Bishop in charge of chess game behind the plate

RIO RANCHO – Why would a smart teenage baseball player want to be the catcher?

After all, the mask, shin guards and chest protector have long been called the “tools of ignorance.”

Cleveland High’s senior catcher, Owen “Opie” Bishop, says he likes the challenge and necessary leadership skills a catcher needs to help his team. “I like being involved. Some positions, obviously, can be boring.”

“There was a lot to learn, and then, being a smart baseball player comes with that,” Bishop explained after a recent practice at the Shock Yards. “The catcher tries to be the smartest player on the field. You have to help everyone.”

“Owen’s really worked a lot of his overall athleticism behind the dish,” says CHS assistant coach Bob Tyler, whom Bishop credited with improving his skills. “(He’s been) getting out there, making some really good plays and working hard on making his throws. He’d been really struggling a lot. In the very beginning, he wasn’t making very good throws; he worked his ass off to get his throws down there (to second base) and challenge a lot of the runners from first to second.

“Owen’s overall dedication to the sport has made him a good player,” Tyler added.

That dedication is leading to two more years behind the dish at Trinidad State College in Colorado.

“I think freshmen there get to play quite a bit,” he said. After two years there, he’d like to play at a DI university; what about a pro career?

That’d be nice, but he’s eyeing a future in the medical profession as an anesthesiologist. He’d consider a shot in pro baseball if the opportunity presents itself. He admitted he’s gotten better behind the plate after signing his letter of intent, knowing the pressure is off.

“At the end of the day, (my parents) always said, no matter how I performed on the field or in school, they will always love me, have my back,” Bishop said. “(So) I have no pressure, no weight on my back — ‘Oh, I didn’t do this good enough. I didn’t do that good enough.’ I can go home and I can rely on my parents to be there for me.”

Baseball became his best sport, but not until he’d tried a plethora of other sports.

“I tried everything at a young age,” he said, “to dip my feet in the water — soccer and football, basketball and lacrosse — those are the four main ones.”

His basketball days ended at Mountain View Middle School after his elementary years at Sandia Vista Elementary.

“Probably my best team sport was lacrosse — and baseball,” he added, noting some seasons at Cibola Little League ending with all-star status.

He was a middle infielder back then, and elsewhere as needed. He became a catcher when he was “13 or 14.”

Bishop has also been playing in the summer with a team from the Albuquerque Baseball Academy. At CHS, he’d been in student government but opted to get out to concentrate more on baseball.

He became the starting catcher as a freshman in 2023, when he rarely — if that — batted, with coach Shane Shallenberger preferring to employ a designated hitter in his slot in the lineup.

“I just knew that my job was to be on the field at all times and just kind of bulldog it out for the season,” Bishop recalled.

He was using a bat as a junior, though near the bottom of the lineup. Lately, in his senior campaign, he’s been batting second, following shortstop/pitcher Jarren Villa, another Storm ballplayer with college in his future (Pima Community College in Arizona).

He said he knew the reason for that elevation: “As you get older, you see more pitches, better guys, and just kind of adjust that approach and get more confidence,” he said, crediting Coach Shall for his improvement with the bat.

“He’s a great kid and a great person,” Shallenberger continued. “He’s very smart, intelligent. He’s in the two hole because he can do some things: He can hit-and-run; he can do some things.”

Two games vs. Volcano Vista stick out for him this spring: The Storm’s first win over the Hawks, an 8-7 outcome at the Shock Yards — “Our pitchers didn’t quite have it, but I had to step up and do my job that day,” he recalled — and the Storm’s 8-3 win on April 29 at VVHS, when he was allowed to call his own game.

“He’s been a three-year starter,” said Shallenberger. “We went one year (2023) where we DH’d him the entire year, his sophomore year. We got him some at-bats last year.”

“Opie” will never be regarded as the Storm’s greatest catcher of all time. Cleveland has had some pretty good backstops there in the past — Riley Peterson, Robert Healy and Braylen Elzy were memorable – but only one was a Major League Baseball first-round draft pick. That was switch-hitting catcher Blake Swihart, a member of the CHS Class of 2001, who played for tin 203 games with the Red Sox (2015-19) and 31 games with the Diamondbacks (2019).

It’s been a great season, Bishop said. ”One thing I want to be remembered (for) is I love this team, and sometimes I think that goes unknown. Sometimes we get mad at each other — it happens, we’re teammates.

“But at the end of the day, I think every single one of us loves this team and loves each other as brothers.”