Moving a few steps to his right hasn’t proved to be an inconvenience for Indian Creek baseball player Dawson Read.
Before the Braves’ season began, first-year coach Steve Mirizzi chose to move Read, the program’s starting shortstop the past three seasons, to third base. Junior Wyatt Phillips has filled the shortstop spot.
The shift has been paying off. Indian Creek is off to a 10-2 start heading into today’s game at Cascade — and Read, who bats cleanup, is hitting at a .306 clip with four home runs and 17 runs batted in. Two of the round-trippers were during a home-and-home split with Edgewood.
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Mirizzi, a former Danville assistant, discussed with Read the possibility of changing positions when he took the Indian Creek job in September.
“The first three years, it was really about where the team needed me, but I had been playing third base for my travel team in the summer,” Read said. “I feel a lot more comfortable at third, but getting to play shortstop did help.
“When you play shortstop, you get a better feel of the field. It’s a little more challenging. You basically have to know what’s going on the whole time.”
As a freshman, Read actually caught the first two games of his career — against Franklin Central and Whiteland. It was determined he was better suited for shortstop, and he responded with a .393 batting average over his sophomore and junior seasons.
But for Mirizzi, who spent his first months attempting to mesh the talents and personalities of the players in his program, Read’s contributions extend well beyond statistics.
“Dawson has led the way the entire offseason and been a leader for us. That was one of the first things I noticed when I took the job,” Mirizzi said. “He’s more of a lead-by-example type with his actions, but Dawson will say something when he feels he needs to.
“He’s helped keep us in line and kept some of the stress off of us coaches.”
Once his Indian Creek baseball career is over, Read will focus on his future, which is to play baseball and major in business at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. The Hornets are a Division III program that plays in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Read wants his prep career to extend deep into the postseason so that he and those closest to him — including fellow seniors Luke Bramlett, Jared DeHart, Dylan Sprong and Joey Willis — can continue to savor the experience.
“I wouldn’t change anything about it,” Read said. “I love the school and I love the baseball program. It’s just the support you get around the community. You always have people talking about how good teams are and how far they could go.”
