Ralph Lewis is set to coach the Placer JV baseball team this season. Lewis is also the coach of the boy’s freshman basketball team and was a coach in the Placer football program.

When asked what he was looking forward to most this season, Lewis responded, “just being out on the diamond.” He also said he was looking forward to, “having the chance to develop players for the next level in their athletic lives.”

Lewis has quite a history in baseball. “. . . I played like most, Little League, Juniors,” said Lewis. Lewis left baseball for basketball, but later returned to the sport to play in San Clemente in 1995. He coached at Eaglecrest High School from 1997-2000, serving as an assistant varsity, head sophomore, and head freshman coach.  He also had a two-year stint as a Rocky Mountain Regional Scout for the Tampa Bay Rays, then known as the Devil Rays. After another break from baseball (again to pursue basketball) starting in 2000 and some time in New Hampshire, Lewis became a head coach at Hesser College in Manchester. He led the team to a 36-12 runner-up finish in the Yankee Small College Conference. His last stop before a coaching job at Placer was coaching at Noble Jr. High, where the team he coached won a league championship. Lewis has also previously coached Little League in Auburn at the Major and Junior levels.

            As the new JV coach, Lewis stresses that the players on his team must possess the “five tools” that players are rated on in the baseball world. To be one of the rare and highly coveted “five-tool players,” a player must one, run well, two, throw the baseball well, three, field their position well, four, hit for contact (have a high batting average), and five hit for power (have the ability to hit balls hard and far). These tools are often brought up to describe players in MLB draft rooms across the country, and Lewis says that he will judge his players with the same tried-and-true method, as well as making sure that players maintain good grades. “The twenty kids that can do these things the best will wear a Placer Hillman JV uniform,” said Lewis.

            Lewis hails from Colorado, but now lives in Auburn with his wife and two children, both of whom currently attend Placer High. Besides having a total of three coaching jobs so far this year, Lewis is also an aide to the Special Needs students, and works on the smoothie crew at Placer.