Torn and Tattered, Gaub Continues to Lead Baseball Eagles
May 13, 2003

By Joe Monaco, AU Sports Information

When prospective students dream about the next generations of doctors, physical therapists, occupational therapists or athletic trainers, professors use a human skeleton so that students can have a visual diagram in front of them.

Professors use the fake skeleton to showcase a body part or highlight where certain joints can be located and it becomes the first experience students have with the human body.

At times, junior catcher Josh Gaub (Brunswick, OH) can relate to the human skeleton. Having doctors surrounding his body, pointing out where a certain pain is stemming from and quickly trying to find ways to erase it is normal for Gaub.

The pain’s origins might range from his back, elbow, shoulder, knee, wrist or hand, but in Gaub’s opinion that’s the price that you pay for being the man behind the dish.

His body has been bruised and battered, torn and tattered, but the one part that never shows pain or fatigue has been his heart.

Gaub is the heart and soul of an Eagles team that finds its way into the NCAA Division II regional tournament for the fifth consecutive year and gives them another crack at advancing to the World Series in Montgomery, AL. On the field, his heart has been a main reason for the team’s success.

“I try to show the guys how much I love the game and how much I want to work and get better,” said the Brunswick native. “Sometimes I’ll see guys not working hard, but I try to show them that if you work your tail off then you’ll have success because I’ve seen it happen to other guys.”

During his first three years at Ashland, Gaub has been a stalwart behind the plate, doing the little things that make a pitcher gain confidence in his catcher. He blocks balls in the dirt with as much passion and zeal when it’s a 1-0 count with nobody on as when it’s an 0-2 count with a runner on third base refusing to give that guy a free pass home.

Baseball is a game of inches and it’s going that extra inch that has made Gaub stand out above the rest. In 2003, Gaub has caught 44 of the AU’s 55 games and he doesn’t see himself missing an inning behind the dish.

“They always say that defense for catchers comes first and that results from blocking the ball when you don’t have to. It gives a pitcher confidence in you as a catcher to know that no matter where the ball is thrown that you’ll block it. I’m the guy on the field who basically runs the show and I need to have every player on the field to have confidence in me,” Gaub explained.

While his defense has always been nothing less than stellar, Gaub has also become one of the top offensive players in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Currently, he is batting .419 (72-172) with 57 runs scored, 16 doubles, three triples, two doubles and 38 runs batted in. He ranks in the GLIAC’s top 10 in 11 offensive categories and was named the conference’s player of the year.

“I think that I have come a long way since my freshman year hitting-wise by working with the coaches. I think that I have a pretty good eye, which is a result from catching and at the same time I have an opportunity to check out where the ump’s strike zone,” added Gaub.

For the second consecutive season, Ashland has produced the conference’s top player and what becomes ironic is Gaub replaces Nate Moore for that honor. Moore was the one player he looked up to the most and strived to become and the biggest lesson that he left upon Gaub was the rewards that you can attain with hard work, sacrifice and an undying passion for the game.

“One of the biggest influences that I have witnessed has been watching how hard Nate worked. I saw his success and I wanted to be equally as successful as he was. He always said that you have to work your tail off to be successful. I saw what he did and I knew what I had to do to be the player that I wanted to become,” Gaub offered.

During the summer coming into his junior season, Gaub hit the weight room hard and dedicated himself to becoming a new player. The lessons that he learned from former players turned out to be the biggest blessing that he could have gotten. As it turns out, with the amount of games that he catches and the wear and tear his body takes, the extra weight lifting and conditioning allows his body to recuperate faster than in years past.

“I would say that my knees are fine – knock on wood – and that’s something that everybody always asks me when they see how many games I catch during the season. I worked my tail off during the offseason to stay in better shape then I was last year. When we got to the World Series (in 2002), I was just exhausted and beat up. I didn’t want to get to that point this year and feel the same way,” said Gaub.

Along with the everyday duties of being a catcher, Gaub has always been forced to deal with the aches and pains of batting. He’s become a human bullseye at the plate, getting hit by a conference-high 14 pitches this season. For his career, he has been plunked 42 times.

“It’s actually gotten to the point where it’s pretty funny. I’m counting down until I get 50. I love getting hit because everybody knows that I’m known for it so they cheer when I run down the line,” Gaub replied.

Whether it’s getting drilled by line drives, hit by pitchers mistaking his back for home plate or diving around blocking wild pitches, Gaub doesn’t seem to be slowing down. After the season ends, he will travel to Vermont where he will play with college players all over the country with each one of them looking at pipedreams to the big leagues. While Gaub would love to play professionally, it’s the opportunity to showcase his skills to major league scouts that excites him.

“When Coach Schaly told me that this coach in Vermont wanted me to come and play, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. There will be a lot of scouts out there and if I ever wanted to get drafted then I’d be kicking myself if I didn’t take this chance,” Gaub offered.

If life as a professional baseball player doesn’t pan out, the AU junior will have plenty of opportunities to succeed with his work ethic in the classroom. Gaub, who holds a 3.48 GPA in environmental science, has been a two-time GLIAC All-Academic selection and was recently named to the Verizon first team all-district. He now has an opportunity to be placed on the national ballot and earn Academic All-America laurels.

Gaub and the human skeleton can both be used as models.

The biggest difference arises when one shows how the human body works while the other points out what the human body can do when it uses a lot of heart.