Independent file photo/Illustration by Sam Thiel Marshall's Josh Baker has been named the 2021 Marshall Independent Baseball Player of the Year.

MARSHALL — A couple of seasons ago, Josh Baker was experiencing a hitting slump. The Marshall outfielder turned to his head coach, Chace Pollock, for help and together the two broke down and reconstructed Baker’s swing.

That work over the summer paid off in a big way for both Baker and the Marshall baseball team. This past spring, Baker led the team in hits with 34 and in stolen bases with 14 while also batting .425, recording 20 RBI and 19 runs scored. He also led MHS on the mound, throwing 37 2/3 innings and winning six games while allowing 37 hits and 23 runs and struck out 49 and had an earned run average (ERA) of 3.71 and a walks plus hits per innings pitched (WHIP) of 1.593.

Baker and Marshall saw that success extend well into the postseason, as MHS won the Section 2AAA championship for the third time in the past five years, including earning come-from-behind victories against New Ulm and Mankato West to punch its ticket to the Class AAA tournament before coming up just short against Grand Rapids in the quarterfinals. Baker also was named to the All-State team in Class AAA.

As a leader for Marshall, Baker served as a reliable option whether it was on the mound or at the plate. Those contributions have earned Baker the 2021 Marshall Independent Baseball Player of the Year award.

Baker was honored when he heard the news and was happy to see his hard work come to fruition.

“It’s an honor. I put in a lot of extra work and I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Baker said. “Everything came full circle this season; I remember 2-3 years ago I hit below .200 so we broke down and reworked my swing and it was worth it seeing it all pay off this year.”

Baker said at first he was a little reluctant to change his swing, but he was grateful for his coaches for sticking with him and helping him every step of the way.

At first I didn’t want to and I was used to batting one or two in the lineup, but then freshman year I dropped to the ninth spot,” Baker said. “At the beginning it was a struggle and it felt weird getting used to, but then I saw things pay off and my swing got a lot better.”

Pollock said Baker is a great student of the game and knew where his strengths and weaknesses were on the field that he could improve on each day.

“He understood where his strengths and weaknesses were,” Pollock said. “His strengths were defensively and on the mound, and at the plate he grew a lot and the credit goes to his work ethic.”

Pollock added what makes Baker’s play on the field so special was his overall athleticism and ability to put together a strong effort whether he was pitching, hitting or on defense.

“He was a two-way player and pitched for us and he had a tremendous senior year,” Pollock said. “He’s an athlete and a lot of things come naturally to him and baseball-wise he was able to put everything together.”

Baker said his coaches had a tremendous impact on him throughout his time at MHS and is grateful for everything they did for him on and off the field.

“They’ve had a huge impact. Not only did they make me a better player but a better person as well,” Baker said. “They held us accountable and were always there for us. I had many conversations with coach Pollock that weren’t about baseball and it was just comfortable knowing they were being personal with you.”

Baker was also a part of a huge group of seniors for Marshall this season, with MHS graduating 10 players this spring. He said they’ve been together since the beginning and they always had faith in one another.

“The seniors we’ve been together since Day 1,” Baker said. “We had to come back in a lot of games this year and we always had confidence and trusted each other. We believed in each other and that helped us make it as far as we did.”

Baker added after not getting to play his junior season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they weren’t sure how their final year with Marshall would play out, but felt they did a good job of taking things one day at a time and appreciating the fact they were able to get a season completed.

“We never knew what to expect and we treated it as if it was our last day of the season and stayed disciplined,” Baker said. “We handled adversity really well and it was just about living in the moment and appreciating everything like practices. We made the best of it and it ended up well for us.”

While Baker’s time with the Marshall program has come to a close, he hasn’t officially hung up the cleats just yet. Baker has been playing with the Milroy Irish amateur baseball team this summer, with the Irish most recently defeating Windom on Friday to advance to the state tournament. He will be playing basketball this winter at Iowa Central Community College.

As for advice for his teammates who are coming back next year, Baker said they just need to work hard every day and is excited to cheer them on next spring.

“Just stay in the mode of baseball during the season and play off of it,” Baker said. “You can’t take a day off and they will have a lot of talent on both sides. I’m excited to follow them next year.”