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Western International Winning On And Off The Field

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DETROIT - With 11 Detroit Public School League titles … and counting, there is a lot that head coach Juan Carlos Sanchez could talk about first when it comes to the Western International baseball program. But while the success is all good, Carlos takes more pride in seeing his ballplayers become men.

“I tell the guys to remember some of the wins and losses, but what I remember the most are the friendships and bonds we’ve created,” pointed out Carlos.

It was far from easy.

“In the ‘90s there was gang population here,” Sanchez said about the Western International neighborhood. “It’s in a pocket of Detroit by the Ambassador Bridge with not as many issues here now as there used to be, but when I first started coaching I had to go to homes to pick up kids.

“There are some amazing stories, but we also lost a lot of kids. Fortunately, there are way more success stories than sad stories about losing kids to the streets or situations at home.”

Sanchez and Mike Vasquez have been coaches at Western International since 2003, Vasquez the head coach for the first eight years before Carlos took over in 2011, with Vasquez staying on as his assistant.

“The biggest thing we brought was a passion to the game,” explained Sanchez. “We both played college baseball and we’re both from the neighborhood.”

Sanchez, known by many as Coach JC, attended Catholic Central and Vasquez went to Holy Redeemer.

“We have the knowledge and we’re committed to the kids and to the school,” Sanchez noted. “We’re also fortunate to have a principal (Angel Garcia) that is very supportive and passionate about baseball as well.”

The results on the field have been phenomenal.

Not only has Western International captured 11 league championships in a row, there has only been one loss and one tie during that span.

“There are a lot of factors,” Sanchez explained about the league dominance. “Our early success had an effect on kids wanting to come here. We’re open enrollment, but the majority of our kids are from southwest Detroit.

“There are a lot of cultures here, predominantly Latinos. There are fathers and friends of ours that we competed against. We’ve coached a lot of their sons. Baseball is a way of life, but it’s more passionate in our neighborhood.”

A travel team, the Detroit Bees, was formed by Sanchez a decade ago which helped build the program. Off-season workouts were incorporated as players continued to improve.

“Credit goes to the kids, they changed the culture at Western,” Sanchez said.

There have been a dozen Western International players that have gone on to play baseball at the next level, plus another in the pros. More are coming including seniors Emmanuel Clark, an Oakland signee, and Christian Gutierrez, a Lansing CC commit

“It’s an awesome feeling when you see your kids go on to college,” explained Sanchez, who proudly says the team GPA has never dropped below 3.3 in his time at the school. “We want them to be a productive person first, but they’ve taken that and run with it. Now we hardly have to deal with off-field issues.”

Seeing his players grow into men is about as good as it gets for the Western International mentor.

“We’ve had kids in the military and we’ve had kids go overseas and work on oil rigs,” Sanchez said with pride. “I love when they come back and reach out and say ‘Coach, I’m doing great.’ To hear those good success stories is so fulfilling. That’s my biggest testimony to the program.”

It is a program that has dominated the Public School League in a way that it restructured a few years back in an effort to bring more parity.

“Four or five years ago, in an effort to force the other teams to step up their game, they created a Mega Division where each team plays each other twice,” Sanchez explained. “It’s based on success, not enrollment. That’s helped some of the other schools and us, too.

“We’ve been pretty dominant so it’s hard to stay humble. But instead of 25-0 after two or three innings, now it’s 10 or 11-0.”

Martin Lutheran King, Cass Tech, Renaissance, Mumford and Osborn form the Mega Division with Western, while there are five teams each in the East and West Divisions of the Public School League.

The lone loss Western has suffered in the 11-year run came last year when Detroit Edison, a charter school, was part of the league. The teams split in the regular season before Western mercied Edison in the finals.

“But this year they decided only public schools can be included in the league,” Sanchez said. “They’re the only one that’s beat us the last 11 years.”

The league success has continued this season including 22-0 wins over both Mumford and Renaissance followed by an 8-1 victory over Cass Tech and 15-1 triumph over King.

“This year we have a very scrappy, very young and very talented group of players,” Sanchez said. “We’re more aggressive on the bases.”

Six players graduated from last year’s team including William English, the second-ranked player in Michigan’s 2018 class who was drafted in the fifth round of the MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels last June and went on to sign a pro contract.

“We have another from last year playing ball in college and we had two others that could have but chose to be college students instead,” Sanchez said.

There is one special bond that Sanchez has found in the program .

“One of the special things we have had are five or six sets of brothers come through,” noted Sanchez, including nephews Juan Jose Martinez Jr. and Joaquin X. Martinez, a junior and sophomore, respectively, on this year's team. “Some played together while others didn’t over that four-year gap. Last year we had four and currently there are three sets on the team.”

One set on this year’s squad is senior Christian and junior Enrique Gutierrez, whose brother Hector wrapped up his senior year at Michigan last season.

“It’s a good feeling,” Sanchez continued. “You end up getting close to the families. Memories are created, which is something I like to see happen in such a positive way.”

Fundraising has helped bring renovation to the home field, even though it is a city park, and batting cages have also been added. Weight training is also part of the equation.

“Sometimes when we’ve played some of the teams outside of the league we can’t match up with those other kids,” Sanchez explained. “So in the last three or four years we’ve taken them three or four days a week to lifting.”

It has brought more confidence to the players.

“When we take them to schools that have money, at first it’s kind of eye-opening for them,” Sanchez  admitted. “It’s ‘Coach, why don’t we have this or that.’ I tell them this is a different part of the state … an area that has more than we do. But we can still beat them.

“Once we beat them they start believing. You’ve got to keep them hungry. Now they’re not in shock or awe of them like they were.”

As of April 19th, the Cowboys are 8-5 overall and ranked 21st in the state, the biggest win a 4-2 victory over 18th-rated Rochester.

“We have a different chemistry this year,” Sanchez said. “We really enjoy each other’s company. We enjoy practicing and having fun. We lost a lot from last year, but we might be more dangerous this year.”

Not only has a state title eluded Western, but the Cowboys have not made it to the Final Four.

“In 2011 we were one pitch from the Final Four when we lost in the quarterfinals,” Sanchez reflected.

But before putting a focus on the postseason, there is a matter of winning a 12th consecutive city championship. This year’s final is back at Comerica Park on Saturday, May. 25.

“Our kids are excited about that, but I tell them we have to win to get there,” Sanchez said. “After that, our goal is a state title.”

But win or lose, Sanchez understands the real reward.

“This is about making them men.”