The Cerritos baseball team had a tough year in the 2022 season when they had a 13-26-1 record and a record of 8-16 during conference games.

Coach Buttler, who is the Men’s Baseball head coach for this upcoming season, said that his goals were to continue to develop and focus more on winning.

“Last season, it’s a running joke between my coaching staff and myself,” Buttler said, “It took us three years to play one full season.”

The baseball team had half of their 2020 season and the full 2021 season shut down, due to COVID-19 and Butter talked about how much he’s learned throughout those years.

One thing the baseball coach said he wanted was to cut the roster from 60 to 37 players because he wants to have that continuity with his team, allowing him to give more reps to players and more team chemistry.

When asked about how he feels about 13 players on the baseball team transferring to a four-year university, coach Buttler talked about the importance of doing well in the classroom and on the field.

“That’s our goal is to develop these student-athletes in the classroom and then on the baseball field,” Buttler said, “We preach academics over athletics.”

Coach Buttler stressed how important the coaching staff was and how they were one of the better coaching staff, “It starts from the top and works its way down.”

The men’s baseball coach also talked about the impact his playing career had on his coaching, “My playing experience has allowed me to put myself in different types of baseball scenarios.”

The baseball head coach played baseball from El Camino College, all the way to playing on a AAA team.

“It allows us (coaching staff who also played in the big leagues) to put these student-athletes in real-life situations and to prepare them for not only physically but mentally for the grind,” coach Buttler said.

As for what Coach Buttler wants for the future of the baseball team, he predicts that Cerritos will be one of the top programs in the country and junior college baseball.

“I just like to remind myself of the culture of Cerritos,” Coach Buttler said, “I thought to myself, one day, I want to have a plaque here at Cerritos and I want to leave my own legacy here.”

Cerritos men’s baseball looks to rebound from the 13-26-1 season on Oct. 11 when they play against Santa Ana at home, which begins at 1 p.m.