Former Massillon standout Aidan Longwell has been golden for Kent State

KENT, Ohio – One of the best college baseball players in the country calls Kent State’s Schoonover Stadium home. But talking to Aidan Longwell, you would never know it, as the junior carries himself with a quiet confidence, emphasis on ‘quiet.’

But what makes Aidan Longwell so good? 

His coaches past and present aren't shy to talk about him, and they all say the same thing – he will outwork anyone.

“I don’t think I have coached somebody who is as focused as he is on a daily basis,” Kent State head baseball coach Jeff Duncan said. “He is the first player on the field. He has his whole pregame routine every single day. He is just a locked in individual. It is pretty impressive.”

Massillon head baseball coach Spike Ridgley also saw the work ethic in Longwell from day one with the Tigers.

“(He was) the consummate great teammate and hard worker,” Ridgley said. “He didn’t say a whole lot, he just put his nose to the grindstone every day and worked very hard. Great influence on the team from the time he was a freshman until he was a senior.”

Massillon head football coach Nate Moore coached Longwell on the gridiron for four seasons and had a front row seat to Longwell’s routine.

“What really separates Aidan from other guys is number one, work ethic,” Moore said. “He is highly self-motivated and he set the standard everywhere he went.”

Ah yes, those Friday nights under the lights at Massillon’s Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

While some players might shy away from the bright lights and the big stage of playing for one of Ohio’s most famous football programs – if not one of the most famous in America – Longwell not only took on the challenge, but he thrived.

When his high school football career was over, Longwell had rewritten the Massillon record books, breaking the career records for most passing yards (7,705 yards), completions (484), attempts (785), completion percentage (60.9%) and touchdown passes (84).

He also led the Tigers to the state semifinals as a sophomore in 2017 – the first time Massillon had been that far since 2009 – and then to back-to-back state championship game appearances as a junior and senior. 

In those three seasons, the Tigers went a combined 38-5.

“There’s been a lot of really good quarterbacks at Massillon, and I think you would be hard-pressed not to put him if not one, in the top three,” Moore said. “He is an absolute winner. I wouldn’t have traded him for any other quarterback the years he was here.”

Those Friday nights playing in front of more than 15,000 fans every week also prepared Longwell as he got ready for the next steps in his career.

“I think it helped a lot, playing in front of the big crowds, I am used to that,” Longwell said. “I don’t get fazed by it anymore, it’s second nature to me now.”

Another thing he learned by being the signal-caller at Massillon was how to be a leader, which is what he is now for the Golden Flashes.

“I try to be a leader out there, I try to lead by example a lot,” Longwell said. "(I) just have fun out there and trust the guys around me. I think that’s the big thing from being a quarterback is you have to trust everyone around you.”

Part of Longwell’s success can also be traced back to his demeanor, something all of his coaches noticed right away.

“I think the one thing he carries with him as well is if he has a tough game, he is able to stay in the moment and let that go immediately,” Ridgley said. “He moves right on to the next pitch, and he was like that with us. If you watch him, he never shows any emotion, maybe if he gets a big home run. But other than that, he is pretty even.”

It was the same in football, where every game at Massillon is treated with the importance of a Super Bowl by the Tiger faithful clad head-to-toe in black and orange.

“He is cool as a cucumber,” Moore said. “Nothing ever rattled him, even when he was a sophomore. No game was too big. He was the same guy every day.”

A born competitor, Longwell is quiet and humble but also wants to be the guy with the ball in his hand, be it in football or baseball. Ridgley recounted a story from Longwell’s sophomore season in which the coach was trying to decide which player should pitch the Tigers’ upcoming tournament game.

“We had an injury that we were battling through his sophomore year and he hadn’t pitched a lot but he pitched the previous week and looked pretty good,” Ridgley said. “It was coming closer to the game and I thought you know what, I want to get his take. I know he is a competitor.

“So I went up to him and I said ‘who do you think should throw the tournament game?’ He said ‘coach whatever you think, we support.’ I said ‘no, I want to know who you think should throw the tournament game.’ He goes ‘I think I should.’

“We went with it, I trusted him and I have trusted him even since.”

A smile came across Longwell’s face when asked if he remembered the conversation with his high school baseball coach five springs ago.

“I remember that,” Longwell said. “I just had confidence in myself, and I knew I had the opportunity to give us a chance to win, so I said give me the ball.”

It has been more of the same since Duncan inserted Longwell into the third spot in the batting order for Kent State at the beginning of last season. Longwell was coming off a freshman season where he only pitched because of an injury, but Duncan saw something in him as a sophomore that gave him confidence to put Longwell in the middle of the lineup.

“Last year, game one of the season, I threw him in the three-hole,” Duncan said. “His preseason was really good, I was like let’s throw him in there, everything leading up to this looks really good and he took off from there.”

Longwell finished his sophomore campaign hitting .289 with 33 RBIs, eight homers, 11 doubles and a triple in 53 games. This season in 48 games, he is currently hitting .415 with 65 RBIs, 10 homers, 19 doubles and a pair of triples.

The 6-foot-1 junior entered Monday’s 7-2 win over Akron in the top 20 in the nation in both batting average and RBIs.

It isn’t a shock to his high school coach that Longwell is having this kind of success on the diamond for the Golden Flashes.

“(He) always had a quiet confidence about him and he has tremendous bat speed,” Ridgley said. “So to see what he is doing right now, I am not surprised.”

The biggest difference from last year to this year is the strikeouts. After striking out 53 times last season, he has cut that down to just 20 so far this year.

“If you look at his numbers, he doesn’t strike out, he doesn’t swing and miss much,” Duncan said. “He moves the baseball. His hand-eye coordination is incredible, and he has gotten better every year with his power numbers."

The junior has also done it in the field this year as well. In 330 chances with the leather, he has yet to commit an error after committing just four last season in 420 opportunities.

“That’s a testament to his focus and his routine every day,” Duncan said. “He’s got unbelievable hands, just a very determined individual to be successful.

“He is going to be a MAC Player of the Year type candidate if he doesn’t win it.”

Longwell hopes to build off his baseball success he has had in high school and college and play at the next level. That’s the reason that despite several offers to play quarterback in college, he stuck with baseball.

“My dream has always been to play professional baseball and you can’t do that by playing college football,” Longwell said. “It was a pretty easy decision for me to come to Kent to play baseball.”

He isn’t going to rush the process, however. The lefty wants to enjoy his time at Kent State right now and then see where the chips may fall in the MLB draft during the second week of July.

“That’s a goal of mine but I am just taking it one day at a time,” Longwell said. "(I am) just worrying about one at-bat at a time and just getting better every day and playing with confidence and having fun while I am doing it.”

While Aidan Longwell carries himself with a quiet confidence and won’t give himself praise, those who know him best will do it for him.

“Aidan is as good as it gets,” Moore said. “You can never have enough good things to say about Aidan Longwell.”