Marysville High School head baseball coach Nick Blake has been taking advantage of what limited time he has to evaluate talent this summer.
Blake was officially hired a week ago to take over the position that was vacated by Mark Brunswick’s resignation in late May.
Blake was one of 20-plus candidates for the job and emerged as the school district’s choice after several of those candidates were interviewed earlier this month.
The new Monarch boss has used a handful of his off-season coaching days that are permitted by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
He knows he won’t get to use all 10 of those days before the Aug. 1 no-contact period arrives.
“We’ve had a couple of workouts over the course of the first week and this past week,” said Blake. “I want to see the guys on the diamond as much as possible before August gets here.
“Ideally, I’d like to get at least seven days in before Aug. 1.”
Blake, who spent the past two years as the head baseball coach at London High School, knows what direction he wants to take the Monarchs.
“From the get-go, I want to make it clear that I want to build the most elite baseball program in the state,” he said. “I’m not talking about winning the Ohio Capital Conference title or other things like that.
“Winning games and championships is a by-product of what I call an elite program,” said Blake. “That means working hard on every rep to make your team into an elite baseball program.
“It’s about building the core values that lead to a commitment to be an elite baseball player, elite student and an elite community member.”
Blake said it’s also about building a culture that will promote an elite state of mind within the program.
“We need to sit down and define what Marysville baseball needs to do in moving forward,” he said. “Player development in all of those areas is a priority as we progress.
“We want to focus on that type of culture and how we go about doing things,” Blake said. “It’s a lot of mental work, but that’s baseball.”
Blake was present on Monday and Tuesday of this week as the summer Elite program held tryouts for the 2019 season.
Another tryout for those who may have missed the earlier sessions is scheduled for Tuesday, 6 p.m., at the high school diamond.
Blake has voiced his support for the summer program.
“There are not too many communities that have a program like this,” he said. “This is a great way for our local athletes to play baseball together in the summer as Marysville teams.”
Blake said he will also continue the winter youth baseball camp that was conducted by Brunswick the past couple of years.
The camp is held in the high school field house for two days during the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
“We really want to get involved with youth baseball in Marysville,” said Blake.