Badlands Big Sticks welcome new acting manager

DICKINSON N.D.– The Badlands Big Sticks have a new acting manger in Torrey Roper. Roper gets the promotion from hitting coach to the field manager role after the Sticks previous head coach Jordan Price left because he got a full-time job at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

After graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2023, Coach Roper took a job as an assistant coach at his previous school, Bryant and Stratton College, in 2024. Roper then joined the Big Sticks as the hitting coach and assistant coach at the beginning of this season. Now, with less than a full calendar year of coaching experience, Roper is thrust into the acting manager role for the Big Sticks.

“It’s a little bit more in charge, like just being a head coach. Like being an assistant, like, I’ve had to learn all these players, I mean we’re getting new guys every day. Just learning guy’s tendencies and stuff,” Roper said. “Now I’m at third base, so I’ve been watching most of these guys run already. I know what reads I can take them on and what reads I can stop them on. So it’s not too challenging, I mean it’s kind of tough, but it’s fun though. It’s a good experience.”

As new as this experience is for Coach Roper. It’s also new for the players, not just because they have a new acting manager, but because Roper enters that role completely different than most other coaches they’ve ever had.

“It’s an experience that I’ve never had, you know, having like a first-time coach that’s really young run the squad, but you know that’s what summer ball’s for, Big Sticks infielder Tyler Tobey said. “Rope’s getting that experience, getting that exposure. We loved him as an assistant coach, we love him as head coach, he’s a great dude, so yeah.”

“You know Rope’s done a great job. You know he’s a players coach and he’s kept the energy up, the positivity up,” Big Sticks star outfielder Kaden Carpenter said. “And he shows up the same every day, which is easy to work with.”

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