Written by Logan Bourandas

Towards the start of last summer, Mason Rapp was on his way to a high school game to kickstart his recruiting process.

Rapp was just finishing up his season as an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota Morris, a job that helped him start up his career in coaching.

Little did Rapp know that during the drive, he would receive a call that would not only change his summer plans, but would provide him with the next big stepping stone in his professional life.

“My head coach called me and he was in a panic,” Rapp said. “He said hey I just got off the phone with Freddy Smith, they’re looking for another assistant coach with a background in catching you gotta take the job.”

Smith had been recently hired by the Stingers and was putting together his first coaching staff as a field manager in Willmar.

While adjusting to a new role in the Northwoods League can be challenging on its own, Smith also needed a staff that he could work well with.

Rapp had the opportunity to speak with Smith once he got back to his apartment later that day and he knew that he couldn’t turn the job away.

“It just clicked right away,” Rapp said. “As a player, I always had buddies that played in the Northwoods League and always thought it was really cool so to have the opportunity to coach was something I couldn’t turn down.”

The summer of 2022 would be Rapp’s first time coaching in summer collegiate baseball, a level he didn’t think he would be coaching in when first starting college.

“I went to school to be a high school social studies teacher, I wanted to coach high school baseball,” Rapp said. “After the spring of my freshman year of college, my pitching coach reached out to me and said I’m coaching a high school summer ball team in Indianapolis, would love to have you come be an assistant for me.”

As the years went by for Rapp, he found his goal start to shift and as it did, he turned to a mentor to help him make the transition.

“My last two years of college I really started to realize that I have a deeper passion for this than just coaching summer baseball and even high school baseball,” Rapp said. “I talked with my head coach Derek Woodley, who was a big mentor for me and we just talked through what it takes to get into coaching collegiately.”

Rapp has since turned that conversation into a career in the Northwoods League as he now gets set for his second season as an assistant coach with the Stingers.

With the Northwoods League providing a similar atmosphere to minor league baseball, the initial adjustment was a challenge for Rapp.

“It was really eye opening summer because the Northwoods League season is about 30 more games than we have at the Division 3 level,” Rapp said. “So something I really picked up on is valuing the time you have with your guys.”

Having that amount of time with his players gave Rapp the best thing a young coach can ask for during the summer: the ability to gain more reps.

“It’s coaching reps, we think about summer ball from a player perspective like this guy’s gonna go out and play 70 games and get better at playing but it’s the same thing for us as coaches,” Rapp said. “It’s just more time to hone in on our craft.”

Now that Rapp has coached at the collegiate level for multiple seasons, the focus is now on staying there.

“High school baseball is great and you’re teaching younger kids the game but with college guys, you can dive into a lot more of the knitty gritty,” Rapp said. “Coaching for me has been a big thing and regardless of level it’s something I want to do for a really long time.”

For more coverage of the Stingers, visit the West Central Tribune online at www.wctrib.com. The 2023 season is presented by J.D. Kreps Financial Group, empowering investors with powerful financial advice.