Baseball, a sport that is popular at Chamblee High School, released their rosters on January 23 this year. With this new team, Chamblee hopes to perform well and ultimately win the state playoffs. However, to give the baseball team their best shot at winning, the Chamblee baseball coaches were selective in creating teams, and members started preparing for the season beforehand.
“Conditioning started in early December, and we would go out two times a week to the baseball field to do running and agility training. Then, the workload picked up towards tryouts in late January, and the teams were made promptly after a five day tryout,” said Jack Robinson (‘27), a center fielder and pitcher for Chamblee’s junior varsity team.
The players who made the cut after tryouts were then divided up into two teams.
“The people selected by the coaches were split into two teams. Junior varsity has 16 players, and varsity has 12. Some junior varsity players float up to varsity, giving them more players,” said Duke Nichols (‘26), a second baseman, outfielder, and pitcher who plays on both junior varsity and varsity.
Practice helps prepare the players for games, typically in the form of repetition.
“We normally do a rotation where some players hit on the field and take live reps off of live pitchers. Then, everybody in the outfield and infield fields the balls that the batting players hit, and we have a coach hitting them extra balls to get more reps. We also have people running around the bases and some in the batting cages just getting hitting reps on their own,” said Matt Drotar (‘26), a catcher for junior varsity.
Furthermore, the team practices likely scenarios that may arise in games.
“We practice all the plays we use in games and situations that we can apply to the games. This helps us stay in control of the game, and since we don’t practice often between games, the few practices we [do] have help us stay sharp,” said Nichols.
Game day usually entails a pregame meal, bus ride, and warm up, depending on the location.
“[On game day] we usually have a meal. Then, we get on the bus and go to the field or walk to the dugout when it’s a home game. For home games, we have time to hit batting practice and some fielding practice at everybody’s position. For away games, we don’t hit batting practice and just do the fielding,” said Nichols.
Both teams have games multiple times a week.
“Junior varsity has a game about once every three days, while varsity has a game every other day. The season will last till mid-April, so we have a lot of games. Each game is seven innings, or until the sun goes down if the field doesn’t have lights. This means the overall timing varies, but is usually between an hour and 45 minutes to about three hours,” said Nichols.
The main difference between varsity and junior varsity is the workload and difficulty of competition faced.
“The varsity team has 32 games each season, while the junior varsity has 18. Varsity also has a lot more doubleheaders where they play two games in one day, but junior varsity also has two or three doubleheaders. I think varsity’s workload is way higher, and they’re playing harder teams with harder pitchers,” said Drotar.
The season ultimately ends with a tournament for both varsity and junior varsity.
“For junior varsity, there’s one tournament about 80% of the way through the season, where if you win, you keep playing. If you lose, you’re going home. Then, varsity has to win our region or place high in our region in order to make it to the state tournament,” said Drotar.
Varsity’s goal to make state playoffs has not started out as strong as they would like, but players have hope for this streak to change.
“We’re playing all right so far, but we have a losing record right now. However, I feel like we can get back on track,” said Zach Picheta (‘24), a second baseman and pitcher for Chamblee’s varsity team.
Despite having a losing record, Chamblee’s varsity team has high hopes for placing well in their region.
“Our competition so far has been pretty good. We have played Greater Atlanta Christian, Dunwoody, and St. Pius who are all solid teams. Our region, on the other hand, is pretty easy so we are looking good when it comes to qualifying for the state playoffs,” said James Morton (‘25).
For this season to be successful, there are a few changes that need to happen on the teams.
“We need our pitchers to throw more strikes and stop walking people. Then, we need to get the bats going more and stop hitting the ball into the air, because balls on the ground are much harder to field,” said Drotar.
Fans wishing to cheer on Chamblee High School’s baseball teams can attend games to show support.
“There is not really much off limits when it comes to being a fan. We scream a lot. We chirp and we’re pretty rowdy, but the fans get in on it,” said Drotar. “Watch the game, but don’t scream at the umpires because that hurts the team.”
