The Becker boys baseball team had their first taste of outdoor baseball this week and Head Coach Chuck Stanger is encouraged about his offense and defense, yet trepidatious about his pitching staff.
“It’s hard to be throwing simulated situations indoors for all these weeks and expect them to be perfectly ready to go once they hit the mound outdoors,” he said. “We’ve definitely got some work to do with our staff of throwers.”
Stanger has 52 freshmen through senior players vying for spots on the teams and his coaching staff includes Steve Hill, Tyler Neidfelt and Stanger’s son, Corey who is helping as a volunteer after coaching for many years in Monticello.
It’s a three generation situation as Grandfather (Chuck), father (Corey) and son (Andrew) make up a big part of the team.
Head Coach Stanger is excited for the beginning of the new season and holds out hope his kids will not only learn to win and play competitively, but also learn to enjoy the mundane types of things such as batting and pitching practices and scrimmages.
“I don't have any high expectations of any individual players,” Stanger said. “I just have high expectations for the team. If the team does well, we will have more players make all-conference, all-star teams and achieve other honors.
Stanger and the players are also excited for the fact they will be sporting new uniforms and hats from Adidas for the kids who make varsity.
“When the kids look good they feel good and they play,” said Stanger with a smile on his face.
Stanger noted the Minnesota State High School League is experimenting with a new rule where the starting pitchers can be listed as the designated hitter. That would mean the team would assign their pitcher as the starter as well as the designated hitter, allowing that player to come out of the game (pitching) and still be in the line-up to hit.
“I feel this is a safety item,” said Stanger. “Because most of the time your starting pitcher is one of your best athletes and you would put him in another position in the field so you could keep his bat in the line-up. In doing so, after pitching you could be risking hurting his arm by playing another position. I think it is a good rule change.”
Stanger is a huge fan of America’s pastime and enjoys working with so many good young men who want to play the game of baseball. His team’s have enjoyed some success, but to compete with some of the area’s better schools like Cathedral, Stanger feels this year’s team may be his most solid.
“I feel this is the most talented team I have coached,” he said. “We have competition at every position which we have not in the past and this will make us better.”
Fortunately, the weather has not been a problem for the last two weeks for the team like it has been in the past couple springs.
“There is only so much that you can do inside to get your players ready to go outside,” he said. “We are outside now and it feels so good.”
This is Stanger’s sixth year as the head coach and his enthusiasm has never waned. Now that he has his son and grandson on the team, it makes it even more special.
“I really enjoy the young student athletes I get to have fun with everyday,” he said. “I have assistant coaches that I enjoy listening to their ideas and their company and now Corey my son is helping. It’s what most fathers who coach dream about. Working with their son and for me (It’s even better) because my grandson plays on the team.”
The team consists of: John Mann, Connor Rolf, Jake Fobbe, Matt Yoerg, Morgan Kramer, Austin Rasmussen, Eric Blomgren, Cody Gruenhagen, Clayton Gallus, Andrew Berglund, Kendal Hanson, Andrew Stanger, Tyler Thorson and Casey Vesledahl.
The team’s first official game of the year is Tuesday at St. Cloud Cathedral followed by a Thursday game at Zimmerman. Their first home game is the following Tuesday (April 14) against Milaca.
