Former 1994 Princeton Red Jay Sorg Still Enjoying Successful Baseball Career At All Levels
Today, Sorg is administering another "stamp" in baseball, as a head coach revitalizing the baseball fortunes at Morehead State (KY) University, which was also where he played his college baseball prior to his pro debut season in Princeton.
"Obviously, I have a lot of roots at Morehead. My wife (Shelly) also went to school here and this job is ideal for being able to be closer to my family without the travel involved with working in pro ball," said Sorg, who is a 37-year old father of four, in a November 11 telephone interview.
However, a lot of baseball stops were wrapped between his two stints at Morehead State for the Louisville, KY native. Included on that list first, of course, was Princeton. He arrived here after being the 15th round selection of the Cincinnati Reds in the 1994 draft following his outstanding college career at MSU.
And, like players both before and after him who have played in Princeton, Sorg certainly can attest to the atmosphere and hospitality to players that Princeton has always been known for.
"I will always remember how we were embraced in Princeton. Most towns I played in had the nice hospitable season-opening reception for the team to start the season and that was it. In Princeton, that seemed to be the attitude for the entire season-it never stopped," said Sorg. He remembered that his "adoptive parents" that summer were Bill and Margie Flanagan, who he said were always around if he needed something and that he has never forgotten Roy and Ruby Beasley following the team on the road wherever they went.
He was certainly a vital part of an unforgettable team in his debut season as a professional. The skills of the 1994 Princeton squad mowing through the Appalachian League were well documented: our own version of the "Big Red Machine" with many offensive weapons, super-aggressive baserunning, and dominant pitchers tailored for every situation. However, Sorg did touch on two areas not mentioned here.
"The 1994 season was a lot of fun. People do tend to forget though how good that team was defensively with people like Scott Sharp behind the plate and the ground our middle infielders, Jhonny Carvajal and Luis Ordaz, could cover. Then we had speed in the outfield with Decomba Conner, Cobi Cradle, Darran Hall, and Jackie McCroskey and not a lot of balls were going to get by them," recalled Sorg. He then added that this wasn't evident over the season's first three games, when the P-Reds kicked the ball all over the place in a trio of losses at the home of the league's then-perennial doormat, the Martinsville Phillies.
However, after that it was a 43-23 record (including playoffs) the rest of the way for the eventual champs. Harnessing that kind of talent and keeping the team's focus in line after an embarassing start required a special leader and fortunately, the '94 P-Reds had such a man in 1994 Appalachian League Manager of the Year John Stearns.
Over the years there have been many superlatives tagged with the name of John Stearns for the job he did here throughout 1994 but Sorg found a way to sum all of this up in just four words: "he had a presence."
It has been over 16 years since Princeton's finest Appalachian League moment with many heroic moments spun during the course of that particular season. But when asked to pinpoint the pitcher and player on the 1994 Princeton Reds that he thought would go the furthest as a player in baseball, Sorg did not waste a second.
"Curt Lyons was so dominant as a pitcher and the way Decomba Conner played that season, I thought he would go a long ways," Sorg summed up on Lyons, who had a brief major league career with a 2-0 MLB lifetime record, and Conner, who was such an offensive force that could disrupt a game in so many ways. Conner was named the Appalachian League MVP that season despite missing a sizable chunk of the '94 season due to injury and had a very productive minor league career with several organizations before topping out at the AAA level.
And, there was one other individual in particular that Sorg wanted to recognize: 1994 P-Reds' catcher Scott Sharp.
"I always thought off that 1994 team that Scott Sharp would go the furthest in life because he stood out to me as so intelligent," shared Sorg. Sharp both played and scouted in professional baseball before landing his current position as farm director for the Kansas City Royals, who currently has a team (Burlington, NC) in the Appalachian League.
Following his season in Princeton, Sorg played four more years in the Reds farm system (.258 career batting average in 417 professional games), before being hired by the Cincinnati organization as a baseball instructor in their player development area. He held numerous positions for the Reds over the next five years including: manager of the Class-A Clinton (IA) and Advanced Rookie League Billings (MT) minor league teams, bench coach for the AAA Louisville Bats, and minor league spring training coordinator. While with Clinton, he led the team to the playoffs as the youngest professional manager (age 26) in the nation that season. He also led Billings to a Pioneer League championship.
Sorg left the Reds organization in 2003 to be closer to his family, taking a position as director of baseball operations for Champions Sports Complex in Louisville, a position he held for three years.
Sorg began his second stint with the Cincinnati Reds in June 2006 when he again accepted a position as a baseball instructor in player development. In his last stop before assuming his current job overseeing the baseball program at MSU, he served again in 2006 and 2007 as bench coach for the Reds' AAA affiliate, the Louisville Bats. Two different eras of Princeton baseball crossed paths here as the clubhouse manager for the Bats during Sorg's second time around in Louisville was Matt Gallant, who held the same title for the Princeton Rays in 2003 and 2004.
As for the present, Sorg will be entering his fourth year as head coach at Morehead State University, which plays in the Ohio Valley Conference. His first three years at the helm saw his teams log a 62-90 record for a .408 winning percentage. This is an improvement over the .383 winning percentage at MSU for the three years prior to his coaching arrival there. And, just as he demonstrated as a player, he is turning things around in a methodical fashion.
"We do seem to be exceeding each year where we were the year before. Our team last year was in the top twenty nationally at the D-1 level in many categories," explained Sorg, who added that the program is now starting to see some players get drafted regularly and that fact is a good tool for recruiting.
Two of his players actually surfaced in the Appalachian League last season, both playing for the Bristol White Sox. Second baseman Drew Lee hit a solid .282 in 62 games and led the Appalachian League in doubles with 24 while also leading Bristol in hits (72) and RBIs (39). Outfielder J.D. Ashbrook appeared in 37 contests for the Brisox and stroked a couple of homers and finished with a .218 mark at the plate. In fact, Sorg contemplated coming to Princeton to see the pair when Bristol visited the P-Rays last season for a July 14-16 series at Hunnicutt Field before one of the players involved was derailed by a death in his family at that very moment.
However, do look for Sorg to appear in the Mountain State this spring as his Morehead State team is slated to play West Virginia University at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, WV on March 29, 2011 at 6:00 p.m.
After that, he does want to get a little further south than Charleston in one of his next few visits to West Virginia. Because he played here, Sorg does have other reasons to visit Hunnicutt Field someday. Though he played in Princeton in the same location, he is aware of the many changes in the stadium that has transpired since 1994 and hopes to see it with his own eyes in the future.
"You will see me again there someday and I hope sometime real soon that the Princeton fans gets to experience another season like what we had in 1994," concluded Sorg.
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