Investing in future

Todd Farr has wasted no time investing into the future of Jay County baseball.

The first-year coach will be running the first baseball team for Jay County Junior High School and recently announced plans for a new outdoor sports facility through his youth organization Jay County Baseball Club (JCBC).

The Patriots had seen numbers dwindle at the upper level in recent years, inspiring the idea for a team.

“We had to do something,” said Farr, who was an assistant coach last season under Lea Selvey when the junior high program got going. “So the numbers weren’t consistent so we were finding that we were pulling from the JV kids that weren’t quite ready to move up and needed more time to develop.

“We knew that we needed to get our hands on the younger age levels.”

The concept of the program began last year when Farr started the JCBC as a travel team. This year, the school is adopting the program as a sponsored team at the seventh and eighth grade levels.

Last season, Farr only expected to be able to field one team to cover both age groups, but the program received good numbers at tryouts with 14 seventh graders and a dozen eighth graders. The school saw similar numbers this year for its inaugural season. It’s Farr’s hope that many of those junior high players will continue to participate when they get to high school.

The program adds an opportunity for athletes to compete in travel baseball locally. Before the junior high team began, JCHS freshman Drew Schemenaur traveled to Fort Wayne the past five years to compete on a variety of teams.

“It would have been so much better. I would have gotten more practice in than what I did,” Schemenaur said. “I think it would have been nice to have something close like that and play against the same competition.”

Farr’s other goal for the program is to offer an outlet to develop athletes at an earlier age. The junior high team will provide another opportunity for players to gain experience and relieve the pressure of having to move players up faster than he would like at the high school level.

Also to help develop Jay County’s young athletes, Farr and the JCBC recently announced plans to develop an outdoor sports facility that would serve both high school and younger athletes year round.

The facility is planned to have a youth-sized turf infield, batting cages, two golf simulators, a conference room where parents can wait and watch their children, and Rapsodo hit tracking technology. Rapsodo provides pitch and hit tracking devices that give immediate feedback on things like velocity, ball distance, etc.

One way the junior high teams will help development is by allowing students to play on fields that have 90-foot base paths, while many recreational leagues play on smaller fields, Farr said. The junior high team specifically will allow coach Farr to see the athletes at an earlier age and develop relationships with them.

Schemenaur is also an example of how youth baseball teams can develop young athletes so that they are ready when they get to high school. With the graduation of both of the Patriots’ catchers from 2022, he will have the opportunity to start for Jay County behind the dish.

“I probably would have been on JV this year, if even on the team probably,” Schemenaur said. “I definitely wouldn’t be a starting varsity catcher at all if I didn’t get to play with these teams.”

The junior high teams are partnering with the City of Portland to play their home games at Portland Memorial Park’s Runkle-Miller Field, home of the Portland Rockets. The seventh grade team will be coached by Jacob Myers and the eighth grade by Josh Selvey.

“All my coaches are former players,” Farr said. “When you do that they take a little bit more pride in the program — it means a little bit more to them.”

The JCBC are still working out many of the details on the new outdoor sports facility. While a location has not yet been determined, Farr is looking to have the facility in Portland. Initial estimates are that the facility and all of its equipment will cost between $500,000 and $700,000. The organization hopes to begin construction on the project next spring.

“I’m excited for it. I’m really hoping that they take advantage of it so that we can get to know some of the younger kids when they are ready to play with us when we’re in our junior and senior years,” Schemenaur said.

“They will be ahead of the game and even if they aren’t on the varsity team they will be a darn good JV team and will be ready to take over when we’re gone to take over and do good for the Jay County baseball organization. I’m excited for them.”