Things like what the weather will be like in mid-spring? How did the field hold up over the winter? And, oh yeah, how many players will show up in time?
“Well, we’ll have at least 10 guys and a coach for the first game, so we’ll at least have a team,” Express general manager Cory Olafson said with during a meet-and-greet and uniform fitting at his home Monday night. “We’ll have some guys playing in positions they might not play all year, but it won’t be as bad as a couple of years ago when we had pitchers playing second base… we’ll have guys who are middle infielders playing infield and guys who are corners playing corner, that kind of stuff.”
While the team had a couple batting practice sessions and a bit of fielding the night before the game, the overall feel for the team was still just that heading into their contest with the Melville Millionaires on Wednesday – a feeling, but at least an educated one.
“We’ve seen the stats from school and we’ve talked to a lot of the coaches and they’re all spoke highly of and their numbers are good, so we’ll see what happens when they hit the field,” Olafson said.
One of the biggest questions in the months leading up was the team’s coaching situation. Tanner Spencer had been slated to take over from long-time bench boss Michael Hunt, but landed a full-time baseball job at college. That set the search in motion again, with Rich Sorensen tabbed to take over a couple of months before the season.
Olafson and Sorenson have had a relationship for many years, with Sorensen’s college teams in California sending the occasional pitcher the Express’ way. So when the opening came up again in such a short time, Olafson knew who to call.
“I breathed a sigh of relief when he rang my doorbell on Saturday,” Olafson laughed. “I’ve obviously talked to Rich quite a bit and I think he’s going to be a great fit for the organization. We had Michael for 10 years and I think it’s going to be a different look this year, we’ll wait and see what happens.”
The Express will have a veteran presence on this year’s squad, led by the likes of returning catcher Cole Warken, overall standout Blake Gallagher, infielder Georgie McDougall, outfielder Eric Marriott and pitcher Nick Falco leading the way.
“So it’s not a lot of guys who are back but quality guys, for sure,” Olafson said. “It’s a development league, there are a lot of new faces around here, and we had a few more vets committed a few months ago but baseball is a long season and things happen in the collegiate world, so we’ll see how it goes.”
The important thing will be a solid start and to keep things going strong as long as possible.
“This league is all about momentum, it’s a short season but there’s a lot of games in the short season, so if you can get on a roll and win eight or nine out of 10, that goes a long way in the standings,” Olafson said. “That’s what I tell the guys every year, that game in the first week of June, you might not care much about it, but at the end of the year you’re going to be thinking about that game if you lose it by one or two.
“So a good start will be important and we’ll do what we can to make it happen.”
