REEDLEY – Immanuel’s first year baseball coach Aaron Shackelford had a unique moment of clarity when it felt like his pro baseball dreams had faded away. During this period of uncertainty, Shackelford decided to take a leap of faith down an unknown path, taking over an Immanuel baseball program that needed a new leader.
In the end, the former 14th round pick for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2019 MLB Amateur Draft found his faith rewarded as he revived both his love of the game as well as a proud Immanuel program. Hired this past summer to replace Steve Ramirez in the Eagles’ dugout, the baseball gods reincarnated Shackleford’s dashed professional dreams into a surprise coaching salvation.
“I kind of retired in June of 2024, and spent close to a year in Arizona, was completely done with baseball and it was very sad, honestly – just a tough year,” said Shackelford. “Baseball just ended like that, where I would’ve told you, God put me on the earth to play baseball. And just overnight, that kind of ended.”
But all of a sudden, Immanuel had blessed Shackelford with another opportunity to revive his hardball dreams, as well as give him a sense of belonging and purpose.
“So, we were struggling in Arizona a little bit, trying to build a community out there and it wasn’t really working … we were looking at what’s the best community for my family,” said Shackelford. “That was my primary reason for moving here was to go to Grace Church of the Valley, over here in Kingsburg, and be with those guys … and then I was like, ‘Well, I gotta provide, and I would love to coach baseball.’”
Putting his faith in the system, and finding that higher calling, turned into a win-win scenario for the former National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) 2019 National Player of the Year at The Master’s University in Southern California.
“That’s another big reason we moved out here, so that I can continue in education, in seminary and get what’s called my Masters of Divinity there,” said Shackelford. “And then I feel like the Lord has clarified why I’m here – I want to coach baseball forever.”
A professional blueprint
Shackelford felt like he didn’t need to come in and blow everything up with the Eagles. All he wanted to do was instill some professional work habits he learned through four seasons in the Pirates’ Minor League system from 2019-23 and watch it take flight.
“I take most of my practice plans, my drill work, that’s all from my experience in pro ball,” said Shackelford. “I want to try and prepare these guys who want to go on and play college baseball or professional baseball. I think if you prepare them like they’re a pro now, they’ll play to a higher capability.”
So far, with a small sample size, the Eagles are ranked among the top-10 teams in the Central Section, according to the current standings as of March 20 in MaxPreps. The stats in MaxPreps show that Immanuel is currently batting .324 as a team, with 69 hits, 61 RBIs and 74 runs scored in just 259 combined plate appearances through their first eight games.
Last season, Immanuel finished with a team average of .281, 194 total hits and 107 RBIs en route to a 15-13/1-7 overall record.
“My expectation is that we would go really hard, I want them to give it 100% effort,” said Shackelford. “We want to go one pitch at a time, not take days for granted, never expect anything – I had to outprepare guys, and so, that’s our mentality – it’s a long baseball season.”
While there’s still plenty of ball left to be played, Shackelford believes that, at the end of the season, his faith in his team and experience will have rubbed off on the Eagles in the right way.
“I really want our guys to be the most well-prepared, hardest-working players in the Valley for the glory of God – that is our mission here,” said Shackelford. “We want to go as hard as we possibly can; these guys go, like this is a group of grinders because that was my path to success personally … that’s what I want our team to be, the most prepared, most hard working team for the glory of God.”
