“Pay me now, or pay me later” is an old ad slogan, but it could be the catch line for the Oak Harbor Legion A baseball team.

Coach Camden Schutte said he is more concerned about developing the individual player than winning games when it comes to the local summer baseball team which will someday form the backbone of the Oak Harbor High School varsity squad.

The Legion A team consists of players entering the ninth through 11th grades, and most will be members of the OHHS JV team next year. The team, which is based out of Oak Harbor, also has three players from Anacortes and one from Burlington.

Oak Harbor’s other Legion team, the AA squad, includes the older players who most likely will populate the Wildcat varsity roster next spring.

Schutte said his goal in summer baseball is to get the players ready for the future, particularly their high-school varsity future. Therefore, he gives significant playing time to all of his players, thus developing the skills of all and not just a few of the elite players.

He admits that his team lost some games this summer it probably would have won had he played the strongest players all the time, but a win in the summer of 2010 isn’t as important to the program as a win in the Western Conference in the spring of 2012.

The Legion program, which is run under the direction of Oak Harbor High School varsity coach Tyson VanDam, is seen by the coaching staff as a building block for the school season. Schutte is an assistant on VanDam’s OHHS staff.

Schutte said, “It gives the players an opportunity to play and improve and to help us next high-school season.”

While winning isn’t the main focus, Schutte said, “I didn’t expect us to be the best team, but I expected us to win more than we did.” Oak Harbor won just five of 30 games.

Therefore, was the season a success?

Schutte said, “Yes, we have improved mentally as well as physically.”

He said the club had a fragile psyche. They won their second game but then went on a 10-game losing streak. He said, “I think losing some close games early was hard on them and they lost confidence. They didn’t so much as lose their confidence to play as they did their confidence to win.”

He added that his team would play well for most of the game but would have one or two bad innings. “It was as if they were waiting for things to fall apart. We would be in games then make an error, then it would be ‘here we go again.’”

So teaching the kids to fight through tough patches was as important to Schutte as teaching the players to hit, field and throw.

Schutte said, for the most part, the team has improved its mental toughness: “In recent games we had chances to fold but didn’t. Even though we lost some of those games, the kids didn’t give up so easily.” He added, “On any given day we can win, although our record doesn’t show it. We have the ability to compete with any team.”

Concerning the physical side of the game, Schutte said, “We are hitting better than at the beginning of the season, and we are making the routine plays most of the time.”

Asked for specific examples, Schutte said Cory Cameron proved he could play a multitude of positions and showed “a lot of versatility.”

Schutte said, “Frank Grecco improved the most. He hasn’t played in several years and knew it would be hard, but he kept working at it.”

Defensively, Nathanael Stanford stood out, according to Schutte, “especially the second half.”

Schutte said he didn’t keep statistics, but Grant Schroeder, Mike Maletto, Glenn Mueller and Cameron led the offense.

The majority of the pitching was handled by Cameron, Mueller, Schroeder, Alex Krantz and Zach Zimmer.

Schutte also stressed the great attitudes of Zimmer and Jack Richter. The pair were “swing players” and played for both the AA and A teams. Sometimes players in this situation see it as demeaning to have to play with the younger group. Schutte said, “Zach has played well, and Jack has been an asset every time he has played for us.”

So, will Schutte’s patience and the program’s philosophy pay off? Check later…like the Wesco baseball standings in May of 2011, ‘12 and ‘13.