It took persistence, plenty of patience and accepting scads of rejections. But eventually, Max Glasser’s goal of coaching for a professional baseball team became reality.
This season, the 2014 Yorktown High School graduate is on the staff of the Class A Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League as a development coach. He was hired in mid-February on a one-season contract after interviewing with a number of other pro baseball organizations, including the Cubs, Orioles and Tigers.
As a developmental coach, Glasser sometimes coaches first base, prepares hitters and relief pitchers with information before games, is a hitting coach, works with outfielders and helps players set individual goals. The team is managed by former Major Leaguer Donnie Murphy.
It is the type of position Glasser has wanted since his playing days for the Yorktown varsity baseball team under former head coach Mike Ruck.
“This is what I want to do,” Glasser said. “It feels like a good spot and I hope to find a home here for a few years. For me as time goes on, I don’t know if I want to stay in coaching or work in a front office in some capacity. I’ll just see where things go.”
Glasser acknowledges he was something of a marginal high-school player. The relief pitcher didn’t receive much varsity action. Yet, he was passionate about the sport back then and was a huge student of the game, according to Ruck.
“Max was easy to coach. He loved the mental aspect of the game and was always wanting to learn and was asking questions,” Ruck said. “He was one of those players who picked my brain. He also wanted to know the why and everything about the game. Max wanted to be a coach when he was age 16.”
After high school, Glasser’s involvement in baseball continued as a busy four-year student-manager for the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated with a marketing degree. His many duties included throwing batting practice.
“At Pittsburgh, I really got to see what baseball is like at the next level, when jobs are on the line. I liked that,” Glasser said.
Again, Glasser picked the coaches’ brains at Pittsburgh.
After college, Glasser watched games and logged data among other duties for a couple of other private baseball organizations.He was graded high for his work. That experience and recommendation helped him eventually land a job as a video technician and associate for the Class AAA Dodgers minor-league team in Oklahoma City. But the 2020 season, which would have been Glasser’s first with the club, was not held because of COVID.
So for a year, Glasser did online work for Harris Teeter while working for Ignite Baseball in Arlington in various roles until he returned to his position with the AAA Dodgers for the 2021 campaign. Glasser also put together a lot of advance support prior to games.
“I learned so much doing that job,” Glasser said about his position with the Dodgers.
From there, Glasser explored the steps of progressing further, and landed his current job with the Blue Jays.
“Max is the kind of person who will stay at it. I think with his love and passion for baseball, he has a big future in the game,” Ruck said.