MEDICAL LAKE - Youth rarely serves a coach well at the time but tends to pay future dividends. Except, perhaps, for Medical Lake baseball Coach Austin Sharp, where the bulk of his 2024 team are young in years only.
Sharp will confidently count on a collection of battle-tested underclassmen to carry a lot of the weight this year.
Medical Lake finished last season as the Northeast A League's No. 6 - and last - seed in the playoffs. But behind the arm of Luke Dickey they got a win against Freeman which started a notable run that ended with a 4-1 loss to Cashmere and a 10-13 record.
Dickey and veteran shortstop Caleb Kane both graduated and are playing college baseball, the former at Wenatchee Valley College and latter in Kansas. On top of that Griffin Marshall, just a sophomore, moved with his Air Force family to Oklahoma.
"He was our No. 2 starter on the mound last year and (also played) third base shortstop," Sharp said.
Thanks to the off-season efforts of American Legion baseball and the Medical Lake Dirt Dawgs, the sophomores and freshman who will make up the bulk of the lineup are baseball savvy.
That starts off with AJ.. Michaud whose dad, Lance, operates the feeder level club team. The younger Michaud was an All-Northeast A as just a freshmen in 2023.
Already slotted to play AAA Legion with the Sharp-coached Cannons, A.J. Michaud was the Cardinals second baseman and struck out just once in 40 at-bats. Other notable names include centerfielder Ian Thompson and Kyle Kip, both sophomores.
Taylor Oliver is a rare senior in the lineup, along with Andrew Roberts, who has dual duty both behind and facing the plate as a catcher and pitcher.
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