LYNN — The act of bringing a group of unfamiliar baseball players together and building a successful team is a challenging one. But for new North Shore Navigators manager Todd Alford, it’s a challenge he’s welcoming with open arms.
Alford, who was named North Shore’s manager last August, takes over for Peter Gonski. A Salem State product, Gonski managed the Navs for the second half of the 2017 season.
An assistant baseball coach at Division III Gordon College in Hamilton-Wenham, Alford joins the Navs with a good sense of familiarity in regards to what they’re all about.
“I moved to the Boston area three years ago,” Alford, who resides in Marblehead, said. “I’ve had a couple of my college players play for the Navs. I’ve had a couple play for different teams in the FCBL. I met Bill (Terlecky) about two and a half years ago. I’ve been out to many games. I sent Bill a few late-year pitchers last season. I’ve had a brief but important history with the Navs, especially Bill.”
As a college baseball coach, Alford gets the chance to see players improve and hone in on their craft on a daily basis. That’s something he’ll look to see his Navs do throughout the summer, while building a winning team.
“I love this environment,” Alford, 50, said. “The setting and the atmosphere’s magical for a baseball nut like me. I see kids that are great baseball players but they want to improve. They spend their summer improving. I’m a teacher and coach, I’m a teacher of baseball and those are the type of kids I want to be around. I’ve been doing this my whole life and I still want to get better. To do that on a field like this, it’s like the field of dreams.”
Finding a balance between individual improvement and winning baseball games is a challenge.
However, it’s one Alford’s looking forward to tackling with the Navs.
“It’s very challenging,” Alford said. “We’ve talked about that. Their job’s to focus on getting better. My job’s to find where they are along the way and put a quality product out on the field. It’s a big challenge.
“Part of it’s playing good baseball for fans,” Alford added. “Behind the scenes, a large part of the summer’s focusing on their development. It’s us identifying the areas for improvement as early as we can and working hard every day out here. It’s a blend of those two. Hopefully, more often than not, it ends up being a winning product out on the field.”
This summer’s Navs roster includes eight North Shore natives. They are Peabody’s Jake Gustin, Danvers’ Andrew Olszak, Marblehead’s Harrison Engstrom and Garret Keough, Saugus’ John Prentice, Swampscott’s Gavin Sullivan, Malden’s Matt O’Connor and Lynnfield’s Justin Foley.
With a plethora of talent from the Navs backyard on their roster, Alford believes his roster truly resembles a community team.
“I want kids from this area,” Alford said. “I’m proud of the North Shore. To see those kids come from local players, I’d love to get those guys involved. Not only does it bring a community elements for the fans seeing their hometown kids playing, it’s fun for the guys too to look up there and see ‘wow. My community’s behind me.’ It adds a great element.”
Through the early stages, Alford’s still unsure of his expectations for the team this season.
He believes he’ll get a better grasp of what he’ll expect as the Navs get a better look at the teams around the league.
“I’ll be modest and say my goal’s always to finish above .500,” Alford said.
“My goal’s always to win more than we lose. I’ll look at it as somewhat a success if we’re able to do that. Personally I’d like it to be a lot higher than that but I haven’t seen the competition. I don’t know where we stack up. I want us to continue to get better not only as individuals but also as a team.”
The Navs are 1-3 thus far, losing Friday and Saturday and splitting a doubleheader Sunday.
