Medford Mustangs catcher Jeremiah Robbins bides his time in the dugout at Harry & David Field in Medford.

To watch him these days, it’s hard to fathom a time when Jeremiah Robbins didn’t feel comfortable behind the plate as a catcher.

If ever there was a fit for a player, that seemed to be the one for the rising North Medford High senior. His older brother Josh played catcher, his body type leaned toward more success there and he had the kind of baseball knowledge that few others can achieve.

Still, those age 10-13 years maybe weren’t the finest moments on the diamond for Robbins.

“I would catch but I really wasn’t a catcher, I hated it,” the 18-year-old Robbins said with a laugh. “I couldn’t stand getting hit by the ball and being in the gear. It wasn’t until about my seventh-grade year that I really started liking catching.”

The reason for his change in attitude toward the position? It’s about as true-to-form for the honest appraisals Robbins is known to offer.

“I think one time it just clicked and I was like, ‘Well, I’m probably a better catcher than I am at any other position so I might as well stick to it,’ or something like that,” he added.

Fortunately for the Black Tornado and the Medford Mustangs, Robbins not only stuck with his roots as a catcher but has steadily grown into the position as one of the best Oregon has to offer behind the plate.

“Jeremiah’s solid in everything that he does,” said Mustangs manager Nate Mayben. “Like we’ve had in the past, he’s a great defensive catcher and does a great job behind the plate with our pitchers.

“When his motor’s running, he’s got energy and he’s one of the best catchers that I’ve ever coached and one of the best hitters that I’ve ever coached.”

Robbins entered this week’s tournament play in Reno as the third-leading hitter among the regular starters for the Mustangs (14-9), who opened the event with a 6-0 win over the Reno Knights late Thursday night.

Splitting time between catcher and designated hitter, the 5-foot-10, 195-pound Robbins is batting .321 to trail only Eli Havey (.375) and Aiden Horsley (.333). With 15 RBIs, Robbins ranks second to Havey (18), who is enjoying a tremendous debut summer with the Mustangs, and his 14 runs scored are tied with Tristan Mallari (batting .317) behind only Horsley (15).

Mallari, Horsley and Johnny King each had two hits during Thursday’s win — Robbins added one — with King driving in two runs and Dominic Daffron holding things down on the mound with six shutout innings, allowing six hits with five strikeouts and three walks.

“Jeremiah’s one of those guys that can get on a hot streak that, when he’s on that streak and he’s locked in, he’s hard to beat at the plate,” said Mayben of Robbins. “Being in the middle of our lineup, he’s obviously proven that over the last two or three years. When he’s hot, we’re hard to beat as a team.”

Unfortunately for Robbins and company, the month of June has proven that the reigning state champions aren’t untouchable in American Legion AAA play.

“It’s been really interesting so far,” said Robbins, in his third summer with the program. “We’ve already matched our loss total from last summer (40-9), but I really like the team we’ve got. We’ve got a good group of guys. I’ve had a couple little hiccups here and there but I think I’m starting to get going a little bit and I think our team’s on a good path right now.”

“Especially playing the last two years and making it as far as we did both those years,” he added, “it’s just kind of odd to see us not winning these close games and blowing teams out like we usually do.”

The Mustangs boast 18 state championships overall, and Robbins said the players certainly aren’t counting out their potential for No. 19 once all is said and done this summer.

“We’re gonna make a run at state this year, I can promise that,” he said. “I think we’re going to turn things around at the end of this summer.”

“We have a lot of talent and we’re all kind of scratching our heads a little bit right now wondering why we’re losing these games,” added Robbins. “I think one of the main reasons is that some guys — including myself — sometimes we don’t compete as much as we should and we kind of get a little lazy maybe and a little complacent and teams will beat us when we’re that way. Teams want to beat the Mustangs — really bad — so when we don’t come out to play our ‘A’ game every single game, teams are going to beat us and you’ve seen that through the month of June. We’ve just been getting beat and beat and beat, so that’s one thing we really need to fix.”

Robbins expects to help shoulder a lot of that burden to right the ship, so to speak, and he has Mayben’s respect to fit into that leadership mold.

“Jeremiah’s a competitor; he wants to compete,” said Mayben. “He’s harder on himself than anybody else and he pushes himself more than anybody else. That’s what makes a great baseball player.”

“He’s a ‘first guy in, last guy out’ type of guy,” he added. “He’s down here hitting and working when nobody else is. That’s the type of guy he is.”

As Robbins puts it, baseball is a lifestyle.

“I’ve grown up with it my whole life and it’s just something that I couldn’t see myself not doing,” he said. “Now that I’m starting to get into my senior year and hoping to play college ball, it’s just such a fun opportunity to play some higher level baseball in the summertime.”

And there’s no place he’d rather be than with the Medford Mustangs.

“It’s everything that you want from baseball, really,” said Robbins. “You play with some guys from the valley during high school ball and against some others, but once the summer hits it’s just all about bonding with a bunch of guys, creating friendships and traveling together.”

“Those trips on the Mustang bus, you can’t replace them, ever,” he added. “Just to wear Medford on your chest and play for the Mustangs and be a part of our history in how we win so often, it’s just an honor to play.”

Robbins played an integral role in helping North Medford advance to the Class 6A state semifinals during the spring, and he carries on the tradition of calling pitches for the Mustangs.

“I usually talk to the pitchers and see what they like before the game,” he said of the process. “I can usually tell what’s going to work and what’s not going to work just from the bullpen after I see what type of pitches are working.”

“It’s more difficult with the Mustangs because we play teams all the time that I don’t know who they are or what they are about,” added Robbins, “so I just kind of have to feel around the hitters and kind of test different pitches. With North it was a lot easier to call the games because I knew so many of the players and when it got into conference, I was like, ‘OK I can get this guy out with this and get this guy out with that.’ It’s a learning experience to try to figure out and balance what I want to call game-in and game-out.”

Still, it’s a learning experience that Robbins wouldn’t trade for any other position these days.