A Family Affair

Casey Opitz Got His Love Of The Game Watching His Two Older Brothers

By Max Thoma

Casey Opitz grew up surrounded by the game of baseball. In his hometown of Littleton, Colorado, the current South Bend Cubs catcher didn’t have to look too far to find a pair of role models that would help facilitate his baseball journey, from first falling in love with the game to now playing it at a professional level.

“My two brothers, easily.” Opitz said when I asked him who influenced his life the most in baseball at an early age. “That’s’ really the only baseball I ever saw. We’d travel to different states to see my middle brother play or travel to Lincoln, Nebraska and watch my oldest bother play every weekend. That’s the baseball I saw, that’s the reason I fell in love with the game, just being around them. Going through all the ups and downs that baseball comes with it just has brought us so much love and enjoyment; it’s brought my entire family closer.”

Casey’s oldest brother, Jake, is 12 years older and was drafted in the 39th round of the 2004 MLB Draft by the

Seattle Mariners. He elected to go the college route instead and played at the University of Nebraska. That decision paid of tremendously because four years later he had skyrocketed to a 12th round selection by the Chicago Cubs.

Jake’s career in pro baseball spanned from 2008 to 2015, and the versatile infielder actually played in the Midwest League and even for the AA Tennessee Smokies in 2010.

Next along was the middle Opitz brother, Shane, a shortstop selected in the 10th round by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2010. Shane forwent college and went straight to the minors. Shane would go on to play 607 games in Minor League Baseball, with 145 of those games coming at the AAA level in his final two year in 2017 and 2018.

Shane went into coaching where he’s been an assistant at Northern Colorado, an infield coach at Stetson, and in 2021 actually was on the Arkansas Razorbacks staff as a Graduate Manager, with his little brother Casey the senior starting catcher.

That 2021 Arkansas team was special. The Hogs went 50-13, winning the SEC regular season, the SEC Tournament, and spending the majority of the season at the No. 1 team in the entire country.

Casey was a team captain on a squad considered to be the best in the country until they fell in a Super Regional. But those years at Arkansas, and all the ups and downs and relationships built along the way, are never too far away from 24-year-old.

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That’s because this year when the South Bend Opening Day roster was announced, it included a teammate of Casey’s for three years – Connor Noland. Not only were they teammates for three years but virtually every time that Noland took the mound in an Arkansas uniform, Opitz was behind the plate.

On top of that, on April 25 Christian Franklin earned a promotion from Low-A Myrtle Beach. Franklin, too, was a threeyear teammate of Opitz in college.

“It’s been crazy, you know the South Bend Razorbacks is what we’re starting to call it,” Opitz said. “It’s been awesome just being able to have that connection with those guys already and we’ve seen

2021 and four rounds later Opitz heard his name called by the same Chicago Cubs. Three college teammates on the same minor league team is crazy, I’ve personally never seen it in my career. Even seeing two teammates line up as opponents is rare.

Not only that, there may not be a each other all go through struggles and we know what it’s like. Just being able to help them through that and them help me through that or whatever it may be is so important to have. It’s always fun when you see a familiar face and go through the process with them.”

There’s a certain level of calmness that being so incredibly familiar with teammates can bring. Franklin was taken in the fourth round of the draft in more experienced battery in High-A than Noland and Opitz.

“We’ve done it with 10,000 fans in the stands, more than that even,” Opitz said with a big smile adorned on his face. “When you get to that point you’ve seen a guy struggle, and that’s big for me because you then learn how to get a guy back on track. It’s super fun being back there, Noland is a guy who’s super consistent, never going to get down after a bad outing or a walk or anything. He’s never going to get too high either. He’s just going to stay consistent and that’s the energy I try to bring back there to help facilitate things.”

Much like his older brother, Casey was drafted out of Heritage High to have a manager that’s been through the grind back there, understands the ups and the downs that come with it,” Opitz said. “It’s big versus someone who doesn’t know the catching life, it’s a different life. It’s a completely different life, more of a grind than anything but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. You know you’re always involved in every decision, whether it’s a win or a loss you can always put it on your shoulders and that’s what I love about it.”

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School but went to play collegiately. A 27th round pick by the then Cleveland Indians in 2017 blossomed into a Cubs 8th round pick four years later.

As a rookie he played in 19 games: one in Arizona with the Cubs rookie affiliate, 16 in Low-A Myrtle Beach, and two games in Triple-A Iowa. All told in 19 games the switch-hitting catcher registered a .250 batting average and a crazy good .400 on-base percentage thanks to garnering 14 walks.

After breaking late from Spring Training and joining South Bend at the end of May in 2022, Opitz has been with the Cubs High-A affiliate ever since. Being a catcher is unlike any other position in baseball. He’s got to know every pitcher, what they throw, how they throw, what to say or do when one guy is struggling versus another, and do all of that while also having to bat and know the scouting report of the pitchers he’s facing at the plate.

One of the great things about going through the Cubs system as a catcher though is that three of the four full season affiliates (and the Chicago Cubs Manager David Ross) have former catchers serving as managers. That includes South Bend Cubs manager Lance Rymel.

“You know he’s huge, just being able

Casey is learning under the tutelage of a former Cubs prospect in Rymel, he’s got a pair of teammates from college who have been through it all together, and he’s got a couple of older brothers he talks to just about every single day.

It’s not hard to understand why Opitz, the man, is so incredibly full of life and shows such a positive demeanor. He brings the same attitude to the ballpark every day, no matter his struggles or the team struggles. Over a grueling 132-game schedule, plus the grind of be, that’s huge,” he said.

Spring Training, Casey Opitz is almost unapologetically positive.

He knows when is the proper time for a dose of his boundless humor and when is the time for seriousness and leadership.

Opitz told me that wherever he goes he wants to be a leader. He was a captain at Arkansas and now as a returner to the organization with a ton of High-A experience, he’s helping guide a new collection of Cubs arms in their development, and his own in turn.

A switch-hitting catcher is such a luxury to have, especially when they’re as gifted and as fundamentally sound as Opitz is. Casey has the chance to be the first of his brothers to make it to the MLB, and if he does it’ll be a surreal moment for his family who have played such a major factor in his career.

His brothers Shane and Jake were born be around the game of baseball, and so was their youngest brother.

“What else would you rather be doing. Everyone talks about the grind but when you look at it, I don’t think I could handle being behind a desk, I don’t think that’s for me. I want to be out there with the guys, it’s something new every day. When you take a step back and look at how blessed we are to be in this situation, playing a sport professionally where people come out and get a break from their lives to yell at us for nine innings, it’s super cool to be able to be in this spot. I will never take it for granted.”

When it comes to catching some of the best arms in all of Minor League Baseball, like Opitz has gotten to do in his time in South Bend, it really does go a long way in advancing his own skill behind the dish.

“Iron sharpens iron. You have guys that’re going to be big leaguers and just being able to get with them now and get with them early and hone my craft whether it’s receiving, blocking, throwing, pitch calling, whatever it may