Luke Keister clearly recalls the first time he went to see the Harrisonburg Turks play in the Valley Baseball League.
“I can remember we went with my younger brother Seth’s T-ball team,” said Keister, who grew up playing in the Grottoes Little League. “I could not have been older than 7 or 8. I can remember going in the dugout, it was before the game and VBL guys were taking (batting practice). One guy shattered his bat and gave it to my brother.”
Luke Keister, 21, will be back in that third-base dugout this coming season – but in a much different role than his previous visits to Veterans Memorial Park.
The Spotswood High graduate will be part of a young coaching staff under first-year head coach Tyler Bocock, a former baseball standout at Turner Ashby and Stetson who is now an assistant coach at powerhouse Sarasota High in Florida.
“When you are around Luke, you get an energy that is unmatched,” Tyler Bocock said in a phone interview. “He is that type of player, let that energy flow.”
“We have a lot of young energy,” Keister said of the coaching staff. “I think it will be helpful to relate to the players.”
Bocock, the former head coach at Sarasota Christian, envisions Keister as a bench coach of sorts who could also coach first base if needed.
“He is the closest relation (in age) to these guys. It is nice to have a person who just did these the last two years (as a player in the VBL). For him in that role is huge, like a player coach,” Bocock said from Florida.
Keister and Bocock still kid about the first time they crossed paths in the Rockingham County Baseball League as players nearly five years ago.
New to the league, Keister was playing for New Market and forgot to wear a belt in a game at Clover Hill. Playing for the host Bucks, veteran RCBL player Bocock noticed from the first-base dugout and gave Keister the business.
“I am going to lose my mind,” said Keister, with a laugh. “Who is this guy? Tyler later hit a home run to put his team ahead.”
“We have joked about it over the years,” Bocock said.
The transformation for Keister is unique.
It was just last season that the infielder played in the Valley League All-Star Game in Harrisonburg (first base dugout that time) as a member of Woodstock, where the head coach was Mike Bocock – the father of Tyler. The younger Bocock assisted his father last season.
Now Keister will be on the coaching staff of the Turks at the spring home of JMU after most likely ending his college career in 2026 with Division III Averett in Danville after a recent transfer. Keister also played for Woodstock in 2024.
He is young enough and good enough to still be playing – but ready for a transition.
“I have been doing a lot of a deep diving search and praying a lot,” he said. “I feel this is where the Lord wants me to be. Making the switch from player to coach … the hard work remains the same.”
Keister played several seasons in the RCBL including 2020, when the league included future Major Leaguers Chase DeLauter (JMU, Cleveland) of Broadway and Will Wagner (Liberty, San Diego) of Montezuma. With the Shockers, Keister was part of two RCBL title teams this decade.
Keister played at perennial ODAC contender Shenandoah in Winchester from 2023-2025 under head coach Kevin Anderson, who once held the same role at JMU.
While Keister excelled with Woodstock, he struggled at the plate in college with an average of .152 last season as a part-time starter and a mark of .222 in 63 at-bats over three seasons.
He noted his much better offensive numbers while playing in the summer as opposed to college spring ball. His major is sports administration with a minor in communications, and he wanted to part on good terms with Shenandoah.
“I still respect him very deeply. I love him to death,” Keister said of Anderson. “I have not been successful there (at the plate). A change of scenery … I am very excited” about the 2026 college season.
The Averett roster for 2026 also includes Michael Gaskins, from Page County High; Louisa County High grad Ryan Toney; and Maddox Warren, from Fluvanna High. The new head coach for Averett is Billy McLaughlin, a graduate of the school who grew up in Northern Virginia.
Keister will bring youthful energy to the Turks, who parted ways with long-time head coach and former owner Bobby Wease.
“I want to have different ages (for coaches). You also need to hear it from a guy who did it last year,” Bocock said. “I can trust Luke 100 percent as a coach because I know him as a person. There is not a fiber in his body that can be negative.”
New Valley League commissioner
The new VBL commissioner is Rick Furr, who played for the Winchester Royals in 1979, at Louisburg Junior College and at Division I Maryland. He grew up in Middleburg and is in the Loudoun County High School Hall of Fame.
He takes over on Jan. 1, 2026.
Furr has more than 30 years of experience in baseball, including as an assistant coach at Austin Peay. He worked with a minor league team in the Detroit Tigers farm system in the South Atlantic League, among other roles.
“I am honored to accept the position of Commissioner and President of the Valley Baseball League,” Furr said in a league release. “This league boasts a proud tradition; the VBL thrives on its passionate communities that cherish this game. I am enthusiastic about collaborating with our teams, athletes, and fans. What better way to spend the summer in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia’s #1 tourist attraction, by attending a college baseball game with family and friends?”
“Rick and I formed a partnership for Youth Baseball Camps. Our baseball camps were a huge success, in part due to Rick’s leadership, organizational skills, marketing, connections with sponsors and community leaders, and hiring excellent baseball instructors,” Kevin Malone, the former general manager of the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers, said in a statement posted by the VBL.
Notes
- Other assistant coaches for the Turks will include Ryan Cowell, a pitcher at Virginia Wesleyan from powerhouse Hanover High near Richmond; and Sterling Pell, the head coach at Sarasota High and former Division I pitcher at Florida Atlantic. Bocock may add to his staff later.
- Bocock was an assistant coach when the Harrisonburg High baseball team had a deep playoff run in 2017. The Blue Streaks lost in the state semifinals 31-3 to Hanover. Bocock played in the Valley League for the Waynesboro Generals.
- Spotswood won the state baseball title in 2025 under coach Marcus Davis, whom Keister played for with the Blazers. Davis was the VHSL Class 3 coach of the year in 2025.
- Keister’s father, Eric, played baseball at Broadway and EMU, where he was teammates with former MLB catcher Erik Kratz. The stepfather of Keister, Mike Burtner, was a long-time player and coach of Elkton in the RCBL and has been very involved in travel baseball. Keister’s brother Seth attends Appalachian State, and his stepbrother, Noah Burtner, is a Spotswood grad from Penn Laird who is a pitcher in college at Bluefield and has made the dean’s list several times.