Cedar Baseball coach Mark Johnson doesn’t assign team captains, nor does he get involved with which players on his team are leaders.

“I build a program where my focus is on the whole team,” he said. “The leaders and captains will emerge on their own and they’ll do it without my involvement.”

Johnson claims this method of coaching allows all players to receive of his coaching, improving all.

This season, after losing a lot of great seniors, such a coaching style may be just what Cedar needs to rebuild a strong program.

“We have Jordan Jones and Brooks Orton back and they are our offensive fire power,” Johnson said. “But we also have a lot of younger players and I’m going to be expecting a lot out of them.”

Johnson’s expectations are high indeed. His goal? “We might as well win state,” he said.

While such a goal may seem lofty, especially to a team with the youth Cedar has, Johnson takes it as part of his strategy.

“If you don’t set a high goal, then you won’t have high expectations and you need to have high expectations of the players in order for them to get to the next level,” he said. “I believe we can be the best in the state.”

Region 9 baseball has changed in the last couple of years with the addition of Desert Hills. “They are the team to beat,” Johnson said. “They had a great team last year and everyone is returning for this season.”

Cedar’s first baseball game of the season will be at Delta on Tuesday.