It started with a bond between a scout and player and led to a legacy that will be remembered by future members of the Ohio baseball program. The legacy comes in the form of the Pro Batter, a pitching simulation that gives players the feel of hitting against live pitching.
The friendship between Ohio graduate Cecil Mancuso — a baseball scout — and Ohio baseball coach Joe Carbone was forged long ago, when Carbone still played the game.
“Mr. Mancuso scouted me when I played in the late ’60s,” Carbone said. “When I went into coaching, he stayed in touch with me.”
Mancuso worked as a scout for three Major League Baseball teams: Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers.
Carbone and Mancuso stayed friends until Mancuso died in 2008.
As Mancuso’s health started to decline, Carbone convinced him to move Athens.
“I suggested he move to Athens, so I could look over him a bit and he’d go to football practice, basketball practice and baseball practice,” Carbone said.
His health worsened to the point where he needed to be moved to Lindley Inn Assisted Living Community, where Carbone visited him once a week.
Mancuso was a long-time donor to the Ohio baseball program. Carbone said Mancuso wanted to continue to have an impact on the program after he was gone.
“When he passed away, he left a good amount of money to the baseball program,” Carbone said. “He said don’t spend it on a trip, don’t spend it on food. Do something special for the guys.”
That something special was the virtual pitching machine that was previously owned by the Cleveland Indians. It cost the team $32,500 as part of Mancuso’s donation. Along with Ohio State and Michigan, Ohio is one of only three Midwest institutions that have this technology at its disposal.
The piece of high technology projects a pitcher onto a large screen with a ball-sized opening in the screen. When the pitcher reaches the release point, the ball is propelled toward the waiting batter in the cage.
As a professional baseball scout, Mancuso scouted players in the region he and Carbone referred to as the “River.” He would scout both sides of the Ohio River in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Some of the players Mancuso had Carbone recruit include Doug Swearigen and Chris Jones, who was a second round draft pick by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Whenever Mancuso would find a good player or pitcher, he would contact Carbone and inform him of the talent he saw in the player.
“He would say, ‘You need to come see this kid,’ and when he would call me about somebody, I’d go,” Carbone said. “Every time he called me about a guy, it was a great player.”
The bond between Carbone and Mancuso strengthened when Carbone transitioned from being an assistant coach at Ohio State to coaching at Ohio.
Mancuso was a 1932 graduate of Ohio and was excited when Carbone accepted the position as skipper of the Bobcats.
“He sent me a check for what at that time was a lot of money,” Carbone said. “I bought a new tarp with it. It was a congratulations, use for whatever you need type thing.”
The current players say that they are fortunate to have something like this piece of equipment at their disposal, and glad that Carbone chose not to purchase another tarp.
“I know not a lot of schools have it,” junior starting pitcher Seth Streich said. “For us to be a mid-major and to have such a high-tech piece of equipment in our own batting cage is pretty special.”
Right fielder Jensen Painter said the team benefits from having the machine, as it gives Ohio the opportunity to hit against simulated live pitching.
“It helps when you are seeing live pitching, you can crank it up to 90 or 95 if you want.” Painter said. “If you are trying to work on your timing, it would be harder to see live pitching if we didn’t have that machine. We’re fortunate to have that, it breaks off some good curveballs.”
nr225008@ohiou.edu
