Transitions, Trials, and Triumph
Seasons greetings wiffle nation,
What a year it’s been! I thought of the best way to spend my New Year’s Eve, and I couldn’t find a better option then writing a wiffleball blog post lol. Sorry In advance to my beautiful, understanding, and supportive girlfriend. I’m going 3 places in this article. Recap 2017, (or at least try to). Talk about where I am now. And preview 2018. Let’s do this thing.
2017 for me was one of a kind. It’s going to be hard for me to top what I did this year. While I was in the moment it never really registered what I was doing or how I was playing, and it wasn’t until I was graciously awarded national player of the year that I realized what I really had done. So this is where I say thank you. Thank you to Tim and Jared first. My family well blood family. You guys have been everything this year and you know how to handle my ass. You know when to push me and when to bring sunshine. I don’t need a long blurb for you guys, you will always be at the top of my priority list. I want to thank my guys in Leroy. From Matty D, to the detmars, to Sammy Staal, tapper, Grant, warn piece, Neil, and everyone else there. I couldn’t imagine playing for or representing anyone else then you guys. We’ve known each other our whole lives and it’s awesome to continue to bond and share life with you guys through wiffleball. Literally I hope we can do this for years to come. My last thank you goes to alex Friedman and my guys in maple city. Wes, Lib, Shane, drew, Shaw, George, Thanks for taking me in, letting me lead, being my friends, and fighting with me. From the bottom of my heart, I’ll take our squad against anyone in the country any day of the week. I believe in you guys and will have your back always. Let’s continue our dominance.
Winning national player of the year and winning so many games I did with all of you will be memorable and will go down in the history books. But what I will remember is the jokes, competition, brotherhood, and family. That’s all that matters.
Right now in life I’m pumped. Statistically the liners look down, and in everyone’s mind we aren’t contenders. I refuse to accept that as reality. James Haworth, has a future in this game. He has the right mindset to transform his game. We’ve been talking a lot and hes ready to take his game to the next level. Within a year and with game reps James has the potential to be a sub-2.50 era guy that consistently gets on base. I have no doubt in my head that he will get there. What people don’t know about Justin Deckinga is his background. 15 years in baseball and he was injured last year. Crazier things have happened in saying he could finish with at least an average ranking. With good fielding and a disciplined approach at the plate. Justin could find himself making great strides this year. I will need to have another MVP year to carry some of the old for the team but with basketball being done I can completely focus on wiffleball this summer and I’m excited to see what that level of focus looks like for me. Somehow I was able to maneuver the liners as the team with highest salary cap to boot. Once I boot gromala I’ll have $24 to work with for a free agent/ Kermit player.. I’m not saying the liners will be a favorite to win, or that we won’t struggle in the first half. But we know that with a mandatory 4v4 playoff format, anything is possible. And if James and Justin can learn to be consistent pitchers, I can pick up a good Kermit option, and I am in end of the season form we will be a very tough out come playoff time.
2018 looks to be another challenge for me. Can I manage this team to a winning record, can I continue to develop talent, can I top last year? All valid questions that will be In peoples minds. I don’t know excactly what the future holds for Leroy or maple city. But I do know that my approach won’t change. I will play hard, love my teammates, and have a lot of freaking fun. When I do that I usually like the result. At the end of the day I want 2018 to be a year that I look back on and can say that I stayed true to myself and maintained consistency, but also continued to play and work for my guys. So I will enjoy 2017 for about 5 more hours and in the morning I’ll get to work.
We will always be stronger together then we could ever be seperate.
Happy new Year,
Caleb Jonkman
