St. Michael’s baseball looks to cash in with young players
Young players making big plays for Horsemen may be key to tournament victories
As some of the veterans describe it, the fire that got the St. Michael’s baseball team going came in the form of a youth movement that sent the kind of shock waves that still reverberate around the Horsemen program.
Freshman Thomas Erickson was promoted to varsity early in the season to shore up the team’s pitching staff. It didn’t take long for him to inch his way into the lineup, first as a role player and eventually as the starting shortstop.
By time the district slate rolled around, the team was in need of another spark. It came when head coach Augie Ruiz called up eighthgrader Derek Martinez from the junior varsity. In no time, he was entrenched at the No. 2 spot in the lineup and taking over as the starting second baseman.
“I think a lot of the veterans, the seniors, started looking around and began saying that, hey, we could all lose our jobs to these younger guys,” said senior Sean Latham, arguably the team’s best player and its wellestablished ace on the mound. “The coaches clearly aren’t afraid to bring in a younger guy if you’re not producing.” The promotions weren’t a bandage. Martinez has played in just 11 games but is already second on the team with two home runs while batting .459 with 16 runs batted in and 19 runs scored. What’s more, he has struck out just twice in 46 plate appearances.
“I’ve known Derek since he was little and I can tell you, he’s a five-tool guy,” Ruiz said.
He’s also not afraid of the moment. Considerably bigger and more athletically gifted than the average eighthgrader, he has the confidence of a player who’s been on the scene for a while. During the team’s recent sweep of Taos in the opening round of the Class 4A State Tournament, which resumes Thursday with the Horsemen playing No. 2 Silver in the quarterfinals in Rio Rancho, he scribbled large dollar signs in eyeblack across each cheek.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” Martinez said. “It was just something we talked about and thought would be a fun idea.”
Together, Martinez and Erickson form a middle infield that is both younger and not at all intimidated in a dugout filled with older, more established players. Their insertion into the
lineup has bumped a few veterans into diminished roles but added both speed and consistency to a team that already had enough of both to make a deep playoff run.
“Everyone has to get the message that if you’re not doing your job, someone’s coming for you,” Ruiz said. “There’s always someone out there, a younger guy, trying to take your spot. That’s something [Martinez and Erickson] need to learn, too.”
“No one’s job is safe,” said senior Jonah Baca, the team’s starting catcher. “We were always a good team, but coach bringing in all the new guys was a fire. It was a reminder. We all need to work hard to stay out there.”
A righthander with a 3-0 record that includes a win over defending state champion Portales, Erickson sees his greatest contribution to the team coming from the mound.
“I’ve always considered myself more of a pitcher,” he said. “It’s what I like to do and, I think, that’s why they brought me onto the varsity. I feel pretty relaxed out there.”
With the state tournament set to hit full throttle Thursday, it’s clear that the St. Michael’s youth movement has served its purpose.
“In a lot of ways we’re better,” Latham said. “The veterans that have always been here can still step in, but everyone knows we have to play with more energy and maybe urgency if we’re going to do this.”
NOTES
Statcast: The Horsemen (18-10) sport one of the more impressive statistics heading into the quarterfinals. As a team they are a remarkable 65-for-68 in stolen base attempts, good for a 96 percent success rate.
Leadoff hitter Marcos Leyba is a perfect 12-for-12 while Baca, Aiden Gantt and Eric Romero are the only players to have been caught.
What’s more, the Horsemen are batting .316 as a team — about 20 percentage points higher than this exact time a year ago. Latham is batting a ridiculous .534 with 15 extra base hits despite playing much of the season with various injuries.
Glass slipper: The darling of the tournament is undoubtedly Santa Fe Indian School, a 12-seed who upset No. 5 New Mexico Military in three games during last week’s opening round. The Braves (17-11) stumbled into the playoffs with a five-game losing streak but eliminated NMMI with a pair of wins in their last at-bat.
SFIS has 11 regulars who are batting .300 or better, led by Abraham Herrera (.435 with 20 RBI) and senior Rylan Garcia (.386) and junior Kye Aguilar (.377 with 21 RBI and a team-high 17 stolen bases).
The Braves are the first doubledigit seed to reach the state quarterfinals since West Las Vegas did so as an 11-seed three years ago. No team seeded 10 or worse has ever reached the state semifinals at this level since the advent of the seeding system began following the 2011 season.
A little love please: Coach Rick Armijo has been asking all year what his Robertson baseball team needs to do in order to earn the respect it deserves. The Cardinals (23-4) are in the midst of one of their greatest seasons ever, outscoring opponents by more than eight runs a game and batting .340 as a team with an OPS of .823.
The answer is simple. Having not been to the state championship game since its one and only appearance 48 years ago, Robertson needs to make a deep run this week to get the attention usually reserved for more traditional powers like Portales, Silver, Hope and St. Michael’s.
Shortstop Richard Armijo leads the team with a gaudy .500, scoring 43 times in just 105 plate appearances. Then, of course, there’s Brandon Lucero on the mound. While he’s batting nearly .400, his claim to fame is an 11-0 record and 1.42 ERA with 72 strikeouts in 64 innings. He’s one of four potential starters should the Cardinals keep advancing.
In Bernalillo, Robertson faces a team that is also in relatively uncharted territory. The Spartans (19-9) are enjoying their best season in a decade after winning the District 5-4A championship.