In Coach Mark Marquess' Final Season, Stanford Turns To Tried-And-True Formula: Stellar Pitching

Mark Marquess has been at Stanford for nearly his entire adult life. And it’s been a charmed existence.

He arrived as a freshman in Palo Alto in the fall of 1965 as a baseball and football recruit, assigned to room with Mitt Romney. He was a three-year starter on the baseball team, twice earning all-American honors. After a brief stint in the minor leagues, he returned to Stanford in 1972 as an assistant coach and was promoted to head coach in 1977. He has held that job ever since, winning 1,585 games and two national championships.

Marquess, 69, is the second-longest tenured head coach in Division I and a titan in college baseball. He has become so much of a fixture at Stanford that he is often referred to simply as ‘Nine,’ his uniform number.

But nothing lasts forever, especially not head baseball coaches. This season will be Marquess’ last as the Cardinal’s head coach. He announced last June that he would retire following the 2017 season, his 41st leading the Stanford program.

“I have been blessed to have such a long and fulfilling association with Stanford University, a university that I deeply love,” Marquess said when he announced his decision.

Six months later, with his final season approaching, Marquess said he had spent some time reflecting on what the end meant. But mostly he was preparing for the season.

“Once I got on the field a lot of times in the fall and decided what best position was best for our players to play, once I did that, it was no different,” he said. “There was some down time before that when you think, ‘This is the last time I’ll do this.’ But I didn’t think about it when I was actually doing it.”

Marquess and the Cardinal have plenty other items to think about this spring. Stanford has missed the NCAA tournament in back-to-back years, the first time it has done so since Marquess made his postseason coaching debut in 1981. That drought should end this spring. The Cardinal enter the season ranked No. 23, led by Preseason All-American righthanders Tristan Beck and Colton Hock and outfielder Quinn Brodey.

Stanford, with its rich tradition of postseason success, didn’t need any extra motivation to set its sights on regionals and beyond, but it got it with Marquess’ announcement.

“What he’s done for us and this program is unbelievable,” Hock said. “We decided to embrace it and do whatever we can to get Nine back to postseason. We want him to go out back on top.”

Marquess said one of the biggest changes he has seen in his tenure as head coach is the growth of expectations. It used to be that winning the Pac-12—which was still the Pacific-8 when he started—was enough. Those days, however, are long gone, a casualty of the success Marquess has brought to The Farm.

“Now you have to win the league and have success in postseason,” he said. “That’s the expectation level of fans. For certain programs that’s not good enough, it’s going to Omaha, and for certain programs it’s winning the national championship.

“For us, I want to win the league, but we’ve got to get to postseason and then anything can happen. That’s our goal.”

Unlikely Ace

One way to reach that goal is to ride the right arm of Beck, the latest in Stanford’s long lineage of aces. Beginning in 1987 with Jack McDowell, 12 Cardinal pitchers have been drafted in the first round. The list includes a Cy Young winner (McDowell), a potential Hall of Famer (Mike Mussina) and a No. 1 overall pick (Mark Appel).

Beck, a sophomore, and the rest of the Cardinal staff are mindful of Stanford’s history on the mound and use it as motivation.

“I think it’s kind of a drive to keep the Stanford name and be a part of the tradition,” Beck said. “A drive to be the best with so many historic names coming out of Stanford whether it’s Mussina, McDowell, (Cal) Quantrill, Appel, a drive to be in that conversation is something that drives everyone on our staff.”

Beck is an unlikely heir to McDowell and Mussina. Early in his prep career, he was not a famous prospect. He split time between baseball and football, where he was a quarterback, and was still growing into his listed 6-foot-4, 190-pound frame. Beck’s mother and older sister are both Stanford alumnae and he long dreamed of following in their footsteps. Before he began getting scholarship offers he said he was considering applying to Stanford and trying to walk on to the baseball team.

Eventually, Beck got an offer to Stanford and committed before his junior season of high school. He never did much on the showcase circuit, but he did pitch in the 2014 Area Code Games, where he grabbed attention with an above-average fastball and projectable body. A late bloomer, his velocity jumped leading into his senior season at Corona (Calif.) High and he went from seldom seen to fast riser. Beck, however, held firm to his commitment to Stanford, turning down an offer of a $2.8 million signing offer from the Braves that June. The Brewers eventually took him in the 34th round.

“When it became an option to go into the draft, I realized my heart was set on Stanford,” he said. “You only get one chance to go to Stanford and I couldn’t pass on that.”

Rusty Filter, Stanford’s pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, was initially skeptical when Beck told him he intended to come to college instead of signing.

“When he said, ‘Coach, I’m going to school,’ I initially kind of thought we’ll wait and see,” Filter said. “But he said, ‘No, coach, I’m coming to school.’ My first reaction was this would help our program. He has a chance to impact our program as a freshman. As the fall went on, it changed. He just kept getting better and better and understanding what it takes to be successful.”

By the time the spring began, Beck was more than ready to contribute. With Quantrill sidelined as he recovered from Tommy John surgery, Beck was thrust to the front of the Cardinal rotation. He became just the third Stanford freshman since 1988 to start on Opening Day, joining Mussina and Quantrill.

Thrown into the fire against then-No. 22 Cal State Fullerton, Beck proved he was ready. He held the Titans to two hits in 6.1 scoreless innings to earn his first career victory. It was the start of an exemplary season, as he went 6-5, 2.48 with 76 strikeouts and 26 walks in 83.1 innings to earn First-Team All-Freshman honors.

The key to Beck’s success, Marquess said, is his ability to throw strikes not just with his low-90s fastball, but also with his secondary stuff. His changeup, curveball and slider all grade out as above-average, with a mix of opinions as to which will eventually become his out pitch. Marquess is a fan of the curveball, which Beck can land for strikes.

“All Friday night starters throw 90-95 mph,” Marquess said. “That doesn’t win. You’ve got to be able to throw the non-fastball for strikes. Beck has a great curveball, a 12-to-6 curveball. A lot of them have a changeup or a slider, but he came to us with a 12-to-6 curveball. If you can throw non-fastballs for strikes and you’ve got that fastball, you can win. Not many guys can do that, but the Friday night starters, they do that.”

While Beck may have initially flown under the radar, he is now the most prominent pitcher on the West Coast. He will also again be facing a decision about the draft this year. He turns 21 in late June, making him an eligible sophomore. He enters the spring ranked No. 6 on the Top 100 College draft prospects and again projects as a first rounder. He didn’t pitch anywhere over the summer, instead staying at Stanford and working on his conditioning. The rare projectable Southern California pitcher, he said he gained 15 pounds since the end of last season and still has more room to grow into his body.

Beck knows scouts will closely be watching him this spring as the draft approaches. His focus, however, is on the field.

“I’m just really focused on having a good spring with Stanford,” Beck said. “Everyone’s primary goal is sending coach Marquess out with a bang and going to Omaha.”

Bullpen Leader

A pillar of Stanford’s pitching legacy helped attract Hock to Palo Alto. Hock grew up in Bloomsburg, Pa., not far from Mussina’s hometown of Montoursville, Pa. Hock idolized Mussina and wanted to follow in his footsteps. Hock was also attracted by Marquess and Filter, who coached Stephen Strasburg and Appel in college.

“What I knew was it was the place to go to get the best academics and, beyond that, the best athletics,” Hock said. “I knew it would give me a shot to play at the next level. It had a lot to do with coach Filter and how he’s developed players. I knew I wanted to play for both those coaches. So far the development they’ve helped me out with has been unbelievable.”

Ranked No. 264 on the BA 500 out of high school in 2014, Hock has made significant strides in college. While he wasn’t drafted in ’14, he enters his junior year as a First-Team Preseason All-American and has positioned himself as a potential first rounder this year. He has a powerful fastball-curveball combination and a 6-foot-5, 235-pound frame that gives him a big, physical presence on the mound.

Hock’s role on Stanford’s staff is still somewhat undecided. After spending two seasons in the bullpen, including a strong sophomore campaign as closer that earned him all-Pac-12 honors, Hock went to the Cape Cod League last summer to work as a starter.

The experiment was a success. He had a breakout summer and ranked as the No. 2 prospect on the Cape. Hock said the summer was a good learning experience for him, as he worked to develop his changeup and learned to use more than one approach to getting a hitter out.

“Making the transition in the Cape was great,” Hock said. “It’s a different mindset. You have to work through the lineup a couple times. If I have that role, I’m ready for it. If not, I’ll transition back to relieving, no problem.”

While Hock’s summer makes starting an option, he will likely return to the bullpen. Marquess said he would like to be able to use Hock at the end of games.

“Ideally, we’d leave him in the closer’s role,” Marquess said. “He can start, but it’s hard to learn that closer’s role. That was an adjustment for him, but he’s taken to it.”

Hock said he wasn’t sure what role he would pitch in when he arrived at Stanford as a freshman. He soon found himself in the bullpen, and tied for the team lead with 23 appearances that spring. He struggled at times, going 0-2, 5.25 with a 1.56 WHIP, but eventually settled into the role. He took a step forward as a sophomore, establishing himself as Stanford’s closer. He went 4-5, 2.03 with six saves, while often working multiple innings per game.
While Hock’s transition to college was rocky at times, he said the way he was thrust into action helped him develop.

“Coach Filter gave me opportunities to sink or swim and I went out there and learned a lot,” Hock said. “He’s helped me out a lot mentally. Last year it came together. It was a great developmental process, and last year it started coming together a little bit.”

Hock is now one of the most experienced pitchers on staff. Filter and Marquess both said he has naturally taken to his role as a veteran leader.

“He’s a real leader for us,” Marquess said. “He’s special. He’s got that God-given talent.”

One More Time

It is appropriate that in Marquess’ final year as head coach, the Cardinal is built around its strong pitching staff headlined by a pair of potential first rounders. Not only has Stanford produced elite talents on the mound, its best teams have thrived on elite pitching.

Stanford’s back-to-back national title teams in 1987-88 had McDowell and Mussina, respectively, at the front of the rotation. Its run of five-straight Omaha appearances from 1999-2003 was fueled by the likes of Jason Young, Jeremy Guthrie and ’03 CWS Most Outstanding Player John Hudgins. And its 2011 super regional team featured Appel on Friday nights and Chris Reed, the 16th overall pick, at the back of the bullpen, a combination similar to what Beck and Hock could produce this spring.

Marquess said Stanford’s success on the mound has been attributable to the quality of pitchers and pitching coaches that have come through Palo Alto.

“We’ve been very fortunate,” Marquess said. “Tom Dutton was here for a long time and he was very good. Tom Kunis, Rusty Filter does a fantastic job. But it starts with the individual recruit, the young man who wants to compete and is talented.”

Marquess’ success goes well beyond the pitching mound, of course. In his tenure, Stanford has had nine position players picked in the first round, including all-stars Jason Castro, Carlos Quentin and Ed Sprague. Several former players of his have gone into coaching, including California coach David Esquer, Gonzaga coach Mark Machtolf and Astros manager A.J. Hinch.

Esquer was the shortstop on Stanford’s 1987 national championship team and returned to The Farm in 1991 to be an assistant coach following his pro career. He spent six years on staff before moving to Pepperdine and then taking over as head coach at Cal in 1999.

“He has had an incredible influence on my life and coaching career,” Esquer said. “He mentored me more about even off-field life as much as on the field. The environment and baseball team culture he’s created, he’s just an incredible role model.”

Marquess will turn 70 in March, but those around him say he hasn’t slowed down. He still throws batting practice and runs with his players, trying not to let any beat him.

“I just love the energy he brings each and every day,” Beck said. “He’s fun to be around. It’s going to be a weird day when we no longer have Coach out there.”

“A trademark of his is his work ethic and energy level and those things haven’t changed,” Filter said. “Whether it’s his first year or last year his mission is the same: to put the best team on the field we can.”

But Marquess is part of a generation of coaches that is quickly reaching the end of their careers. Andy Lopez retired at Arizona after the 2015 season. Augie Garrido was forced out at Texas after last season. Jim Morris’ final year at Miami is set for 2018.

In 41 years as a prominent head coach, Marquess has attracted his share of criticism as well. Pro scouts have long assailed the “Stanford Swing,” an opposite-field approach Cardinal hitters commonly take that deemphasizes power. Despite that, most of Stanford’s better pros in the last 20 years actually have been hitters such as Castro, Quentin and active big leaguers such as Jed Lowrie, rather than pitchers.

And, like many college coaches, his use of pitchers has drawn some flak—for example Young, in the 1999 CWS, threw 167 pitches against Florida State in a 14-11 loss, while Hudgins threw 266 pitches in two starts over four days in Omaha in 2003. Beck, however, was carefully handled and never threw more than 108 pitches or eight innings in a game.

Marquess has endured, building a program respected across the country for its performance on and off the field. He said when he talks with other coaches who have been in the game for a long time like Garrido or UC Irvine head coach Mike Gillespie, they say they all have gotten similar feedback from their former players.

“Ninety-nine percent of them don’t play in the big leagues, but when they have time to reflect, they have a different appreciation for the opportunity than they did at 22,” Marquess said. “They come back in 20 years and say thank you for that. That highlights the fact we lose sight of—we’re not pro baseball. I don’t know how those guys do it. How they can motivate guys making the money they do.

“For us, it’s an education thing. Oftentimes we lose sight of that. It’s life lessons from playing a sport.”

Marquess isn’t sure what he’ll do following the season. But he has enjoyed combining baseball with academics and life lessons and would like to stay in that area, if possible.

He hasn’t put too much thought into the future beyond the end of this season.

“It scares me a little bit,” Marquess said. “When I start to think of that I put it out of my mind. I have plenty of time to think about what I want to do. If I start thinking about that too much it takes away from what I want to do.”

What Marquess wants to do, what everyone associated with Stanford baseball wants to do, is to win some games this spring and create the perfect ending.

Marquess won’t have to look far for a blueprint. The baseball staff shares an office suite with the women’s volleyball staff. Marquess’ office is situated across from women’s volleyball head coach John Dunning, or was until January when Dunning retired a month after winning his third national championship at Stanford.

Is there any more magic left in that office in Palo Alto? The Cardinal are ready to find out.

“One thing I learned from Nine that I think we’ve all taken is more so than winning, he hates to lose,” Hock said. “We all take that. We’ve embraced that mentality more than anything. We’re ready go out there and fight for him and fight for each other.”