Living in the Moment: Newcomers Parker Johnson and Galen Duff

For most college-aged young adults, summer is a time to come back home to relax and have fun with family and friends. However, for Manitowoc Bandits ballplayers Parker Johnson and Galen Duff, it has been a time away from home in hopes of continuing to sharpen their baseball skills and compete at a higher level. Both Johnson and Duff recently completed their freshman seasons at Williamette University in Salem, Oregon and have traveled a long way from their Carlsbad, California and Spokane Valley, Washington homes, respectively. They first learned about the opportunity to play with Manitowoc from their head coach Aaron Swick, who has connections to former Bandits Field Manager Jordan Bischel, but also heard great stories about the program from teammates Doug Bloom, Andrew Wyman, Max Stepan, and TC Lee, all of whom played for the Bandits last summer. As both players say, it was an opportunity they “couldn’t refuse”.
 
Johnson, a 6’0, 170 pound pitcher, is coming off a season in which he posted a 1-3 record and 2 saves while pitching 19 innings. One of his greatest memories of the season just happens to be his first collegiate win, which he collected in his last game of the year at Puget Sound. Previously, he was a member of the 2005 Encinitas Reds, who won the United States Amateur Baseball Federation (USABF), and also pitched at Tony Gwynn Stadium in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Championship Game during his junior year in high school (La Costa Canyon HS). As a Bandit, Parker has continued to improve the command of his changeup, while aiming to get stronger in order to pitch the increased innings this summer “against great competition”. So far, Johnson has been doing just that. He has logged 22 innings and has a 1-2 record with a 4.91 ERA to start the year off.
 
Though Duff only batted .136 last season at Williamette, he has worked hard to develop his approach at the plate and in the field, and his persistence has paid off; he is currently batting .279 with 7 RBIs for the Bandits. At 5-11 and 195 pounds, the infielder wants to “continue to improve [his] athleticism, and try to be a positive force in helping the Bandits win as many games as possible”. As a kid, Duff won the 10-U NABF national championship and as a senior in high school, was named First Team All-Conference. He was on the team that made the Washington Legion Triple-A state tourney during the summer before his senior year and will always remember the mentoring and persistent trust showed in him by Gonzaga coach Steve Hertz while Duff attended Gonzaga Preparatory School. Although this summer will be great for making improvements, Galen says he will try not to “have any expectations because in baseball things never go as you plan them”. He just wants to “be in the moment and be able to look back and say he had fun in Manitowoc”.
 
Both Parker and Galen have been accustomed to living away from home since beginning college, but it has been a little difficult to spend summers away from friends and family. Parker found the adjustment to be easy, whereas Galen says it has been difficult to spend the summer miles away from family, since they have been present during the “ups and downs” of his life. Though it has been nice to be independent and make his own decisions, Duff believes he would “be nowhere without his parents”. Luckily for both players, their transitions have been smooth thanks to other Bandits players, especially Brandon Bartels and Brennan Rhode, who have given them rides to all of the games and taken them out with friends. They also appreciate the help James Maurer, Quentin Powalish, and Jim Kauffman have given them in settling in the Manitowoc area. Parker has loved the “great team atmosphere” in the way the team has a “strong drive to win” and is made up of a “group of guys who go out there day in and day out and give the Bandits a great chance to win.” For Parker and Galen, it has been really fun to play the sport they love against quality ballplayers in another part of the country. When asked if they have any plans for baseball after they graduate, Parker said that, like every other kid, it is his “dream” to make it to the big leagues, but would not mind playing on a team like the Bandits if it does not pan out. Nonetheless, Duff is quick to say “definitely, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. That is a long way away. I really want to enjoy where I am at now in college and in baseball while continuing to work hard”. Hopefully, each will meet their goals this season and in the years to come.
 
Shawn Wagner, Online Content Intern