Missoula Impact Baseball Partners with Colton Little of The Hitting Barn to Oversee Baseball Operations
Written By Dave Smith
The Missoula Impact Baseball Club has partnered with The Hitting Barn to oversee its baseball operations. The Hitting Barn was founded and is operated by Colton Little, a four-year starter at Colorado Mesa University, a Division II college baseball powerhouse in Grand Junction, Colorado. Little then spent the last decade coaching elite high school club baseball for the Slammers North club in Denver, Colorado. He also served as a scout team coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Little brings a wealth of knowledge, instructional skill, and opportunities from the years of playing college baseball and coaching at the highest level of prep baseball in the Mountain West. In 2022, as head coach of the Slammers North 17U team, Little coached Walker Martin who became the 52nd overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, a second-round selection of the San Francisco Giants that signed an over-slot $3 million signing bonus. Dozens of Little’s former players are now playing college baseball and/or in line to be future MLB draft picks.
“This is a big day in the evolution of the Missoula Impact Baseball Club,” said Lonnie Labbe, President of the Impact Board of Directors. “We are so excited to have Colton now at the helm of our baseball operations. His instructional coaching ability is off the charts, and he has a proven track record of helping kids develop the baseball intellect and skills to play at the next level.”
The Hitting Barn opened its doors earlier this year in the Potomac Valley and quickly established a growing list of athletes, both baseball and softball players, in the Missoula area. The Hitting Barn offers baseball and softball hitting lessons and defensive work for all ages.
"I am excited to help and create athletes in the Missoula area. Being on the instructional side for Impact, it will allow me to really bring my experience to the area where kids want to learn and get better at the game."
Missoula Impact will round out its coaching staff around The Hitting Barn arrangement by announcing two additional paid coaching positions in the near future. Impact sincerely appreciates the contributions of our former volunteer coaches over the club’s inaugural two seasons. However, this truly marks a new day in the evolution of Missoula Impact Baseball Club and bodes well for the club being a long-term fixture in the Missoula baseball community.