Oran's ultimate utility man

When the Oran baseball team had a big lead during a home game late last season, Eagles starting catcher Caleb Seyer removed his baseball pants in the dugout and gave them to a senior, who didn't play much and helped out more as a manager, so he would have a chance to play in the game.

Seyer, who had a regular pair of pants close by to change into, is a player who will do whatever his team needs him to do.

Maybe a more important example of this is when Oran coach Mitch Wood approached Seyer midway through his sophomore season and asked him to change positions. Wood asked him to leave his outfield position, which he really enjoyed, to become the catcher. Seyer was behind the plate the next game without any questions.

The 5-foot-11 Seyer enters this spring as one of the top offensive and defensive players for the Eagles, who look to be a top Class 1 contender again this year.

The senior has been starting at the varsity level since his freshman year. He belted eight home runs and compiled 35 RBIs, a .382 batting average and 26 stolen bases hitting out of the leadoff spot last season as a junior. He displayed top-notch defense, too, throwing out 10 of 24 would-be basestealers (42 percent).

Among his family, friends and teammates, Seyer is hardly best known for his impressive statistics.

He's more known for his laid-back personality, which often allows him to adjust to whatever changes his team needs him to make. It also makes him soft-spoken about his talent in baseball, and real passionate about working on his family's cattle and crop farm.

Seyer agreed he's easygoing and has three real passions -- farming, baseball and spending time outdoors.

As he enters his final baseball season at Oran, he said he's looking forward to having fun with his teammates and putting forward his best effort.

"The best thing about him is the way he talks and the way he is and the type of person he is," Oran coach Mitch Wood said. "He's really laid-back. ... He likes playing. He enjoys it. He's just laid-back as far as that part of it. When he gets ready to play, he's ready to play. He's different."

Seyer's father, Terry Seyer, added: "He has always been easygoing and enjoyed being with the guys and hitting the ball."

Two passions

Seyer earned a starting position as an outfielder on the Oran varsity team as a freshman.

He followed in the footsteps of four cousins, also with the last name Seyer, already to have played for the Eagles.

His father was a member of an Oran team that advanced to the state tournament in the early 1980s.

"He [Caleb] took a lot of pride in playing baseball as one of the Seyers," his mother, Cindy Seyer, said. "There's been a lot of Seyers to go through Oran High School who have been very dominant players. And I think when he came up as a freshman, he's the last Seyer boy going through here, and he took a lot of pride in just that fact alone. He wanted to kind of uphold what the other Seyers had done before him."

It took little time for Caleb to establish himself as the next dominant Seyer. His father has kept a radio broadcast recording of an Oran varsity game against Bloomfield three years ago when Caleb stroked two homers. That was just one of many strong performances for the then-freshman, who hit nine homers, drove in 33 runs and batted .418.

Although Cindy said her son takes pride in helping his team win, compiling strong stats and working hard at baseball, his personality often makes him soft-spoken about his achievements. He never brags, and might even underestimate his talent and ability past the high school level. She added that he'll even put his farm work before baseball as his top passion. She said Caleb and his cousin Chase Seyer, who was a senior pitcher at Oran last year, always would talk about how they would farm together when their baseball careers ended.

"I don't know if he [Caleb] really thinks he has what it takes to be a four-year college guy playing baseball," Cindy said. "He doesn't see himself as excelling in baseball.

"He has not been to camps per se, like a lot of other baseball guys. He just hasn't done that. Caleb, I really think he puts his work before he does his baseball. ... He's a lot like his dad -- loves to go out and get up early in the morning and go to work."

Farming is something Caleb is really passionate about. He said whether or not he plays baseball next year, he will attend college to study agricultural business.

"Working on the farm, people say it's not fun, but I enjoy it," Caleb said. "Being out there hot and sweaty -- there's something different to do every day. I wake up early, work 'til late ... when I'm not playing ball."

Best move for the team

Caleb's mother, along with some members of the Oran baseball team, said Caleb probably would rather be playing the outfield than catching. He actually entered Oran wanting to player catcher. But when Wood placed him in the outfield as a freshman, he really enjoyed that role.

He will not admit which position he enjoys the most, adding that both are different and he is more adamant about doing what is best for the team.

"I came in as a catcher and wanting that catcher position as a freshman, and I didn't get it," Caleb said. "Then I played outfield and I was like, 'Man, this is kind of nice. I like this.'

"Halfway through my sophomore season ... coach was like, 'Caleb you're catching this game' and I was like, 'All right, whatever.' And then every summer since [I[']ve caught], and I'm here now. ... I like catching now that I'm here. It's just something different, I guess."

Caleb's move to catcher has worked out well for Oran. Wood said he moved him there because of his strong defense and throwing arm.

Members of the pitching staff like having him back there because he is good at framing pitches and keeping opposing baserunners honest. Some added that his laid-back personality is a bonus because he can help settle them down during games.

"If somebody is having a rough outing, he's really goofy too, so he'll come out to the mound and just say something completely off the wall and just take your mind off what's going on for a second," pitcher Kody Campbell said. "And then you'll refocus. He knows how to get a pitcher back on track. ... He's not afraid to tell you how he feels."

Wood said he sometimes worries that Caleb's easygoing personality might be misunderstood and lead some to think he does not work hard or might lack passion for the sport.

"Once you get to know him, he's a hard worker," Wood said.

Although Wood said Caleb is not a vocal leader, the senior does lead by example and he's glad to have him as a member of the Eagles.

The Oran coach has more than once said that when Caleb starts out well offensively in the first inning, then the whole offense seems to flow. Plus Caleb's strong throwing arm gives the Eagles an extra weapon that not many high school teams have.

"He's a strong kid, period," Wood said. "He's just a good all-around, strong farm boy."