CALIFORNIA - Jason Gatlin must do what all other baseball coaches hate to do, replace seven starters from the year prior. It won't be easy but Gatlin is optimistic. The Pintos look to improve from a 10-9 season and a first round exit in districts.
"What's nice about it is we've got four seniors that are good, quality leaders," said Gatlin. "There's Jaden Barr, we all know who Jaden Barr is. We've got Alex Dalbey who's played for four years, playing first base for us. Kyle Lee, playing center field and Eli Freeman playing second base and pitching for us."
Gatlin is also excited about his young players and how they're filling in the gaps in the lineup. But he's still worried about his pitching and outfield play.
"We're a little weaker in the outfield than what I would like, but our infield is as strong as any infield out there right now," said Gatlin. "I think our biggest weakness is our pitching, every high school coach wants pitching. Landon really stepped up for us (Monday) and so did Hunter. We're still looking for that good second starter."
Despite the lack in pitching depth, Gatlin's expectations are still high. Why shouldn't they be? The Pintos have power in the middle of the lineup with Landon Mouse Barr, Hunter Heimericks and Darby batting two through five in the order.
"I think we're going to have a good season once these guys settle in. If we can do a little bit of pitching, we'll be a good, solid team. Our bats will work and we can manufacture runs."
While the four seniors are holding it down, there's still players like Kirby - who batted 2-for-4 Monday night - and Kory Stephens - who came off the bench Monday to hit 2-for-2 with three RBI. Also, Gatlin loves what he sees out of his freshman.
"I've got a couple of good young freshmen, but the freshmen coming in right now, they're baseball players. ... You can see it with their discipline at the plate and how they play in the field and it's exciting."
To make things even sweeter for the diamond Pintos is that they're getting a shiny new baseball field on the high school grounds that should be open in mid-to-late April.