MEDFORD BASEBALL - Excitement builds for Schmidt as spring baseball season draws closer

MEDFORD BASEBALL

Less than a year ago, life threw a curveball at Chandler Schmidt, but in true baseball fashion, he adjusted to it and now finds himself in an exciting position as the spring season approaches.

In late October, Schmidt was officially hired to fill Medford’s head baseball coaching position, which opened last summer with the resignation of 20-year coach Justin Hraby. As the calendar turns to 2025, preparations for the new season are ramping up with the start of Sunday night open gyms, finalizing the spring calendar and Schmidt starting to get to know some of the players he’ll be working with when practice officially starts in about two months.

“Just getting the master calendar put together this week, you start to realize how fast it’s going to come,” Schmidt said Friday. “I’m excited to get after it.”

Schmidt comes to Medford after completing a successful run as a pitcher for Winona State University. He is a 2020 graduate of Stratford High School, where he was a first-team All-Marawood Conference athlete in baseball and basketball and earned honorable mention as a defensive back in football his senior year.

After majoring in physical education and health and minoring in adaptive physical education Schmidt thought he was going to be student teaching starting this fall in Marshfield. But for whatever reason, that fell through at the last minute. Instead he wound up here in Medford, where he started student teaching at Medford Area Middle School and has since been hired to the position of districtwide guest teacher.

Schmidt has coached American Legion baseball in Stratford the past few summers, leading the team to the state tournament the last two years. The team was the Class A state runner-up behind Lomira this past summer. During that time he had gotten to know Hraby and, upon finding out he’d be coming to Medford, had talked to Hraby about joining the baseball coaching staff. Then Hraby decided to step down, creating the opening Schmidt has now filled.

Coaching Legion ball and some youth travel ball stoked his passion for the game.

“I fell in love with coaching baseball,” Schmidt said. “I’ve played the game my whole life ever since I was really young. I love doing it. I’m passionate about the game.

“Judd has done an excellent job with the program here in Medford and he’s been a huge, huge help for me with the transition. I’m really excited now to get to know the players.”

Schmidt grew up with a strong coaching influence as his father, Curt Schmidt, is the longtime and successful head coach of Stratford’s boys basketball program. Chandler Schmidt was a senior on the 2019-20 team that was undefeated going into the Division 4 sectional final round when the remainder of the tournament was canceled due to the Covid pandemic.

Chandler is a varsity assistant coach with Curt Schmidt and the Tigers this winter.

“The Medford thing kind of came out of nowhere and I had already told my dad I would help him out this season as a varsity assistant,” Chandler said. “I couldn’t tell my dad no, so I’m still driving back every day and helping him out.”

Schmidt said he was initially recruited to Winona State’s program as a shortstop, but then with his senior season with the Tigers being canceled due to the pandemic and the pandemic’s effects lingering into 2021, he felt he had fallen behind.

“I always had a good arm and eventually they asked me if I had ever pitched,” Schmidt said. “I had pitched a couple of games and even threw a complete game at the state tournament when we won the state championship in 2019. So I made that move and that’s where my career kind of took off.”

Schmidt did start one game as a junior in 2023 but otherwise filled a relief pitching role, mainly as a set-up man, he said. Last season he appeared in 15 games, throwing 18.2 innings. In 2023, he appeared in 13 games with his one start and pitched 20.2 innings, striking out 21 batters and earning a 1-0 record.

The Medford Raiders are coming off a tremendous 2024 baseball season where they went 25-4, had an 18-game winning streak and reached the WIAA Division 2 sectional final where the season ended with a 7-5 loss to La Crosse Logan. There are several holes to fill due to graduation and Schmidt said the coaching staff still needs to be finalized as he’s still working to find a JV coach and settle on his varsity assistants. Stephen Reynolds is expected to remain the JV2 coach.

With the first open gym completed this past Sunday night, though, the journey for season number one now truly feels like it’s underway and he’s excited to see where it leads.

“We’ll start getting to see what we need to work on,” he said. “It will be fun to start meeting the guys, getting a feel for what we’ll have to offer and seeing how we can get better by 1% every day.”