With as much success on the football field and basketball court, baseball was often an afterthought at Highlands High School.
Jeremy Baioni helped change that narrative. Not that the Bluebirds weren’t successful prior to Baioni’s tenure that started in 2009 with six region championships (including two when Baioni played in 1996 and ’97) from 1959-97, but the program needed a shot in the arm.
Fifteen years and four region championships later, Baioni decided to step down from the program, informing the school he was resigning as head coach on Wednesday.
“The biggest thing was time commitment and what it took for me personally. I wasn’t able to give 100% anymore needed for the school, team and program,” Baioni said. “With my job at Children’s Hospital, I need to focus on that a little bit more. To have that flexibility was great, I just don’t feel like I can give 100% anymore.”
Baioni is a Business Intelligent Developer/Analyst at Children’s. He also wants to focus more on his family with his kids out of high school now and help out with his brother’s construction business. He ends his Highlands tenure with a 319-258 record, four region championships and two state runner-up finishes.
“We always talk as a team, you go into someone else’s dugout and you want to make it look better than when you got there. Leave it better than we found it and that’s what I wanted to do here,” Baioni said. “It’s not just wins and losses, I wanted to get kids to next level.”
Not only get kids to the next level, but get interest in the program. When he first started in 2009, they had maybe 30-35 kids in the program spanning across five classes and dipping into the middle school to bring kids up. There’s now 60-plus kids in the program without having to dip into the middle school level.
“Jeremy was a pioneer in servant leadership. He helped kids in whatever avenue they wanted to pursue,” Bluebirds Athletic Director Wes Caldwell said. “He was fully invested in being a great role model and advocate for student-athletes. It’s a sad day for us, but we understand why. Jeremy was the epitome of how to do things the right way.”
Numbers improved, facilities improved and ultimately the product on the field improved. There’s a turf infield at their ballpark now, installed in 2020 at Highland Park.
Winning a competitive 9th Region doesn’t come easy, the Bluebirds did it four years in a row. A feat that hadn’t been done since 1954 when Newport Central Catholic won seven straight region titles from and was matched by Beechwood and good friend Kevin Gray from 2019-23.
“It’s a terribly sad day for the 9th Region and NKY baseball,” Gray said. “Personally and selfishly sad because I loved our battles. I loved talking baseball with him. Great coach, great ambassador of the game and great friend. He will definitely be missed!”
Gray is president of the Northern Kentucky Baseball Coaches Association, Baioni was a big figure for Northern Kentucky prep baseball as a state rep and helped with a lot of things in the region.
Baioni won’t be stepping away from the game completely, still a vital member of Prep Baseball Kentucky, one of the country’s biggest and most respected independent scouting services. He’ll continue to help kids get recruited, something he continually emphasized as the leader of the Bluebirds.
“The job is to win games, but also prepare them for the next level,” Baioni said. “You can win and still do that. For a while, a lot of kids in Fort Thomas didn’t know that was an option. Growing up we saw kids play college baseball, but from that time until about 2010, that wasn’t a thing for us. Once the kids realized what they could do, the kids in the program were really good baseball players. We had so many talented players and selfless guys.”
While dozens went on to play college baseball during Baioni’s stead, one who skipped that path all together to start a professional career was Drew Rom, drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the fourth round of the MLB Draft in 2018.
Rom eventually made his Major League debut in August 2023 for the St. Louis Cardinals.
“One of Drew’s first calls was to Jeremy when he got called up and that’s why we do this,” Caldwell said.
Highlands posted the opening on Friday in hopes to fill the position soon as offseason work will continue by the current staff in place. Whoever takes over, it will be a new era of Bluebirds baseball, 12 seniors also departing from the 2024 team.
