Mid States League- Cardinal 2025

KurtanskyField

KurtanskyField

Active member
Fairfield Christian and Coach Baker are aiming for the 3 peat, who will challenge them? Scrimmages are underway and opening day is a week away.
 
 
Miller scrimmaged Liberty Christian Tuesday and have River Valley and Southern next Mon and Weds. They open next Friday at home vs. Nelsonvile and host Federal Hocking for a DH on Saturday.
 
Personally I don't see myself paying much attn to the Card's baseball scene this year. After last year's absolute trainwreck of a schedule (the addition of Wellington causing the grid to get all screwed up, bad rain, the Gant fiasco, and typical reluctance leaguewide to play games ASAP -- not to mention the fact some rivals didn't play a second game against the other) nothing portends any better this season considering that Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday falls on week 3 this year. Again, we have two schools doubled up on the same home field, so it's not going to make things any easier this go around.

FCA is yer -500 frontrunner. Call it even odds that they break through and get the undefeated mark. One thing to win, another to have a '0' after the dash in the final column for Cardinal play. I think Berne and Miller will mix in easily to fill out the top '3.' IDRK about where Fisher is going to fit into this mix.
 
The Dock said:
Personally I don't see myself paying much attn to the Card's baseball scene this year. After last year's absolute trainwreck of a schedule (the addition of Wellington causing the grid to get all screwed up, bad rain, the Gant fiasco, and typical reluctance leaguewide to play games ASAP -- not to mention the fact some rivals didn't play a second game against the other) nothing portends any better this season considering that Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday falls on week 3 this year. Again, we have two schools doubled up on the same home field, so it's not going to make things any easier this go around.

FCA is yer -500 frontrunner. Call it even odds that they break through and get the undefeated mark. One thing to win, another to have a '0' after the dash in the final column for Cardinal play. I think Berne and Miller will mix in easily to fill out the top '3.' IDRK about where Fisher is going to fit into this mix.
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Fisher doesn't mix in at all. 2 starters (both middle infielders & pitchers) out for the season with knee injuries from other sports. Another pitcher twisted an ankle in a scrimmage last Friday, leaving the Irish down to 1 true pitcher. They are trying to make pitchers out of 4 other guys just to get through the season but it's going to be rough. They have already canceled 5 non-league games on their schedule due to lack of pitching. Out of 14 players on their roster, 9 are freshman and sophomores. 7 of the 14 have either never played baseball or have only played for a year or two.

In terms of the league....don't ever count out Rosecrans. Coach Thompson always has them at the top competing for a title.
Have heard FCA's numbers are way down and they were walking the hallways begging kids to play (much like their across town foe) just to have enough to Field a team. Not sure how true this is. Strong junior class though will keep them viable for the Cardinal title. Have heard BU's numbers are good. They've had a decent junior high team the last few years. So look for some up and coming talent from them.
 
FrozenRope9 said:
Fisher doesn't mix in at all. 2 starters (both middle infielders & pitchers) out for the season with knee injuries from other sports. Another pitcher twisted an ankle in a scrimmage last Friday, leaving the Irish down to 1 true pitcher. They are trying to make pitchers out of 4 other guys just to get through the season but it's going to be rough. They have already canceled 5 non-league games on their schedule due to lack of pitching. Out of 14 players on their roster, 9 are freshman and sophomores. 7 of the 14 have either never played baseball or have only played for a year or two.

In terms of the league....don't ever count out Rosecrans. Coach Thompson always has them at the top competing for a title.
Have heard FCA's numbers are way down and they were walking the hallways begging kids to play (much like their across town foe) just to have enough to Field a team. Not sure how true this is. Strong junior class though will keep them viable for the Cardinal title. Have heard BU's numbers are good. They've had a decent junior high team the last few years. So look for some up and coming talent from them.
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Better days are ahead. May peace and comfort find the Irish club, especially their seniors and their parents. A lot of great things built up; future seasons will reap the benefits.
 
The Dock said:
Better days are ahead. May peace and comfort find the Irish club, especially their seniors and their parents. A lot of great things built up; future seasons will reap the benefits.
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Better days do lie ahead because things can't really get any worse. Sad to see the program in the state that it's in. I can't think of anyone who thinks there is anything great about that baseball program right now.
 
lancasterohio said:
Better days do lie ahead because things can't really get any worse. Sad to see the program in the state that it's in. I can't think of anyone who thinks there is anything great about that baseball program right now.
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1/2 it wouldn’t matter if it were Joe Torre, the current BC principal, Jared or anyone who may (or may not) have been an FC skipper at one point or another currently at the helm.

The baseball guys (staff + fans <not parents> + baseball-minded parents + alumni) don’t enjoy the lack of winning, either, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing great about the program. While the situation they’re in isn’t great, bluntly speaking, it’s still a privilege and gift to be a part of the tradition.

I know that I’m pretty guilty of refusing to accept the “not great” that naturally has to come at times with the great over the last few years, but anyone was going to be a Dead Man Walking in terms of W/L following 2021.

To give an idea on the situation:

  • The current senior class for baseball (3) is composed differently from when that class were freshmen (3.) Jared’s son is the only one who will have played all four years. One of the other two then-freshmen has since ripped his knee and can’t play, while the other went to T&F [looking back I do regret giving a hard time from ‘The Hill’ about blocking behind the plate his frosh year.] The two seniors in addition to GS joined one or two years ago, but they didn’t even have instructional baseball experience growing up (FC issue.) ‘26 class only has two players.

  • ‘24 and ‘23 were the two smallest boys’ classes in FC school history. ‘24 originally only had two players (one more apt than the other on the diamond) and it only grew to four b/c one joined later on along with the kid from Gallia who ended up moving to Lancaster (miss ya PO, hope you’re well my man!!) ‘23 had zero baseball players from St Mary, and that was not a great tell for the future of the program way back in 2020.

  • Having to contend with a handful of kids threaded into other activities during baseball season wasn’t something that Jack F and previous coaches had to deal with, tbh.
It was “a program… if you could keep it” situation. Jared kept it alive, and was able to infuse some new meaning into it along the way. As someone who watched FC lose a litany of District Finals in the 2010’s in the most aggravating of fashions imaginable, I’ll take the four years of wane for reasons not the least of which include finally knocking off the NC bastard — along with the fact that Jared does a good job of not tolerating toxic behavior (something that previous coaches, while great coaches and great people, did not always do the best job at.)

[edit: spacing the bullet points out]
 
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The Dock said:
1/2 it wouldn’t matter if it were Joe Torre, the current BC principal, Jared or anyone who may (or may not) have been an FC skipper at one point or another currently at the helm.

The baseball guys (staff + fans <not parents> + baseball-minded parents + alumni) don’t enjoy the lack of winning, either, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing great about the program. While the situation they’re in isn’t great, bluntly speaking, it’s still a privilege and gift to be a part of the tradition.

I know that I’m pretty guilty of refusing to accept the “not great” that naturally has to come at times with the great over the last few years, but anyone was going to be a Dead Man Walking in terms of W/L following 2021.

To give an idea on the situation:

  • The current senior class for baseball (3) is composed differently from when that class were freshmen (3.) Jared’s son is the only one who will have played all four years. One of the other two then-freshmen has since ripped his knee and can’t play, while the other went to T&F [looking back I do regret giving a hard time from ‘The Hill’ about blocking behind the plate his frosh year.] The two seniors in addition to GS joined one or two years ago, but they didn’t even have instructional baseball experience growing up (FC issue.)
  • ‘24 and ‘23 were the two smallest boys’ classes in FC school history. ‘24 originally only had two players (one more apt than the other on the diamond) and it only grew to four b/c one joined later on along with the kid from Gallia ended up moving to Lancaster (miss ya PO, hope you’re well my man!!) ‘23 had zero baseball players from St Mary, and that was not a great tell for the future of the program in 2020.
  • Having to contend with a handful of kids threaded into other activities during baseball season wasn’t something that Jack F and previous coaches had to deal with, tbh.
It was “a program… if you could keep it” situation. Jared kept it alive, and was able to infuse some new meaning into it along the way. As someone who watched FC lose a litany of District Finals in the 2010’s in the most aggravating of fashions imaginable, I’ll take the four years of wane for reasons not the least of which include finally knocking off the NC bastard.
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2/2 Mores have changed.

  • Kids don’t choose where they go to school based on the quality of baseball program anymore. A lot has changed since COVID. Most kids generally view school ball as secondary to summer ball. FC largely has done ‘well’ in having ~98% of its players under Jared’s time prioritize ‘FC first’ (much like it was under Jack, Scott, Nate et al) but the problem is most of these kids didn’t grow up wearing baseball mitts and paltry batters’ box experience —which is quite different from what those three guys had to work with. Believe me, it has at times been very painful to watch our kids try to make routine baseball plays only for them to end up kicking it around, or for us to get no runs across with ducks on the pond and two outs to spare. It flushed away good pitching performances, which has always been the program cornerstone.

  • St Mary School for the big majority of the 2010’s, while the obvious FC school pipeline, has basically been ‘not great’ for baseball future purposes. Things are changing, as the program has been brought back at the JH level.

  • One issue that hasn’t helped baseball recently is how entrenched and valued Track & Field is with FC ‘n its school community. It’s not common for a school FC’s size to have the level of a T&F program that they do. I have nothing against T&F and the kids — I love seeing them succeed and it’s a school-community point of pride. That said, they are generally two different cultures and getting on the baseball train requires a little bit extra willingness to be coached in a particular way. Both programs push their kids for their best, and both programs ask of their kids to “be the best you that you can be”; but one program confers being willing to get coached hard, in order to stay alive for a league chase… while the other doesn’t require a critical mass of specialized & developed talent across the entire squad to win an MSL (can’t wait for someone to get pissy toward me IRL for saying that.)
As for what’s great right now: much of what always made FC baseball special beyond the diamond is still here.
  • FC’s Alumni Baseball Game is still one of the county’s best in connecting a tradition’s past to its present: last year’s game had ~25 alumni (~17 from mid ‘00s and early 10’s) come back. Unless I’m sorely mistaken, my guess is no else in the Cardinal has anything like that.

  • There’s been a lot of programming done to help get across the formative aspects of baseball (how playing baseball teaches you life skills, how it makes you grow) in Jared’s time. They were there in 2021, too, but in the absence of winning it does help to get the kids in front of support that comes off of the diamond.

  • The facility they have, Ben Thimmes Field, is one of the county’s best. Jared’s done well in putting in the work to make it as good as possible as a groundskeeper on largely (if not all) on his time & dime. Getting the league & postseason marks put onto the back of the visitors’ dugout is big since it’s the first thing these kids see when they walk to the field — message of “they did it, and so can you 🫵” , and yeah while the winning isn’t there… it’s still great to have a program with a place to call home. Jared built a nice place to call home, while others rent a nice place to call home. Worth the waning period, IMO, all things considered.
[edit: spacing the bullet points out]
 
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The Dock said:
2/2 Mores have changed.
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The change in loudness from the faithful is an obvious example. From 23 years of confident team-first energy to needless freakouts over pop flies. They are trying to catch the ball. 23 years of baseball technical cheering to dumb nicknames being thrown at kids when they take the box. 23 years of supporting each others kids to acting like its a game of T-ball.

There is still the useful “happy middle” of calm reserved parents today just like ‘01 and ‘05, just like the early 10’s late 10’s and early 20’s. Ask yourself which camp of loudness speaks to the deck that the program would prefer to work with. It’s not there. It won’t be for a couple more years.
 
The Dock said:
2/2 Mores have changed.

  • Kids don’t choose where they go to school based on the quality of baseball program anymore. A lot has changed since COVID. Most kids generally view school ball as secondary to summer ball. FC largely has done ‘well’ in having ~98% of its players under Jared’s time prioritize ‘FC first’ (much like it was under Jack, Scott, Nate et al) but the problem is most of these kids didn’t grow up wearing baseball mitts and paltry batters’ box experience —which is quite different from what those three guys had to work with. Believe me, it has at times been very painful to watch our kids try to make routine baseball plays only for them to end up kicking it around, or for us to get no runs across with ducks on the pond and two outs to spare. It flushed away good pitching performances, which has always been the program cornerstone.
  • St Mary School for the big majority of the 2010’s, while the obvious FC school pipeline, has basically been ‘not great’ for baseball future purposes. Things are changing, as the program has been brought back at the JH level.
  • One issue that hasn’t helped baseball recently is how entrenched and valued Track & Field is with FC ‘n its school community. It’s not common for a school FC’s size to have the level of a T&F program that they do. I have nothing against T&F and the kids — I love seeing them succeed and it’s a school-community point of pride. That said, they are generally two different cultures and getting on the baseball train requires a little bit extra willingness to be coached in a particular way. Both programs push their kids for their best, and both programs ask of their kids to “be the best you that you can be”; but one program confers being willing to get coached hard, in order to stay alive for a league chase… while the other doesn’t require a critical mass of specialized & developed talent across the entire squad to win an MSL (can’t wait for someone to get pissy toward me IRL for saying that.)
As for what’s great right now: much of what always made FC baseball special beyond the diamond is still here.
  • FC’s Alumni Baseball Game is still one of the county’s best in connecting a tradition’s past to its present: last year’s game had ~25 alumni (~17 from mid ‘00s and early 10’s) come back. Unless I’m sorely mistaken, my guess is no else in the Cardinal has anything like that.
  • There’s been a lot of programming done to help get across the formative aspects of baseball (how playing baseball teaches you life skills, how it makes you grow) in Jared’s time. They were there in 2021, too, but in the absence of winning it does help to get the kids in front of support that comes off of the diamond.
  • The facility they have, Ben Thimmes Field, is one of the county’s best. Jared’s done well in putting in the work to make it as good as possible as a groundskeeper on largely (if not all) on his time & dime. Getting the league & postseason marks put onto the back of the visitors’ dugout is big since it’s the first thing these kids see when they walk to the field — message of “they did it, and so can you 🫵” , and yeah while the winning isn’t there… it’s still great to have a program with a place to call home. Jared built a nice place to call home, while others rent a nice place to call home. Worth the waning period, IMO, all things considered.
Click to expand...

The Dock said:
2/2 Mores have changed.

  • Kids don’t choose where they go to school based on the quality of baseball program anymore. A lot has changed since COVID. Most kids generally view school ball as secondary to summer ball. FC largely has done ‘well’ in having ~98% of its players under Jared’s time prioritize ‘FC first’ (much like it was under Jack, Scott, Nate et al) but the problem is most of these kids didn’t grow up wearing baseball mitts and paltry batters’ box experience —which is quite different from what those three guys had to work with. Believe me, it has at times been very painful to watch our kids try to make routine baseball plays only for them to end up kicking it around, or for us to get no runs across with ducks on the pond and two outs to spare. It flushed away good pitching performances, which has always been the program cornerstone.
  • St Mary School for the big majority of the 2010’s, while the obvious FC school pipeline, has basically been ‘not great’ for baseball future purposes. Things are changing, as the program has been brought back at the JH level.
  • One issue that hasn’t helped baseball recently is how entrenched and valued Track & Field is with FC ‘n its school community. It’s not common for a school FC’s size to have the level of a T&F program that they do. I have nothing against T&F and the kids — I love seeing them succeed and it’s a school-community point of pride. That said, they are generally two different cultures and getting on the baseball train requires a little bit extra willingness to be coached in a particular way. Both programs push their kids for their best, and both programs ask of their kids to “be the best you that you can be”; but one program confers being willing to get coached hard, in order to stay alive for a league chase… while the other doesn’t require a critical mass of specialized & developed talent across the entire squad to win an MSL (can’t wait for someone to get pissy toward me IRL for saying that.)
As for what’s great right now: much of what always made FC baseball special beyond the diamond is still here.
  • FC’s Alumni Baseball Game is still one of the county’s best in connecting a tradition’s past to its present: last year’s game had ~25 alumni (~17 from mid ‘00s and early 10’s) come back. Unless I’m sorely mistaken, my guess is no else in the Cardinal has anything like that.
  • There’s been a lot of programming done to help get across the formative aspects of baseball (how playing baseball teaches you life skills, how it makes you grow) in Jared’s time. They were there in 2021, too, but in the absence of winning it does help to get the kids in front of support that comes off of the diamond.
  • The facility they have, Ben Thimmes Field, is one of the county’s best. Jared’s done well in putting in the work to make it as good as possible as a groundskeeper on largely (if not all) on his time & dime. Getting the league & postseason marks put onto the back of the visitors’ dugout is big since it’s the first thing these kids see when they walk to the field — message of “they did it, and so can you 🫵” , and yeah while the winning isn’t there… it’s still great to have a program with a place to call home. Jared built a nice place to call home, while others rent a nice place to call home. Worth the waning period, IMO, all things considered.
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Life Coach - Check
Groundskeeper - Check
Event Scheduler - Check
Baseball Coach -
 
lancasterohio said:
Life Coach - Check
Groundskeeper - Check
Event Scheduler - Check
Baseball Coach - Check
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ftfy (fixed that fer you)

‘21 season is enough to cement how we see Jared as an accomplished coach, and an honorable stitch of the program’s tradition. That roster wasn’t as talented as the 17 18 and 19 seasons. And it wasn’t as deep, either.
 
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The Dock said:
ftfy (fixed that fer you)

‘21 season is enough to cement how we see Jared as an accomplished coach, and an honorable stitch of the program’s tradition. That roster wasn’t as talented as the 17 18 and 19 seasons. And it wasn’t as deep, either.
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Be careful with the "we" usage. Most people don't think that one successful season with players he didn't develop can cancel out years of failure we players he failed to develop.
 
The Dock said:
2/2 Mores have changed.

  • Kids don’t choose where they go to school based on the quality of baseball program anymore.
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Just as an example, here’s the 1a/1b front of the rotation over the last ~10 seasons. Where they went to JH is noted.

‘13-14: 1a LU (Sr), 1b FU (Soph)
‘14-15: 1a Sheridan (fr), 1b FU (Jr)
‘15-16: 1a Sheridan (soph), 1b FU (sr)
‘16-17: 1a Sheridan (jr), 1b SMS (jr)
‘17-18: 1a Sheridan (sr), 1b SMS (sr)
‘18-19: 1a SMS (sr), 1b LHS (sr *came to FC junior year), 1c FU (Sr)

‘20-21: 1a BC (jr), 1b CW (soph)
‘21-22: 1a BC (sr), 1b CW (jr)
‘22-23: 1a CW (sr), 1b Watkins [via Reynoldsburg St Pius] (sr)

— — —
‘23-24: 1 GA (sr *came to FC junior year), 1 SMS (jr)

‘24-25 is going to be SMS for the 1a and 1B. As will ‘25-26. And probably ‘26-27? Years of insular attitudes on what FC should look like has finally come home to roost, and it has come at the expense of the program’s health. And as an alum, I have no problem saying this. It’s a school and community issue. It’s tough when long-standing narrow attitudes as to who should go to FC screws things up.
 
lancasterohio said:
Be careful with the "we" usage. Most people don't think that one successful season with players he didn't develop can cancel out years of failure we players he failed to develop.
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I don’t see you applying this standard to the coach who (stubbornly) felt years of seniority within the program took precedence over kids who had more demonstrative skill and experience, though.

Especially when it resulted in two blown district titles. I’ll give examples!

‘19: A 3B with no situational awareness and low baseball IQ, who only got his PT because he was a senior, does the exact opposite of what he was specifically told to do (which was to concede the run and step on 3rd) and instead airmails an attempted gun-down at the plate. Harris wouldn’t have made that mistake at 3B. Lost us the game.

‘18: RF commits the Cardinal outfield sin of stepping forward instead of back, and it got over him. Lost us the game.

Both of those things cost FC district titles.

As it relates to development post ‘21 season: what is Jared supposed to do when the majority of kids he has to cultivate come from households with passive attitudes as to the role of a coach. Passive attitudes to a huge fault. Great kids, with good human beings as parents. Doesn’t mean they’re great partners in making the best baseball team imaginable and possible. [edit for a point of clarity: the point is it's a numbers situation where you can't afford to p*ss off a parent if you try to coach the kids in a tough love manner. Make one move incorrectly and you don't have 9 + 1 suddenly.]
 
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And when we look at these alleged "failures to develop", consider the following: stuff happens outside the staff's control.

  • Following 2021, the blueprint was drawn to make the transition behind the plate manageable following Mitch's graduation (best catcher in league history.) They had three kids lined up to catch: 1) the incoming freshman who caught for Ewing's JH team; 2) Mitch's back-up; 3) Nine's. They did not want to ride the first kid if he was struggling, but by the time the season came around they had no choice. Kav's knee got destroyed vs Portsmouth Notre Dame in Fall 2021, so he couldn't play. They thought they could have had J back there as an alternate, but they also needed him to pitch and be in the middle. Because JJ wanted to be at USMA, that had to get nixed because the image of him being a figurative Swiss-army knife (which would've come at the expense of his arm's health and future physical readiness tests) wasn't going to stand well with people (like me) in his corner. And they couldn't develop the first kid as intensely as they wanted because he was tied into not just football, but also AAU basketball.

  • They thought they had one of the outfield positions locked down for '22 and '23. The issue that ruined that for the following year, '23, was because the kid's parents took him out of FC for his final year in order for him to go into vocational at Logan.

  • They thought they could have had PO for all of '23, which would've been big for rotation and health purposes to reduce the workload on Nick and J, but the OHSAA (incorrectly from my POV given the situation at hand) ruled against his full-season eligibility being restored. Kid takes it upon himself to go to a school ninety miles away for non-baseball reasons, and Roselea Place tells him "sorry, but yer the property of Gallia Academy."

  • In '24 their expectations weren't very high because of the lack of basic, fundamental baseball experience. Constant error issues that can't be corrected with yelling at them to play better, and thankfully that's not what the coaches promoted. It was a rough situation. It wasn't as if they were completely in the pits in every game; plenty of games where errors and bad situational hitting cost it for them. Not helping the matter is having to deal with AAU interests and some other kids frankly putting themselves before the good of their team. Kids that the coaches burned oil trying to form into baseball players to help make a winning team. They did however beat FCA at Beavers, so I guess you can decide if... that win was a product of coaching or these kids were somehow magically the '05 team all along and everyone else was just too stupid to see it.
And, tying back to Kav's knee injury: guess what a big issue is right now? Knee injuries. Three years of program experience in the INF and on the bump is gone due to one knee injury, and there's a second kid in the INF/P mix from last year who is factored out apparently now (good call in his situation to try & confront the knee health head on before it gets worse.)
 
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lancasterohio said:
Be careful with the "we" usage. Most people don't think that one successful season with players he didn't develop
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It’s fair to say JS has nothing to do with Krooner, Harris and Santino etc being good at baseball. But JF had nothing to do with kids like Saffell, Starkey, Piko, Kandel, etc being good either. Think before we speak?

You’re assuming Jack plays the same kids, and in the same positions, that Jared did. Is your head still stuck in the commemorative bucket of sand that was getting passed out to every third fan in 2019 in celebration of the loss to Centerburg?

JF would’ve tried to keep the sixth kid in that 21 class, the Jackson boy, who ended up going to Track. He would have because he managed to keep Dan Turner in 2019 that way by allowing to share him with GM. AJ got way more action than the 21 juniors did as freshmen. That would’ve meant one of Dolci/Viau sits. Either lose your leadoff + fourth arm or the southpaw who bats in the 6-hole. All to keep a kid who didn’t pitch because the priority was on seniority. Actually both kids probably sit so that the fifth senior who Stewart had to get plug in late gets a full senior season.

Those two and not the freshman because, if you remember your history, JF came off of a 2018 class with thirteen seniors whose parents made things very difficult. He’s not sitting a kid from a well-respected legacy family in favor of a better player. He wanted to do that in 2018 and it was a mess explaining to those parents only nine can take the field to begin with. Got it negotiated to eight when it should’ve been six at most that year.

JF wouldn’t have scheduled DeSales as a pickup game, but if he would have he’s not throwing #1. Just like all the heavy hitters in non-league in his time, he wouldn’t put his Ace against good competition outside the MSL.

Making matters more difficult would be him having the same senior class who didn’t get a junior year. With two players with meaningful HS ball experience coming in thanks to the 2018 debacle that bled into the following year. JF is a fantastic person. He is a good coach. But making those kids play for JF instead of Stewart their final year doesn’t unlock what they had all along. Especially with the sticks. That sixth inning vs NC wouldn’t have happened because Jack would’ve traded an out to move a guy over to 2B to increase the chance of one guaranteed run. He’s not letting those kids tee off years of a frustration in the biggest moment of their careers.
 
no1rival said:
It’s fair to say JS has nothing to do with Krooner, Harris and Santino etc being good at baseball. But JF had nothing to do with kids like Saffell, Starkey, Piko, Kandel, etc being good either. Think before we speak?

You’re assuming Jack plays the same kids, and in the same positions, that Jared did. Is your head still stuck in the commemorative bucket of sand that was getting passed out to every third fan in 2019 in celebration of the loss to Centerburg?

JF would’ve tried to keep the sixth kid in that 21 class, the Jackson boy, who ended up going to Track. He would have because he managed to keep Dan Turner in 2019 that way by allowing to share him with GM. AJ got way more action than the 21 juniors did as freshmen. That would’ve meant one of Dolci/Viau sits. Either lose your leadoff + fourth arm or the southpaw who bats in the 6-hole. All to keep a kid who didn’t pitch because the priority was on seniority. Actually both kids probably sit so that the fifth senior who Stewart had to get plug in late gets a full senior season.

Those two and not the freshman because, if you remember your history, JF came off of a 2018 class with thirteen seniors whose parents made things very difficult. He’s not sitting a kid from a well-respected legacy family in favor of a better player. He wanted to do that in 2018 and it was a mess explaining to those parents only nine can take the field to begin with. Got it negotiated to eight when it should’ve been six at most that year.

JF wouldn’t have scheduled DeSales as a pickup game, but if he would have he’s not throwing #1. Just like all the heavy hitters in non-league in his time, he wouldn’t put his Ace against good competition outside the MSL.

Making matters more difficult would be him having the same senior class who didn’t get a junior year. With two players with meaningful HS ball experience coming in thanks to the 2018 debacle that bled into the following year. JF is a fantastic person. He is a good coach. But making those kids play for JF instead of Stewart their final year doesn’t unlock what they had all along. Especially with the sticks. That sixth inning vs NC wouldn’t have happened because Jack would’ve traded an out to move a guy over to 2B to increase the chance of one guaranteed run. He’s not letting those kids tee off years of a frustration in the biggest moment of their careers.
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We don't get two suicide squeeze calls, especially after the first one failed, to try and stick daggers into NC at every opportunity imaginable under the previous coach. He was massive in helping keep the program afloat, and rejuvenated, in the wake of '12-13.

The points on managing situations is spot on: caught in the middle of the ugly triangle of,

a) entitled parents of nice kids who were mediocre players at best, with bad attitudes across the entire board at their worst moments [I do NOT miss having a battery where the SP goes out of his way to dress down his catcher in front of everyone],

b) parents advocating for their kids who do actually train and work hard toward being great at baseball to get an opportunity to show they belong out there, and

c) a weak-as admin at the time (2017-2018) who somehow thought they could browbeat a "higher standard" across the athletic department, where their only answer as to how to resolve conflicts within a program was "you figure it out, and you better win doing so, because we'll find someone else who can" who kept sadistically pointing at the football and basketball firings from the previous school year as points of pride.

In the alternate reality where Jack would've been willing to stay after 2019, I don't think he would have stayed after the 2022 season. Having two of the smallest boys' classes in school history, especially when the second one was as entrenched into Track & Field as they were from way before they even got to high school, like that's not going to work with him. He can widen a window of opportunity if there is a sliver of potential, but he can't magically create an opportunity out of thin air. Neither can the current staff. No one can.

Going further in this alternate reality universe... what if FC hired someone other than Jared following 2019? Let's explore the possibilities.

Marlins Man? Yeah. Hard pass. Can already think of ten possibilities how he would've ruined 2021 and killed the program immediately after, along with pissing off the entire alumni base in the process.

Previous FC coaches? They wouldn't have wanted it regardless of how many riches you could promise them, because the image of having to work with half as many boys as were in the school when they ran the program would be a dealbreaker.

Baker? I'd have tried to thrown him a bag in this alternate universe, because he was pretty instrumental in turning FCA into a baseball program from its previous status as an after-school activity on the Tschopp Road fields. He wouldn't have wanted it, though, because the opportunity to build and see fruits spring means something to him.

The Dearthquake? While they likely win a district with DD in '21, I don't know how well DD could've managed 2022 & gotten the ship back in the right direction for '23 and beyond with it being both his first exposure to a wane + all that has come with it AND his first time being the HC simultaneously. At his alma mater where he is held in his due high regard, no less. He definitely would have had the heart, patience, tact, class and energy to push through the hard times for a better tomorrow (like what Jared has had) but lengthy experience as a head man and not being an Alum invested into the program at the level he has been are two feathers in the cap that would actually indicate Jared - instead of DD - was the correct call (in retrospect) back then. In other words, Jared having the skillset that comes with his time at different places (exposes you to all kinds of parents and different situations) to navigate tricky situations has proved to be pretty helpful to the situation at hand and there is just no way of knowing if DD could've done any better on his own. He wouldn't have done worse. Now that the man has an example and lived experience as to what works best, he'd be an obvious person worth handing the program off to when Jared is ready to pass the torch.
 
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The whole league has really taken a dive over the last few years. No team currently in the league would be able to compete with the 2021-2023 FC, Berne, and FCA teams.
 
StealCurtain said:
The whole league has really taken a dive over the last few years. No team currently in the league would be able to compete with the 2021-2023 FC, Berne, and FCA teams.
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I haven’t really followed as much these last two seasons, so I won’t directly endorse nor disagree on the second sentence.

What I will say those years, in particular ‘22, were really deep leagues in the top half. The ‘21 Berne team was probably the best non-champion in league history since ‘01 FC. The ‘22 FCA team took 4(?) losses in league play yet won a district title, and ‘23 Berne was a final chapter to remember in Nate’s career.

When that leaguewide class of ‘23 graduated, it seems that a lot of the star power that booned otherwise mediocre-not good teams via strong links went out with them. ‘24 wasn’t a bad class by any means, but it does seem like across the board 24 & 25 are shallow compared to ‘22 and ‘23 with 26 just not having enough breadth league-wide like was the case three-to-four years ago.

And, yeah, those aforementioned teams were legit and Quite Good at Baseball.
 
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