CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Our fifth KRIS 6 Hooks Kid Reporter, 12-year-old Benjamin Kindzirsky, sat down in the dugout with Astros' Double-A pitcher Jonathan Sprinkle. Kindzirsky is one of seven kids selected this summer to interview and get to know a Hooks player at Whataburger Field.
Benjamin is a straight-A student at Flour Bluff Intermediate. He was born for the spotlight. In fact, he has been in 3 plays at the Harbor Playhouse. Ben's latest role is Olaf in Disney Jr. Frozen. He also hosts his own Tik Tok series "Will it Roll" for his family's Ice Cream Shop, Polar Bear Rolling Ice Cream. Ben is a huge fan of the Hooks, and he loves dancing to land a spot on the scoreboard between innings.
Benjamin Kindzirsky: "Your last name is Sprinkle, and since our family owns an ice cream shop I felt it was necessary to ask you do you like sprinkles in your ice cream?"
Jonathan Sprinkle: "Absolutely. If you don't I think it's criminal. It's the necessity topping for ice cream. It's the first one you think of."
Kindzirsky: "What's your favorite ballpark snack?"
Sprinkle: "Wow, so growing up I went to a lot of Kansas City Royals games because I'm from Kansas City. They have a brisket nacho at Kauffman (Stadium) that is to die for because Kansas City is home for BBQ right. It's well known for BBQ, the brisket there is insanely good so it's got to be the brisket nachos."
Kindzirsky: "Sounds delicious. I would have to say my favorite would have to be the Nolan Ryan All-American dog."
Kindzirsky: "What are some of the weirdest pre-game rituals that you've seen other players do?"
Sprinkle: "That's a good question. Weird ones I mean everyone kind of does the same thing. Odd ones I remember it wasn't really a ritual, but I remember last year we were here and we were kind of going through a little but of a slump and we had six candles in the middle of the floor. We put bats right next to them because we wanted to wake our bats up. I don't know if you've seen the movie Major League, but it's a very kind of similar ritual to that. It was just kind of a joke that we had going around for a little but, but it's all fun and games. I haven't really seen any true, really strange, out there stuff people do pre-game. It's mainly just headphones and talking, or sometimes we're playing hacky sack in the locker room just to pass the time. Just doing things together, and then when it's time to get to work everyone knows it's time to get to work."
Kindzirsky: "So if you could have dinner with anyone, real, fictional, dead or alive who would it be?"
Sprinkle: "I would really love to sit down with Harrison Ford. I was always a fan of his movies growing up. I fell like he's done things the right way most of his career, and I feel like he knows a lot about life and all of the experiences and stories he's got I feel is going to be unmatched. Yeah I think he would be my answer. I mean there's a ton of baseball guys I'd love to sit down with, but overall probably Harrison Ford. He's just a legend in my eyes."
Kindzirsky: "What's your favorite part of the game besides playing?"
Sprinkle: "Oh just the locker room camaraderie, the dugout camaraderie, the bullpen camaraderie. Just being able to be a part of a group of guys. Obviously we have a goal to continue to make it to the big leagues, but just being there for each other the whole way there. Being supportive. Being good and all of the coaches all around for all of us."
Kindzirsky: "When did you realize you wanted to play baseball as a career?"
Sprinkle: "Probably in college. I went to a DII in Central Missouri. Didn't really have a ton of offers out of college. Was kind of just this big, lengthy guy. I wasn't all that coordinated. I was an athlete. I went to college. Kind of really found my groove. Really found who I am and I can't thank Central Missouri enough for that."
Kindzirsky: "Beforehand I mentioned how I have a Tik Tok series called "Will it Roll" where we put weird or interesting things in our rolled ice cream. We've done everything from Twinkies which was delicious to Ramen which was definitely something I'm never going to do again."
Sprinkle: "I feel like you could do a really good cotton candy one. I feel like you could really get a good one going there with that."
Kindzirsky: "That would be really cool to try to mix into an ice cream"
Sprinkle: "You got to let me know when you get that because then I'm going to come in and get some."
To sign up to be a KRIS 6 Hooks Kids Reporter, click here. Bilingual reporters will be aired on KRIS 6 and Telemundo. This interview is split into two videos.
The Hooks are home again this week, hosting the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Corpus Christi enters the series with a .500 record (54-54), sitting third in the Texas League South. Game one first pitch is set for Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. at Whataburger Field.
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