Blue Devil baseball 2018 preview: Youth and lefties

Blue Devil baseball 2018 preview: Youth and lefties

It’s never too early to think about next season and due to a southpaw dominant rotation and a lot of young talent, West Memphis baseball head coach Gary Cordell is excited about his team’s chances in 2018

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Going into his second season as the head coach of the West Memphis High School baseball team, Gary Cordell has his foot on the gas and high expectations, including a state championship, for a young talented group of Blue Devils.

“I told (Superintendent) John Collins and (Athletic Director) Lanny Dauksch when they asked me about taking this over, I only know one way to do it, and that’s to do it 100 percent,” Cordell said.

That includes developing players at a younger age, according to Cordell. The Academies of West Memphis will begin their inaugural junior high baseball program, building off of the instructional league already in place for West Memphis. The junior high baseball program will include a 20-game schedule, plus a post-season tournament.

In fact, most of the Blue Devils team right now is fairly young, according to Cordell.

“We’ve got a bunch of young kids now,” Cordell said. “We’re going to be mostly 10th and 11th graders now.”

The young ages, however, should not hinder the Blue Devils performance on the field, according to Cordell who is excited about not just next year’s team but teams to come for the next few seasons for West Memphis.

“These kids that are in the 8th grade now, I’m real excited about them coming up,” Cordell said.

Cordell says he expects his group of youngsters to bring West Memphis a state championship next season, a jump from ending last season 13-12 overall and missing the 6A state playoffs. However, with continued hard work and playing tougher opponents, Cordell believes it is a realistic expectation.

“Keep working hard like we’re doing now,” Cordell said when asked what the team needs to do to break into the playoffs next season. “We’re playing some pretty tough teams this summer to try to get ready.

I’m waiting on our conference schedule to come out, to schedule some non-conference games. We’re going to play Magnolia Heights, which they’ve won 3A in Mississippi private schools six years in a row. He’s got several D1 players he gets every year.

We’re going to play them.

We’re going to try to play a game against Christian Brothers. We’re going to play White Station again.

We played them this past year. They’re a good competitive team to play.

We’re going to play Cordova High School.

We’re going to play Northpoint.”

One unique aspect the Blue Devils will bring to the field this next season is a southpaw dominant pitching staff. Cordell hopes this different look will give West Memphis an advantage in most of their games.

“We’re the only team that’s got 13 left-handed pitchers on it,” Cordell said. “We played in a tournament at White Station High School, we probably had four left-handed pitchers in a row. This guy asked, ‘Do y’all have any right handers?’ And I said, ‘We’ve got a few.’ I got a left-handed starter that’s going to be a 9th grader.

I’ve got one that’s going to be a 10th grader. One’s going to be a 11th grader and one’s going to be a senior this coming year.”

That 10th grade southpaw Cordell mentioned is Price Watson who will be leading the Blue Devils rotation this upcoming season.

“Price Watson was our ace and he was a 9th grader,” Cordell said. “Price started out in long toss and he could only do 65 yards, and when we started this spring season he was at 104 yards.”

Joining Watson in the rotation for the Blue Devils will be fellow lefthanded pitchers Cade Bell, along with the newest addition to the West Memphis team Carter Ellis who just moved to West Memphis from Bolton, Tennessee.

Another member of the Blue Devils team, Curtis Washington, may take the mound at some point as well, though with his talent, Cordell says he can play wherever he wants.

Playing in the outfield last season, Cordell says that Washington is already drawing interest from the University of Mississippi.

“Curtis can do anything he wants to do,” Cordell said. “That’s how good he is. He plays centerfield for us. He’ll probably play shortstop this coming year… If a ball was in the air, Curtis got it.”

Cordell hopes that this young, left-handed dominant lineup can help boost a Blue Devils club that ended the 2016 season winners of only three of their last 10 contests, including losses in the 6AEast District Tournament to Marion and Searcy.

By Collins Peeples