A season ago, the North Putnam baseball team enjoyed success with a team that featured seven seniors.
As he enters the 2023 season, coach Christopher Geeser is optimistic his team will pick up right where it left off last year.
"Looking back on last season, several things stand out to me. The first being the great senior class we had. We had 7 seniors last year, which is a large class for a 2A school like us. The class had a lot of talent and really helped continue to build the program. The other thing that stands out is the growth and competitiveness of the program. We had some of the younger guys last year really progress throughout the year last year, which helped us be very competitive in almost every game we played. We play a very tough and busy schedule (conference and non conference), so being in almost every game really speaks to the program," Geeser told The Putnam County Post.
A season ago, North Putnam picked up wins against teams it had not defeated in quite some time, if ever, according to Geeser.
"Based on the previous mentions of last year's senior class, it will be very tough to replace those players. Most of last year's senior class were every game starters for us and logged a lot of innings on the mound for us. So I believe those players will be very tough to replace, but we have some underclassmen that are capable of stepping into those roles," Geeser admitted.
Despite the losses, North Putnam does bring back a talented roster this spring.
Leading the unit is senior Brayden Monnett, who will play in the infield, catch and pitch this season. He hit .292 with 14 RBI's and 18 runs last year.
Senior outfielder Ian Patrick is back and will be the anchor of the outfield when not on the mound. Junior pitcher and infielder Jaylen Windmiller is back after hitting .307 with 18 RBI's and 22 runs, while throwing 38.2 innings and recording 46 strikeouts.
Junior catcher, outfielder and pitcher Brogan Woodall is back after hitting .255 with 13 RBI's and 24 runs and sophomore pitcher/outfielder Kaden Helderman returns after belting .250 with six RBI's and seven runs last year.
"My initial thoughts on this year's team are strong. Yes we lost a large senior class, but we have a solid return group and a large freshmen class. I think there is a lot of talent and potential with this group. I think they can be really good, but time will tell truly how strong they can be. I think some of our goals this year will be to increase our win total from last year, win the county tourney, and win a sectional title. It will take a lot of disciplined hard work, fundamental play, and playing as a team," Geeser said.
