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Scout Day Spotlight: Cincinnati Riverbats

BLUE ASH - Dennis Dick calls it a “massive amount of commitment.”

That is what the president of the Cincinnati Riverbats says about the coaches in an organization that started back in 2002 as a spinoff from the Flames.

“It’s easy to bring in talent, but when you’re putting that talent with coaches that are committed and that can teach the game the right way, you have something good,” Dick said. “There are a lot of endless possibilities when you have buy-in from the coaches.

“Our kids are getting better. There is a lot that goes into it, like giving extra time when a kid needs help.”

The Riverbats have 15 teams set for 2019, though there are currently no teams at 8U, 9U or 18U.

“All of our 18U kids this year are committed to college for football or baseball and the majority didn’t want to play this summer,” Dick explained.

Those that are playing in the program are getting coaching from people like Jason Christian, the director of baseball operations for the Riverbats who is in charge of the 12U team, and John Sullivan, who runs skills camps for the Reds and heads up the 11U team.

“We had three coaches up until around 2016,” noted Dick, who credited Stephen Goldman with helping the organization grow before passing away a couple years ago. “We now have 15 total coaches.”

It is all part of a change with the Riverbats.

“We just went through a massive reorganization with an all new board,” Dick explained. “Now we’re in position to finally be able to fund coaching at the older levels. We’ve had a massive amount of reduction of cost on uniforms and a lot of non-essential part of game-reduced costs. With that we can reduce the cost on families and we can get in more events “

While the Riverbats currently train at Cincinnati Impact Baseball Performance in Blue Ash, plans are being made for their own facility.

“The benefit of our own facility would be that 365 days a year our guys can go to the facility at non-peak times,” Dick said. “You can go in at any time whenever you want.”

There is one other change in the works.

“We’re working on bringing back some of the coaches we had here before,” Dick said. “That can separate us down the road. When you coach the first time there are a lot of mistakes. The second time through you can fix them and if there’s a third time you can improve more.”

The end goal remains the same for the organization.

“In 2013 when our 18s went off to college to today we have had 95 go on to college,” said Dick, whose Riverbats have 11 2019 players committed including D-I commits Evan Kemp (Cincinnati), Lucas Rotello (Purdue-Fort Wayne) and Clay Brock (Central Michigan). “That’s our biggest goal. We want them to play JV as freshmen, move up to varsity as sophomores or juniors and then push to go to the next level after that.”

Exposure is part of it, starting with the PBR Scout Day slated for Feb. 16.

“Our relationship with PBR is great,” Dick noted. “PBR helps kids get seen. The way they market kids and market an organization, we see the value there. It’s all part of the puzzle that puts the kids into college. Without marketing and all the pieces in line, it doesn’t happen.”

It is part of what the Riverbats are all about.

“Our philosophy starts with good coaches, good families and good athletes,” Dick said. “Anytime you can get the kids in front of scouts, that’s part of our philosophy. We want to go out and play in top events.

“Another thing is that we have 78 out of 210 with a 3.2 or higher GPA. Kids turn in their grades to us and those with 3.2 and better all four quarters we give away bats as recognition. If you don’t have the grades, you’re not going to play at the next level.

“We’re also teaching them the right mentality. It’s all been a good process for us with 29 going on to Division I in the last five years.”

Most of the Riverbats are home-grown.

“We have kids from Dayton, Indiana, Kentucky and all across the Cincinnati area,” Dick said. “There’s enough talent here. If you pull them from other cities you’re doing your own city a misservice. Our job is to coach. As long as we do that, the rest of it will prevail.”

When that all comes together, it brings satisfaction to those in the organization. As Dick says ...

“Baseball is a great avenue to get where you want in life.”