You would think that, on his way to Mexico for a vacation with his bride last year, Clever High School baseball coach Justin Snider would have just let his brain melt and allowed himself to forget about lineups, fastballs and double plays.
Instead, on the drive, he buried his nose in a book that covered strategy adopted by several collegiate programs, including Texas Tech. When Snider returned to town, he implemented its principles – basically, seven goals to achieve in a game – and overhauled the team’s philosophy.
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“We lost games last year because we didn’t score enough runs,” Snider said. “So I read the book while on vacation, and my wife wasn’t too happy.”
Hey, a coach has to do what a coach has to do, right? For Clever, it could well pay off.
Clever opens this season with far more optimism than it ended with a year ago, as the Blue Jays finished 16-5 in the MSHSAA-sanctioned fall season following a 13-15 spring record – which ended in a district semifinals loss to Stockton.
And it’s difficult to question Snider for turning to the seven goals, if you look ahead at the Blue Jays’ Class 3 district opponents:
Lamar, which went undefeated until districts last year; Stockton, which was a state quarterfinalist a year ago; Ash Grove, which is said to be returning a ton of pitchers; and El Dorado Springs, which has a couple of college prospects.
In essence, Clever strives to meet five of the seven goals each game. More on those later, but the team was 16-0 in the fall when they stuck to the script.
“The kids really accepted the style,” Snider said. “It took away, ‘What am I, as an individual, doing?’ And it became, ‘How can we reach these goals as a team?’”
Clever has a lot of parts to make it happen.
The pitching staff features Evangel University signee Chris Amtower, Lincoln University-bound Tyler Edwards and junior Spencer Flatt. Amtower enters his third season as the team’s No. 1 starter. He was 4-3 with a 1.69 ERA in fall baseball, including 66 strikeouts in 49 innings.
Amtower has added about 7 mph to his fastball, up now to 81 mph, and has mixed in a change-up to go along with a curveball. He is a 6-foot, 160-pound pitcher with room to grow.
“He’s smart and understands what to look for (against a lineup),” Snider said. “He’d be able to write his own scouting reports. He’s extremely intelligent.”
Edwards, a 6-foot-4, 200-pounder, struck out 68 in 48 fall innings thanks to a fastball-curve combo. Flatt is a 6-2, 215-pounder with a plus curve for a high school pitcher.
The closer is Dawson Little, who didn’t play last spring but threw a no-hitter and perfect game in his first two starts of the summer.
They’ll pitch to a freshman catcher in Logan Peebles, who won the job in the fall after driving in 14 runs and batting .278. His future might pique the interest of college coaches soon.
“He was a little bit overwhelmed in the beginning with the varsity things that go into baseball,” Snider said. “But he’s learning.”
Offensively, Amtower bats leadoff, followed by Little, outfielder/first baseman Tristan Tanner, pitcher/first baseman Edwards, pitcher/third baseman Flatt and then Peebles, Calin Springer, right-fielder and senior Jeremy Watson and center fielder Daltin Karr.
Clever’s top two in the order and its bottom two have great speed. Watson is joining the Army after graduation in May. Skylan Akins will play second base.
“Jeremy may be the fastest kid I’ve ever had,” Snider said. “And Karr is like Jeremy. If they hit it on the ground and it’s on the left side of the infield, they’re not necessarily out. In the fall, Karr beat out a ground ball, a hard shot, that took the first baseman about only 12 feet off the bag.”
Amtower has been a mid-.300 hitter with a .450 on-base percentage in his high school career. Little is the team’s best bunter and can handle the bat in a hit-and-run situation. Tanner, who has committed to Central Methodist University, hit .468 with a .592 slugging percentage last season.
Tyler Deepe, Colby Elrod and Devon Atnip are potential bench players for Clever, which is ready to stick to Snider’s new strategy.
In essence, the seven goals are:
On offense – the leadoff batter reaches base in four of seven innings; the team needs seven freebies such as walks, errors or a hit batsmen; 50 percent quality at-bats; at least one inning of at least three runs; and more walks than strikeouts in a game.
Pitchers cannot walk more than two batters, and the defense cannot commit more than one error.
“Once the kids saw that and saw it falling into place, they took to it,” Snider said. “I read the book when we went to Playa del Carmen and my wife said, ‘Can we have a vacation without baseball?’ And I kept reading.”
Clever Blue Jays
Coach: Justin Snider
Last year: 13-15, lost in Class 3 district semifinals
Pitching staff: RHPs Chris Amtower, Tyler Edward, Spencer Flatt.
Projected lineup: P/OF Amtower, SS/P/C Dawson Little, OF/1B Tristan Tanner, P/1B Tyler Edwards, P/3B Spencer Flatt, C/2B Logan Peebles, C/3B/P Calin Springer, RF Jeremy Watson, CF Daltin Karr.
Bench: Trace Comer, Colby Elrod, Nathan King, Cameron Garcia, Devin Atnip, Joe Merritt, Hunter Eutsler, Cooper Deulen, Tyler Deepe, Noah Losh, Clayton Richardson, Nic Clifford
