Retired big leaguer Lind using language as way to prepare for his next career

By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Indiana native Adam Lind enjoyed 14 seasons as a professional baseball player — 12 in the majors.
The lefty-swinging first baseman, designated hitter and left fielder donned the jerseys of the Toronto Blue Jays (2006-14), Milwaukee Brewers (2015), Seattle Mariners (2016) and Washington Nationals (2017) and took his last pro at-bats with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the New York Yankees system and Pawtucket in the Boston Red Sox organization in 2018.
His MLB managers were John Gibbons (two stints), Cito Gaston and John Farrell in Toronto, Ron Roenicke and Craig Counsell in Milwaukee, Scott Servais in Seattle and Dusty Baker in Washington.
All but 391 of his 1,334 career big league games were played with Toronto. He hit .272 with 200 home runs, 259 doubles, 723 runs batted in and a .795 OPS (.330 on-base percentage plus .465 slugging average).
In 2009, “Adam Bomb” won a Silver Slugger, the Edgar Martinez Award (best DH) and was an Unsung Star of the Year Award finalist after hitting .305 with 35 homers, 46 doubles, 114 RBIs and a .932 OPS (.370/.562).
His last three dingers came in the same Sept. 29 game — an 8-7 Blue Jays win in Boston. Lind went deep twice off Clay Buchholz and once against Takashi Saito.
While he logged 418 contests at DH and 249 in left field, Lind enjoyed it most at first base, where he fielded at a .993 clip and participated in 480 double plays.
“You’re more involved and closer to the action,” says Lind. “You can affect a game at first base.”
And there was April 20, 2012 when Lind started a triple play for the Blue Jays at Kansas City. Alex Gordon was on second base and Yuniesky Betancourt on first when Eric Hosner lined to Lind for the first out.
“I caught the ball in self defense,” says Lind, who stepped on first to force Betancourt and fired to second where Toronto shortstop Yunel Escobar touched the bag to force Gordon.
Lind describes playing all those years in the American League East as good and bad.
“You see how good of a baseball player you are, playing 20 times each year against the Red Sox and Yankees,” says Lind. “You go against the best of the best — Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter.
“At the same time it’s why I never got into the playoffs (as a Blue Jay).”
In Lind’s lone postseason appearance — the 2017 National League Division Series against the Chicago Cubs — he went 2-for-3 as a pinch-hitter.
As his playing days were ending, Lind began thinking about getting back in the game — likely as a coach.
Meanwhile, wife Lakeyshia received Spanish lessons as a Christmas gift.
“I enjoyed that,” says Lind, who decided after retirement to enroll in the World Languages Department at the University of South Florida in Tampa and major in Spanish. The 38-year old father of three is now in his second semester of in-person classes after the COVID-19 pandemic made for a virtual experience. “I’m using school to qualify me and give me the tools to go into another career that I want to achieve. By earning a degree and being able to communicate with Latin Americans hopefully it will get my foot in the door (in baseball).
“My kids are young and I don’t want to be gone yet, but I would be a commodity. It used to be that 10 years in the big leagues almost guaranteed you could latch on. In my opinion that has changed quite a bit in the last decade.”
To accumulate credits in a shorter period of time and to immerse himself in the language and culture, Lind has decided to study abroad.
“I don’t like the word fluent,” says Lind. “I’m nowhere near that.
“I can at least communicate and get a point across.”
Plans now call for him to spend May 11-June 18 in Chile, where he’ll take two classes, live with a host family and take a few excursions including to the Andes Mountains. It’s possible Lakeyshia might be able to visit.
The couple met during the 2007 season and were married in Toronto in 2010. Their children are daughter Martinne (10), son Louie (8) and daughter Elodie (5). The two oldest kids are dual Canadian-American citizens.
Born in Muncie, Ind., Adam Alan Lind moved to Anderson as a youngster and played his first organized baseball at Chesterfield Little League.
The son of educators Al and Kathy and younger brother of sister Allison played in the Anderson Babe Ruth League and was with the John Miles-managed and Dan Ball-coached Anderson American Legion Post 127 team.
“He was a great grandfather figure and he had clout,” says Lind. “It was an honor to be a freshman and asked to play for that team.”
Attending a Ball State hitting camp and taking a growth spurt between his eighth and ninth grade years brought power to Lind’s game.
Taking batting practice in the fall of his freshmen year, he smacked one over the fence.
“It was the first homer I hit on the big field,” says Lind, who parked it an offering from Jason Stecher.
It was Stecher who had been his seventh grade basketball coach as a first-year teacher and was a baseball assistant to his father through 2001 when the Anderson Highland High School diamond was named Bob Stecher Field then took over the Scots program.
“(Jason) was not much older than us so he knew all our tricks when the coach isn’t looking,” says Lind. “Bob Stecher was an Anderson legend. He was a great man.”
A 2002 Highland graduate, Lind hit .675 with 16 homers and was named Indiana Mr. Baseball as a senior.
“It was a great honor,” says Lind of the statewide recognition. “It’s something I think about at times.
“It’s a cool memory.”
The lefty belted three in a game against visiting Noblesville as a sophomore. His senior homer total might’ve been larger.
“There was that fair ball called foul in Martinsville,” says Lind.
Heading into his senior year, Lind traveled far and wide with the Indiana Bulls.
“I loved that summer,” says Lind. “It was the first time I was away from my high school friends. I was playing with established players. It was a little intimidating being around higher level of competition.”
One of his highlights was a homer at the University of Tennessee against Georgia’s famed East Cobb squad.
Anderson Highland consolidated with Anderson High School after the 2009-10 academic year.
In 2002, Lind was selected in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Minnesota Twins and opted instead for the University of South Alabama.
Lind did not study Spanish at USA. He told people his major was business.
“It was baseball,” says Lind, who played two seasons (2003 and 2004) for the Steve Kittrell-coached Jaguars and was drafted by Toronto in the third round in 2004.
He made his MLB debut Sept. 2, 2006. His first of 1,247 career hits was a double off left-hander Lenny DiNardo.

Adam Lind homers three time in Boston (MLB Video)

Adam Lind starts a triple play in Kansas City (MLB Video)

Adam Lind (Toronto Blue Jays Photo)

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Indiana Tech’s Alwine gains new perspective on coaching

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Indiana Tech’s 2019 season ended in Lewiston, Idaho, at the NAIA World Series. The Warriors went 42-16-1.

Tech concluded play in 2020 much sooner than planned because of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.

With a win against Viterbo March 11 in Georgia, the Warriors finished at 11-5.

Since then, the Tech team and coaching staff have been moving forward while social distancing.

“Everybody’s numb to how it happened,” says second-year assistant coach Brent Alwine of how the season was rolling and then came to a screeching halt. “We’ve got (players) doing workouts. We’re hoping a lot of guys get to play this summer.

“So much is unknown.”

What is known for Alwine is that he is not the same coach at 36 and married with three sons and with many different diamond experiences behind him than he was at 23 and just out of college.

“I used to think there was only one way to teach,” says Alwine, who works with infielders and hitters. “You learn to adapt to the personnel you have rather than philosophy that’s cut and dried.”

It has also become relational vs. transactional. It’s a point that has become clearer since Brent and Brandi Alwine, a physician’s assistant for Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, have had Beckett (7), Bode (5) and Brooks (8 months). All three have baseball ties to their names.

There are four reasons for Beckett — the sports card magazine, the ballplayer (Josh Beckett), the brand of boilers his father, Jim, sells, and the town in Massachusetts where he worked at a camp with former Indiana University head baseball coach Bob Morgan. The boy’s full name is Beckett Steven James Alwine. Brandi’s father Steve passed away in 2001. The other middle name to to honor Brent’s father, who has coached high school baseball at North Miami and Peru.

Bode’s middle name is Maddux as an homage for Hall of Famer Greg Maddux.

Brooks is a nod to former Western Michigan University catcher Brooks Beilke.

“I’m coaching someone’s kids,” says Alwine. “I want to win. But I would rather win and 10 years down the line have a relationship with the players I coached.”

Alwine joined head coach Kip McWilliams in Fort Wayne, Ind., having been an assistant to Billy Gernon at Western Michigan (2011 and 2012), Ed Servais at Creighton University (2009 and 2010) and Gernon at alma mater Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne (2007 and 2008). He holds a bachelor’s degree from IPFW (now Purdue Fort Wayne) and a master’s degree from Indiana University.

He was head coach at Perry (Mich.) High School (2013) and a director for Prep Baseball Michigan and has coached with the Summit City Sluggers, leading 12U, 13U and then 17U travel teams and served as an associate scout for the Texas Rangers.

“You learn a lot when you coach younger kids,” says Alwine. “You have to really explain things and get them to buy into it.”

An attribute that Alwine appreciates about McWilliams is that he values the opinions of his assistants.

“He lets his assistant coach,” says Alwine. “He doesn’t micro-manage and he looks for our input.

“I trust him. In today’s world, it’s hard to trust everybody.”

Alwine has a few points of emphasis with his infielders.

“I want them to be athletic and take good angles to the baseball,” says Alwine. “It starts with our throwing program. Throwing and catching is the main thing in baseball.”

He makes it a point to observe when his fielders are playing catch to see that they are getting their footwork right and taking it seriously.

“When the pressure’s on, a good throw is going to win you a game,” says Alwine, who has his infielders practicing double players during between-innings warm-ups.

Alwine observes how organized McWilliams is, something that is vital when you carry a roster of more than 60 players — varsity and developmental.

“You have to be organized to get everybody involved,” says Alwine. “Year 2 helped me see that a little better than Year 1.”

The Warriors make a point of hustling all the time — even the coaching staff runs on the field.

“That’s the way it should be,” says Alwine. “(On game day), it sets a tone for your own team and the team you’re getting ready to play.

“These guys are here for business.”

Alwine says having the season stopped is likely to make the players more appreciative of the opportunity to play when fall camp rolls around.

“Fall can be a tough time to motivate because there’s nothing on the line,” says Alwine. “(Players) should be excited. They had baseball taken away from them.”

Alwine says 10 of 14 seniors this spring have opted to come back for an extra year of eligibility granted by the NAIA.

With the Indiana Tech campus closed to all but essential workers, students have been finishing their spring term online.

“It’s new to a lot of these professors, too,” says Alwine. “Everybody’s going through the same thing. It’s brought a sense of community back.”

To stay connected the to the baseball community,  Alwine says Tech coaches have regular Zoom meetings. These have been done by class and within the staff, which also includes Gordon Turner, Miguel Tucker and Marshall Oetting, and will also include positions, incoming freshmen and transfers.

Alwine was born in Peru, Ind., and grew up in Mexico, Ind. He played soccer, a little basketball and baseball North Miami Middle/High School. John Burrus was the head coach for basketball and baseball. Alwine was a shortstop on the diamond.

At IPFW, he played second base for Gernon.

“He does things the right way,” says Alwine of Gernon. “He demands a lot of his players. He care for his players, too.”

Alwine went to Creighton to be a volunteer coach. Within a month of arriving in Omaha, Neb., a paid assistant position opened up and he took it. There, he was in charge of outfielders and catchers.

“It made me a better coach,” says Alwine. “I had to learn those positions in detail to make players better.”

Servais displayed an attention to detail and stressed the fundamentals.

“That’s why Creighton — year in and year out — leads the country defensively.”

Servais, the uncle of former big league catcher Scott Servais, did not get too high or too low.

“He’s very level-headed,” says Alwine. “He thinks forward — next player, next pitch, next at-bat.”

The Bluejays skipper has been rewarded with 745 career victories.

More than 20 players that have been selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, including two at Creighton that made it to the majors — San Franciso Giants first baseman Darin Ruf and Baltimore Orioles left-handed pitcher Ty Blach.

Alwine coached infielders and hitters at Western Michigan. He was in the fall of his second year with the Broncos when he got into a very bad car accident on I-94 near Kalamazoo, Mich.

He was put into an induced coma with a traumatic brain injury. After a couple weeks at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, he was transferred to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich. After about three weeks, he regained consciousness.

Among the first requests he had was for a second opinion on the plastic surgeon.

“I am very, very fortunate to be alive,” says Alwine. “God was looking out for me that day. The biggest thing is the amount of people who prayed for me.

“I had very positive people around me who supported me and got me through it. I get to coach baseball and see my kids grow up.”

Brent Alwine (left) observes players during Indiana Tech’s 2019 NAIA World Series appearance. It was Alwine’s first season on the Warriors baseball coaching staff. (Indiana Tech Photo)

Brent Alwine (center) is in his second season as an assistant baseball coach at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 2020. He is a graduate of North Miami High School and Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne. (Indiana Tech Photo)