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Scout Day Spotlight: Cincinnati Baseball Club

CINCINNATI - Just a few years back, the Cincinnati Baseball Club was about to fold. Now it is flourishing.

“We went from eight teams in year two to ready to shut the program down in the third year,” explained Cary Daniel, president of the organization. “I ended up cutting six teams that put a bad look on our program and brought on eight.”

What started as two teams in 2011, eventually reached as many as 35 before recent reduction has CBC with 23 teams at the present.

“It was never my goal to grow a huge organization,” Daniel said. “We had people that were not the right fit I was looking for and we made cuts. Now we’re at a good number with good people, that’s more important.”

Daniel pointed to a pair of coaches, Kirk Dearman and Ronnie Sickinger, as major parts of helping the organization benefit Cincinnati area youth.

“Kirk is a childhood friend that played at Michigan,” Daniel said of Dearman, who was with CBC in the beginning before leaving, and is now back. “He’s the best recruiter I’ve ever seen in select baseball. As a coach he took a team at 13 from the rec field into one of the best 17U teams I’ve ever seen.

“Ronnie coaches our 15U team. He’s dedicated, eager, young and hungry.”

Tom Kuncl, who is no longer with the program, was huge in the early days.

“He brought over his team of 13-year-olds with his son Trevor, who is now at George Washington,” Daniel reflected. “That was a team that was full of kids with chemistry, desire, passion for each other and for the game. They put CBC on the map.”

The philosophy of the organization revolves around getting kids to the next level.

“The main thing is development,” Daniel said. “We focus on what (college) coaches want to see. If you take care of the little things, big things will take care of itself. Our biggest goal, like most high-end organizations, is to prepare them for college rather than wins and losses.

“We have kids that get into college from tournaments we’re in. We teach them the right things using resources wisely. I speak the truth, I’m never negative about kids.”

Daniel coached one year with the Flames and two years with the Sticks before starting up CBC in 2011.

“I like to do things my own way,” Daniel admitted. “I had a call from a parent back then that asked me about coaching his kid and said he had a couple other kids.”

That parent’s son, Brad Macciocchi, ended up becoming the first CBC Division I commit.

“He didn’t play much for his high school team as a junior and that summer got a scholarship from Wright State,” noted Daniel about Macciocchi, whose brother Grant became CBC’s first SEC commit two years later with Kentucky. “We had like nine guys that year that ended up D-I to places like Cincinnati and Furman. Word got around about CBC.”

Daniel, who coaches at Wyoming in the spring, puts a priority on exposure of CBC players and looks at the upcoming PBR Scout Day on Feb. 17 as a huge benefit to the organization.

“We’ve done it as long as they’ve been doing it,” Daniel said of PBR Scout Day events. “I don’t think the players understand the value of it, but our coaches are starting to understand. All eyes are on you, especially the older kids, instead of some other showcases with 300 kids. I can talk to Jordan (Chiero, PBR Ohio director of scouting) when he comes to this about write-ups and rankings. The intimacy it brings … I get excited. It’s a great start to the spring.”

Daniel has had CBC players gearing up for the event.

“In our winter workouts we do a showcase prep and talk about what’s important in a showcase,” Daniel explained. “We talk about certain things they evaluate and how you can separate yourself from others.”

Most of the summer is spent playing near home until a certain age.

“We have enough good baseball in Cincinnati to stay in the one-and-a-half hour radius with the younger kids,” Daniel noted. “Once they reach 15 we go to the Worlds in Georgia and other events to motivate our kids to go out and work, especially in the weight room. PBR showcases are also huge for our program and kids.”