A fresh Start: New coaches new season for the Big Spring Steers Baseball team
It’s the best time of the year. It’s time for some baseball! The Big Spring Steers are getting ready to kick off their regular season on Monday, Feb 21. There have been some considerable changes from last year’s team, so I’m going to give you a breakdown of this year’s group and a glimpse at some fresh faces.
The Steers are coming off of an arduous season last year where they finished 12-17-1 and failed to make the postseason. There have been several noteworthy changes with this ball club throughout the off-season. Most noticeably, last year’s head coach Daniel Carrillo has left to take a head coaching job in Copperas Cove, and assistant coach joe bogle has moved on to take the head coaching job in Comanche. So with two coaches gone, it was time for some fresh faces to take over for the Steers. So in steps new Baseball head coach Brad Harman. While he may be the new head baseball coach, Harmon is not an unfamiliar name for Big Spring or in the coaching game. This year will mark Harmon’s twenty-fourth year in coaching. He has been the defensive coordinator for the Steers for the last few years and the JV baseball coach. As far as baseball coaching experience, he is loaded there as well. He has been the baseball head coach for the Coahoma Bulldogs and the Monahans Lobos, to name a few.
Michael Felton will come back as an assistant for the baseball team. Felton possesses exceptional relationships with all players and is a remarkable motivator. In addition, there will be two fresh names on the baseball team this year. Mario Heredia and Matt Yanez are new to the team and bring a fresh perspective to this year’s squad.
Ok, so now let’s dive into this team. The Steers will be laden with an abundance of talent coming back from last year’s team. One of the stronger players I have observed will lead them, both with the glove and with the bat. Shortstop Josh Miramontes. This will be his senior season, and after receiving numerous awards last year, the season will be there for him to take over. Another key returner will be lead-off man Maverick Yanez. Yanez is one of the stronger competitors this team has; his time spent on his craft to get better was impressive. His leadership off the field is why he is a leader. Ace pitcher Ricky Escovedo also comes back for his Junior season. Escovedo had an excellent sophomore season and will be the leader of the steers’ pitching staff. A couple of first-year students stood out last year that will be back for their sophomore campaigns. First baseman Isaiah Diaz was a tremendous revelation for the Steers’ previous season; the freshman maned a superb first base and was exceedingly productive with the bat. The man behind the plate will be Sophomore Marcos Paradez; Paradez is a natural behind the plate and has the arm to throw out and would-be base stealer in any game. Pablito Dehoyos is a speedster coming off an ACL injury during football season. When Dehoyos gets on base, he will invariably be a threat to steal. Eli Cobos will be another top pitcher on this staff, and he has a bat that can drive in runs as well. Gabriel Baeza will be leaned on. He has the power to take any pitch deep and has one of the best split-finger pitches in all of high school baseball. Baeza will look to have himself a prodigious senior season. Outfielder Braxton Sizenbach is my choice to have a breakout season. Sizenbach has as much, if not more, power in his bat than anyone in this district; he could be one of the key players on this team.
The Steers will open up the regular season this Monday, Feb 21, in Greenwood; the first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. They follow up the Greenwood game with a Pecos and Fort Stockton tournament on Feb 24-26. On Mar 1, they will have their first home game to welcome the Brownfield Cubs to Steer park. After that, a tournament in Levelland is scheduled to take place from Mar. 3-5. They follow that up with another tournament in Greenwood Mar. 10-12. After the Greenwood tourney is when the baseball matters, the Steers begin district play with a home game taking on Lubbock Estacado on Mar 15. The second district game will be in San Angelo on Mar 17 as they take on Lake View. Leveland will be on Mar 19 and will be in Leveland. On Mar 22, the Steers are back home to take on their rivals from Snyder. On Mar 25, they travel to Sweetwater; they follow that up with another road game as they take on Estacado in Lubbock. On Mar 29 they will be on the road as they start back-to-back games against Estacado and then play them at home on Apr 1. The Steers next take on Lakeview in back-to-back game at home on Apr 5, then later on the road on Apr 8. Home and Home games against Levelland follow that up; they will be in Levelland on Apr 12, then home on Apr 14. Snyder will be the next back-toback game as they will face off against their rivals on Apr 19 in Snyder and play on Apr 22 at home. Finally, they close out the regular season with another home and home against Sweetwater. Apr 26 will be senior night and the last regular-season home game of the year, and then on Apr 29, they close out the season on the road against Sweetwater.
This will be an intriguing season for the Steers. These boys have all the talent in the world to contend for a district title. It won’t come easy, but with hard work and their talent on the field, the Steers will be a hard team to stop. With new coaches and a fresh start, I absolutely expect that this will be the year that the Steers will take home a district title.
It’s no secret that I care for this group of players. I followed them all season long and looked forward to covering their games this season. They will bring home the title this season, so please come out and support these guys.