Valley League: Tyler Bocock charts his own path as new Harrisonburg Turks head coach

Tyler Bocock sat on the wooden bleachers behind first base at Buck Bowman Park, the home of the Clover Hill Bucks of the Rockingham County Baseball League since the 1950s.

The Turner Ashby High School graduate traced the baseball coaching tree from which he came, including his father, Mike Bocock, a long-time coach in the Valley Baseball League; Ray Heatwole, whom his father played for at TA in the 1970s; and Clyde Metcalf, the former head coach at Sarasota High in Florida, who won two national titles, six state crowns and sent several players to Major League Baseball.

“Basically, an extended family member,” Tyler Bocock said of Heatwole, who did not coach the younger Bocock at TA, but certainly influenced him. “He is THE baseball guy – he is the godfather of baseball around here.”

About three years since that interview at the Clover Dome, the younger Bocock, 33, has forged his own path and will join his father and Heatwole as those who have guided programs in the Valley League.

The former player at Stetson University in Florida was named in early December as the head coach of the Harrisonburg Turks. He takes over for local legend Bobby Wease, who is the former owner of the Turks and the coach of the team for more than 30 years.

Among the players that Wease coached with the Turks that made the majors include David Eckstein, the MVP of the 2006 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals, and Clint Robinson, a former reserve first baseman with the Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers and Kansas City Royals.

Wease guided the Turks to the Valley League title in 2023.

“Replacing the former coach who has over 30 years in the Valley League is a tall order,” Gerald Harman, team president of the Turks, wrote to the AFP. “With Tyler being the son of VBL Hall of Famer and the winningest coach in Mike Bocock, Tyler has witnessed what it takes to be a head coach in the VBL. With Tyler growing up in a baseball family and being from the area, Tyler knows the importance of the VBL.”

And now he will become another TA graduate to coach a team in the Valley League.

Mike Bocock coached Woodstock in the Valley League in 2025 in his last season after guiding several other teams in the circuit. Heatwole, also a former head coach at Bridgewater College and JMU, guided Madison County in the Valley Legue in the 1980s. One of his players was Chris Finwood, the long-time head coach at ODU in Norfolk.

“I’m grateful for my experiences with both Bob and my dad. I honestly don’t feel pressure following in their footsteps. I’m excited for my own path. This will be my team to coach. I’m excited for the opportunity to coach college players,” Tyler Bocock said on the Turks’ website. “I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to become the head coach of the Harrisonburg Turks. Baseball has obviously been a huge part of my life, and the Valley area means so much to me and my family. I’m excited to get started.”

He comes from a rich baseball family.

Tom Bocock, the brother of Mike, played at TA, JMU and in the minor league for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1980s. His son, Brian, a baseball and basketball star at TA, played in college at Stetson and in the majors as an infielder for the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies.

Tim Bocock, another brother of Mike, was a standout for the Bridgewater Reds of the RCBL. Tom (class of 2013) and Tim Bocock (2014) are both in the RCBL Hall of Fame, as is their father Jack (2016), a former standout at Harrisonburg High.

Tyler’s aunt, Kathy Bocock, was a basketball and softball standout at TA and three-sport athlete at Ferrum, where she is in the school’s Hall of Fame. She is the long-time softball coach at Elon in North Carolina. An assistant coach at Elon is former TA softball standout Carley Davis, who was an all-CAA player for the Phoenix.

Before becoming the head coach at Sarasota Christian, Tyler Bocock was briefly an assistant at Sarasota High under Metcalf. Among the players that Metcalf helped send to the majors was former Washington Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond.

In 2013, Bocock played for Valley League champ Waynesboro. His wife, Michelle, played volleyball at EMU in Harrisonburg and was a senior on the 2012 team.

She went to Sarasota Christian in high school; they have two children.

“He has played college ball, been an assistant with Woodstock and currently coach at Sarasota (Christian) School, Tyler understands today’s college baseball players,” Harman noted to AFP. “Tyler has connections in Florida and other states. He is working hard on the 2026 roster.”

Bocock has already locked in some of his coaches for the 2026 season, according to Harman. They include Spotswood High graduate Luke Keister; Aidan Miller; Ryan Cowell and Sterling Pell.

“I appreciate what that man did for us,” Harman, during a press conference in early December, said of Wease, a product of Broadway High. “But we have decided to move on. Not an easy decision. My (business) partner, Neil Clatterbuck, he lives down in Texas, we did some searching. We talked to several people.”

Clatterbuck was a baseball standout at Harrisonburg High, played for Harrisonburg American Legion Post 27 and was inducted into the RCBL Hall of Fame after starring for several clubs.

Notes

• Harman bought the team from Wease after the 2022 season, but Wease stayed on as head coach. Wease is in the RCBL Hall of Fame and Valley League Hall of Fame. The pitching coach for Wease with the Turks in 2021 was Larry Erbaugh, a former standout pitcher at TA and at the University of South Carolina. He went into the RCBL Hall of Fame in 2017. Erbaugh played at USC for coach Bobby Richardson, a former second baseman and World Series star with the New York Yankees.
• Brian Bocock played for Luray in the Valley League for his uncle, Mike. One of his teammates was Daniel Murphy, a former standout hitter for the Washington Nationals, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies. Murphy came out of retirement to play in the minors for the Los Angeles Angels and for Long Island in the Atlantic League in 2023. He hit .347 for the Nats in 2016.
• Tyler Bocock was all-Valley District at TA in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and the Knights won the district title each year. He started all 59 games at Stetson as a senior in 2014 and hit .229. He also played at Chipola Junior College in Florida. Major Leaguers to come out of Chipola include Patrick Corbin, a pitcher for the Nationals’ 2019 World Series team, and All-Star catcher Russell Martin. Stetson has produced several MLBers, including Brian Bocock, All-Star pitcher Jacob deGrom and Bill Swaggerty, also a pitcher. Swaggerty was teammates on the Baltimore Orioles from 1984-1986 with Staunton native Larry Sheets.
• Ray Heatwole went into the Virginia Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2023. Former Bridgewater head coach Curt Kendall was part of the 2024 class, and the late Brad Babcock, the former JMU mentor, was honored earlier this month in Charlottesville with the 2025 class. Heatwole is also in the RCBL Hall of Fame.