BASEBALL 2004: The Mann Show

It’s been a long time coming.

Gone is the injury which cut his stellar summer league season frustratingly short.

Gone is the all-too-familiar platoon situation, which he shared with eventual Vanderbilt transfer Mickey Kropf as a freshman, and then All-Ivy selection Brian Lentz ’03 as a sophomore.

Gone is the time of an offensive power which tended to surface in mere flashes, teasing his teammates and torturing opponents.

The road to this point has sure taken some odd turns, winding from his native Trumbull, Conn. all the way to his family’s new home in Corvallis, MT. It even stopped over in Kenai, AK before ultimately running back east to Cambridge.

But finally—after spending his first two years at Harvard doubling as both catcher and designated hitter—junior backstop Schuyler Mann at last has home plate all to himself.

And by all accounts, it’s been a long time coming.

THE MANN BEHIND THE MASK

Sitting comfortably at a table in Harvard Square’s Au Bon Pain, Mann is soft-spoken and modest, careful to avoid sweeping predictions about a season just underway.

“Yeah, I have higher expectations for myself than I’ve had in the past couple years,” he concedes, pressed about the three home runs he just belted in two games against Air Force and Texas Tech. “But the conditions there were so special. I don’t think any of us could have really expected to put up such high numbers.”

While such an unassuming, down-to-earth demeanor is typical for Mann, it seems curiously unbefitting for the player who has found success ever since he put on a Harvard uniform. The quiet attitude belies his numbers, his accolades, his reputation as a baseball force. All of it.

But broach the subject of Sky Mann to his teammates—the prime beneficiaries of his production—and they’ll sing you a conspicuously more candid song.

“Without a doubt, Schuyler is the most talented catcher I’ve ever played with,” sophomore second baseman Zak Farkes says. “And we had Brian Lentz last year. For me growing up, all you heard was Brian Lentz—he was a couple years ahead of me, a Massachusetts guy, and he was all-everything in Massachusetts, three sports, great athlete. But Schuyler, just talent-wise, is far and away the best I’ve ever seen.”

Then, Farkes will tell you what, precisely, the catcher just can’t bring himself to blurt out—what most in the Ivy League have long been afraid of.

“He can hit, he proved it in the first weekend,” he says. “And he’s going to continue doing that all season. He’s that good.”

DEMOLITION MANN

For a long time, in fact, Mann’s been nothing short of excellent, pacing the Crimson in several offensive categories from day one. He was designated second team All-Ivy as a DH last year, after scoring 31 runs and knocking in 29, both of which were good for second on the team. As a freshman, he ranked fourth on the squad in batting average and second in RBI as well.

But only this year is Mann getting the opportunity to be the full-time catcher, something he probably would have had for the past two seasons on any other, thinner Ivy team.

Not that he minds, of course.

“As a freshman, I accepted the role of getting to start some games and getting to DH the rest, and that was great for me,” he recalls. “Then, last year, I heard about this kid Brian Lentz who’s coming back, this great catcher, and so I was going to split. That was fine.”

But with Mann, there is no denying the difference in knowing that on any given day, the dish is his. To him, there’s absolutely nothing better than the pleasure which comes with managing a game from behind the plate—the joy of dropping two fingers and calling for the hammer on a 3-2 count.

It’s all evidenced by the smile stretching wide across his face.

“Oh, it’s the best,” he says. “All through high school I had a coach who believed that we should be able to call the games, and I love that Coach Walsh trusts us enough as catchers and pitchers to figure it out on our own.”

He sets his drink on the table and grows animated, reliving the strategy and mental sequence behind the situations he so relishes.

“When a guy gets in the box, I’m already looking, thinking about where he’s standing,” he says. “How close to the plate he is, where his hands are, what kind of stride he has, just taking mental notes. I try to pick him apart, and when a pitcher puts it where you want it—I mean, all you have to do is put it there, and I’m going to call a good game for you.”

He grins again, even bigger than before, and for a moment, the genuine, striking modesty of Schuyler Mann is seemingly washed away.

“All you have to do is put it there,” he repeats, smiling from ear to ear, “and I’m going to call a good game for you.”

MANN ALIVE

Finally getting to this point, however, was anything but easy.

After hitting an even .300 through 40 at-bats this past summer for the Alaska League’s Peninsula Oilers—finding his name at the top of the league standings in RBI, runs, and hits—the junior suffered a broken clavicle while catching a foul-tip, suddenly ending his summer season and keeping him out of virtually all of fall training.

Mann recounts the event with a slight smile on his face—describing how he and his batterymate amazingly ended up striking out the batter on the next pitch, only to hear a mysterious, excruciating “pop” in his arm on a routine throw to third—but the residual disappointment manages to show through the pleasantries.

“For me to be playing as well as I had been, kind of leading the team in offense, it was just a really difficult situation,” he says. “Everything just really seemed like it was starting to click, and that all the hard work put in in high school and college was starting to pay off.”

But now, months later and fully healed, his teammates will be looking to him to pick up right where he left off this summer: calling games, defending the basepaths, and producing runs in the middle of the lineup. It’s a role Mann has been looking forward to ever since that day in Alaska, and is all too eager to provide.

“Just being around the guys and getting into games, getting back into the routine of things, all that stuff [about injury] goes to the back of my mind like nothing ever happened,” he says.

His teammates, likewise, are excited about his prospects.

“He hits the ball harder than anyone on our team,” Farkes says. “His role on the team is absolutely vital, being our number four guy, to really drive in a lot of runs.”

“He’s definitely a guy that can drive the ball out of the ballpark,” pitcher and right fielder Lance Salsgiver adds. “He’s got a lot of power and he’s got the ability to drive the ball to all fields. [With] guys like him and [pitcher and first baseman] Trey [Hendricks]…you’re just trying to get into scoring position.”

But the most pressing question on the tip of many tongues may not be “How good is Sky Mann?”—which his grateful teammates can readily answer for you—but rather, “How does he fill the gap left by All-Ivy Brian Lentz?”

Coach Joe Walsh, for those wondering, estimates that Mann may have an edge, both defensively and offensively, over his former All-Ivy first-teamer—the fellow long-notorious for his cannon, .373 average and a team-leading 57 hits and 16 doubles last year.

“They’re both physical, big, strong guys,” he says, turning the subject over in his mind. “I think Schuyler’s got a pretty strong arm, and I think he might—from what we’ve seen this year—even have a little bit of an edge there. And I think Schuyler’s going to hang up a few more power numbers than Brian did for us last year.”

But still, that’s not all there is to Mann: you also have to remember the consistency at the position. As Walsh continues, his face lights up with every word. He seemingly remembers exactly what he has in Mann, the junior whom he considers one of the team’s “best pro prospects.”

“He gives you a real good combination of not only being a really good receiver, and a catcher, defensively—where we look to recruit guys—but he’s a plus-plus in the offensive column for you. You just don’t see that with catchers. You’re real happy if you get a guy who can throw somebody out and he hits eighth in the lineup.”

MANN OF THE HOUR

As of late, Mann can feel the difference in years. Whereas he was once the poster-boy for the platoon situation—both serving as DH and catcher, and forcing the elder Lentz to learn first base and the outfield to accommodate his emergence sophomore year—this year provides a self-admitted “different role.”

While he’ll be spelled by Walsh’s pick from the team’s quartet of back-up catchers in the occasional double-header, the junior will have his work cut out for him now more than ever before.

“There’s definitely more of a responsibility, especially being older now,” Mann says. “It feels like I have to assert myself more on the field, especially in talking to the younger guys—our three freshman catchers, the walk-ons, everyone who’s new to this team and this level.”

“This year, I knew what I was coming into with a bunch of new guys,” he adds, with a tinge of gratitude, a subtle tip to the cap to all that’s gone before him. “I knew that I was going to have to be the veteran, and I knew the role ahead of time.”

In fact, when one thinks about it, everything’s been sort of leading up to this, hasn’t it? The injury in Alaska. The two years learning in a platoon environment. The flashes of offensive brilliance. Even the sheer pleasure derived from the art of catching. It’s all coming together now to set the stage, is it not?

Suddenly, you remember.

“Yeah, I have higher expectations for myself than I’ve had in the past couple years,” he says, sitting comfortably at a table in Harvard Square’s Au Bon Pain.

And you believe him.

Because for Schuyler Mann, this has all been a long time coming—and by all accounts, it’s hard to imagine that it won’t be well worth the wait.

—Staff writer Pablo S. Torre can be reached at torre@fas.harvard.edu.