Frank Prieto knew that long-time St. Joseph of the Palisades baseball coach Manny Cardenas had taken on a new job last year, but Prieto never thought that Cardenas would have to give up the job he loved most, which was coaching the Blue Jays, like he did for nearly 20 years.
"I thought everything was arranged for Manny to be the coach," said Prieto, a long-time youth baseball coach in West New York who became Cardenas’ assistant with the Blue Jays last year. "I knew he took the new job, but to be honest, I had no idea he was going to have to leave. He had to do what was best for his family. I understood."
When Cardenas reluctantly resigned in January, the program was turned over to Prieto, who coached the West New York 13-year-olds to the national Dale Murphy World Series in Oklahoma three years ago and the 14-year-olds to the Sandy Koufax World Series in 2001.
"I knew I was prepared and that I had the experience," Prieto said. "I know most of the kids and I know what they can do. They were upset when Manny told them that he was leaving. It was a shock to them. But I told them that they had someone they could lean on in me."
Prieto made no bones about the fact that the team was built by his predecessor.
"This is the best team he ever would have had," Prieto said. "I’ll tell you that this is Manny Cardenas’ team, not mine. I will try my best to guide these kids. But it’s very hard walking into the school being the coach and replacing a guy who meant so much to the school and was so well-loved. I’m going to do my best. I know I can coach, but I can’t be Manny Cardenas."
The Blue Jays were 17-5 last year and won the HCIAA Seglio Division championship. Many of those same players return, including junior third baseman/pitcher Gil Zayas, who was the Hudson Reporter Player of the Year last year as a sophomore.
"Gil is going to go places," Prieto said. "The only thing is that he’s very quiet and not that much of a leader type. But you can’t ask for anything else from him."
Zayas batted over .600 and drove in 40 runs last year for the Blue Jays.
Prieto said that the transition from assistant to head coach was not a problem.
"Everything went very smoothly," Prieto said. "I can’t complain about it. The kids understand that this is a team that is ready made. It’s just a matter of putting them together and making them into a team."
Prieto said that he made things easier by placing a lot of the responsibility on his players, like senior Jose Carranza and his five talented juniors, namely Reyes, catcher/pitcher Eddie Suros, second baseman Steve Martinez, shortstop/pitcher Robert Lopez and the coach’s son, Frank Prieto, Jr., an outfielder.
"I put the load on the returning guys from the beginning," Prieto said. "I told them that it’s not my team, it’s theirs. And it was up to them to create discipline, make things happen. I think they’re coming around with that."
Prieto said that the first few weeks have been a challenge to his coaching technique, because the Blue Jays had to practice indoors due to the horrific weather. They had their first outdoor practice on Tuesday.
"Believe me, they needed to get outside, because it was getting crazy," Prieto said. "We were doing a lot of drills indoors, like running and conditioning. It was more like a training camp. But it’s not like practice. We don’t have a pitching machine, so they couldn’t hit. There’s really not much you can do indoors."
Prieto said that he is also happy to welcome the addition of two talented transfers, pitcher Joe Light from Weehawken and jack-of-all-trades Hector Rivera from Don Bosco Prep.
"They’re going to help us a lot," Prieto said.
Prieto said that the Blue Jays are going to be so good this year that they have scheduled non-league games against defending HCIAA Coviello champion St. Peter’s Prep and cross-street rival Memorial.
"I’m just going to guide them as best as possible," Prieto said. "It should be a good year, as long as they play hard and nobody gets hurt. I can’t replace Manny, but I’m going to do my best to keep it going."