Yellow Pages
MOUNT VERNON — The last time Dave and Travis Storrer were both in Mount Vernon for an extended time, they were members of the Skagit Sox.
Dave Storrer was a coach and Travis one of the top hitters on one of the best senior American Legion baseball teams the Sox have ever put together.
Father and son have reunited this summer as coaches for the Sox.
“I want to help them make the transition from high school to college ball,” said Travis Storrer, who made the jump seven years ago. “The players they will see are stronger and faster. College coaches will put up with mistakes once or twice.”
Following his final summer with the Sox, Travis Storrer left for a year of community college baseball, then three years at Clemson, where he was one of the Tigers’ leading hitters.
An injury cost him much of his senior season and as it turned out his draft window. Not selected or picked up as a free agent, he played two years with the independent Chillicothe Paints in Ohio.
Father and son have noticed differences in their coaching styles.
“I’m the old-school guy and he’s new school,” Dave Storrer said. “I’ve got a tendency to dwell on small things, like getting the bunt down, hit-and-run, that kind of stuff. He’s more focused on the big picture, like squaring the ball up (in hitting).”
Travis Storrer says that while the little things are important they don’t play as big a role in college baseball because of stronger hitters and aluminum bats.
“I think it’s baseball developing. It’s not something you can explain,” Travis Storrer said. “You watch Texas and LSU and they play for the rally. You don’t see them bunting and playing for one run in the fifth inning. Maybe later in the game, but the kids are bigger and stronger and with the aluminum bat, they don’t do it.”
Those are the kind of things father and son have had the time to discuss at length for the first time since Travis Storrer left for the East Coast to play for Clemson.
They’ll often spend as much as an hour discussing that night’s game, and all things baseball.
“It’s been fun,” Travis Storrer said. “I’ve been over at school and haven’t seen my parents a whole lot. This way my dad and I get four hours a day. It’s been fun to work with him. I probably didn’t listen to him all the time (growing up). Now I ask him questions.”
Those questions are mostly about coaching. Travis Storrer, who majored in sports management, is hoping to make coaching baseball his livelihood.
“The tough part is talking in front of groups,” Travis Storrer said.
“He’s better at getting guys ready than I am,” Dave Storrer said. “A lot of guys show up at the park and think they’re ready to play. He’s good at getting them focused.”
Eric Francis can be reached at 360-416-2131 or by e-mail at .
