- December 4, 2025
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Any baseball player coming up through Lakewood Ranch High’s program who wants to become a Major League Baseball player now has as good a reference point as anyone.
That reference is Sarasota native Ian Desmond, named Lakewood Ranch varsity baseball coach May 21. Desmond was in the cleats of an aspiring Major Leaguer two decades ago. As a kid he recalls wishing to be a MLB player when the clock read 11:11 and when he blew out his birthday candles each year.
He also emulated Big Leaguers any way he could.
When he attended a Roger Miller baseball camp as a Little League player, Desmond saw former Sarasota High baseball player Justin Lincoln — an eighth round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies in 1998 — drive a truck to the baseball field.
When Desmond was old enough to drive, he bought a truck, too. And he’s driven one ever since.
A Sarasota High graduate, Desmond had the talent and work ethic to back up his dreams: he played 11 seasons in the Majors for three teams: the Washington Nationals, Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies. His career lasted from 2009 to 2019, and he played in two All-Star games, in 2012 and 2016.
Desmond overcame several injuries and other obstacles in his career, including learning the ins and outs of what can be a cutthroat — and highly lucrative — profession. He can lean on those lessons and others while guiding a Mustangs team that seeks to bounce back from a 6-18 season next spring.
Three of those lessons include: the dedication and sacrifice it takes to play baseball at the highest level; the importance of giving back to your community; and why family matters. Here’s a deeper look at those lessons, and how they shaped Desmond’s life and career.
Desmond’s mother, Pattie Paradise, worked two hairstylist jobs. His stepfather, Chris Charron, worked as an auto detailer before going to culinary school to become a sous chef. That grit stuck with Desmond, who worked at a Christmas tree stand and at Daiquiri Deck in Sarasota in 2004 — even after the Montreal Expos drafted him in the third round of the 2004 MLB Draft.
“I watched my mom work two jobs, and I watched her put up with a lot of things,” Desmond says. “I watched my stepdad work hard, and it was just part of the deal.”
That penchant for hard work served Desmond well in his career. That goes back to when he declined a seven-year, $107 million contract extension from the Washington Nationals — the team moved from Montreal to the nation’s capital and changed its name in 2005 — at the peak of his career following the 2014 season. He turned down the money believing he could make more as a free agent the next year.
In pro sports lingo, Desmond bet on himself.
The bet soured: Desmond struggled at the plate and in the field the following two years, and settled for a one-year, $8 million deal with the Texas Rangers. Then, to prove himself again — and earn playing time — Desmond moved from shortstop to outfield. That bet paid off, when Desmond made the All-Star team in 2016. He parlayed that season into a five-year, $70 million contract with the Colorado Rockies.
“I’ve always been a worker,” he says. “It’s just been in me. My last year with Washington was a tough year. My focus was off for many different reasons, and I kind of fell on my face in free agency. I had this choice, ‘Am I going to work and address some of the issues and get better, or am I going to sulk and sit back and let the circumstances dictate themselves?’”
Desmond has spent much of the past five years devoting his time to the Sarasota community. He partnered with retired executive Vince Northfield to found Newtown Connection, a nonprofit aimed at enriching the lives of diverse and at-risk youth in Sarasota.
Desmond first tapped into his drive to give back as a member of the Nationals, when he attended a ziMS Foundation event hosted by former teammate Ryan Zimmerman. “I think at the event he handed out a six-figure check, and I was a young Major Leaguer and I just thought, ‘I’m not doing enough,’” Desmond says. “He was a great player on the field and still was able to give his time to the ziMS Foundation, and I just felt like, ‘You know, I’ve got to turn it up.’”
As much as Desmond sought to be a Major League Baseball player growing up, he also wanted to be a father. That dream came into focus when Grayson Desmond was born. Grayson is the first of five children Ian and his wife, Chelsey Desmond, are raising. Sons Cruz and Ashton and daughters Dakota and Naomi have since joined the family.
“Grayson is, and was at the time, probably the biggest thing that had happened to me,” Desmond says. “Just as bad as I wanted to be a Major League baseball player, I wanted to be a dad. I remember being in the car with my mom when I was between 12 and 14. We were on Honore Avenue and I said, ‘Mom, I’m going to be the best dad ever.’ And she said, ‘I know you are.’ It makes me emotional now, but I love my kids, and I wouldn’t be able to do this life without them.”
Ian Desmond took his new position at Lakewood Ranch with them in mind. Grayson, now 14, will be a freshman at Lakewood Ranch this fall. Shortly after Desmond stepped away from baseball in 2020, he coached his three sons on a Little League team in Lakewood Ranch and won a championship.
“I had one son pitching, one son catching, and one son playing, I think, second base,” he says. “They got the last out and they all ran together and then they ran to me, and you just can’t buy that.”
