Mission Valley Mariners name Gillingham new skipper

The newly-appointed Mission Valley Mariners Coach Kaileb Gillingham acknowledges replacing M’s manager Jami Hanson won’t be easy.

Hanson, who finished his 16-year tenure as the M’s skipper, will now step down and let Gillingham take over as manager of the American Legion Club.

“I am confident in taking over for Hanson because I have been playing baseball since I could walk,” Gillingham said. “When I got older I played for Jami. Seeing how he dealt with all of the kids and helped out with all of the kids made me want to be a coach. I always hoped maybe one day I could help kids as much as he has.”

Last season, Gillingham was gradually broken into filling Hanson’s role when he was the manager of the Mission Valley Mariners’ American Legion B team.

“A couple of years ago I didn’t think I would be a manager like this fast,” Gillingham admitted. “I really appreciate the opportunity. I took it and I would say that I have a lot of faith in myself and my assistant coaches. The faith I have in my assistant coaches really helped me along the way.”

Gillingham said he is committed to this Legion program for the “long haul.”

“I could really see myself doing this job long term and it would be tough to leave especially now that I just got this manager job,” Gillingham said. “I don’t want to leave them high and dry. I want to help them learn the game more than they already know.”

As a player, Gillingham got to see the game from multiple perspectives playing mostly as a utility player with the M’s. Gillingham said he felt the precursor to him becoming a manager was his time spent behind the plate as catcher at Grays Harbor College.

“Being a catcher helped me develop skills as a manager, especially when I was in college,” Gillingham said. “I had to always know the pitch count and know where my runners where on base. I had to know what batter was up, where they were in the batting order, and know what pitches to throw in what situation.”

Grays Harbor College, Wash., a member of the Northwest Athletic Conference, was an all-wood bat league.

Gillingham said he felt making the transition from aluminum bats at the American Legion level in high school to the wooden bats was a “tough transition.”

“It was a big change and we played in some wood bat tournaments in high school,” Gillingham said. “Playing with wood bats in 90-degree weather and playing with wood bats in 50-degree weather where it’s raining every day is an adjustment. I like wood bats though because it gives you a more true swing and it’s going to really shock your hands. With an aluminum bat, it isn’t going to sting very well.”

Gillingham said he prefers the wooden bats to aluminum because a player gets a more fundamental understanding of the mechanics of a swing.

“Since I played in college, I prefer wood bats because it is going to give you more of a true swing,” Gillingham said. “A wood bat teaches you how to swing and stop halfway through your swing. With a wood bat, it’s going to be a pop-out or a little blooper or grounder type of thing.”

Gillingham said he is going to focus on the fundamentals as his A and B team currently practices together.

“We are young and being so young, it’s going to be a tough year but I still believe that we can have a good season,” Gillingham said. “We are going to be more focused on teaching kids the fundamentals like how to field ground balls so they know the smaller skills and on getting them ready to move up to the A team.”

Another fundamental area Gillingham said he will focus on is base running.

“Base running is going to be a big area and a big thing (we emphasize),” Gillingham said. “Currently, we are staying together and all practicing together on hitting and fielding ground balls. One big thing is like after the game, I would like to keep them in shape and doing small jogs to really let the lactic acid out after practice and stretching because if you don’t stretch properly, you are going to do more damage than good.”

Gillingham, said he is already learning baseball from a “different perspective” as a manager.

“As a manager, I’ve learned a lot,” Gillingham said. “I am really paying attention and seeing what my players could do different. I have to watch the ball, the fielder and where they are positioned at all times. I have to watch the whole field and not just one spot.”

Used primarily as a utility player with the M’s, Gillingham said he learned a little bit of everything during his three-year stint as a Mariner.

“Even when I was in high school, Jami would put me everywhere and it really benefited me to play all of those positions,” Gillingham said. “Now, as a manager I can teach them the right way to do it because I played all of those positions. I can tell them how to fix something and what to do in a particular situation.”