Miracle manager still learning on the job

By Dana Oppedisano
Naples Daily News

FORT MYERS — Whether by batting average or bloodline, everyone, it seemed, was judging Kevin Boles. Or, at least, that’s what the second-year manager of the Fort Myers Miracle used to think, back when he was struggling through a career that lasted one season as a catcher in the Cubs system, or through the early years molding players that, in some cases, had more experience than he did.

“I started at 23 and I was managing at 24. You’re a little gung-ho at that age,” the now 32-year-old said with a laugh. “You don’t know how to handle things. It’s a learning process, and to have people like my father and Terry Ryan to turn to, it would have been ludicrous not to use them.”

And use them, he did, leaning on both Ryan, already several years into what’s now a 13-year tenure as Minnesota Twins GM, and his father, John, who managed the Marlins for all or parts of four seasons from 1996-2001.

Those late-night calls, more often than not born of frustration and impatience, molded the manager he is today, the bright young baseball mind that Miracle GM Steve Gliner feels fortunate to have running his team for at least one more season.

At the time, Boles felt he had to justify his filling out the lineup card, and no matter how much he identified with the struggles of a minor leaguer — “I was a bad player, no doubt about that,” he says — he was slow to bond with the bodies in the clubhouse he was running.

“I felt like I had to prove that I deserved to be a coach,” he said. “You don’t. If you sit there and you’re tough on ‘em all the time and you don’t praise them, you’re gonna lose players. I remember talking to my father, and he said, ‘You need to back off.’ “

There’s not a day that passes when he doesn’t remember that lesson, even now, some seven years and six stops later.

After all, it’s a patience-first philosophy that’s produced 316 wins and three first- or second-place finishes in the Marlins, Royals and Twins systems since 2000. It’s what got him to Fort Myers from low-A Beloit last season in the first place, and it helped the Miracle win 80 games, most in the Florida State League in 2006, and clinch a spot in the playoffs in his first season.

“The game revolves around failure in the first place,” Boles said, “and if you’re gonna beat guys up, you’re only compounding the problem. What you have to do is be patient.”

That’s not to say that last season, one in which Boles had two players — righthander Matt Garza and infielder Alexi Casilla — reach the Metrodome and eight others move on to at least Double-A, was a completely smooth transition.

His team’s youth, plus a game that moved so much quicker than it did in the Midwest League where he’d managed in 2004-05, took him by surprise, forcing him to lean on Miracle stalwarts Eric Rasmussen, the team’s pitching coach, and hitting coach Jim Dwyer for early support.

Once he’d settled in, though, Boles got back to teaching baseball “The Twins Way,” a fundamentals-first approach that’s produced such homegrown stars as Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter, all one-time Miracle players.

Comfort shouldn’t be confused with easy, though.

Boles has found success through open lines of communication, and often that means delivering hard news to idealistic players who’ve yet to learn their way around the business of baseball.

“A lot of guys have a hard time believing that someday they could be playing with Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau,” he said. “That’s the biggest hurdle. You tell them, ‘It will be you one day, if you produce and you’re a good person off the field and within the organization.’ They feel like it’s so far away, but it can be right around the corner. Yes, this is a business, but you have to convince them they can be one of those guys.”

He has to laugh then, when he imagines what that self-conscious 24-year-old would say about the “player’s coach” he sees in the mirror today. “He’s the consummate professional, and the players respect that,” Gliner said. “There was talent there, but I think he had so much to do with the success of that team last season. Regardless of how this team does this year, he’s already proven himself as a manager, and I think you’re only going to see him move up the ladder in the Twins organization.”

Javi Sanchez, a catcher coming off two major elbow surgeries, said he’s already taken aback by Boles’ honesty regarding his role on the 2007 Miracle, which open the season tonight in Sarasota and host the Reds on Friday at Hammond Stadium.

The 25-year-old didn’t play a game in 2006, and though he’s aching to get back on the field, he appreciates that his new manager cares more about his long-term future than their place in the standings.

“He cares about you as a person first, then a player,” Sanchez said. “It’s pretty neat when you get that, especially in the professional ranks. A lot of guys want to win games and beef up their resume. He cares about the individual and how you progress within the organization. That reflects well on him, too. It works out well for everyone.”

Of course, Boles doesn’t want to confuse respect for friendship.

It could happen, sure, and the age proximity with his players certainly makes finding common interests a near-certainty on those five-hour bus trips to Daytona.

Only Boles doesn’t want to see buddies in his clubhouse.

He wants to see major leaguers.

“If you show the players respect, they’ll respect you in turn,” he said. “Friendship? Hopefully that will happen and they’ll feel like they can come to you, but our main goal is getting them to the big leagues. Our staff, we’d love to get 25 guys to the big leagues and have them all hate us. That’s fine, as long as they’re getting there. That’s all that matters to me.”