Max Effort: In his third season with the AA Lakers, Max Holden has been a leader on offense and on the bump

When Max Holden got to the AA Kalispell Lakers in 2021, veteran coach Ryan Malmin figured he’d be a pitcher-only player, and Holden himself figures to be a pitcher at the next level.

But in 2023, the 18-year-old is just about doing it all.

Playing first base when he’s not on the mound, Holden is hitting .350 and leading the team in home runs (2), triples (10) and stolen bases (24).

When he is on the bump, opponents have hit just .230 against the 6-foot right-hander.

“We kind of projected him as a P-O,” said Malmin, whose club is 30-16 heading into its final home games, a 3-game set against the Billings Royals that begins Tuesday. “But you also want that guy who gets in there and shows you, ‘You can’t take me out.’ “

Holden remembers playing T-ball in Kalispell at age 4, and by 10 or 11 deciding baseball was his favorite sport. He still tried basketball, football and wrestling, but by sophomore year at Flathead High — he graduated this spring — he was concentrating on the diamond..

“Baseball is the one I wanted to stick with,” he said Monday. “Also my cousin (Taylor Morton). … he’s a big part of why I play. He’s 4-5 years older than me, and I really looked up to him when I was younger.”

Like Morton before him, Holden is headed to Miles Community College to play. The Pioneers just had former Laker Tommy O’Connell hit a team-best 11 home runs; two more Laker alums, Jack Corriveau and Kael Willis, were also on the Pioneers this spring. Mike O’Connell was recently named head coach.

Holden was talking to Division II MSU-Billings, but the pipeline to Miles City is pretty established. If things go well, he’d like to go the JC transfer route to a school outside Montana.

His track record would indicate it will go well. Malmin notes that the first time he pitched Holden, in 2019 against the Helena Senators, the then-16-year-old was throwing 72 miles per hour.

Two years later he’s been in the 83-84 range on his two-seam fastball and has a changeup and slider to go with.

“I’d say my slider is my strikeout pitch, usually,” Holden said.

“He can throw his changeup or (slider) in any count,” said Malmin. “He started coming to our pitching boot camp when he was 10 years old, and he was there for six, seven years. He’s had a great work ethic in the offseason, where’s put a lot of time in lifting weights, working on his speed and conditioning.

“I’m just really proud of the work he’s put in and the growth he’s had, in the time we’ve worked with him.”

Holden noted that he also received some guidance while playing for a Bad Rock travel team at age 13-14, alongside Kane Morisaki. He, Morisaki and Ostyn Brennan are the only seniors that played all year on last year’s squad.

The trio along with five more players — Malmin notes Oscar Kallis came up and contributed a lot in 2022 — will be honored in a Senior Night tribute during Tuesday’s doubleheader.

The team sits sixth in the nine-team Montana/Alberta standings, with a 6-9 conference record. That includes three losses to Bozeman, which sits eighth (5-11).

“We should have picked up two of three against Missoula,” said Holden (the Mavericks, fifth in the league at 8-8, beat the Lakers twice). “And against Bozeman we struggled and got swept.

“All the teams, 4 through 9, are close. The three or four teams ahead of have one more win. We could easily be top four if things had gone right.”

As it is, the Royals and the Billings Scarlets — the Lakers play the Scarlets in Billings Friday and Saturday — are 2-3 in the league. Tough sledding.

One positive is the Lakers went into last year’s State AA tournament as the sixth seed and finished third for a second straight season. “Last year we kind of struggled, but at state we showed we can do,” Holden said.

“It’s an interesting group,” Malmin said. “This team is essentially brand new and still made it to another 30 wins, and played in two tournament championships. The kids have been great, and accepted all the challenges. It’s been a great group to coach.”