Follow on Twitter- @PrepBaseballM
Follow on Instagram- @pbrmichigan

To view the 2021 Michigan Scout Blog, please click here.

Western International Finds Success On And Off The Field

DETROIT - While big tests await Detroit Western International on the baseball diamond this weekend, challenges off the field are nothing new to the program.

“This is a hard-working community,” co-head coach Juan Sanchez said of the southwest area of Detroit. “The name is appropriate - Western International. We are a reflection of the United States right now. There are different walks of life and each kid is different.”

Helping the youth prepare for adulthood … or just make it there ... is a priority for the mentor of the Cowboys.

“Twenty years ago kids were in gangs and we had to pick them up and make sure they got to practice,” reflected Sanchez, who began helping in the program back in 2001 before taking over the responsibilities of being head coach with his cousin Mike Vazquez in 2011. “Gangs are not as big of an issue now.”

But that does not mean the demands of the youth are any less.

“These kids have different needs,” Sanchez pointed out. “A lot of these kids have persevered through daily struggles.”

This past year brought more challenges.

“The pandemic hit our area hard,” Sanchez said. “But it helped bring a sense of closeness. It gave us as coaches another opportunity to talk to the kids about a lot of things outside of baseball. Us as coaches remind them there’s a world of opportunity and to go out and do great things. We want to help give them options and prepare them for life.”

But reality hit home for the program this year when assistant coach and long-time Detroit legend James Foote passed away. The woes continued when former athletic director Brenda Henry died from Covid on Feb. 5.

“We dedicated this season to them,” Sanchez noted.

And the team certainly did them proud by winning their 12th consecutive city championship and 13th in the past 15 years.

“When I first took the job with my cousin we both said if we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it right,” Sanchez said. “We want our guys to be a reflection of what we were taught. Play good defense, be aggressive, play smart baseball, be a student of the game. That’s where we wanted to try and form our identity, then adapt to your kids and take on their personality.”

The most “famous” player to go through the program has been William Holmes, drafted in 2018 as William English in the fifth round by the Los Angeles Angels and currently in the farm system of the Angels.

“That brought us a little attention,” Sanchez explained. “We’d had draft interest before but it’s not an exact science. All you have to do is have one coach like you. We try to keep things in perspective. If it’s playing for a college baseball team, we try to help them get there. We try to keep it humble and realistic for these guys. To have one come through and get drafted is pretty amazing.”

There are other stories that have had great outcomes as well.

“We had one kid we had to pick up at his house to try and remove from a gang situation,” Sanchez reflected back to his earlier days in the program. “It was a family thing. He missed a lot of school but when he did show up he was brilliant. He went on to be an all-city player and now is a business owner and family man with a wife and two kids. When we run into each other he says hi and is very respectful. There’s no better feeling.

“It reminds me it’s us teaching a game. If you learn it the right way here for four years you’re going to be prepared for life and know the difference between right and wrong. Those kinds of things I like to hang my hat on. It’s what our program is about.”

Aaron Wilson has watched and worked with players at the school in his time as PBR Michigan Director of Scouting. 

“Detroit Western has been one of the cornerstones of inner-city Detroit baseball,” Wilson said. “For over a decade when you think of Detroit baseball you have to think of Western International. They have a family feel down in southwest Detroit with their homefield being a city park used by the entire community and that community supports when they play. Western has arguably the biggest home-field advantage in the state with the support of their community. Coach Sanchez has done a remarkable job and is an asset to the school.”

Along the way there has been one regional championship when the 2011 team was one pitch away from a berth in the Final Four.

“There’s a sense of pride and ownership with how far we’ve come since the beginning,” Sanchez related. “There used to be a stigma of inner-city baseball not being good and it used to be hard to schedule opponents. Now people are calling us. I take it as a badge of honor with how far we’ve come.”

This weekend Western International, which is currently 28-6 and ranked 14th in the PBR Michigan Super 30 Power Rankings, will be playing in a field of four teams at the Grosse Pointe Invitational with the hosts from Grosse Pointe South, top-ranked Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and number two University Liggett.

“Our goal is to win a state championship,” Sanchez pointed out. “That’s our hope.”

But there is an even bigger achievement that makes Sanchez proud about the Western International program.

“The biggest accomplishment of all are the kids we have had here that go on to college and produce into good men,” Sanchez said. “We felt from the beginning that if we could do that, the wins and losses would take care of itself. Success would be inevitable … on the field and off.”

Recent Articles