CONCORDIA — Visiting his old stomping grounds is nothing new for Jared Goedert. The former Concordia High School star turned Cloud County Community College and Kansas State University standout has always made it a point to return and give back to the programs and communities that have supported him.
But this winter was a little different. With Cloud County being down a full-time hitting coach, the T-Birds reached out to the former NJCAA All-American and current minor league hitting coach with the Texas Rangers for assistance outside of his customary trips to town.
Goedert, who spends his offseasons in Manhattan, Kansas with his wife Audrey, also a former Cloud County graduate, didn’t hesitate. For the last two months leading up to the holiday break, Goedert gladly made the drive back to Concordia once or twice a week to work with Cloud County hitters.
“When Coach (Eric) Gilliland told me they were going to be short a hitting coach and if I’d be able to come over a time or two a week, I was more than happy to,” Goedert said. “I care about this program. I care about Cloud County and want to see it do well. I’ve appreciated the opportunity and, honestly, it’s good for me and hopefully it’s been beneficial for the players.”
Goedert’s resume speaks for itself. In his one season at Cloud County, the former third baseman, and son of Cloud County Athletics Hall of Famer Joe Goedert, hit .433 with 51 RBI and just 13 strikeouts in 178 plate appearance.
He is still the program’s lone All-American, earning Second-Team honors in 2004, and held the single-season hits record of 77 until 2017 when Matt Bondarchuk topped that mark with 84 hits.
Gilliland said the hours his guys have gotten to spend in the cage with one of the program’s all-time greats has been an invaluable experience.
“Having Jared over here has been extremely valuable. We needed someone to help with our hitters and he is as good as it gets in that category,” Gilliland said. “But even more just as a fresh set of eyes to everything we do. He has such tremendous insight on the game of baseball both mentally and physically.”
That insight would help Goedert hit .339 during his two years at Kansas State, earning Second-Team All-Big 12 selection in 2006 and a ninth-round draft selection by the Cleveland Indians.
He played nine seasons in the minor leagues, five at the AAA level, with a slash line of .269/.349/.446 with 123 home runs and 522 RBI for his minor league career.
After hanging up his cleats in 2014, Goedert returned to K-State to finish his degree in finance and baseball at that point was an afterthought.
“I’d be lying if I said that, when I got done playing, I couldn’t wait to get into coaching,” Goedert said. “I kind of always assumed when I got done playing baseball I’d find a job outside of the game. Not because I didn’t love baseball, obviously, but it was kind of what I always imagined.”
Things changed in 2016 when Goedert was back in Manhattan helping an old teammate coach a 16-year-old team that just so happened to have two current T-Birds, Kade Wallace and Ed Scott, on the roster.
The team traveled out to a tournament hosted at Texas Christian University where Goedert ran into an old friend and the scout who once discovered him, Mike Daly, currently an Assistant General Manager for the Texas Rangers.
“Our team ended up going to a Rangers game while we were at that TCU tournament and, thinking nothing of it, I said ‘Hey, I know someone (with the Rangers) and I’ll reach out to say ‘Hi.'” I met with Mike and we just talked baseball,” Goedert said. “He was asking me questions and we just had a great baseball talk during a few innings of that game and a little bit afterwards. He said ‘If you’re ever interested in coaching or scouting, let me know.’ I didn’t have some grand goal of getting into coaching, but it happened organically and it happened with the right intentions too.”
Goedert is quickly climbing the ranks in the organization. After serving as the hitting coach at Spokane (Short-A) last spring, he is now preparing for his first full season as the hitting coach of the Rangers’ Single-A affiliate, the Hickory Crawdads.
The daily grind of 140-plus baseball games and the travel will be a new challenge for Goedert and many of the players who will be under his tutelage.
To combat the cold spells, self-doubt and inevitable failure that goes along with being a hitter, Goedert said he draws from his own experiences as a player and always aims to provide encouragement.
It’s a philosophy he shares with Cloud County players and Rangers’ prospects alike.
“My coaching style has been developed from my playing experiences. I think probably first and foremost, I am empathetic because I know how hard hitting is,” Goedert said. “You see a lot of guys who beat themselves up on things like one bad swing or one tough at-bat. I try to provide encouragement, pump tires and build confidence because of my experience and struggles I went through as a player. Then mentality wise, I want our guys to be the aggressors and for our offenses to set the tone. I want violent intentions in the box. When guys have that mentality and mindset it’s contagious.”
Cloud County will put those teachings into action when it gets the 2019 season underway February 9 on the road against Fort Scott Community College.
Goedert will be reporting to Spring Training in Surprise, Arizona around the same time. And while he won’t share a dugout with the T-Birds he’s helped this winter, he will be following along.
“I say this unbiased. I’ve been impressed with the kids Coach Gilliland has brought in character wise, make-up wise, and the accountability he’s demanded,” Goedert said. “Then on the baseball side, I think the team has a lot of great players and I think they can be in a really good position this spring.”