Smith has high hopes for Bob Jones baseball in his second season
Bob Jones baseball player Ford Luttrell, Coach Jared Smith, and Coleton Barnes (Record Photo/Lindsay Vaught)
MADISON- Jared Smith has only been at Bob Jones for a little over a year yet he is the dean of baseball and softball coaches in Madison city high schools.
“I love it here,” Smith said at FCA Media Days on Jan 29. “The big difference is this year I will have had these guys two years instead of eight months like last year. We were behind in the weight room last year and it took us all season to catch up. Now they know what we expect out of them so there is a comfort level.”
But Smith’s biggest accomplishment may be his ability to keep players in the program and not quitting.
“We had 12 juniors last year and they are all back. We lost a couple of guys to football but we haven’t lost anybody 9 through 12 that we wanted.”
Smith turned around the Bob Jones program that had slipped noticeably in the two years before he came. The team made a brief playoff appearance last year losing to Huntsville in the first round.
“We graduated 14 seniors and we have 12 seniors on this year’s team but most of them were on JV last year,” Smith said. “We return Ford Luttrell in the outfield and Connor Daly (.305, 43 hits, 29 RBI as designated hitter) is moving to catcher. On the mound Colten Barnes started on JV and finished on varsity as one of our most effective pitchers. He will start along with Ford. We lost our #1 guy Luke Whaley. We have two freshmen who are on varsity and it’s all new to them at this level. It will be a learning process for them.”
Luttrell played left field last year and led the team with a .460 on base percentage batting .270 with 36 walks.
But it is his pitching that made headlines last week when he was offered a baseball scholarship by Auburn and committed. He will be a late signee.
Luttrell did not pitch last season due to tendonitis in the shoulder and then a partial tear in the UCL nerve in the elbow so Smith shut him down early. He has been cleared by the doctors.
“He had surgery May 5 and he is already hitting 90 mph. He went to several Auburn showcases and pitched really well for their coaches. His arm is as healthy as before and we aren’t going to limit him any more than any of the other pitchers,” Smith said.
Kevin Elwell returns as pitching coach.
“He will have our pitchers ready and we feel good about the pitching this year. We’re working 12 guys there now but we won’t need 12 in the season we will need about 8,” Smith added.
“We have three weeks to get ready for our first game but opening day is not the end but the beginning for us. We have to be ready by April when area play starts.”
Barnes has signed with Marion Military.
“This year I will be stepping into the starting role, it will be a lot more innings pitched. Last year I only started in the final two series,” Barnes said.
