Baseball Is Alive Again At Stranahan

Stranahan manager John Drouet remembers a time about 25 years ago when large crowds gathered to watch high school baseball at the school.

Those days, future Major League Baseball stars such as John Hope, Javier Pages and Andre King were honing their skills on the diamond at Stranahan. The program is a long ways off from those glory days, but Drouet, who had the pleasure of coaching those high school stars, is trying to bring back some of that luster.

Drouet, who was an assistant coach at the school from 1983 to 1989 under Greg Grimmett, returned to the Dragons last year in that same role. When manager Clayton Decker stepped down from coaching, Drouet stepped in. Jason Taddanio, who played for Cooper City, and Marc Iannatto, a former star at South Plantation, became Drouet’s assistants.

Drouet recalled how he got back into coaching at Stranahan.

“I was sitting in the stands with coach Mike Morrill of Cardinal Gibbons and we were watching Cardinal Gibbons play Stranahan, and he said these aren’t the same Stranahan teams you used to bring over here. I said, ‘No, it’s kind of sad.’ He said, ‘Well, go back over there and offer your help and see if you can pick the program back up. It would be a perfect job for you and you have the patience to do it.’ “

At this time last year, the Dragons struggled to field a team with just eight players coming out. By the spring, Stranahan had 14 players, enough to field a team. The Dragons won just four of their 19 games, but Drouet has set a goal of the team winning at least half of its games this year.

“A plus side to me would be to try to go to .500,” Drouet said. “I think that would be a huge accomplishment right now. It’s a far cry from the 27-1 I think we were in 1989.”

The team has the arms to be competitive, one of the many positive changes for the program this season.

“Last year, I had one kid who I count on to give me some innings, and I had two other kids who just couldn’t get the job done. This year, we have five kids who can step on the mound and throw some strikes. How hard they throw these strikes I don’t know. We don’t have anybody who’s going to throw the ball 90 mph, but we will have a better pitching staff this year.”

Chris Ford will be the team’s top pitcher. Other pitchers are Imer Diaz, Ariel Vargas, Timothy Hilton, Nick Patenaude and Logan Sanchez. Vargas, a senior who transferred from South Plantation, can play any position on the field, Drouet said.

“We had eight kids last year, and this year we’re up to 31, so the competition for positions will be getting better. We have better experience this year. We’re actually getting ninth graders coming in from the little leagues, which is a blessing for us because we haven’t had that in two or three years. Now we can start coaching baseball instead of teaching them how to throw and catch and hit. These kids pretty much know what they’re doing. They have a ways to go.”

Joseph Schoppe, an outfielder who is one of the few returning players this season, already sees “an improvement because last year we didn’t have second-string players to back us up.”

The team got a boost in athleticism this year by bringing in at least half a dozen players who compete in other sports for the school. Schoppe, for example, plays football.

“I’ve got kids who can be All-County basketball players in two years,” Drouet said. “One of them is my starting left fielder. We are multi-faceted-athlete school.”

In addition to quality players, Drouet said another plus this year is the support he’s gotten from his peers as well as the school and community.

“A positive point is the coaches in Broward County, like Terry Portice and Charlie Cardinale have offered to come over to play scrimmage games with us this fall. They want to see a strong Stranahan team because we’re rivals, and good rivalries are good rivalries,” Drouet said. “I want to thank the other coaches in the county for their support, because that’s one thing I do have. I have respect because they know what we’re going through. And I even had some coaches say they haven’t seen old-school baseball played in a long time. We like this. So that’s what we do here.”

Drouet is hoping to play at least a dozen games this fall to get the team ready for the spring.

Support from the school has made it possible to improve the facilities and provide a place where the players are going to want to come.

“Before, the field wasn’t looking too good, but Coach Drouet, he made sure we get a better field and things started happening for the baseball team, and more kids started coming out here,” said Ford, who is going into his third year on the team. “I tell my friends to come out and try. It’s not going to hurt to come out and try.”

With support from the school, Drouet was able to paint the dugouts and put up safety fences. A concession stand is now in place, and a grill to cook up hot dogs and hamburgers was added to give it that true fan experience.

“It’s now where we’re involved with rebuilding the program,” he said. “I’d like to be involved for two or three years and hand it off to somebody who will take care of it.”

Drouet is pleased with the support he’s gotten from the community as well.

“This is a very tough neighborhood,” Drouet said. “This is not a rich neighborhood. We’re very fortunate to have boosters again. We never used to have that problem. The parent support is starting to come around by having this many kids. The parents drive the program. If you have support from the parents, the kids will want to be involved because the parents love to come down to see baseball games. And I can remember a time in the ’80s when all of this was nothing but lawn chairs with parents, aunts, uncles, and grandfathers sitting there.”

Drouet said things went downhill for the program in the early 1990s. It became a struggle to field a team, and the coach had to walk up to students in the hall and try to get them to come out for the team.

The school once had a healthy feeder system from the Southside and Federal Little League programs, but the growth of leagues in the western part of the county has hurt programs such as Stranahan.

“I do believe there’s talent here. I have been to the little leagues to solicit them,” Drouet said. “Federal Little League, which used to be a bonus for us, they only have two teams now. They used to have eight or nine back in the ’70s and ’80s. Over at Southside, in the rock pit, they used to have 10 teams there in the junior division. They maybe have two now. It’s just the way the population has moved out west and when we go out west, you see 15 fields lit up with all kinds of baseball going on. They’re blessed with a wealth of talent.”

Iannatto just started working last week with the pitchers. He said he sees promise in each of the players who will pitch and applauded their efforts to come out and learn the mechanics and the proper way to throw.

“The good thing is because it’s fall ball and not the actual season itself, all the kids that are here are here because they want to be here not because they have to be here or they’ve been chosen or selected,” he said. “At this point, nobody is on the team. So they’re giving 100 percent and they’re hustling and doing what they have to do. They do things without being asked twice. Because they’re a young squad, we can take them and mold them in their freshman, sophomore and junior year and move them all the way up. So it’s not like it’s team full of seniors and they’re going to leave and next year, we have to start from scratch. This is scratch.”

Schoppe said the team is more of a unit this year, but some of his teammates have progress to make in their dedication to the program.

“Some of the players only came to a couple of practices, but they’re doing well,” Schoppe said. “I want them to come to every practice instead of just one practice so they can play. Every practice, I want to see them play. I want to see them to have the willingness to want to practice. For me, when it’s Saturday or Wednesday when there’s baseball practice, I get excited. That’s what I want to see from other players.”

The players appreciate Drouet’s coaching philosophies and his approach to teaching them.

“He works us good, but he doesn’t push us to the max,” first-year player Imer Diaz said. “If you need a water break, he’ll say, ‘OK, go have a water break.’ He pushes us but not to the point where we want to faint.”

“He’s the greatest coach in the county to me,” Schoppe said. “He always has a positive attitude. Greatest coach I’ve had in my entire life. He drove me to play this year. I love coach.”

Drouet said it’s all about having a firm, but controlled approach with the players.

“I’ve never lost my temper,” he said. “I’m very patient with them, but I do expect better. And I tell every kid who comes out, I don’t care how good you think you are. I will push you. You might be the best baseball player I’ve ever coached, but I’m going to push you that extra step and I won’t take no for an answer.”

Drouet said at the end of the day, the attention should be focused on the players and the fact that Stranahan can now field a team with depth at some positions.

“This program is not about me,” he said. “This program is about them. And you have coaches who are worried about their record. I’m not worried about my record. We’re going to have a successful season because my successful season started by getting 31 kids instead of eight. I’m very happy with this.”

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