Baseball always finds ways to bring people together, sometimes, in the most unexpected ways.
Adam Eaton, a 2019 World Series winner with the Nationals, spent 10 years in the Majors as an outfielder. When it came time to retire after the 2021 season, Eaton was searching for the next phase of his life.
Little did he know his next move started many years ago. The connection began in 2006, when now Michigan State baseball Head Coach Jake Boss Jr. was on the coaching staff of Eastern Michigan University. Boss spent time recruiting Eaton, but the Springfield, Ohio native decided to stay home and attend Miami University of Ohio. Although unsuccessful in his recruitment, it was this process that planted the seed that would come to fruition.
Eaton would go on to have a successful career as a professional baseball player, having stints with the Chicago White Sox and Washington Nationals. Following his retirement in late 2021, he found a home in his wife’s hometown of Brighton, Michigan.
Post-baseball life, however, was more boring than expected.
“I was at a football practice a couple of falls ago, and I ran into (Eaton). Adam had just retired and I asked him what he was doing and he said nothing, he was kind of bored out of his mind,” Boss said. “And it just kind of popped into my head, ‘Well, do you think you’d be interested in helping us out?’, and he said sure and to give him a call.”
Eaton joined the Michigan State baseball team in 2022 as volunteer director of player development.
MSU has a unique athletic culture that is hard to truly grasp from the outside in. Staff, alumni and students alike bond over various aspects of the university, whether it be from understanding depths of rivalries, fight songs or even chants. For someone coming from everywhere but East Lansing, these traditions could be hard to recognize at first.
Eaton, 36, recognizes these special aspects of MSU, although only being a Spartan for a couple of years. Through his short time, he emphasized the love he has garnered for the college.
“It’s a great place, I really do enjoy this place,” Eaton said. “All of the athletics really pull for one another. It’s a tight community here. My two little boys love it. They love coming here and love going to hockey games. The community has really embraced us being a part of it.”
The cultural change may have come natural for Eaton, but the transition from professional baseball as a player to collegiate baseball as a coach is not as seamless as one might think. From Boss’s perspective, Eatons ability to adapt to the college game stems from how he adapted to Major League Baseball.
“A lot of guys at that level, it just comes easy to them, and they don’t necessarily have to think a whole lot about what they’re doing,” Boss said. “I don’t think Adam was like that, you know. He was always undersized, he was always a guy that had to play hard. That’s why I thought it would be so appealing to see if he would be willing to jump on board with us.”
NCAA research shows the probability of going from college to MLB to be only 5.1% chance. Eaton’s understanding of the game cannot be understated, since he beat the numbers to reach the pros.
“You know being a smaller guy that was able to have an extensive career, you have to make a lot of adjustments, and you have to do a lot of things in order to be able to play with guys that are six-five and strong,” Eaton said. “I think getting the most out of my body has kind of helped me to transform into a coach, because I had to think of the game a certain way in order to get the most out of my stature and ability.”
The ability to work his way to the highest level when the odds were stacked against him is what seems to make Eaton such an influential coach.
This sentiment is only echoed through one of the Spartan players that he has had direct influence on.
“He just brings a lot of character to our outfield group,” junior outfielder Jake Dresselhouse said. “He comes here when he can and he just knows the game so well. He has taught me so much through my three years here, he’s just a great guy to be around.”
A lot of the effect that Eaton has on the team comes from his personality. For the athletes, he is not ‘Coach Eaton’ or ‘Coach’; he simply goes by ‘Adam’.
“I think like a player,” Eaton said. “I try not to think like a coach. All of these guys call me by my first name. I don’t go by coach. If they call me coach, I call them player, catcher or pitcher and they’ll look at me for a second.”
Eaton’s time as a coach with MSU has been defined by perspective. Competition and lack of experience at the collegiate level can often lead to coaches and fans forgetting that athletes are still growing as players and as people too.
Having an active MLB presence, especially that of a World Series champion, is one that not many NCAA ball clubs have. It’s this experience that Boss hoped Eaton could bring to the team.
“He has a different perspective than all of us,” Boss said. “He played 10 years in the big leagues and has a World Series ring. He brings instant credibility, you know. He brings a different viewpoint also because of his career at the pro level. I mean, the pro game is much different than the college game.”
Eaton can relate to the players in so many different ways. He understands the day-to-day workload and has been able to fight through the adversity that many players face, and made it to the highest level because of it.
There’s an awareness that Eaton has to his unique perspective that he thinks can make him a good coach. His purpose as a coach is not to push authority or personal success, but to relate to the players to ultimately help them grow.
“I understand mid-week games, I understand the weekend grind,” Eaton said. “I think I’m still pretty hot mentally and physically with it. So I just try to answer any questions that they have, or things about the game that they have to the best of their ability and allow them to learn the game.”