Miller baseball has a new head coach with former Clever coach Justin Snider taking over this season. Snider inherits a program that has won double-digit games just once in the past six seasons.
“I was extremely blessed during my time in Clever to have kids who committed to doing things right. A lot of that success is due to the players committing to a culture, work ethic and attention to details that we felt we had to be better at than other teams. We really focused on things we could control and the extra work that was being put in. That is something I will try to bring to Miller. So far with our offseason and winter workouts, things have been great. The commitment level and the changes have been met with great attitudes and mindsets. I think that is where we start, the standard has to be raised, the attention to details and things we can control is how we start,” Snider said.
Snider will be busy this spring, as he also serves as Miller’s athletic director and assistant principal.
“I believe the hardest part of taking on coaching, assistant principal and AD will be my time management skills,” Snider said. “I will have to rely a little more on others during the spring as well to help out as well. I want to be present and seen at all of our spring events, but the coaching part will limit that availability. We have a great support staff here in Miller that will help me fill those gaps.”
On the field, Miller returns five starters and eight total lettermen from last season’s six-win team.
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Seniors Garrett Stewart (outfield/pitcher), Brady Johnson (catcher/pitcher), Spencer Bowles (outfield/pitcher) and Alex Pennington (outfield) along with sophomore Jaron Lung (shortstop/pitcher) will be the team’s leaders.
Snider on Stewart: “Garrett has been the No. 1 pitcher here for three years. He has great command of his fastball and a tremendous curveball. We will look for him to anchor our pitching staff and contribute in the middle of our order hitting wise. He will pitch at the next level and is narrowing down those options.”
Snider on Johnson: “Brady is committed to Evangel next year. He will be our starting catcher and will be important to us on the mound this year too. He will also hit in that 3-4-5 spot in the order.”
Snider on Bowles: “Spencer has gained velocity on the mound and will likely be our No. 2 arm. He has great speed in the outfield and has greatly improved at the plate.”
Snider on Pennington: “Alex has speed that can’t be taught. We hope that helps build into his ability to be at the top of our order hitting wise and his ability to help us get on the board early in games.
Snider on Lung: “Jarod started every game at shortstop last year as a freshman. We really look for him to improve on the mound and in his power numbers. He will hit in the top of the order.”
Joining Stewart, Bowles, Johnson and Lung on the mound will be freshmen Paul Nunez and Owen Weiss.
Gavin Hendricks (sophomore) and Colton Brown (sophomore) will back up Brady Johnson at catcher.
Around the infield, first base will be a battle between Owen Pritchett (senior) and several others including Nunez and Stewart. Second base will be a mix of Brown and Hayden Logan (senior). Lung will hold down shortstop. Hendricks, Brown and Logan are all options at third base.
Pennington, Stewart, Bowles, Nunez, Weiss and sophomores Nate Hill and Caden Calvin could all see time in the outfield at times.
“I believe our strength will be our team speed and top end rotation pitching wise,” Snider said. “I also believe that the one through five guys in our order will be really good, we will need production coming from six through nine in order to see major strides for the program. We should have a very good top end of the rotation though. Our speed and athleticism up the middle of the defense will benefit us as well.”
Snider will look to develop depth and a sound defense.
“We will need to find depth in a lot of areas to help our success,” Snider said. “One of the areas that I think concerns me but will see the most improvement is defensively. There were a lot of throwing errors last year, and we will be spending a lot of time working on footwork and skills that will help limit those mistakes.”
Miller opens the season on Mar. 17 at Exeter.
“I want to see our kids learn that hard work and dedication to working on the attention to detail makes a difference,” Snider said. “I think we can easily improve on last year’s win total simply based on that. I want our athletes to know that learning the ability to compete, control what you can, and eliminate outside distractions are keys to not just your success on the baseball field, but everything else as well. I do not think it is out of the realm to see this group competing for conference and district championships. Many will doubt us, but we will work hard to be at our best by district baseball season.”
