Career Path Leads to Base Paths for Wootton Alumnus

It started as a summer job nearly six years ago, but in just a short time, Marty Cornish has gone from full-time paint salesman to full-time baseball instructor. 

Cornish recently quit his job managing the Georgetown Sherwin Williams store to focus on his upstart baseball training company, Round Trip Baseball.

The alumnus and former Montgomery College-Germantown star started working with a small group of players while he was still at Montgomery College. Through word of mouth, Cornish’s workouts got more and more popular, leading to the start of the company in 2009, he said.

“The big thing is getting the name out there and getting the brand out there and earning people’s trust,” Cornish said. “I try to do the best I can every time I’m working with a guy so that he feels that he’s part of something and that I really care.”

Round Trip Baseball provides skill training in all facets of the game for players age 8 to 18 through individual and group lessons. Cornish said that he also hopes his passion for the game rubs off on his players.

“I think there are definitely guys that are passionate about [playing baseball], but I think it could use a little push,” he said.

During the past two winters, Cornish worked with Wootton and ’s programs. His work with his former school continues in the fall.

Wootton head coach J.D. Marchand said he sees why his former player is succeeding.

“He’s always been an energetic guy,” Marchand said. “He’s always had a passion for the game and you still see that today. Whenever we sit down and talk baseball, he’s got enthusiasm, he’s gung-ho, he’s eager to do things, and he loves to see kids succeed and help them. He was that way when he played, he was always hustling, he had a great work ethic and you can still see that in him today.”

As a result, Cornish’s players are always positive and come back from workouts talking about the things they went through and learned from him, Marchand said. 

Jason Williams, one of Cornish’s very first players, said the instruction paid immediate dividends for him, particularly through a change in his swing.

“Marty didn’t change it dramatically,” Williams said. “He tweaked little things that had me start hitting line drives instead of pop ups and I was hitting so much better. I was hitting eight or nine in the order [at the time], and after a week working with him I think I moved up to [leadoff].”

Set to enter his senior year at , the 17-year-old Williams started working with Cornish when he was 10 and has continued ever since.

Along with Wootton, Walter Johnson, and Quince Orchard high schools’ teams, Round Trip Baseball works with individual players from across Montgomery County, Cornish said.

“It’s all guys that want to work hard and that’s really fun to see,” he said. “Everybody being in the situation where they want to work and they really strive to get better at something, it’s fun.”