Former Ormond Beach resident named Coach of the Year

Ormond Beach Observer
Sports

Growing up, Josh Montero had a lot of great coaches.

He spent his childhood batting at the Nova Community Center ballfields with the Ormond Beach Youth Baseball Association, with coaches that not only loved the game, but were good at making kids like Montero fall in love with baseball too. Now, decades later, Montero is the head coach of the Sanford River Rats and was named the 2020 Coach of the Year by the Florida Collegiate Summer League.

Montero said it's an honor to be recognized among his peers, many of whom have been coaching for longer than he has. It means he's doing a good job at what he's most passionate about.

Coach Josh Montero and Sanford River Rats players. Courtesy photo

“Based on what all the coaches there and throughout my entire career had given to me, I wanted to try and give back," Montero said. "I feel like a lot of what I have in my life I owe to the game of baseball.”

Montero has been the head coach of the River Rats for two years, though this is his fifth at the collegiate level. Prior to coaching, Montero played baseball throughout high school and college at Brockport State University in New York, and later returned to Florida where he played in amateur leagues around the state.

He's been coaching for about 12 years now, and while he still loves the game, he's also appreciative of the opportunity coaching provides to make an impact on the young men on his team. It's building those relationships that he takes the most pride in.

From player to coach

When his mother, Ormond Beach resident Carol Montero-Sutherby, heard he had been named Coach of the Year, she cried. Even when he was a kid, she recalled, Montero always seemed to be the one encouraging other players on the field. He's competitive, she admits, but he loved being part of a team. He's fostered that unity in his players as well, and they will carry that beyond baseball into their lives, she said. It's something he learned from his own coaches, and Montero-Sutherby is grateful they instilled that in him.

Coach Josh Montero had a lot of great coaches growing up. He said he wanted to give back to his team like his coaches gave back to him. Courtesy photo

“So it doesn’t matter what happens — if they have a baseball career in the major leagues, or not — they’re all going to be better for that experience and I couldn’t be prouder," Montero-Sutherby said.

As a player, you have to be a great observer and listener, but as a coach, you have to be a great communicator and understand how to manage every one of your players on the field, Montero said.

“A good manager is able to bring out the very best of each individual player, regardless of what their personality may be," Montero said.

Coach Josh Montero said he takes the most pride in building relationships with his players. Courtesy photo

More than just a game

In 2015, Montero witnessed his own son pitch his first game in the very same field he did as child in Ormond Beach. It was a moment of nostalgia that never wears off, Montero said.

Every coach he ever had touched his life in some way. If you give your heart to the game, Montero said, the game will "give back to you for a lifetime." This season, the River Rats finished their regular season at 15-6, and Montero led the team to a 3-0 record in the playoffs before winning first place against the Leesburg Lightning in the Championship series, a press release states. It is the team's fifth Florida League Championship.

Montero has learned that baseball is more than just a game: It's a metaphor for life.

“It’s about failure," he said. "It’s about confidence. It’s about learning how to persevere, and perseverance in general.”