Joe Mercer joined the Carson High School varsity baseball team four years ago as a wide-eyed freshman middle infielder.
He is leaving as a multi-purpose player who actually evolved into a first-team all-conference catcher, and he even hit his way into Carson's school record book.
Mercer also leaves as the Nevada Appeal's 2000 Carson Country Baseball Player of the Year.
"He has done everything over the years that we've asked him to do," Carson coach Ron McNutt said. "He's been positive, and one thing about Joe Mercer, he shows up to play and he plays hard every game.
"He's a guy you can count on. He's there all the time; there's no excuses, he's just going to get it done for you."
That showed up in the statistics for the Senators, who qualified for a trip to the 4A state tournament in Las Vegas. Mercer hit .507 with 34 RBIs during the Northern 4A conference season and led the team in runs scored with 30. He also set a school single-season record with 20 doubles overall, eclipsing the previous mark of 18 set by Matt Morgan in 1994.
"I finally swung the bat my senior year," said the 6-foot, 180-pound Mercer. "I'd never really hit that well the three previous years; something just finally clicked and I started swinging the bat a little better."
McNutt noticed the difference and used Mercer to hit No. 3 in the lineup most of this season.
"I thought he became a little more selective of his pitches to hit," McNutt said. "He probably didn't hit as many home runs as he wanted to, but he did a lot of other things for us. He was a contact hitter; he moved runners on, he drove them in. He was an all-around guy for us."
Mercer played primarily as a catcher this season, but he was capable of playing just about anywhere.
"He'll play any position you ask him to," McNutt said. "If I had to put him in the outfield, I'm sure he could play it for me, or first base, he could do it. I think he could probably pitch, too, and he'd probably relish the idea of doing that."
Mercer played his freshman year as a backup second baseman behind Justin Serrano. He started at second and played some third base as a sophomore, then converted to catcher as a junior.
"I didn't really mind it, as long as I stayed in the lineup," Mercer said of the switch to catcher. "I had never put on catcher's gear in my life before, but I just like to play so I strapped up the gear."
Now, Mercer prefers to strap up the gear and go behind the plate.
"I like catching, I like it a lot better than the infield and all that stuff," Mercer said. "Catching's a lot of fun. You get to be a leader out there."
Mercer intends to try and play college baseball, and he doesn't care what the position is.
"I'm definitely going to try and play a couple more years. I'm going to make a decision in the next week or two, it'll probably be a junior college in California," Mercer said. "Some colleges have said they want me to play infield, some colleges want me behind the plate. It really doesn't matter to me where I'm playing, so long as I get to stay in the lineup."
Mercer took a similar approach when he came up to Carson's varsity as a freshman.
"It was a big surprise to me when coach decided to bring me up. I got a few hits here and there, I got to pinch hit and I learned a lot my freshman year. I thought I knew a lot about baseball before that, but it has been a whole new world up here," Mercer said.
"Out of the four years, the biggest highlight was probably winning the zone championship my sophomore year with Austin (Leck), Justin (Serrano), Francisco (Melendez) and all those guys."
Mercer has come far since then. But that doesn't surprise McNutt at all.
"I'm real happy for him," McNutt said. "He's got a lot of opportunities and choices to make in the next month or so. I just said, 'Hey, don't push the panic button; make sure you sit down with your parents and come up with the right answer that will be best for Joe Mercer.' And I'm sure he will."
