With minor leagues in peril, Knoch grad, former La Roche coach leaves dream job in pro baseball

When the coronavirus pandemic shut down all MLB operations in March, Chase Rowe began to think about his future in professional baseball.

A month earlier, the Knoch graduate and former Slippery Rock standout began work as a minor league hitting instructor with the Detroit Tigers, a dream position for the life-long baseball junkie.

But with uncertainty surrounding pro baseball, especially at the minor league level, and an eye toward his family and baseball opportunities at home, Rowe decided to leave the organization.

The Mars resident and former coach at La Roche made the announcement on Twitter earlier this month, thanking the Tigers organization for the support and the opportunity but also saying, “being a present father to my kids, and a present husband to my incredibly supportive wife is my number one priority and the driving factor in this decision.”

Rowe also said he intended to devote more energy to the Pittsburgh Spikes, his baseball training and competition organization.

Rowe said the decision to leave the Tigers wasn’t made without a lot of thought.

“(Professional baseball) has been a dream of mine,” Rowe said. “I don’t think doors are completely closed, but where I am at right now as far as a family man with three kids under 10 years old, it’s the right thing to do. Hopefully, in the future, when my kids are a little older, the doors will still be open for me, and I will have the opportunity to give it another try.”

MLB tentatively will begin a 60-game season Friday, but hopes for a minor league season were dashed June 30 when MLB announced it would not provide its affiliated minor league teams with players.

“My gut feeling — and no one has told me this — is that it will be a long time before minor league baseball is even close to normal again,” Rowe said. “These organizations need to make revenue to be able to support all these people. I just kind of saw the writing on the wall.”

Rowe joined the Tigers organization in December, ending a 13-year coaching tenure at La Roche, where he compiled a 370-195-1 record with eight Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conferece regular-season titles and seven conference tournament crowns. The Redhawks were regional champions and played in the Division III College World Series in 2016.

“At the time, that decision was tough as the (Spikes) business was growing and impacting a lot of kids in the area. I also had a great job with great people at La Roche,” Rowe said. “But I didn’t want to pass up it up and have any regrets.”

Rowe’s six weeks with the Tigers began in early February as staff reported for meetings and to complete the set-up for spring training. He instructed some of the top prospects in the Tigers organization.

“I had worked on the private side with hitting lessons for local minor leaguers and Division I college players, so I had experience with players of that caliber,” Rowe said. “It was eye-opening to see (the Tigers prospects) work through the same issues the average high school player goes through. It’s just that they are more gifted.”

As much as he was a teacher, Rowe also was a student as he soaked in knowledge from several Tigers veteran coaches.

“My locker was a couple down from Tom Prince, who was the Pirate bench coach last year,” Rowe said. “Tom was with the Pirates as a player and a coach. I got to sit in with him, pick his brain and hear stories. It’s awesome to see how great in-game managers they are with stuff they notice and stuff they pick up on. All of that is on another level.

“In a couple of instances, I got the chance to listen to Jim Leyland talk about leadership. He’s another Pittsburgh guy who I have a tremendous amount of respect for.”