Niagara County Community College Thunderwolves' (now officially SUNY ((State University of New York)) Niagara Thunderwolves') baseball head coach Matt Clingersmith shared an interesting tidbit with recent Sudbury Voyageurs commit Devan Madore.

"Coach actually told me that he only recruits shortstops for the infield," said Madore, a 17 year-old grade 12 student at St Charles College. "He recruits shortstops and then converts them to second basemen or third basemen."

The concept, which is certainly not unique, suggests that more often than not, many of the most natural athletes on their youth baseball teams tend to play position six (SS) - and that it simply is easier to work with recruits blessed with a great deal of athleticism and then teach them the finer points of an alternate but similar position.

Thankfully, Madore checks many of the boxes that Clingersmith values deeply.

"I think my defense is one of the assets that I have in my tool bag," said the young man who left today to compete at the 2024 OFSAA "AA" Boys Hockey Championships in Oshawa, a member of the Cardinals city championship roster and a testament to the multi-sport athlete that he is.

"Those (defensive) skills are what's gotten me a lot of opportunities to date," added Madore. "The coach watched my defense in the Showcase and liked what he saw."

Conversely, Madore liked what he saw from the program which just recently returned from their annual one week sojourn to Florida, ramping up for league play with a 12-6 record to date and ranked first in the pre-season coaches poll in the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Region 3 bracket of 21 schools.

"I don't think I was ready to take the next step and commit until I got on campus and saw all of the facilities they have," suggested Madore. "The coach took time to show me all of the workout facilities, all of the technology that they have to develop me as a player."

"It showed what they can do for me, as a player and a student athlete."

For as much as his defense may have written his ticket to this point, the local talent is hardly a one-trick pony, no slouch at the plate by any means - though this next step is not without hurdles to be cleared.

"I think my biggest challenge moving forward in terms of earning more playing time is adjusting to facing higher velocity," stated Madore. "In this conference, their main focus is mostly pitchers so they have a lot of guys who can throw high heat."

"We rarely see that in Sudbury," Madore continued. "My main focus will be dialing in on that and really using the facilities here in Sudbury to get used to hitting that speed, improving my bat speed and all that."

With his sights site on studies in Biology, Madore plans to remain in Sudbury this summer, part of what he sees as a very solid team that might even include one of the current members of the Thunderwolves pitching staff.

"It would be nice to get to know him a bit, talk to him about the school and stuff," said Madore.

You just never know what kind of interesting tidbits might be shared, when all is said and done.