Newton’s baseball team’s last winning season was 2015. The Cardinals have had just four winning seasons since 2007 and they are coming off a 1-17 campaign in 2020.
Brad Kahler takes over the program and hopes a few tweaks and a couple of adjustments can turn things around in the near future.
“I just want to play the first game. That way we can start figuring it out,” said Kahler, who takes over the program from Newton High School alum Dustin Brisel. “It will take a week or two to figure out the pieces of the puzzle.
“Our focus every day is ‘what are you willing to accept?’ We talk about it every day. It starts with stretching. If you can’t stretch properly, why would I expect you to do bunt coverage or first to third situations or do a delayed steal properly.
“We need to hold each other accountable.”
Kahler was officially hired in January. The team started offseason workouts on Feb. 15.
The first order of business for Kahler involved plate approach. The most hits by any one player on the roster last year was six. Junior Braydon Chance was one of the players to get six hits.
“We are trying to shorten our swings to catch up to the 80-90 mile per hour pitchers in the league. We can’t have long swings,” Kahler said. “We don’t want them to swing at first-pitch curve balls. That’s some of the mental stuff we are focusing on. We need a better mental approach. I feel like they’ve been up there just swinging to swing.”
This year’s…
