'Blessed to have the opportunity': Reservoir baseball coach Adam Leader in second season leading the Olney Cropdusters
Jul. 25—Reservoir baseball coach Adam Leader has spent his entire life around the sport. After playing baseball at Wesley College in Delaware, Leader began coaching at Reservoir in 2002.
Leader has developed high school athletes for over 20 years, but he's always had a desire to coach college baseball. However, he didn't want to uproot his family by taking a college coaching position. Then came the perfect opportunity where Leader could coach college baseball while remaining in Howard County.
Last year, the Olney Cropdusters became the eighth team in the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Summer Baseball League, which began in 2005 with teams playing a 36-game schedule from June to August. There are 35-40 college baseball players on each team from schools throughout the United States.
Before the 2022 season, Leader received a call from Cropdusters general manager Brian Brewer to gauge his interest in becoming the team's inaugural coach. Brewer, who was previously GM of the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts in the Cal Ripken league, coached at Catonsville Community College and was familiar with Leader through recruiting Howard County.
"The thing that really us drew us to him was the relationships he had with his players after they were done playing with him," Brewer said. "I could go on and on about players who are on his staff now coaching at Reservoir and even for the Cropdusters with Jack Barry, Cam Hyder. They've all coached for and played for him. It's a testament to him with the relationships with his players. I know last season he went to [Cleveland Guardians pitcher] Cody Morris' wedding.
"Summer baseball is a grind and it's tough, especially if you have a coach who you don't like, who doesn't make it fun. I think what really drew us to him was his personality and the relationship aspect."
After consulting with his family, Leader knew he couldn't pass up the opportunity.
"This gives me the opportunity in the summer to coach college kids and with that, also possibly give my guys some opportunity to get to know some college players, some college coaches and help the guys at Reservoir as well," Leader said. "Multiple things led me to this and I was blessed to have the opportunity to do it."
The first year was a learning process and Leader adapted his coaching mentality to work with college players. Leading high schoolers, Leader focuses on instilling a strong work ethic. However, that work ethic tends to already exist with college players, so Leader takes a more hands-off approach and looks to make small adjustments in other areas.
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"We learned a lot of stuff about managing and staying on guys," Leader said. "For me, I consider myself a player's coach, I try to take care of my guys and create those relationships. I feel like when you do that, those guys are really going to fight for you. I feel like these guys have done that this year. Last year, I got to know it, got to know that these guys are going to do stuff on their own and I don't have to do a lot of micromanaging. They come out here and do their job, it's more about taking care of them and showing that you love them goes a long way.
From Day 1, Leader has emphasized the importance of confidence with his players, a mentality they quickly bought into. That has yielded great results as the Cropdusters finished the regular season 22-14, a six-game improvement from last season. It's one of the first things that junior Anthony Swenda, an infielder at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, noticed about Leader.
After the first game we lost, he just kept telling us how good we were and how he has confidence in us," Swenda said. "He had a big part in building the team and seeing the guys that he wanted. He got them and ever since then, it's been all confidence in us, all trusting us and letting us go out there and do our thing. I think that he's helped us all this summer getting better with that mentality, being a dog and really confident in yourself."
Blending athletes from all over the U.S. and their personalities can be a challenge. However, it's one of the things that Leader loves most about the job. Leader preaches the value of relationships, which is evident during pregame where Leader has a unique handshake with each player as they're introduced. It's also one of the qualities that quickly endeared him with the team.
"The big thing is he's present every day and he's always motivating us whether we're down or up big," said Cropdusters outfielder and incoming freshman at the University of Hawaii, Matt Miura. "He's always the same person and he's always trying to find ways to motivate us. Sometimes they're funny, sometimes it's more serious but it always brings good energy in the dugout. It's everything, because in a bad inning, we can feel down about ourselves. But, for him to run out there every inning and show the same kind of energy, we want to give the same to him."
They'll look to utilize that positive energy in the postseason. The Cropdusters are in a playoff semifinal series against the Bethesda Big Train, set for a winner-take-all Game 3 on Tuesday. After the season, the players will return to their respective universities and Leader will return to the Gators, having built relationships that last far beyond the two-month season.
"It's unbelievably important," Brewer said of forming relationships. "It's really important from a summer league's perspective to make sure that when the kids come they have a good experience, they like the coaches and they're having a good time."
