Have fun, work your butt off: Carolina Mudcats manager shares lessons about life, baseball
Joe Ayrault's family is in Sarasota, Fla., but during the baseball season, he's here, in Zebulon, where he's manager of the Carolina Mudcats.
A former catcher, Ayrault was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the fifth round of the 1990 amateur draft and went on to spend his entire playing career - from 1990 to 1997 - in the Atlanta organization. In the last two full seasons with the Mudcats, Ayrault led the team to a 138-138 record and, at the start of the season, was second on Carolina's all-time managerial wins list.
Of course, right now we're in the middle of the baseball season, and the Mudcats make for a fun family outing with affordable tickets and lots of special promotions. Five County Family Sunday and BOGO Monday deals, for example, let a family of four enjoy a game for as low as $20. There also are lots of family-friendly promotions this year, including a Marvel Superhero Night in August where fans are encouraged to come dressed up in costume. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a Captain America Mudcats Bobblehead. More information is on the Mudcats' website.
As part of our June series featuring local dads, I thought I'd check in with Ayrault, who has two kids with wife Kelly—a 14-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son. Here's a Q&A.
Go Ask Mom: How old were you when you first started playing baseball, and when did you first develop your love of baseball? What about the sport has really appealed to you?
Joe Ayrault: I was five years old when I first started playing baseball. I just really have a love for the game, when I was little I loved it. I loved going to games. I was a big Tigers fan growing up. I remember going to the old Tiger Stadium and sitting in the outfield and Lou Whitaker coming to the plate and all the fans shouting “LOUUU!” I thought they were booing him and I realized that they were cheering for him! Lance Parrish was my favorite player growing up and I just loved the game of baseball and being around it. Knew when I was a young kid that that’s what I wanted to do.
GAM: How did you get your start playing professionally?
JA: I signed right out of high school in 1990, I played eight years of baseball and then I went back to school and I was going to be a teacher. Then I met my now wife, Kelly. She took me to a high school football game and I ran into a guy coaching baseball. I asked him about coaching professionally, and he asked me if I wanted to do it and I said, “Heck yeah, I’d want to do that." Two days later, I got interviewed and here I am. I’ve been coaching pro-ball ever since. I was with the Rangers for a few years and then the Reds and I’ve been with the Brewers since 2010.
GAM: What do you enjoy about being involved with the Mudcats?
JA: Being on the field and being with the guys, we’ve got a great group. We have a great team staff with Bobby Bell, Cam Castro, Fidel Pena, and Jonah Mergen. Our front office staff Joe Kremer, Eric Gardner, and everyone is just really great to work with, and I love the area. I’ve been in the Florida State League a lot and, for selfish reasons, I like that because I could go home and be close to my family. But for baseball and for the players, I like the Carolina League a lot better. The weather, the fans. It just reminds me of when I was playing in the Carolina League. Just the baseball feel, I love it up here.
GAM: How did becoming a dad change the way you thought about your job and your work as a baseball coach?
JA: It’s tough, just being away, but I’m really lucky because of my wife and the stuff she does when I’m gone. I mean, she does everything. She takes the kids everywhere they need to go. My daughter plays soccer, my son is in baseball. She takes them to practice, she’s a teacher and she takes the kids to school, does their laundry, gets all of their uniforms ready. She’s the glue that keeps everything together when I’m gone.
It stinks, dealing with all of that stuff. You have one teenager and then another one almost, so you’ve got all kinds of stuff going on. We’ve got good kids, and my wife does a heck of a job. It's just hard with the time that I miss when I’m gone, but I try to make up for it when I’m home.
GAM: What do your kids think about you coaching in minor league baseball?
JA: You know, they always said it would get easier, as your kids get older. I think it gets harder. I mean, being away, I miss a lot of things. My son likes it because he gets to come up during the season, but when I leave for Spring Training he doesn’t get to see me for a little while.
He goes through a little bit of a rut and so do I, being away from them. But once they are out of school, it’s a good thing because he gets to come up and hang out. My daughter, she’s not the biggest baseball fan in the world. She doesn't like the game near as much as my son, but I think part of it has to do with me being away. I really try to make up for it in the off-season, where we get to go fishing and she really loves to fish. So we do a lot of that in the off-season.
I’m lucky my wife is a teacher because then they can have some freedom to come up. They have a couple of months off and get to travel. We go to Washington, DC, and have for the past couple of years, and we get to go see the sights and stuff, so that is pretty cool.
GAM: Lots of kids out there play baseball. Some have big dreams about playing in college or beyond. What's your advice to them?
JA: Have fun and work hard. If you decide you want to do that, enjoy it. Depending on the age, when you’re on a Little League field and smaller fields, go out there and have fun. Fine-tune your game and just go out there and do it. Watch big league games and learn. My son and I, we play MLB the Show on PS4 and it’s great for us. Go outside and play until it gets dark and then go in and learn a lot about the game and what you’re doing. When I was a kid, I was torn up by it. I knew that was what I wanted to do and I love the game of baseball. Tell kids to go out there and have fun and work their butts off.
Go Ask Mom features local moms every Monday. But in June, we feature local dads.
