Dylan “The” Flasch was a very important part of the Kindersley Stallions lineup both offensively and defensively this past year. Flasch grew up in Lloyd playing his minor ball, before moving to Oyen to play at the Badlands Baseball Academy. He would commit to a junior college in New York for a year, before transferring to Lethbridge. After a few years of college Flasch would put play a few more competitive seasons before retiring into a coach, and senior baseball star.

If Kindersley had to choose only one contribution from Flasch this year, it would no doubt be his big-time bat after the slugger finished with nearly double-digit home runs on the season.

“Finished the year with 8 home runs, that’s about as good as it gets in senior baseball I think,” exclaimed the Stallions manager following the teams NSRBL title win.

READ: Stallions Pony Up For Parade After NSRBL Championship

Flasch was voted as the Stallions team MVP after finishing the year with a .500 batting average, while scoring 12 runs himself along with driving in another dozen. 5 of his home runs came outside of the regular season, leaving his stats not good enough for him to claim MVP of the entire league.

Jaydon Gartner of the Lloydminster Twins took that honour, along with the Top Pitcher award as well. Gartner would bat over .300 on the year, as well as put up a 0.97 ERA and 35 K’s on the way to a perfect 3-0 record pitching. Brock Harrison of the Standard Hill Lakers was named the leagues Top Hitter with a .594 average, making himself another MVP candidate along with Meadow Lake Sox hitter Brett Esau, and the aforementioned Flasch.

The Stallions know Gartner was named MVP for a reason as he is a solid player on both ends of the spectrum. Austin Jamieson with the Stallions credited him with being the best pitcher in the league since the Stallions entry, and Unity Jr. Cardinals coach Dan Feser who used Gartner all over the field at the recent provincials has also always been a fan.

“He played bantam selects with us, he played Prairie Baseball Academy in Lethbridge where my son Rhett coaches. He’s going to Mount Olive University next year in North Carolina, and he’ll do very well there.”

Being a few years apart in age and both spending lots of their baseball career in Lloydminster, Flasch himself knows Gartner through ball circles, but has never got a chance to play or coach with the younger player.

(Photo via Linkedin Profile)

He would finish top three in voting with Esau and Gartner, but likely wouldn’t trade his fresh NSRBL hardware for any plaque that might have been coming his way. With Flasch unsure if he will be back in the area to adorn Stallions orange next year, Blake Robertson with the team shared prior to their series comeback against Standard Hill that the boys were indeed trying to win one thanks to the uncertainty around their top hitter.

“This is the year. We aren’t 100% sure if he is back next year, so this is the year we want to do it.”

Manager Austin Jamieson confirmed the player has a long term contract on the table if he wants it, and Flasch is more than willing to take it if he winds back up in Kindersley over next summer.

“Let’s make it happen!”

Flasch isn’t just in Kindersley to clean-up the bases for the Stallions, as he ended up working right in his wheelhouse keeping busy and cleaning up at the baseball diamonds around Kindersley. He wasn’t just a superstar player, but also a superstar volunteer as 18U Royals coach Blain Hilbig explains.

“I think he was hired by the town to take care of the diamonds, and just having that person there that knows exactly what to do, and they get it done. That was pretty important too,” said Hilbig,
“He’s a good role model for the kids. He didn’t coach here, but just the kids being able to watch him play. He is coaching at the academy in Red Deer, and he was also in Oyen this past year. He’s got the skill and the know-how.”

A few connections to the Prairie Baseball Academy have been made now between Flasch and Gartner. Corson Harris from the NSRBL champion Stallions is also a former member of the team; another one of the guys that made Flasch so comfortable playing with Kindersley this year.

“Last year I played 3-4 games with them in the shortened season, but definitely the team chemistry has been high the entire time. Fantastic group of guys, easy to meet everybody, and that always helps on the ball diamond when you have a group like that.”

He was quick to praise the Stallions other main playoff performer in Kyle Donaldson when asked about his pitching performance this postseason.

“When you know Donaldson’s on the mound, you know you basically only have to get him a few runs of support and he’s going to do the rest,” complimented Flasch, “We were able to get a few runs a game, and Donny shut it down on the mound so like I said as long as we get him a couple of runs he is going to get the job done.”

When asked about his relationship with the long ball during his career after 8 dingers this year, Flasch said he hasn’t sent the ball deep that many times since he was a kid.

“Growing up I would always have a couple a season but this was kind of the summer that things clicked a little bit. I was able to get 8 this year, and haven’t had those home run numbers since probably bantam so it was nice to get it this summer.”

Perhaps one reason for the added power, a walk-up song fit for a super-hero that his Stallions teammates finally got him to use.

“Pretty much every summer all the guys tell me to use “The Flash” theme as a walk-up song,” chuckled Flasch, “I never had until this year, I gave into a little peer pressure and went with that one and it seemed to work this summer for sure.”

Flasch may have done the Queen song dirty this season by choosing to hit the big fly at a high clip rather than swipe bags like a stallion, but if the horse’s superstar returns next year you can surely pencil the Stallions in for another season of contention in the North Saskatchewan River Baseball League.