Flexibility key for Smackover

In some cases, the seeds of what could come the following spring when high school baseball begins are planted during the previous summer.

For Smackover, having a roster full of interchangeable players gave coach Josh Wesson maximum flexibility and allowed the Bucks to finish the regular season on a seven-game winning streak that helped seal a trip to the regional tournament.

Now Wesson will have the opportunity to evaluate players during the summer to see who could be playing where in 2023.

“We’ll move guys around,” Wesson said. “Whenever I was interviewed at the beginning of the season, I said basically minus two guys, everybody else is pretty much interchangeable, and that proved to be the case. Maddox Gottberg was slotted to play at second base, but he would up being our starting center fielder the whole year.

“The summertime is a great time to just move guys around and figure out the best fit for our lineup. It’s also a great time to find arms. With the pitch count rules and the way high school baseball is playing four games a week, you need a lot of arms, so guys that maybe have not pitched much in the past or they don’t consider themselves a pitcher, summer ball is a great opportunity to see what those guys can do and get them some work.

“Last summer, we found Calvin Collins. He was a senior this past year, and he had actually never played in a varsity game. He ended up logging some innings for us this year during the high school season all based off of the work and the progression that he made starting last summer.

“It’s just a matter of finding the right puzzle pieces and putting them together and finding arms that can help us out going into the high school season.”

Wesson said the bulk of his players will also be

playing either American Legion baseball or with travel teams this summer.

“They’re going to split time,” Wesson said. “The majority of the guys are playing with the Oilers and the Drillers. I have a handful of guys playing with the (Arkansas) Sticks. The way it works with extended ball, I try to keep those games during the weekdays.

“We do have a couple of Friday games, but for the most part, they are Monday through Thursday. That way, they can get their work in, give us a look and then at the same time, they can play the whole summer with whichever travel ball group they are playing with.”

Wesson is also eager to see his incoming freshman class.

“There’s some talent coming up with this current eighth-grade class,” Wesson said. “It’s a big step anytime you’re going from junior high ball to senior high baseball. We’re very fortunate enough to have a junior high baseball program here that these young men play starting in the seventh grade, so they play their seventh- and eighth-grade year with the junior high group.

“We’re blessed in that they have the whole Norphlet baseball complex to themselves. That’s where our junior high baseball program practices and plays. They’ve been playing together for the past two years, and there’s definitely some talent there.

“We have some holes that we need to fill with our graduating class that’s leaving us. I’m looking forward to seeing what these young guys can do mixed in with these upperclassmen.”

Wesson said that the experience the younger players get through playing in the summer is invaluable.

“It’s just an opportunity to get a glimpse at what the season could possibly look like for next year,” Wesson said. “We’ll move those soon-to-be-ninth-graders up and blend those guys in with our roster.

“It’s just a great opportunity to see what all we need to improve on and see the holes that we need to put the puzzle pieces together for going into the offseason and into next season. We’re just excited to get those young guys up there and get them combined with guys we have on our current roster. It’s an opportunity to play baseball, and we love those opportunities.”