Matt Shalbrack/Winonan

Baseball has been a part of my life since I was a toddler.

Before I was born, my father played Minor League Baseball.

He taught me everything that I know and coached me as a little leaguer.

As a child, my morning routine involved reading the sports section in detail and updating myself on all the sports scores from the previous day.

Reading the sports section is still a part of my morning ritual.

As I grew up, I sharpened my skills and gained more knowledge of the game by playing on a regular basis.

I made the Junior Varsity team my freshman year of high school and played on the Varsity team my junior year.

Although I didn’t play my senior season because of an ankle injury, I was still involved in baseball as a coach.

I taught kids fundamental hitting and fielding techniques, just as I had learned them from my father and by attending various baseball camps.

Throughout my years as a player, I played several positions.

My main focus in high school was catcher, second base and third base.

By playing these positions, I had the opportunity to learn more about various baseball situations.

I helped coach because of my playing experiences.

Of these three positions, playing catcher was my favorite, since I was in charge of the defense.

I called the pitches, I lined the defense up correctly and tried to make my teammates better by being a leader on and off the field.

As a catcher, being a leader was vital to the success of the team, and that was always my top priority on game day.

I have always been a student of the game of baseball, but during my junior year of high school, I decided on what I wanted to be as a student in college.

I knew I wanted to be a journalist and I declared Journalism as my major when I signed up for classes.

As I worked through my Journalism classes, I learned about the Inverted Pyramid and studied AP Style.

During my junior year of college, I started working for my school newspaper as a Sports Reporter.

I covered women’s volleyball, and softball and men’s football and basketball.

The next year, I became the Sports Editor covering football and writing a weekly fantasy sports column.
Currently, I am the Editor-in-Chief of the Winonan.

As a fan of baseball, it’s my goal to attend a game in every Major League stadium.

So far, I have been lucky enough to make it to Miller Park, Wrigley Field, U.S. Cellular Field, Great American Ballpark, Busch Stadium and Coors Field.

I have also attended the Cactus League games in Arizona.

As a student of the game, I have immersed myself in new-age statistics such as Wins Above Replacement, Batting Average on Balls in Play, On-base plus Slugging and Runs Created.

All of the knowledge I have gained as a player, coach and fan along with my journalism background makes me a student of the game.

Contact Matt at [email protected]