“There’s definitely more of a responsibility, especially being older now,” Mann says. “It feels like I have to assert myself more on the field, especially in talking to the younger guys—our three freshman catchers, the walk-ons, everyone who’s new to this team and this level.”
“This year, I knew what I was coming into with a bunch of new guys,” he adds, with a tinge of gratitude, a subtle tip to the cap to all that’s gone before him. “I knew that I was going to have to be the veteran, and I knew the role ahead of time.”
In fact, when one thinks about it, everything’s been sort of leading up to this, hasn’t it? The injury in Alaska. The two years learning in a platoon environment. The flashes of offensive brilliance. Even the sheer pleasure derived from the art of catching. It’s all coming together now to set the stage, is it not?
Suddenly, you remember.
“Yeah, I have higher expectations for myself than I’ve had in the past couple years,” he says, sitting comfortably at a table in Harvard Square’s Au Bon Pain.
And you believe him.
Because for Schuyler Mann, this has all been a long time coming—and by all accounts, it’s hard to imagine that it won’t be well worth the wait.
—Staff writer Pablo S. Torre can be reached at torre@fas.harvard.edu.