By the time Dallas, Texas-area prospects Michael Neustifter and Ryan Cash had celebrated their 13th birthdays during the summer of 2010, they had already been a part of Logan Stout’s Dallas Patriots Baseball organization for four years.
They spent that first summer of their teenage years consumed with baseball, not only playing the game themselves but also watching Stout’s 2010 Dallas Patriots 17u team perform at an elite level. That was a D-Pats squad that featured 2011 MLB Amateur Daft first-round compensation pick Trevor Story and 2011 second-round pick Josh Bell. The young teenagers were absolutely enthralled with what they were able to witness.
“Every chance that we had to come out and watch them when they were playing in local tournaments, we were always there,” Neustifter told PG during a telephone conversation this week. “When we were little we wanted to be like them – committed to college, talking about our draft prospects – and we just wanted to see how they played the game.”
Cash recalls the experiences vividly:
“I remember when we were younger, Coach Logan would have us come out to their practices,” he told PG in a separate telephone interview. “We’d be out in the midst of them … and (Stout) was always talking to the older guys, and saying, ‘Can you believe these young guys are coming up behind y’all.’
“We’d go to their league games on Tuesday and Thursday nights and we’d all be in the dugout and just kind of milling around with those guys. That just really formed a close bond (with the organization).”
Five years have zipped past since Neustifter and Cash were watching the 2010 Dallas Patriots perform. Story finished the 2015 season at Triple-A Albuquerque in the Colorado Rockies’ farm system while Bell was at Triple-A Indianapolis with the Pittsburgh Pirates; it’s likely both will make their big-league debuts at some point during the 2016 season.
As for Neustifter and Cash, they spent this past summer putting a capper on incredibly successful four-year careers playing for a Dallas Patriots Stout squad that posted eight top-four finishes in 10 PG tournaments since 2012, including championships at three Perfect Game national championships.
In 2015 alone, a Dallas Patriots Stout roster filled with class of 2016 prospects – 12 of whom signed with NCAA Division I programs during the early signing period two weeks ago – finished runner-up at the 17u PG WWBA National Championship in Emerson, Ga., and tied for third at both the 17u PG World Series in Goodyear, Ariz., and the PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla. Those are the three of the four most prestigious upperclass tournaments on PG’s annual schedule, with the PG/EvoShield Upperclass National Championship being the fourth.
MOST OF THE 2016s ON THIS PATRIOTS STOUT ROSTER joined the organization between four and eight years ago and Stout rightly takes a lot of pride in his ability to keep them together. He started the Dallas Patriots organization 18 years ago with the aim of using what he called the “vehicle of baseball” to teach youngsters about life and loyalty.
The players are all Texans, coming from cities like Keller, Plano, Carrollton, Dallas and Fort Worth. The roster is about as “local” as it gets in big-time travel ball these days, and the players and coaches alike take a lot of pride in the feeling of “neighborhood” the program exudes.
“You see teams that have 25 guys from 25 different states and that’s great and they probably have more talent than us,” Neustifter said. “But what sets us apart is that we practice throughout the week, we build team chemistry and we take huge pride in that because not a lot of teams can do that.”
In addition to being the Founder and CEO of Dallas Patriots Baseball, Stout is also the Founder and CEO of IDLife LLC. – a company that works with the health and wellness industry through network marketing – and Founder and CEO of Premier Baseball Academy in Plano and North Richland Hills. A former player in professional Independent Leagues, Stout has a sign in his office at IDLife LLC., that reads “Individuals play the game, teams win championships.”
“What I’m most proud of with these kids is who they are as people, first and foremost,” he told PG during another separate telephone interview this week. “And then, of course, on the baseball side when you do things the right way for the right reasons, success follows – success by design, not by accident – and these kids have had an amazing run.”
The “core of four” – the four Texas kids who have been with Stout since they were 9 years old – are Neustifter, an outfielder/catcher/third baseman/right-handed pitcher from Carrollton, who has signed with Oklahoma State; Cash, a middle-infielder from Plano and another Okie State signee; Jordan Roberts, a left-hander/first baseman/outfielder from Euless, who has signed with Arizona State; and Cody Sturgeon, a corner-infielder/right-hander from Garland who has also inked with Arizona State.
“I’ve been playing with a couple of these guys since I was about 9 years old, and playing with them over all these years you don’t really call them teammates anymore, they’re more like brothers,” Neustifter said. “The chemistry that the Patriots have makes them easily the best team that I’ve ever been a part of. We play with each other, we play for each other – we’re very selfless players – and it’s just been awesome; I’ve had a great time.”
Others came on board over the last two, three or four years to bolster the roster, but Stout stayed true to his roots and refused to look for talent too far outside the Dallas area. He wants the kids to come into the program at least by the time they’re in eighth or ninth grade – he’d like it to be even earlier than that – and then graduate from high school as a Patriot for life. The kids have bought in.
2016 right-hander/first baseman Jonathan Heasley from Dallas – a classmate and teammate of Cash’s at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano – is another guy who has been with the Patriots organization since 2012, and was named the Most Valuable Pitcher at the 2015 17u PG WWBA National Championship. He is yet another Oklahoma State recruit on the D-Pats roster, as is right-hander Chris Burdine from Coppell.
Hunter Seay, a 2016 outfielder/first baseman from Keller, is a Baylor signee who has been named to eight PG all-tournament teams since 2012. 2016 outfielder/first baseman Bryan Seamster is another Keller kid who has signed with Ole Miss and has five all-tournament citations.
“What we try to do as an organization is prove to the world that you can actually mentor and develop kids into being great players. You don’t have to wait until they’re 17 and go and recruit a no-brainer and then take credit for it,” Stout said. “… We’re teaching these kids that if you want it bad enough, you can go get it. If you want to put the work and the effort in, you can do it.”
A QUICK LOOK AT NEUSTIFTER’S RESUME PROVIDES A CONCISE summary of the success this Patriots Stout team enjoyed the last four summers and falls. Perfect Game championships were won at the 2012 14u BCS Finals, 2013 15u PG WWBA National Championship and 2014 16u Perfect Game World Series.
Runner-up finishes were chalked-up at the 2012 14u PG WWBA National Championship, 2012 14u PG World Series and the 2015 17u PG WWBA National Championship. Final four finishes came at both the 2015 17u PG World Series and 2015 PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla.
In addition to all that hardware Neustifter has helped the Patriots cart home, he is also one of the most decorated individual performers in Perfect Game history.
He has played with the Dallas Patriots in 10 PG tournaments and has been named to the all-tournament team at all 10. He was named the Most Valuable Player at the 2012 14u PG WWBA National Championship, 2012 14u PG BCS Finals, 2013 15u PG World Series and the 2014 16u PG World Series.
“He’s arguably the best hitter I’ve ever coached and I’ve coached 200 professional baseball players,” Stout said. “He just flat-out hits; it doesn’t matter who’s pitching, he’s going to hit. And the bigger the stage, the better he does. When the game is on the line and you have to get it done, you put Michael Neustifter out there and he’s going to find a way to win every single time.
“If I’m a major league scout, I want to draft a baseball player that knows how to win and I can’t think of a kid that embodies that more than Michael Neustifter. The kid just refuses to lose.”
Neustifter has worked extremely hard throughout his high school career to become a top-135 national prospect and he takes a lot of pride in the work ethic he’s developed. He admits that his heart gets beating a little faster and the adrenaline really starts coursing through his veins when there’s more on the line and likes being identified as a kid that “refuses to lose.”
“The bar is set really high at these tournaments with all the scouts that are there,” Neustifter said. “I think with me along with a couple of other people, I feel like when we’re put at the top level against top competition, that’s when we excel the most. We play for each other which I think in the end really benefits us individually.”
Cash calls the ride he, Neustifter and their teammates have been on with the Patriots “an incredible journey” and has truly enjoyed the relationship he’s built with Stout. As an extension, Stout’s top assistant coach with this Patriots team is Todd Cash, Ryan’s father and a former San Francisco Giants farmhand. Todd Cash is also Ryan’s coach at Prestonwood Christian Academy, and has had a big impact on Ryan’s baseball career.
How big of an impact can a father/coach have on his son’s career? Consider this: The younger Cash started playing baseball when he was 2 years old and his dad turned him into a switch-hitter at the age of 4, something that he’s stuck with through thick and thin.
Right on up until he was 10 or 11 years old, Cash struggled hitting from the left-side, but even when he got down 0-and-2 in the count, his dad wouldn’t let him switch around to the right side.
“He’d make me stick it out and it’s definitely come around to being extremely beneficial in these big tournaments when you’re facing great arms and getting good curveballs and good sliders, you always have the ball breaking into you,” Ryan Cash said. “He’s been awesome. We go up on weeknights and hit before games just to get dialed in and he’s been huge on the mental part of the game, as well.”
THE DALLAS PATRIOTS STOUT COMBINED TO POST a 19-5-1 record at the 17u PG WWBA National Championship, 17u PG World Series and PG WWBA World Championship this year, and that includes a 10-1 mark during their run to a runner-up finish at the 17u PG WWBA.
The D-Pats Stout and Southern California-based CBA Marucci were both 10-0 when they met in the championship game at the 17u PG WWBA and powerful CBA was able to emerge with a 3-1 victory. At the conclusion of the tournament, nine Patriots Stout players were named to the all-tournament team, including Heasley as the MV Pitcher. Neustifter, Roberts, Seay, Texas A&M signee Braden Shewmake, Oklahoma recruit Brady Lindsly and Texas Tech signee Trevor Paradoski were among the others.
“We’ll do anything it takes to win,” Neustifter said. “We do things on the field that might not make us (as individuals) look awesome but it benefits the team more than it benefits us. Playing the game the right way and being taught by amazing coaches like Logan and Todd Cash over the years really benefitted us playing against the tougher teams.”
What goes around truly does come around, which leads back to those crazy, lazy summer days five, six and seven years ago. These Dallas Patriots that spent their time watching standouts like Story and Bell back when this decade was new are now finding a lot of young eyes focused on them.
“We have little D-Pats coming to our practices and people hanging around to watch our games when we play in tournaments,” Cash said. “It’s awesome to see (the youngsters) with a dream and a vision just kind of sitting around and you’re thinking back to when you were in that exact same spot.
“I’m excited for the organization – it’s still on the rise with all the success we’ve had – and there’s no doubt that it’s going to keep going up with all the young guys that are in the organization.”
During this Thanksgiving holiday season, the growth of the organization is something Stout is certainly thankful for. And he’s had a front row seat to watch what went around come back around right on schedule.
“I remember when Jordan Roberts and Michael Neustifter and Ryan Cash and Cody Sturgeon and all these kids, they were (young) boys and they were coming out watching those guys play,” he said. “And then what’s so cool is seeing all these kids that are now 10, 11 and 12 coming out and watching Michael Neustifter and Jordan Roberts and all these guys play. It’s so cool to see the family atmosphere that we’ve really created here with the Patriots.”