FORTVILLE — Even at the age of 4, Jake Stadler walked his own path.
A right-handed throwing catcher with a powerful left-handed swing, Stadler remembers the first time he picked up a bat at the local YMCA. As with most beginner baseball players, the tee-ball coaches tried to position Stadler in the right-handed batter’s box.
Stadler had a different idea, though.
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“Back then, they tried to get all the kids to hit right-handed, and I did but I always walked over to the other side of the tee,” Stadler recalled. “They would try to make me go to the other side, but one day my parents told them to just let me hit that way. It just kind of stuck with me from there.”
Fourteen years later, and Stadler’s journey remains his own. A self-made baseball player, Jake’s parents, Barry and Ingrid, were both high school student-athletes, but baseball was never a staple for the Stadlers.
Barry, a Mt. Vernon graduate, competed as a swimmer and as a tennis player. Ingrid, who attended Speedway and Lawrence Central, was a basketball player and took to tennis.
“Baseball was really never a thing, but I started playing tee ball, and I just kept playing,” Stadler said. “Actually, I really had to teach my dad some stuff about baseball. He wasn’t really able to pass down information from his past experience, so it was kind of all on me and whatever he thought would be best for me.”
Even when it came to deciding his collegiate future, Stadler, a senior at Mt. Vernon, blazed his own trail, going against the family grain by committing to Purdue in the summer of 2019.
Nothing personal, Stadler jokes, but as the first person in his immediate family to secure a Division-I scholarship for athletics, he’s not apologizing.
It’s been his goal to play college baseball since his YMCA days, through his Oaklandon Youth Organization experience and with the Indiana Bulls the past four years.
“It’s been a life-long dream, honestly, but it’s kind of ironic how it happened because if you look around my household and everything we own, it’s pretty much all IU stuff because my dad went to IU and raised us as an IU family,” Stadler said.
“Even just a year ago before I committed, I was the biggest IU fan, and now I’ve grown to hate IU because Purdue offered me what IU couldn’t. It’s super exciting to be able to play Division-I baseball at a Big Ten school.”
Oddly enough, Stadler, who was named to the All-Hancock County and All-Hoosier Heritage Conference team last season, wasn’t a surefire prospect.
Not until a year ago.
Pursued by Purdue and Ball State, among others, in the summer of his sophomore year, Stadler had plenty to prove after a stress fracture in his back slowed him down.
First diagnosed with a stress fracture on both sides of his back, the injury cost him four months of intense training and playing time in 2018. He wasn’t able to compete until April and his numbers revealed the rust with a .208 batting average, five RBI and only five hits in 24 at-bats.
“Luckily, there was no surgery, but I had to wear this clunky back brace that was absolutely the worst thing I’ve ever had to do in my life for about four months. It was not fun,” Stadler said.
“Technically, I was able to play, but the doctors told me I had to play with the brace on, and the back brace overlapped past my waistline, so I wasn’t able to rotate. All I could do was play first base, and I couldn’t hit very well. It definitely had its limitations.”
An additional month of rest after the 2018 prep season ended and time spent building up his core strength and muscle tone before his high school junior campaign catapulted the 6-foot, 182-pound backstop into the spotlight.
Finally healthy, Stadler went to work, hitting .365 with 15 RBI, six doubles, two home runs and 16 runs scored as a junior.
“Sophomore year, I wasn’t able to perform at my best level, but then junior year, I came out and it was the first time I could play full-time varsity. It gave me a lot of confidence going into the summer,” Stadler said. “I ended up doing really well that summer, which I think helped me get more looks.”
Purdue offered a partial scholarship in 2018, but contact dropped off from the summer until the next year.
While there was concern when former Boilermakers head coach Mark Wasikowski stepped down and headed to the University of Oregon, Stadler was rewarded for his patience when new Purdue coach Greg Goff followed up in 2019 with 75 percent.
Mt. Vernon head coach Brad King wasn’t surprised by Purdue’s aggressiveness to secure Stadler. With the highly-sought after ability to hit left-handed and his overall skill set, Stadler is a wise investment.
“A kid like Jake Stadler, he’s got great leadership. He’s arguably the best player on the team, and he worked hard every time we went out. He bought into what we were selling,” King said. “He just worked hard every day, and really all nine seniors did a great job of that.”
As one of several Marauders destined to play college baseball, Stadler leads by example daily. Even with the 2020 season cancelled due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, he finds his own way.
Limited weight training equipment hasn’t halted his conditioning. Instead, he’s just increased reps with the weights he has at his disposal. He can’t hit live pitching, so he’s dedicated his time inside a barn where he swings off a tee. With no one to throw him live bullpen, Stadler instead has created his own workouts to maintain his footwork and agility.
“It’s been pretty tough, but I’ve found ways to keep busy,” Stadler said. “Other than that, I haven’t been able to get too much work done, but I try to keep busy and do things that are fun.”
Unfortunately, Stadler can’t do what he and the Marauders’ other seniors wanted to accomplish this spring. Namely, compete.
Nolan Bowser, a senior shortstop, is committed to St. Louis, while fellow senior Shaun Shipley, a first baseman, is set for IU-Kokomo.
Mason Montgomery, Will Nelson, Matt Lood along with Austin Sumner and Jackson Dunlavy gave Mt. Vernon a solid senior presence to vie for a better result than last season’s 13-10 finish.
“This season, the amount of good energy we had on the team was more than I’ve seen in my three years previous,” Stadler said. “We had a ton of talent on this year’s team, and we were excited to put it together. But, unfortunately, we weren’t able to, which is really devastating.
“Senior year is a big year for everybody, and I know we’d love to get out there and showcase our talent and prove a lot of people wrong by maybe winning a sectional or maybe even a regional.”
The season of 2020 will forever be a “what if” year, but Stadler knew exactly what could have been from the first day of preseason, especially after having to prove himself again.
Listed as catcher, Stadler’s teammates Bowser and junior Hunter Dobbins, a Ball State recruit, all share the same prospect position listing.
With King entering in his first year at Mt. Vernon after 17 seasons at New Castle, Stadler had to secure his spot, while Bowser moved to middle infield and Dobbins was set for third base.
“Last year, I had that spot earned, but I had to continue to prove myself this year because coach King came in and he had never seen any of us play before, so I had to go out there and earn my spot back,” Stadler said.
“It’s a bigger challenge for me because the harder it is to earn a position, the harder it makes me want to work. That’s just the part of the game that I love. Trying to compete for a spot and always striving to be the best version of yourself. Whenever you’re competing with two other D-I commits for one position, I really think it brings out the best in people.”
Stadler is known for his actions, not merely his words, and his approach and work ethic echo both.
“He’s as good a leader that I’ve had in my time. What you want out of your best players are for them to elevate the others around him, and that’s what he did every day,” King said.
“As a baseball player, you could tell he put in a lot of time to hone his skills, but I think he just kind of found what his passion was and he’s the type of kid where whatever that passion is, he wanted to be the best at it.”
King would know after coaching Trey Ball at New Castle, who was named the Gatorade Indiana Baseball Player of the Year in 2013. The pitcher was later drafted by the Boston Red Sox seventh overall in 2013.
“We stress control what you can control, maximize your potential and trust the process. I’ve been saying that for years as a coach,” King said. “Jake embodies all of that. We preach that, but he already lived it.”
The process started with zero knowledge, and it’s far from over for Stadler, who credits being the first in his family to excel at baseball for the reason he’s progressed without any heightened pressure.
“Through experiences with my friends, and other people who have baseball in their blood, I feel like there’s a lot more pressure on them to succeed and carry on the family and the tradition of baseball,” Stadler said. “With my dad, he was always there supporting me and living my dream with me.”
The next chapter for Stadler begins in West Lafayette in 2020-21, but despite the move, Fortville won’t be too far from the future Big Ten rookie’s mind.
“Mt. Vernon will always have a place in my heart. I’ve always been a Mt. Vernon kid since I was in kindergarten and even though senior year things didn’t go as planned, I’ve had so many memories,” Stadler said. “Middle school baseball, high school baseball, friends in the classroom, it’s where I spent most of my time, and I’ll never forget it.”
