Showcase Q&A: Marion County’s Lagemann discusses pursuing accounting, playing baseball and loyalty to Chicago Cubs

The fourth annual Muddy River Showcase takes place June 21 at John Wood Community College’s Student Activity Center. The girls game will tip at 2 p.m. with the boys game to follow at 4 p.m. General admission is $10.

PHILADELPHIA, Mo. — If it involves math, Joey Lagemann is all about it.

“I’ve always loved it,” Lagemann said. “I love working with numbers.”

Lagemann, a recent Marion County graduate, plans to translate that love of numbers into an accounting degree at John Wood Community College, where he will also play baseball next spring.

“Math has just always been my thing,” Lagemann said.

It was definitely his thing in high school.

“It’s always just come naturally to me,” Lagemann said. “In high school, I never studied for a math test. I’d always have to study for any other test, but math is the only thing that just came naturally to me.”

Lagemann realizes the number of people who are jealous of him for that.

“Yeah, I could see that,” Lagemann said. “A lot of people at my school were like, ‘You didn’t study?’ I was like, ‘No, I’ve never studied for a math test.’ I’ve never gotten below like a B on a math test.”

That love of numbers carries over to the baseball diamond.

“In my opinion, stats never lie,” Lagemann said. “I always want to know what my stats are, what I can improve on. I’m always on to Coach Snow about telling me the numbers. Sometimes he gets annoyed.”

Lagemann will have one last chance to put up numbers on the basketball court when he represents the Mustangs for the Missouri boys team in the Muddy River Showcase. Lagemann discussed his connections to other showcase participants, his shoe and football card collections and the Chicago Cubs in this Showcase Q&A.

Q: What are you looking forward to most about playing in the Muddy River Showcase?

A: I’m just mostly looking forward to playing with the guys I’ve been playing against since I was young, like Mason Smith. I played travelling basketball with him for three years, and we built a pretty strong relationship, so I’m pretty excited for that.

Q: When did you and Mason play together?

A: Going into my freshman year, that summer, I joined Crossover Hoops. We just built a relationship ever since we started playing with COH. He was there the year before I was, so he already had the experience of AAU. He just helped me out, brought me in and showed me the ways.

Q: You played for West Hancock and Illinois boys coach Jeff Dahl in AAU ball. How weird of a dynamic is that going to be playing against your old coach? 

A: I think it’s going to be fun. I played with a lot of guys on the Illinois side, too, like Gavin (Grothaus) and Lewis (Siegfried). I played with them on COH my last year. I think it’ll be pretty fun. I’m looking forward to playing with a lot of the guys I’m friends with in the area.

Q: Vince Dale, your teammate on the boys team, is playing baseball at John Wood, just like you are. How neat is that?

A: I’m looking forward to that. That’s going to be fun. I really like Vince. He’s a good guy.

Q: Did you guys play against each other in baseball?

A: Unfortunately, we did not play in baseball. Our baseball schedule is a lot different than our basketball schedule. We only play about 14 games a year, it feels like. It feels like nine games, to be honest with you. I wish we did, but we did play each other in basketball all four years of high school.

Q: Not that you hang out all the time, but how well do you guys know each other?

A: Before we started becoming closer here in the last couple months, we just really knew each other from basketball, but we’ve really started to talk a lot more, and after practice the other day, we went out to Jimmy John’s and just hung out. I think the relationship is getting stronger. I’m going to enjoy that, having somebody I know at John Wood that I can relate to.

Q: Do you know what position you’re going to play at John Wood?

A: I think Coach (Adam) Hightower is just going to want me to pitch for the first year, but I’m going to try to work hard throughout the fall season and hopefully become a two-way player by the spring.

Q: Have you thought about how crazy it is that all these things are connected? You’re going to John Wood. You’re playing with one of your future baseball teammates. You’re playing against your former AAU coach. You’re playing against some of the guys you played with and with some of the guys you played against.

A: It just feels crazy. It’s just all coming together it feels like. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’ve been looking forward to this.

Q: Is there any difference between Joey, the baseball player and Joey, the basketball player?

A: One hundred percent. Joey the basketball player plays with a lot more of a chip on his shoulder. I just feel like in basketball, everybody’s out to get me because whenever I was a freshman and sophomore, I didn’t have a great attitude on the court, but then I started to work on that a lot, then I got to my senior year, and I got a lot better at it. I feel like I had a lot of “haters,” so I felt like I always had to prove them wrong. Baseball Joey just likes to go out there and have a good time. I love baseball. I always have. I’ve played since I was a young kid. Baseball’s just something I wanted to pursue in college. I feel like basketball puts a lot more stress on you, and baseball is laid back and chill, and I really enjoy playing the game.

Q: When did you start playing baseball?

A: I started playing baseball when I was like 3 years old. When I was in preschool, I started playing tee ball, then I’ve just played ever since. I started playing travelling ball when I was 8 years old, and I played that until I was 14. We had a lot of success during that time. We were ranked in the nation at one time and ranked in the state pretty high.

Q: Did you play legion ball in high school?

A: I did play legion ball my freshman year, but then I stopped playing. I didn’t really feel like I was getting much out of it.

Q: Do you feel like AAU basketball was a blessing in disguise for you when it comes to baseball?

A: Definitely. When traveling ball broke up, it was kind of like, “What am I going to do now?” It was a little bit of a panic. We found legion ball, and we didn’t like that, and after that, I was like, “Well, I don’t know what I’m going to do now.” Then, Jonny Dahl reached out to my stepdad, Bo, and wanted me to come play for the travelling team because they had a kid drop out. They just took me in and started playing COH from there, then I played for another travelling basketball team my junior year summer out of Jefferson City. Then, this summer, I’m kind of just taking it easy.

Q: What makes you a good pitcher?

A: I took pitching lessons for two or three years with a guy out of Hannibal named Mike Lowe. Before I went there, I was throwing slow, and my mechanics were terrible. I went there for two years every Sunday. Every week in the offseason, I’d go in there. I eventually started to get better and better. I started to increase my velocity, and then I started to work on command more than speed. My command has gotten better and is still improving. That’s one of the things I’ll bring to John Wood is my command over velocity.

Q: Do you know what your velocity is at right now?

A: Not really. I haven’t been on a radar gun in a while. We don’t really have that, but I’m thinking low 80s.

Q: Are you big into advanced analytics like launch angle, exit velocity, xWOBA, those things?

A: I’ve never been on like a hit trax or anything like that. I’d love to, though. I’d definitely be interested in it if I got the chance to be on one. In college, I’ll definitely be interested in that if I can be a two-way and start playing. I don’t ever want to get away from hitting.

Q: Do you do that when it comes to Major League Baseball? Do you keep track of who’s leading in different categories and all those things?

A: I don’t watch a ton of Major League Baseball, but I keep up on who’s leading in stuff.

Q: Who’s your favorite MLB team?

A: I like the Cubs. A lot of people give me crap about it, but that’s my team. We’re still in first place.

Q: Is your family Cubs fans, then?

A: Yes, my whole family. We’re all Cubs fans. My grandpa grew up in Kankakee, right outside of Chicago, so he’s been a Cubs fan all his life, and it just went down through the family.

Q: Who’s your favorite player?

A: I like Shohei Ohtani, obviously, but I feel like that’s a common answer. Whenever he played on the Cubs, I liked Javier Baez. I’m liking Pete Crow-Armstrong right now. That’s my favorite Cubs player right now.

Q: Do you model your game after anybody? Did you grow up imitating anybody in the backyard?

A: Not really. I guess Ken Griffey Jr. Whenever I was younger, I loved Javier Baez. I’d watch his highlights all the time.

Q: Back to accounting, what’s your career path? Do you know what you want to do after college?

A: Yes and no. After I get my accounting degree, I definitely want to become a CPA. If I get my certificate for that, it opens up a bunch of opportunities. You can do taxes. You can be a personal accountant for somebody. It just opens up a lot more opportunities. Other than that, I don’t really know where I’m looking to get a job.

Q: As long as it involves numbers, though, right?

A: Yes, sir. You know it.

Q: Is there anything else people should know about you?

A: I like to collect shoes. I spend a lot of money on shoes, and I also spend a lot of money on football cards. I collect football cards and sell them. That’s the one thing I’ve gotten into this year. 

Q: What’s been your biggest sale so far?

A: I don’t remember how many cards it was. I think it was like six cards that I sold for like $485. An individual card, the most I’ve sold one for is $240, and I just sold one for $151.

Q: What was the one that sold for $240?

A: It was a Puka Nacua Downtown. It’s a really rare card. I buy all my football cards at Walmart, Target, etc. I bought a box at Walmart one day, and I opened it in my car. I pulled the card, and I was like, “Oh my gosh.” I also have a CJ Stroud rookie card that’s worth about $800.

Q: Are you ever going to sell the CJ Stroud card?

A: I don’t know. I’m hoping he can win a Super Bowl so it goes up.

Q: Do you collect cards from other sports like baseball and basketball?

A: I do have some decent baseball and basketball cards, but I’m mostly focused on football cards. I keep my eye on the market. I watch a lot of videos on what cards to collect, what cards not to collect, what cards to sell, what cards not to sell. It involves numbers, so it’s right up my alley.

Q: What kind of shoes do you collect?

A: I have some Jordans, some Nike Dunks, a pair of Yeezys. I have about eight pairs of basketball shoes.

Q: So, all the football card money goes to shoes?

A: Yes, it has been. Most of it’s going to go to college, or I buy more cards with it to get more money.

Q: What’s your favorite pair of basketball shoes that you have and want to get?

A: My favorite pair that I have are my Kobe 8 Venice Beach’s, then my favorite pair that I do not have are the Kobe 5 X-Rays. I like Kobes.

Q: Do you have a little Kobe in you on the court?

A: I could say little bit. I try to win every sprint. I just work as hard as I can until I can’t go any longer.