STAAR Practice

Which sentence from “A Baseball School for Big-League Dreamers” best supports the main

idea of the article?

• Tuition, room and board here for the combined academic and sports program is about $70,000 a year.

• Most players here won’t ever put on a big-league uniform, but they come to IMG trying to find and reach their potential.

• He remembers being fascinated by how the players and coaches talked and how fans reacted to the game.

• Ketch doesn’t think about the numbers.

Based on the article, the coaches at IMG can best be described as —

• concerned about the effectiveness of their coaching ability

• focused on becoming coaches at a professional level

• dismissive of the mistakes students make

• caring about the future success of the students.

Read this quotation from paragraph 13..

“Ketchum Marsh is one of the most successful

stories that will come out of IMG,” Bolek says,

focusing not just on baseball, but on life.

What evidence does the author present in the article to support the opinion expressed in this

quotation?

• A reference to Marsh’s work ethic

• An anecdote about Marsh’s time as a batboy

• A description of Marsh’s training regimen

• Information about Marsh’s future plans

What does the graphic best suggest about the different levels of baseball competition?

• More athletes prefer playing college baseball than minor-league baseball.

• Most Little League baseball players participate in multiple sports when they reach high school.

• Playing Little League baseball is necessary to becoming a major-league player.

• Baseball leagues become more selective as players advance.

What can the reader conclude from the interaction between the pitching coach and

Cameron Varga in paragraphs 17 through 20?

• The pitching coach wants his players to always strive to improve.

• The pitching coach is mainly concerned about winning games quickly.

• Varga is confident in his ability to succeed in Florida.

• Varga’s number of pitches will decrease as his speed increases.