Ian Kadish

My name is Ian Kadish and I recently graduated from Marshall University with a degree in Business Management and minors in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. I have three younger brothers, Kendall, Max, and Cooper. I have played baseball my entire life and am lucky enough to have the opportunity to continue playing for the Toronto Blue Jays.



I want to thank my Mom and Dad for everything they have ever done to further my baseball career. They have gone through a tremendous amount of work to make sure I am happy and I couldn't thank them enough! I love you guys.

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

I Owe it All to Them...

Once again, I was lucky enough to be asked back to write another blog post for MLB Reports!  I always love being asked to write for them!  This time they asked me to write about the biggest baseball influences in my life...and I'm warning you, this could take awhile!  I have been playing baseball for as long as I can remember, so obviously I am going to have many people that have influenced my baseball career.  If I don't mention you specifically, I am sorry, but the list is way too long and I have to pick the biggest influential people in my baseball career.

I am going to start by saying my parents are easily the single biggest influence in my life, whether it be on or off the field.  They have molded me into the man (sometimes little kid) that I am today and I am a product of them.  They have always supported me no matter what I do and they have always been there for me through thick and thin.  They have been there for the hardest times and have somehow always gotten me through it.  They have taught me to chase a childhood dream and put everything I have into it.  They taught me to never give up, they taught me to work harder than anybody else, they taught me to play the game right, the list could go on for days of what they have taught me and I could never thank them enough.  For that and everything else they have done for me, I owe it all to them.  I love you Mom and Dad!

The second biggest influence in my baseball career is an easy choice.  It is a guy named Mike Maundrell.  He was my pitching coach when I played at Midland and started the molding process of the pitcher that I am today.  He has taught me literally everything I know about pitching and is still teaching me today.  I have known him since I was 16 and he completely changed me as a pitcher and as a person.  He was the first coach I had who taught me what hard work really was and what I had to do to better myself.  I still work with him to this day and I have been training with him this off season here in Cincinnati.  I can honestly say, I would not still be playing baseball if I had never met Coach Maundrell.  He knows more about pitching than any human probably should know and he could talk about pitching for days on end.  I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with him for several years and will forever be in debt to him for everything he has taught/ is teaching me about pitching.

Another big influence in my baseball career is Tim Adkins.  He and I both will admit we had our tough times together, but he was the one that gave me the great opportunity to play collegiate baseball at Marshall University.  He was the pitching coach at Marshall at the time and he pushed me to great lengths.  He pushed me to the breaking point, but he made me as strong as I am today because he pushed me to such great lengths and found that breaking point.  He was the one that truly found out what made me tick and what got me going.  I learned so much from him not just on the baseball field, but off as well.  He continued to teach me what hard work is and he taught me to find out what works for me.  I owe him a tremendous amount of credit because he developed me into the hard worker that I am and taught me that if I want something to go get it and let nothing get in my way.  Along with Coach Adkins, I owe Coach Waggoner a tremendous amount of credit as well.  He was my head coach at Marshall University and he has always been there for me.  He always told me if I ever need anything at all to call him and he would be there for my family and me.  He genuinely cared about my family and me and I can't stress enough how much I appreciate it.  He always had confidence in me whether I was really good that day or extremely bad.  He deserves a great amount of credit for how much he stood behind me and I thank him for that.

Coach Adkins departed from Marshall University after my Sophomore year and was replaced by Joe Renner.  Coach Renner and Coach Maundrell are like brothers and they both teach the same concepts.  Coach Renner continued to teach me what Coach Maundrell taught me.  Coach Renner and I grew to become extremely close in just 2 years.  I feel like I can go to him with anything and talk about it and he will help me through it to the best of his ability.  It was extremely sad to walk off the field after my last collegiate game and see tears in his eyes because it was the last game he would coach me in.  It brought tears to my eyes and I will never forget the 2 years I worked with him.  He worked extremely hard to get me to the next level and I am very thankful for everything he has done for me.  I know we will remain in contact for years to come!

The last person that I want to mention who has been tremendously influential in my baseball career is Clarence Mitchell.  He was my baseball coach when I was 13-15 years old and I am telling you what, he was the strictest coach I have ever had.  He taught me the true meaning of discipline and made sure he engraved it in our heads.  I still remember to this day taking a ground ball to the eye during infield practice and the eye swelling up instantly and bleeding profusely, but refusing to come out because of the discipline he preached or  the running for hours on end if we messed up or did something the wrong way.  He taught me what hustling is and I still to this day have everything he taught engraved into my baseball actions and life in general.

Other people that were influential in my baseball career include Chris Fiehrer (my high school coach), Scott Humes (Midland Coach), Jeff Newman (Midland Coach), and Bernie Barre,  Although Bernie Barre wasn't a baseball coach and had nothing to do with baseball, he taught me life lessons I can use on the baseball field.  He was my football coach and was one of the best football coaches in the history of Ohio High School Football.

I also want to mention Dennis Holmberg.  He was my very first professional baseball manager and he taught me so much more about the game of baseball that I never knew.  I made sure I wrote down everything he taught me so it will be with me forever.  He made my first professional season one that I will never forget.

I can't begin to express how much I appreciate everybody that has had an influence on my baseball career.  I owe them all a HUGE thank you and I would not be where I am today without them.  I am so grateful for everybody that has influenced me so Thank you from the bottom of my heart!