DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Progressing from poor to promising was simple, but difficult for Edinburg Vela’s baseball team.
And first-year head coach Jaime Perez has had a front-row seat watching Vela baseball win a combined 18 games the last two years to winning 11 so far this season and contending for a District 31-5A title, earning the first postseason berth in the program’s three-year history.
“Discipline, discipline, discipline,” Perez said. “That’s our key. Practice to perfection, and if we can do that we can play the game really, really well.”
The success of the SaberCats (11-7, 8-2 31-5A) has been predicated upon leadership, approach and demeanor. And it started the first day of school in August.
Perez, an assistant baseball coach the previous two seasons, introduced a football mentality. He leads the defense for varsity coach Michael Salinas’ freshman football team and served as varsity defensive line coach prior to that.
One of his biggest moves was establishing a boot camp like the football team has. It was moderated for baseball orientation, but its goal was the same: test physical limits.
Bungees, lower-half strength building, sled-pushing, pushing tires, weight training. Lots and lots of time in the weight room.
“We started this year different,” senior ace Arnulfo “Arnie” Salinas said. “It was a lot of discipline, but it was also about trust. Trusting the coaches, trusting each other. It’s been worth it.”
Perez changed it all, from the way players dressed, to their approach coming to the athletics period during school, to the way they handled themselves inside and outside the classroom. He mimicked Salinas’ football philosophy. No tolerance, no excuses. Accountability. Responsibility.
It’s no coincidence that three of Perez’s four assistant coaches — Rodney Mayo, Randy Abendroth and Josue Sanchez — are also football coaches.
“In past years, I think we tried to instill (discipline), but I don’t think it was enforced,” Perez said. “What we did is we enforced it. We’re not rah-rah guys. We’re the ‘in your face, get it done this way because there is no other way’ guys.’”
Perez’s style fed into a hungry group of seniors that was tired of losing. They had watched the Vela football and basketball teams rise competitively the last two years. They yearned to do the same.
“Coach made us work for what we got,” senior infielder Jacob Osorio said. “That made us better as people and as players. Coach made it hard for us, but we earned every bit of what we got. We knew we had to fight through it. We had to get tougher.
“We wanted the playoffs. We wanted better than the last two years.”
But teams don’t get as far as Vela has without talent. Salinas is that anchor.
The 5-foot-9 right-hander is 4-2 with a 0.47 ERA, allowing eight unearned runs in 32.1 innings. He has a 3.5 strikeout-walk ratio.
“That competitive nature, you just can’t teach that,” Perez said. “He has that edge. He fell into the No. 1 spot his sophomore year because of that. He gets on the mound and we play different. He makes our team better.”
Salinas was born with an impressive work ethic. He grew up on a farm on the outside of town, where manual labor was common. Perez said no one works harder and that Salinas “lives in the weight room.”
It has shown in his play.
“I was nowhere near where I am right now,” said Salinas, who complements a dangerous fastball with an aggressive slider. “But coaches have been pushing us and it’s just really helped. My location improved. My velocity improved. Those have been big, and I’m still learning and I’m still growing.”
Salinas is one of 11 seniors, whom Perez refers to as the “guard dogs” of the program.
“Every one has a role,” he said. “And every one can appreciate what we’ve gone through. They finally understand the pride of putting on the blue and black.”
Ah, the blue and black. Specifically, it’s more about what it means. Robert Vela High School, named after the successful former Edcouch-Elsa and Edinburg High coach who passed away in 2007 after spending the last 10 years of his 19-year coaching career in Edinburg.
Perez can get emotional talking about the significance of coaching and playing for a school with the name “Vela” across the chest.
“What athletics at this school comes down to is about the competitive nature that the name Robert Vela brings with it,” Perez said.
When he talks about coaching at Vela, Perez talks about being given “a second chance” despite previous head coaching gigs at PSJA Southwest and PSJA North. In a sense, Perez feels reborn, much like the program he leads.
When he took over the reins of the baseball program, he wanted a team that plays bigger, stronger, faster. He has that. Step by step, it’s been built.
“I knew we had it,” Perez said. “I just didn’t think we were pushing the right buttons to make it come out. But we have this year, and the results speak for themselves.”