SPRINGFIELD – Age is a relative term in the Springfield Drifters’ dugout.
As Blake Stavros spends his fourth and final summer as one of the elder statesmen with the team, he has earned a new nickname.
“I got a couple guys who keep calling me ‘Unc’ making fun of me,” Stavros said, citing the word kids use these days to call someone old. “It is funny, coach Lyle was making a group chat asking about our birthdays and I saw 2007 and I was born in 2003, so that did make me feel old. I remember when I came to play here when I was younger and I thought those guys were old. Now I’m the old guy here, so it is pretty funny. I don’t feel old yet, I am only 22, but when you play with 17- and 18- year olds, they think you are super old.”
Yet Stavros has turned the “Unc” label around on pitching coach Dean Stiles.
“Deano is great, it is super cool to pick his brain,” Stavros said. “He’s a super old guy who has been around the game for a long time with different programs at different levels and now he’s here bringing that knowledge to all these college guys. I talk to him about baseball and other stuff, so it is good to see what he has to say.”
Stavros is one of a few local players on the roster after earning Class 5A pitcher of the year honors at Willamette High School as a senior when he went 11-1 with a 1.31 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 63 innings.
He has spent the past four seasons at Bushnell University, which shares Hamlin Sports Complex with the Drifters. After allowing nine earned runs in four innings in six appearances in the spring, he’s looking to rebuild his confidence this summer as he prepares for his senior season with the Beacons.
“My year at Bushnell did not go how I wanted it to, I wasn’t very good this year, so I am definitely free for a lot of innings this summer,” Stavros said. “I am going to show as much as I can. The key for me is a better mindset, getting my confidence back. Get my groove back on the mound and be competitive.”
Stavros has an 8.38 ERA in 9 2/3 innings during six games for the Drifters (5-13), who are on a road trip to Walla Walla and Ridgefield this week before returning home Tuesday to face the Marion Berries.
Stavros, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound right-hander, ranks among the all-time Drifters leaders with 44 appearances and 59 1/3 appearances since joining the team in 2023.
“The competition is great in this league,” he said. “I have experienced all of it, so I am the one telling the guys how different parks play, like in Portland you never know what you will get because it is so crazy. I am trying to spread my knowledge around.”
Stavros, whose uncle Tony is the baseball coach at Junction City High School, jokes that he grew up loving basketball but knew he was not tall enough for that sport. Once his playing days are done, he could move into coaching baseball, he said.
For now, he is enjoying his last year playing ball close to home.
“I am very lucky because a lot of friends come out to watch,” Stavros said. “For me personally, it is cool because this is my home. Other guys come from all over the place, but my house is just down the road so this is super fun.”
Stavros has been part of four of the Drifters’ five seasons as he helps grow the West Coast League in Springfield.
“To go from living here and then seeing this team develop through the years, it is cool to be a part of the start of something that will be here for the future and keep developing this into a cool place to be,” Stavros said.
