NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks players gather around the pitching mound after batting practice Tuesday the first day of mini camp ahead of the Mavericks WCBL season that gets underway Friday.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Tyler Jeske sees himself as the bumpers in a bowling alley.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks head coach says he’s there to keep his players in the “middle of the lane” where they need to be and says that starts with building relationships.
“There is a technical and tactical side to coaching but none of that really matters if you don’t have the right culture, you don’t have the right people,” Jeske told the News on Tuesday. “I think the other part is, I like to make it fun. I’m not overly intense, I’m a quiet intensity.”
The Mavericks announced Jeske, who was a hitting coach at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Penn. this spring, would be the bench boss for the 2022 Summer season. William Loza was penned to be the head coach but owner and general manager Greg Morrison said he was unavailable.
In came Jeske, who made the trip to Medicine Hat over the weekend for his first time in Canada. He said the landscapes stood out to him along the drive, even though he only saw what his headlights illuminated. Jeske said he is ecstatic and grateful for the opportunity to coach this season in Medicine Hat.
“I think all the old-time baseball people that I’ve talked to, they all say ‘Medicine Hat, like that’s one of the ideal cities,'” Jeske said. “To me, that’s a huge thing because it adds to the excitement, it adds to the team, the fans become a big part of everything that ends up happening on the field and we’ll go through this season.”
This season will be Jeske’s first as a head coach. He says he’s not nervous yet but is sure that will change come the Mavericks’ season opener Friday night in Moose Jaw against the Miller Express.
“It’s something I’ve been wanting to do and something I’ve been preparing for. I take a lot of notes, I write everything down,” Jeske said. “Over the past five years, I’ve amassed this massive plan, and it’s constantly evolving. The manager when I was with the Angels was Dave Stapleton, he’s like a father figure to me, and throughout last season he’s like, ‘you’re gonna end up managing, you’re gonna end up managing.'”
Before working at Lackawanna, Jeske was a minor league hitting coach with MLB’s Los Angeles Angels from Nov. 2018 to Oct. 2021. He said he’s prepared for the added responsibility of being a head coach and no longer having the hitting-coach relationship with players. He said he’s also looking forward to working alongside assistant coach Micheal Forgione and pitching coach Rod White.
“As a hitting coach you get to be the fun older brother, or the fun uncle. But as a head coach or manager, you have to be the dad,” Jeske said. “You have to be the dad who is willing to put the foot down, that’s all part of it. I’m looking forward to (working with) Forgione, he’s younger, it’s like, I was in your shoes five years ago. So I’m really looking forward to that dynamic because I know where he’s at. I’ve been there and I’m really looking forward to just being able to help him with that.”
Away from the field Jeske said he doesn’t do much besides making a point to watch an MLB game. He doesn’t have a specific team he roots for but instead follows individuals he knows in the game like Luis Ortiz, the assistant hitting coach of the Boston Red Sox.
He said the one things he’s learned in his career so far is that every player is a person and they have to be treated as such if you want to get the most out of them.
“Just treat them like people,” Jeske repeated multiple times. “Treat them like people, that’s when you’ll really build relationships, and it’s really not all that different, I think, especially in that lifestyle. You’re dealing with media, you’re dealing with social media, publicity, fans and all sorts of distraction off the field. But at the end of the day, how can you be the person who kind of help them keep calm and centred amidst the chaos.”
When he’s on the bench this summer Jeske says he will drink a lot of water and pedialyte, and prefers spray sunscreen over lotion if he remembers to put it on. The Cleveland, Ohio product says he often forgets and then gets a really bad sunburn.
Before the Mavericks’ season begins Friday on the road and the home opener Sunday, Jeske and the team will meet the fans tonight at the Mavericks Fan Fest running from 5-7:30 p.m. Jeske is looking forward to meeting the Medicine Hat fans and asking for their coffee opinions.
“Just getting to interact with people, getting to know the community better,” Jeske said. “And everyone talks about Tim Hortons, but like what’s the best local coffee shop, stuff like that. It really just comes down to relationships with people.”
