This article appeared in the Blair newspaper about Mark. This was posted by the reunion committee.


Blind coach helps players "see" their way to the top

Scott Kerber
Sports Editor

He can see the path of the bat as his student swings it. Not the face of who is swinging the bat, or who is throwing the ball, or whether the pitch being swung at is a ball or a strike. Just the path of the swing. That's about it.

And that's just enough. Enough to make Mark Wetzel a much-respected hitting instructor, whose expertise is appreciated by baseball insiders such as longtime major league player and hitting coach Merv Rettenmund and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.

A few years ago, Wetzel was the subject of one of the recently-deceased Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story" features.

Wetzel, who now lives and coaches just over the Douglas County line in Ponca Hills, grew up playing Little League ball in Blair.

"We played on a field where the RV park is now," recalled Wetzel. "For the playoffs, we got to go to the 'big park.'"

When he was 11, Wetzel started to have trouble with his vision. At age 14, he was diagnosed with juvenile-onset macular degeneration. He has long since been declared legally blind, and now sees only shadowy images.

"It was especially hard on me not being able to play catch with my son, and that's how I got started coaching hitting. I could see well enough to give him some pointers on his swing, and his hitting got better."

Word got around about Wetzel's ability as a hitting coach, and pretty soon he had a number of proteges.

"I love working with kids who are really willing to work hard to get better -- to get the most they can from their physical ability," says Wetzel. "If he isn't willing to work to be as good as he can be, I don't want him."

Over the past 22 years, since Wetzel started coaching, he has coached about 30 all-state baseball players, and an equal number who have gone on to play at Division I college programs. There have also been five to achieve every baseball players' dream of playing in the majors.

"Matt Macri, who debuted last year with Minnesota, was the first player I've coached all the way from little league to the majors."

Among this year's success stories is 2004 Blair High grad Korby Mintken, a recent graduate of South Dakota State University. Mintken was invited to a tryout camp at the Philadelphia Phillies' spring training facility in Clearwater, Fla. this past weekend, and put in several sessions at Wetzel's batting cage last week before making the trip.

Among a group of over 100 prospects at the tryout camp, Mintken (a shortstop/center fielder) was the only position player signed after the first day of tryouts, after going 2-3 with a triple in an intrasquad scrimmage.

When not coaching from the confines of his "chicken barn" hitting facility, Wetzel is also a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers -- another amazing fact, considering his lack of eyesight.

But whether he's scouting for the Dodgers or coaching current Blair High player Jake Petersen, Wetzel is looking for the same things in each batter's swing: a quiet head and slow hands. Slow hands?

"It sounds wrong to say it, but slow hands equal a fast bat," said Wetzel. "I mean keeping the hands back. Slow hands and a quiet, stable head through the swing. Another key is maintaining loose hands and forearms. Tension in the hands and forearms locks everything up and slows down the bat."

With each new success story to emerge from Wetzel's tuteledge, the legally blind hitting coach is proving that this is one more area in which vision is more important than sight