“Baseball is my life and I’m a student of the game so in my spare time I’m working on my skills or following the game somewhere.”
Those are the words of Oktaha pitcher Maddox Edwards as he talks about his devotion to baseball.
“I’ve been around baseball just about my whole life. My dad, Jason, is an assistant coach here at Oktaha and he’s really the reason I play and he’s my main motivator,” said Edwards who plays in the infield when he’s not on the mound for the Tigers.
When he’s not playing for Oktaha Maddox plays summer ball for the SE Prospects coached by Connors State assistant coach Korey Keith and so the Cowboys are obviously one of the teams that might be in Edward’s future. Another indicator of his
devotion to baseball is that, despite being pretty athletic, he doesn’t play any other sports which is unusual especially at a small school.
“He’s our ace on the hill,” said Tiger coach Kevin Rodden. “He’s been there for our trips to the state tournament, he throws strikes, has command of three pitches and is a fierce competitor. He hits second in the lineup, handles the bat well and he’s
got a great baseball IQ.”
One of those three pitches is a change-up which Maddox says is his best pitch. He follows the Chicago Cubs as far as major league teams and in particular former Cub Javier Baez. Though he’s just a junior, Rodden considers Maddox one of the team leaders because of his work ethic.
“He’s a hard worker and does everything right and helps lead the team by example,” said Rodden.
And for Edwards, being a leader by the example is just fine.
“I think leading by example is good because the other guys see when you put in the extra work, and they’ll hopefully want to follow that example.”
Maddox lists going to the state tournament as one of the highlights of his playing time so far though it’s hard to say which one because the Tigers have been to state
in both fall and spring baseball for the past two years. As mentioned, he pitches and plays infield but being on the hill is what suits Maddox Edwards best.
“I just like pitching better because I feel I can control more of the game there.”
