tall, the height was
easy — hitting, blocking, the serving. The things that were difficult
were passing the ball, controlling sets, things like that. Those are the
things that I have to work on much more than the others. Thankfully,
I’ve had a lot of people willing to help me out and give me good advice,
tips, and tricks. After a lot of practice reps, I’m able to say that I
can now compete with most of the guys on those skill aspects. I’m not
going to be the best ball control guy on the beach, but I’ve gotten much
better and I still think I can improve in those areas.”
Two players who were instrumental in helping Doherty advance quickly
in the sport were Olympic Gold Medalist Todd Rogers, and tour veteran
Casey Patterson. Patterson took Doherty under his wing in 2012, and
together they made the volleyball world take notice when the pair upset
Rogers and Phil Dalhausser in the finals of the National Volleyball
League tournament in Baltimore.
Rogers shortly parted ways with Dalhausser and picked up Doherty as
his partner for the 2013 season. Rogers, whom Doherty compared to Cal
Ripken Jr. with his skill, knowledge, and longevity, mentored him with
the hopes of tuning up his game the same way he did with his former
Olympic partner Dalhausser.
“Phil and I had gone our separate ways after the 2012 season, and I needed a new big guy,”
Rogers said to Stump in 2013.
“Ryan was the biggest on the block. I also wanted to work with a guy
that needed to be taught, as I enjoy the coaching aspect of the game. I
had taught Phil everything I knew, and I missed coaching. Ryan was a
perfect fit for me.”
As Doherty progressed in his new sport, he carried the bulldog
mentality that he had on the mound to the sand, when he would force feed
hitters a steady diet 90-mile-per-hour fastballs and sloping curve balls
until they showed they could make an adjustment. On the court he has
applied that mantra to his offensive approach.
“One of my smartest baseball coaches said, 'Don’t change
anything until they show you they can beat it.’ That’s what I took into
volleyball,” Doherty said. “If I am swinging to the high deep middle of
the court and that ball goes down, I’m going to keep swinging there
until somebody does something to where it doesn’t work. I’ve had matches
where I’ve swung to the same spot 15 times and that was the only spot I
hit, but they didn’t defend it, so I’ll take it. That’s a smart thing
for younger players, develop one thing so that they have to make an
adjustment, and then you can go to your next. Don’t try to play a chess
match if you can just play checkers.”
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| Ryan Doherty at the 2015 AVP Open / N. Diunte |
Sitting in the player’s tent in between matches, Doherty reflected on
the opportunity to be able to play in front of his family and friends,
with only 70 miles separating them from the venue. He hopes that the
tour makes Manhattan a permanent stop due to its incredible atmosphere.
“The East Coast tournament is always my favorite one of the year just
because my friends and family get a chance to come out,” he said. “Now
that I live in California, I don’t get to see them nearly as much as I
like. This New York City tournament has been fantastic so far; it’s one
of the coolest backdrops to a beach volleyball tournament you’ve ever
going to see. I’m really hoping that this one sticks around for awhile
so that we can stay here many more years.”
Doherty and his partner John Mayer finished in second place in the NYC AVP Open,
losing a highly contested match in the finals to the team of his former partner Patterson and Olympian Jake Gibb in three sets, 21–19, 15–21, 12–15. Their excellent showing only furthers the argument that
Doherty and Mayer’s team are in contention for a spot in the 2016
Olympics. While Doherty feels that is a lofty goal due to the short time
that they have played together, he’s not going to rule out the
possibility of it happening.
“The 2016 Olympics are going to be very tough,” he said. “Johnny
Mayer and I are in the 5th spot for the US and only two teams can go. …
We just want to play and develop as a team. He’s a fantastic player.
It’s our first year together; I think us trying to set an Olympics goal
was a little out of reach considering how good all of the American teams
are. Never say never, but we’re both going to be young enough that 2020
is not out of the picture.”
