Developing young talent is top (but not only) priority for new Catfish manager

New Cape Catfish manager Scott Little has been given a number of tasks to accomplish this coming summer in the Prospect League, and maintaining the Catfish tradition of success is among the most important. However, at the end of the summer, how he’ll be evaluated is on whether the young athletes, who spent time at Capaha Field grew as baseball players or not.

“I want to win,” Little said recently. “I’ve always wanted to win. I hate losing. But part of this (deal) is understanding that (winning) is not my number one priority.”

The Catfish have begun the process of putting a (hopefully) championship-caliber roster together in anticipation of its May 31 season-opening game at O’Fallon.

Cape General Manager Mark Hogan has inked six players recently, including former Jackson High School standouts Lane Crowden (Southern Indiana) and Quinton Borders (Crowder College), as well as current Indian senior Caden Bogenpohl (Missouri State signee).

“I’m going to try and win games,” Little said. “If we have the right guys lined up every night and everything works out. We’ll try to win every darn game. But when I walk away from here if our team gets better every day, they have a great time, they worked hard together, they play hard, they bust their butts, and play until the game is over, no matter what the score is, I’ll be a happy man.”

Managing an evolving team, as opposed to one that is built to easily dominate, has been Little’s preference throughout his career.

“All of the years that I have coached,” Little said, “I was a really good manager when the team was good, and I wasn’t so good of a manager when the players weren’t as good. But coaching is fun, it’s more exciting, it’s a better challenge when you’re trying to get guys better and better and trying to keep improving.”

Little, who graduated from Scott City High School before embarking on a two-sport athletic career (football and baseball) at the University of Missouri and another sport (basketball) at Mineral Area Community College, has served as a manager within the Colorado Rockies organization for the past six seasons.

He has also worked as a manager in the systems of the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I’ve had push-button teams, where I just wrote out the lineup and let them play,” Little said. “And that wasn’t fun. Winning is always fun, we all know that, but when there is more (involved) in there…”

Little, Hogan, and Catfish president and minority owner Glenn Campbell, had in-depth discussions about what the purpose of this franchise is each summer.

“Our job here,” Little said, “this is still a developmental league. The guy may not be having the greatest season ever, but at the same time, (the colleges) have entrusted us to take their players and let them get their reps, so that they do get better.”

In addition to those aforementioned players, the Catfish have also recently added Missouri State third baseman Curry Sutherland (Rogersville, MO.), Arkansas catcher Cal Kilgore (Overland park, KS.), and Purdue outfielder Brody Chrisman (Zionsville, Ind.).

“We’re going to develop these guys,” Little continued, “but at the same time, winning is fun, and I hope that we do both.”

The Catfish have been among the most successful teams in the Prospect League since joining the league in 2019.

The team has compiled a record of 113-75, making it to the league finals in 2019, winning the league championship in 2021, and coming within one win of a playoff berth last summer.

Cape’s home-opening game this season is June 3 against new franchise Jackson (Tenn.) Rockabillys.