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Concrete content for anyone looking to get better. This community is for people who want to grow themselves, and grow the game. We know the game of baseball teaches us so many valuable life lessons!
Episodes
Monday Aug 28, 2023
Monday Aug 28, 2023
Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with
Ben Jones, HC of The Apprentice School.
Sponsored By:
- Netting Professionals
- 844-620-2707
- info@nettingpros.com
- www.nettingpros.com
BIO
- HC of the Apprentice School since 2021 and won Small College World Series in 2022 (1st year)
- Pitching coach for the Builders since 2007
- Part of the Small College World Series teams in 2007, 2015
- Former pitcher for the Builders
- Winningest pitcher in modern era of The Apprentice School
- The Apprentice School HOF class of 2020
- USCAA Hall of Fame in 2018
NOTES
- The Apprentice school 19 trade selections (blue collar), and 8 advanced trades (white collar)
- 20% of enrollment get selected into advancement
- ALL FREE
- Start at $22/hr and finish over $30/hr
- 6AM on the shipyard
- Classroom 16 hours a week
- Other 24 hours they are on the job training
- Every 6 months rotated to different shipyards to learn
- All year long
- Annual leave (40 hours of vacation)
- full benefits with company match
- 6AM pull in, get out at 330, practice 430 for couple hours based on part of year
- 3 time Small College World Series champion
- NSCAA schools must have a low enrollment (max 4000)
- Follow all NCAA rules and regulations (eligibility, etc)
- 80% home games
- Play D3, D2, JUCO, along with NSCAA teams
- Manage workload based on their job and baseball - light on weights and off season conditioning unlike the traditional college student
- Start 11/12 months - every monday with new starts
- 250-300 people brought in a year
- The Apprentice school 19 trade selections (blue collar), and 8 advanced trades (white collar)
- ****This program will turn a high school graduate into a mature man or woman!
- Grades and attendance not satisfactory you can be dropped from the program
- Its not for everyone, but it is very rewarding
- Athletics contribute to teamwork, teamwork contributes to leadership
- AS.edu general admission website
- Gobuilders.com athletics website
- Guys that aren’t scared to work!!
- 1 other trade school that offers athletics
- 25% acceptance rate
- Team GPA 3.6!
- SAT not requirement for admission
- Required classes (minimum 4, like to see 6-8)
- Focus on math and science
- Any higher math classes?
- How many days you were late and/or absent
- We are investing into you to be successful!
- To see the guys graduate is the ultimate goal!
- Team grade policy - not getting the grades you will not practice and be part of team
- Tutors available - do our best to make the program work!
- Company first, school second, baseball team third and priorities need to stay that way
- We help them keep them priorities straight
Monday Aug 14, 2023
Monday Aug 14, 2023
Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast
with Justin Hanley - William Penn Charter
Sponsored By:
- Netting Professionals
- 844-620-2707
- info@nettingpros.com
- www.nettingpros.com
BIO
- HC of William Penn Charter
- Associate HC/PC 2012-2017
- Inter AC Champions 2014, 2017, and 2021
- 4 players have gone to play pro ball during his time at Penn Charter
- He has help guide several players to college between Penn Charter and his time in travel baseball
- Former Director of Baseball Operations and Player development at Elite Sports Factory
- North American Baseball Account Executive at Silicon Valley FinTech startup, Pando, that uses predictive analytics to help professional baseball players mitigate their career risk.
NOTES
- Win loss and ERA are going out the window and looking more at whip, qab, and other processes
- Track bullpens and chart opposing hitters
- Do it on your own, and coach it up in between the inning
- There is nothing you can tell him that is goin to put him in a better position
- Be a voice of positive encouragement
- Strong up the middle
- Good relationships
- Tell me about mom and dad
- Analytical and due diligence mindset
- Big on self advocacy
- Summer camps to bring in the community
- Big on communication
- Kid first, no parents
- Pillars
- Self advocacy
- Don’t care what grade you are
- accountability
- Expect problems and use it has opportunity to teach leadership
- It more than just about the wins.
- We need to prove to them that we care more about them as people
- For every school that has their dream school, there is 10 kids at the wrong school
- Spend a saturday doing manual labor to build team
- School does great job bringing all types of kids together
- Video message to the team from alumni
- Players this is your program and your responsibility
- Representing your family at the same time
- Understand the common goal
- You can’t do it on your own
- Failure is going to find you
- Lean on your teammates, your coaches
- How are you going to play on a friday night if you can’t handle this chirping
- You can tell who the last years state champion was not the PG 16U championship
Monday Jul 31, 2023
Monday Jul 31, 2023
Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with Anthony Renz Concordia College
Sponsored By:
- Netting Professionals
- 844-620-2707
- info@nettingpros.com
- www.nettingpros.com
BIO
- HC at Concordia College (MN)
- AC since 2018
- Acting HC 2022
- 2022 Conference tournament
- 2023 Conference tournament and win
- Most hits
- Most conference players
- Bench Coach & Hitting Coach with Fargo-Moorhead
- MLB Partner league (Pioneer, Frontier, American Assoc, Atlantic)
- American Association champions (1st A.A title since merging)
- Former AC and GA Shippensburg University (2016-2018)
- Regional 2017
- PSAC tournament 2018
- 4 guys played pro ball during time at Ship
- Indy ball grinder!
- Las Vegas Train Robbers
- Evansville Otters
- Fargo-Moorhead
NOTES
- Powerful tool of Twitter
- Recruiting world at your fingertips
- Form good relationships
- Show I was a good coach and gain trust
- Work youth baseball camps to grind and learn
- Off season was CAMPS!
- The grind makes you better!
- Make sure the players know it is there program
- Player driven. Coaches put up guard rails
- Players win game, coaches lose them
- The guys after college are set up for success
- For 4 years we want you to feel like you are involved in the world series
- Our togetherness is second to none
- Town ball, playing more together
- Cobber baseball family
- Be with a group of guys you can lose with**
- Team building days
- Community events
- Supporting other athletic events
- Bus rides - Florida trips
- They should want to come to practice as long as the environment is good
- Winning helps the experience
- What can you do to make practice fun?
- Pick teams - compete more
- Balance of fun and intensity
- Conditioning mix of games
- Practice matters
- Everyday is a tryout
- You got to perform - playing hard is given and at end of day you need to perform
- Elimination in the cage - one pitch, in or out
- Create competition with the skills set in mind
- Reward BP “Dinger club”
- Hit the ball hard determines who you are
- Line drives - right above the L screen
- Gaps/HR - knock down the batter eye
- Group BP based on skill set or lineup
- Technology helps make live AB more realistic results, provide clarity
- Technology turns up the focus
- Train for higher EV
- Hit a ton of machine
- Weighted bat work
- Hit plyo
- Barrel control
- Throw two balls and always hit low ball
- Reward batting practice or out of cage if you don’t accomplish task (put a value on each swing)
- 2 strikes
- Unpredictable of 2K pitch needs to be trained with working on getting your barrel to the ball
- Manage your work - know your body
- Those who hit often, often hit
- Stick to what you believe in and stay consistent. Don’t over react with small sample size.
- Be where your feet are
- All in right here
Monday Jul 17, 2023
Monday Jul 17, 2023
Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with Eric Lassiter
Sponsored By:
- Netting Professionals
- 844-620-2707
- info@nettingpros.com
- www.nettingpros.com
BIO
- HC of Windermere HS (started 6 years ago)
- 5/5 state playoffs
- 4/5 district champs
- 3/5 regional finalist
- Former HC Tavares (1 year)
- HC at alma mater Apopka HS (6 years)
- Co Founder of Power Baseball
- Former WV Wesleyan College AC
- Director of membership for Diamond Allegiance
NOTES
- We are really big in the community and focus more beyond baseball
- Be the ultimate human being
- How you do anything is how you do everything
- Support other teams in the school
- Supporting little league tryouts, signups, etc
- Prep team, feeder team, little league nights
- When you feel the community supporting you its playing for something bigger than you
- Play for a bigger purpose
- Fall season for community work
- Grade checks
- 1 standard - don’t do anything that embarasses your religion, yourself, or your program
- Holding them to the expectations
- 9 to 5 - first 9 has to beat their last 5 on the field
- Everything counts
- Energy, effort, commitment to each,
- Fall season do little things to score points for 9 to 5
- Points for all types of ways to produce wins
- Running gets you better, not punishment
- Losers take care of the field
- Hold kids accountable on the travel scene will create good groups
- Win between innings
- The first tournament you set the standards
- Finding ways to stay active to improve
- Always an opportunity to get better and set yourself apart
- You have to have a skill set and it doesn’t matter how you may hit in a tournament
- How you fail is a big indicator of how you will succeed
- Baseball is how well you can fail
- 3-3 should be same energy as 0-3
- Each hitter can get into certain positions, which means they can move to get there
- What if your body is not capable of getting to that position. Can we unlock parts of your body to get to those positions?
- Power Baseball Foundation - board to help fundraise to help people who cannot afford to play travel baseball
- Application to help with practice and planning. Players come out and we donate their time to help
- Funded organizations that are not even part of Power Baseball
- The more good you do the better you will be
Monday Jul 03, 2023
Monday Jul 03, 2023
Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with Billy Emerson of Paul VI HS
Sponsored By:
- Netting Professionals
- 844-620-2707
- info@nettingpros.com
- www.nettingpros.com
BIO
- HC of Paul VI HS
- Career record 336 - 191 (winning over 50% games in his career)
- PVI since 2003 season
- 3 Conference WCAC championships
- 4 VISAA championships
- 8 times nationally ranked
- Over 100 players in college or drafted
- Paul VI HOF class of 2022
NOTES
- Coaching in the summer is a way for me to learn and get better from the college guys
- Each year you are taking a big hunk of clay and hopefully by the end of the year you hope it becomes a masterpiece
- You win games you should of lost and you lose game you should of won
- If you want consistency you have to be consistent
- You have to stick to the plan
- Maintain a coaching staff that can stick around a long time
- Put together standards and values that you can stick to
- Focusing on development players
- Its also about developing human beings
- Using the game to create things that they can use later in life
- If you focus on the right things the baseball things take care of themselves
- End of season meetings
- Using the battles to do use as fire and do more than this year
- You can do things to foster team chemistry (this is how we do things)
- You can’t force it, you need to foster it
- You can’t fool the players, it has to be real
- You can’t force someone to love you
- Expose our guys to different types of people
- Classroom session in the off season
- Pitchers and catchers, hitters, mental toughness training
- When a guy walks out of our program and he is blessed to play college baseball and he is prepared to step on campus that is an awesome thing
- Another huge win is when a guy comes back and says I know what you were saying
- We have objectives everyday
- Explain to the guys why and how this is gooing ot effect you now and down the road
- The game mirrors life because you have to sit there during moments of inactivity but be ready
- The value of paying attention to details
- There is a karma around the game and if you don’t pay attention it will bite you!
- Keep the baseball demons away from us!
- Every time we take batting practice we implement baserunning system
- Defensively we take balls live - making people make throughs at game speed
- Challenging the pitchers and hitters at practice with game situations
- Pitchers that have not gotten innings will be throwing more in practice of game situations
- Its about collecting outs. We need to get 21 of them as fast as we can
- This is an audition! For the regulars and for the guys who have not had an AB
- Keep stats in practice and it makes the process from objective
- QPA average - quality plate appearance - 60% or better
- 150 or lower strikeout %
- Pop up or routine flyball = airball (set goal for no airballs)
- Strike % and first pitch strike %
- Force bad contact as early as possible
- Defensively 1 error or less
- Turn as many DP as games played
- Always looking to take 2 until you can’t
- Reading dirt balls good secondary, read the trajectory, and take off
- Preparation, attention to detail, effort, focus, selfless, and toughness
- Aggressive in hitting situations - looking for FB
- 2 strike approach - the strikeout does nothing for us
- Execute when called upon
- Baserunning excellence - eyes up and hustle
- Pitch to spots, execute pitches > selection, make adjustments, rise to the challenge and post a zero
- Defense cherish outs - love outs as much as HR
- No play no throw - calculated risks
- The kids are our customers***
- What did we do to prepare them for the majority of their life?
Monday Jun 19, 2023
Monday Jun 19, 2023
Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with Matt Jones Shippensburg Univ
Sponsored By:
- Netting Professionals
- 844-620-2707
- info@nettingpros.com
- www.nettingpros.com
BIO
- HC at Shippensburg University (Since 2008 17 years)
- Over 400 with Raiders, over 500 total as HC (Former HC at Elizabethtown)
- 2008 ABCA/Diamond Sports Company North Atlantic Region Coach of the Year
- 2-time PSAC Coach of the Year (2022 East, 2008 West)
- 2 College World Series appearances
- 10 PSAC Tournament appearances
- 4 NCAA Regional Tournament appearances
- 35 victories in postseason play – including a 10-6 record at regionals.
- Six Raiders (MLB) Draft
- Several other players have gone on to play professionally as undrafted free agents or in an independent league
- Overall, Jones has coached in 54 conference tournament games,
- 21 NCAA regional tournament games
- 5 College World Series appearances
NOTES
- IF you don’t like where you are at you get a new hat
- You have to keep recruiting your guys when they are there
- I want the player to be with my players by themselves
- The family to be with the players by themselves
- Make sure you take two visits before you commit
- No one gets married after the first date
- New facility allowed to never go inside
- Winter workouts to be ready for 20-30 pitches and trust guys to get it done
- Replicate the starters stuff on a machine
- In our program its still about the program
- It needs be team first
- The younger you are the more blinders you have to have
- As you get through school it will widen
- Moving guys around the locker room
- Changing hitting groups
- Moving guys around in study hall
- Purposeful seating or hotel roomates
- Checking up with guys at practice that have nothing to do with baseball
- Let them see me as more than a coach
- We don’t hide things from the team
- Most of the things kids dealing with are not full reality
- No ugly pictures on IG
- Not posting the 0-3, but will post the HR
- You still need to decide how much to of the truth to tell a kid
- Respect their feelings and understand where they are and how much info you give them
- Fortunate to have bosses that appreciate how we do business
- Number #1 rule - “Don’t be a jerk!”
- Its not all about winning the last game of the year
- I want the 90 minutes of the day at practice to be the best part of the day
- Be someone that someone wants to be around
- I am an educator, I recruit kids to a university, and guide them to what they are going to do the rest of their lives
- Ultimate responsibility of the university is to guide people in to being productive adults
- Coaches should Ask more questions than give directives to players
- Communicating and getting guys to understand what your saying and understanding it is their career
- We are going to have different relationships with all of you
- I will be here as much as you need me here!
- Coach? I will be coach
- Dad? I’ll be dad
- You have to be ok to admit when you need help
- I don’t have to do it, I get to do it!
- I work with the travel ball tournament parents to get them to realize that it does not matter in those tournaments
- Balance time with team time and individual time
- Record practice and spend some individual time
- Figure out how they learn and what they respond to
Monday Jun 05, 2023
Monday Jun 05, 2023
Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with
Mark Gibbs; St Johns DC
Sponsored By:
- Netting Professionals
- 844-620-2707
- info@nettingpros.com
- www.nettingpros.com
BIO
- HC of St Johns DC
- 339–90–1 Overall Record, .788 Winning Percentage in 17 years
- 13, 20-win seasons
- 6 of the seasons St Johns has been nationally ranked
- Before their 2008 season, St. John’s was on the cover of Baseball America, the first team from the mid-Atlantic to ever be profiled in the preview issue.
- Gibbs has sent 124 players into college baseball from St Johns
- 17 players who were drafted by or signed to free agent contracts with professional teams.
- The Cadets have won or tied for 1 regular season conference titles (2007, 2010, 2012–19, 2021),
- 8 WCAC tournament titles (2011, 2014–19)
- 3 DCSAA titles (2014, 2019, 2021).
- Many Coach of the year awards (Washington Post, WCAC, USA Today, DCSAA)
NOTES
- The experience that I feel is best for kids and the reality it is, we need to find what’s best for us
- Staying together in the summer and fall has brought us bigger things that baseball
- Outsourced a strength coach (sports performance coach)
- The HC needs to monitor it all.
- Bring in people that the HC can trust and let them work
- A lot of what you are dealing with is not on the field
- If you have good people and you trust them that is the best
- Got to have good players and guys that are willing to work
- The guy was just a worker! His work ethic stood out
- They were very prepared in the whole system that prepared them for college
- Pitching, defense and baserunning is what you do to win games
- We prioritize pitching, not just fit it into practice
- In the live stuff we do, that is the most live baserunning situations we can get
- Play more live! Use the baserunners when pitching on mound
- Using their eyes to run the bases
- Base stealing and base running are taught in two different segments
- Year to year we focus on certain things more than others depending on your team
- You have to have guys that can do it (vault stealing/ new school leads)
- You have to have the time to teach it and put it into your program.
Monday May 22, 2023
Monday May 22, 2023
Rich Maloney Podcast Bio and Notes
Bio
- Head Coach Ball State University (2nd tour, 1996-2002 - 2013 - present)
- Former HC at Michigan (2003-2012)
- Over 900 wins in his career
- 16th active DI coach to reach 900 wins
- Winningest coach in Ball State history
- 5 MAC championships
- 4 time MAC coach of the year
- 3 Time big 10 conference championships
- 2 Big 10 tournament championships
- 4 Regional appearances
- Regional Championship in 2007
- Maloney has coached 65 players who were drafted 72 times
- six first round picks, all of them at Ball State
- Ball State has had 10 players drafted in the top 4 rounds under Rich Maloney
- FCA Baseball's Jerry Kindall Award in January 2017
- ABCA Ethics in Coaching Award Recipient 2023
- Former ABCA President (2018)
Notes
- Architecture classes worked a semester building a vision of the stadium
- I would of never had a chance to go to Michigan if it wasn’t for those boys
- I got into coaching because I love to be a mentor
- Those guys energize me and they fill me up!
- You gotta believe and have a driving force to be something special
- In yourself if you will be a good player
- In your teammates if you want to be a part of a good team
- In your faith - it all starts with that
- Casting a vision for your players
- Try your best to get the most out of the god given talents
- Everyone plays a role on the team
- Read 2 books -
- Hard Hat by jon gordon
- CHop Wood, Carry Water by
- First day on campus we go through the book - highlighted and epitomize our culture
- Got to be really good at a lot of little things that culminate to really big things
- Competition events - winning team filet mignon, losing team hotdogs and mac an cheese, we all eat dessert
- Got to have that extra degree
- GRIT - dirtbags - biggest compliment you can get in our program because he does whatever he can to help the team win
- Baseball you have to conquer the mind
- The storm will hit!
- How are you going to handle that mental strain
- Sport gives us a great opportunity to help people grow
- You are blessed a lot if you have those relationships
- Easy to talk when its going good
- Your friends come around when things are not going your way
- Comes down to the foundational truths you have
- It comes down to the details and have you to do the little things well
- Buy into your coaches
- Take the little things seriously
- Holding them accountable - when the game speeds up that’s not going to work
- Guys will gravitate to the standard
- When you believe in yourself you can make it through the tough times
- Winning breeds winning, and losing breeds losing
- Ambition and drive! If your not self motivated you won’t do great things
- You play on your energy when your young
- You guys built this because you guys believed and did the work
Monday May 08, 2023
Monday May 08, 2023
Shotzberger Notes
Bio
- HC of UIW - University of the Incarnate Word
- In 2022 he led UIW to the furthest Southland Conference Tournament appearance in Division I program history.
- First year in 2019 was cut short due to COVID
- Prior to UIW he was AC at Houston and TCU
- helped those programs to seven 40+ win seasons.
- 13 conference championships
- eight regular-season championships
- five conference tournament championships
- nine trips to NCAA Regionals
- three appearances at NCAA Super Regionals
- one trip to the College World Series
- Coached over 60 players who have been drafted
- eight of those appearing on active Major League Baseball rosters
- 5 current MLB
Notes
- We have our team values
- If your early your orgranized
- No blame, complain, or defend
- CARDS - bottom of every practice plan
- Players are now speaking the language
- Working with you not for you
- The best teams are player led, not coaches fed
- When you get out front you get vulnerable
- You can’t talk about win the pitch and then be losing your mind
- The beginning you are talking to yourself
- Meet after practice
- Mental game - what does it mean to you?
- Getting them to recognize they are doing something with them knowing it
- Helping you get to the next pitch and realize you are going too fast
- Breathe and get to the next pitch
- You can gripe and complain about it or you can adapt and change
- Its a 40 year decision, not a 4 year decision
- In order to set the goals, you had to work towards the goals
- Back map from doing something the program has never done before
- Deconstruct winning a conference
- Track positive at bats
- Do your job - doesn’t matter how, execute quality pitches with conviction
- Each team needs to create their own identity
- Play as hard as you for as long as you can
- Process > outcome
- 60% positive at bats
- Percentage of QAB determined what we need to do
- 60% or better we win
- 50% and we need to play good defense and pitch it well
- 40% then we better of pitched great and caught it
- WHO got the RBI - talking RBI not hits
- Educate kids on the situation.
- If the kids don’t know the situation that’s
Monday Apr 24, 2023
Monday Apr 24, 2023
Lane Burroughs
Bio
- Head Coach Louisiana Tech (7th season)
- back-to-back NCAA Regionals (first since 1987)
- Hosted a regional in 2021 (1st in program history)
- Conference USA Tournament Champions (1st in school history)
- Set record for most conference wins (21)
- First time in history LA tech beat a #1 ranked team
- Part of the 300 win club as a HC
- More wins in first 3 years than any LA Tech coach in 3 year span
- Former HC at Northwestern State - 3 straight 30 win seasons
- Former AC at Mississippi College, East Mississippi CC, Northwestern State, Southern Miss, Kansas State, and Mississippi State
Notes
- We will be a face of the school
- Committee to help run the first pitch banquet
- Seniors run it with 5 awards given
- Worst hair
- Worst body
- Worst athlete
- Most funny
- Need to have thick skin we are like a family
- Our program is player ran
- “Do you want to lift after or before practice”
- The locker room is their space
- “Company man” - the glue that held it together
- Bulldog men! - named when they earn it, some years don’t have it, captain for life
- We went 2 years with no facility and no one left!
- Be who we are
- You get who you are! (when recruiting)
- Made a commitment as a HC to have FUN
- I want our guys to be the best part of the day!
- Lean on your faith and family
- Be transparent
- Be stoic on the field - the team watches how you will react
- Bad news first!
- You have to check yourself. I still need to be the same person
- The game will punch you in the face and how you respond to it is most important
- The ability to make great decisions
- Fall
- Early work
- Classroom - scouting, video review, talk
- Practice
- Everyday starts with the classroom
- If you have a pulse of your team you build of that
- Its either surrender or fight when backed into a corner
- Appreciation Friday - write a letter to appreciation to someone who has sacrificed / impacted your life
- More positive feedback from the letters thany anything in the program
- Take care of the little things
- If i’m in my truck and see you step over trash that is not taking care of the little things
- Thursday practice
- Ind defense
- Bp
- Ind challenges - run for how many you mess up
- Every team is different and figuring out what makes them tick
- Adapt and adjust - you have to have the ability to adapt and adjust
- I can handle the big things, but the little things can set me off!
- Always have guest speakers - former players, professionals,
- Talking with someone who is not a baseball coach
- Talk with people who are going to cry at your funeral
- Get off social media
- Become less selfish and more about relationships
Monday Apr 10, 2023
Monday Apr 10, 2023
Bio
- 1st Season HC at North Alabama
- 9 seasons as HC of West Chester University
- was first and only NCAA school to win a championship
- 2 NCAA Championships in 2012 and 2017
- Former Associate HC and RC at University of Delaware
- Former PC and RC at William and Mary university
Notes
- Not going to settle
- Getting to know our current roster
- Do the right thing - attach to anything and everything
- Giving guys the comfort to be themselves
- Giving guys opportunities and in pursuit to become the best version of themselves
- 100% focus
- 100% effort
- Don’t flinch - body language will not be affected by circumstances
- Can people see it when watch us play
- Challenge players after a win - tighten up
- Clips of what we want, and review what we want - we want to get it right
- Classroom sessions as needed
- Team meetings - attach videos
- The name on the front of the jersey is important, but I don’t want to diminish the name on the back!
- If you have the chase to help and willingness to help someone through something you can get in
- I’m not going to the field looking to cross guys off
- Can you lead yourself?
- Can you help someone else?
- Scheduled conversations - end of semester, end of year, and as needed
- Players stay true to what’s best for them (more stable)
- Get in the right hype level
- I never want hype level to get in the way of what’s right
- Stack different game situations
- Make sure we are repping what it going to impact the game the most
- Baseball BP - stacked machine (FB/CB), coach mix, coach mix scouting report,
- During live balls as much as we can during BP
- Attach decision making to the types of frequent lanes with a certain type of runner
- Pitching with runners on no matter how clean you may have been in an intersquad
- The guys that can handle the moment, they are the ones you want to give the ball to
- “Sequencer” can help you project lineups
- Being aware of stacking guys up between each other
- Breaking up the pockets
- Switch hitter/LHH in 2 hole
- Continuity of the lineup to start anticipating options
Monday Mar 27, 2023
Monday Mar 27, 2023
Kyle Wagner Notes
Bio
- gowags.kyle@gmail.com
- Founder of GoWags baseball academy in 2008
- Author of How the RiverCats Won
- Author of Green Light hitting
- Green light academy website
- Played collegiately at Wake Forest University from '92-'95. Caught in the California Angels organization for one year (Boise '95)
- Coaching experience Elizabethtown College ('97 and '99) Wake Forest ('98) Red Land High School ('00 - '08)
- @GoWagsKyle
Notes
- Are the people excited when they are with you?
- Hot practice, cold games.
- Games for the players.
- Practice becomes critical
- Something the kids could look forward to
- Pop ups (macro event)
- Broke up between macro and micro events (team and individual)
- Musts - “will they like this?”
- Sell them on the beauty of the game
- Macro event - runner on 3rd 1 out - live ball runner runs
- Fun game at the end to
- Too much information not enough inspiration (overcoaching)
- Youth coaching is to turn kids over for love of the game
- Implicit and explicit
- Implicit - no takes, no foul balls
- Down 3, 6 outs to go - play against the scoreboard
- Do the fun stuff while you are teaching
- Practice time is the coaches time, plan, prepare, and coaches on the same page
- Planning is more important than the plan
- Adaptable in the plan when the coach notices something is not right
- Get them out on time!
- Intent precedes content
- Embrace what they are not doing well and put them in a situation to do it
- Micro event - perfect and deliberate practice
- Macro event - train ugly, and don’t know what will happen. Find out what they are capable. Find failure and embrace it
- If the whole team is there deliberate practice won’t happen, more about competing and reps
- Development is not linear, its sequential
- Green light hitting - sequential hitting approach
- Core starts and then smaller muscles could work
- Aggression precedes discipline
- Get players moving fast
- Train them to minimize choices
- Eliminate not swing to train them to elite velo
- Prove to me that you can be too quick
- Show me you can find your barrel on this BB
- You take a pitch because you can’t hit it hard
- Hitter to be able to move Laterally late
- Inside tee, soft toss away - no toss and hit off tee up the middle
- We want you to be a great hitter not great swinger of the bat
- Turn fast
- Posture
- Post chain
- Hands
- Lower half
- You need to be good enough to keep coming back
- Pre game
- Count hitting
- Don’t overcoach
- Lineup is seen more circular than linear
- Stacked it from top to bottom with best hitters
- 4th batter should strikeout least often due to so many runners being on
- 3rd hitter high velo and great eye
- Every manager deserves the right to intuition
- Pitchers need to get swing and missed in the zone and hitters need to eliminate swing and misses in the zone
- Who is owning the strike zone
- Exit velo coupled with launch angle (barrel %)
- Pitchers - weak contact and how often get swing and misses
- Pitching independent fielding
- Training pitchers more on the game mound
- Visualize on the game mound
Monday Mar 13, 2023
Monday Mar 13, 2023
Steve Trimper Notes
Bio
- Head Coach Stetson University
- In his first season, the Hatters finished just one game behind Jacksonville in 2017 in the race for the ASUN title and won six of seven league series during the year. The season also included road series wins at The Citadel and at Tulane.
- 2nd season tied for the most wins in a season in program history.
- 2nd season first NCAA Regional title
- 2nd season ranked in every national poll
- Established dugout club and raised over 100K
- Prior to Stetson he was HC at University of Maine with over 300 victories, 140 in conference play, 9 tournament victories, and 2 regional appearances.
- Former HC at Manhattan College - school record for wins (32) MAAC COY. 2nd all time in conference wins
- AC at University of Vermont
- Associate HC at wentworth college
- Spent time in the cape cod with eastern tide
- National clinician, just recently in Nashville
- Author of “Walk-Off Winning”
Notes
- Come up with 3-4 things we are going to be awesome at
- Send me a real important values
- Integrity, excellence, commitment, blue collar,
- We can Hold those things accountable
- Culture changes all the time
- Built because of the 4-5 traits that you can build on
- Leadership is when the going gets tough can you go back to those words/value?
- Establish the values and that is the bedrock, how we navigate there will change each year
- Your people are your best educators
- My job is to give you the tool to hand the team over you to (the players)
- Hold each other accountable
- In order to be great you need to have an ego
- Outside of my team they will know we have an ego
- Inside our team we will have humility and check our ego
- Take the people inside my organization and they never say you are an embelisher
- The positive energy the attracts people
- What is success? Word association, go!
- Reward or success?
- You need to find what you believe is good people
- When you invite them to the team, and its up to you to build the relationship
- People start to trust you
- Loyalty of the people
- Success is those 4 traits - good people, relationships, trust, loyalty
- I brought you here because I thought you were going to be great
- 6-8 speakers every fall
- Tell stories of failures
- When you struck out 4 times, that ain’t failure
- Force our guys to communicate
- Ask people how they were successful?
- First time going to class ask professor 3 questions about themselves
- Have the ability to talk and ask questions of the people around you
- I have to listen a little more in the south
- I had to learn the environment and change my philosophy
- I have to own the mistakes, and all the mistakes I have made have been along my successes
- How your failure led to successes
- We celebrate every win
- Some losses, with the right mindset, can lead us to the path to success.
- Moxy guy - what do you do to get the award? Foul ball guy after dealing for 4 innings
Monday Feb 27, 2023
Monday Feb 27, 2023
Daniel Rollins Notes
Bio
- Head Coach Camp CC (VA)
- Received votes in pre season national poll 3 out 4 years as HC
- Highest GPA in program history
- AC/RC Bryant and Straton
- Player signed with Orioles
- Red and Braves Scout
- George Mason AC
- Big Leaguer Chris O’Grady
- Randolph Macon AC
- George Washington AC
- Multiple draft picks, All American SS
- Valley league AC with New Market Rebels
- Last 3 full time AC are now head JUCO coaches and 1 RC for Florida JUCO
Notes
- Appreciate each one of the stops
- Take something from each stop
- If you are going to get good results, you need to put players first
- Put players first, and your career will take care of itself
- You got to show the guys you love em!
- Go through the stretch line and answer questions and talk to players
- JUCO has to wear many hats as the coach
- Be as organized as possible
- You will not be perfect, but you need to make the best out of the situation
- Players first means good hotels, buses not vans, and good meals
- Not just signing a ½ year contract, they get me for life! As much as they want!
- Im in this business for them!
- I want good people in my program, and if we have good people in the program, we will win
- Be realistic where you are and look in the mirror with your capabilities
- Fundraisers
- Work football games
- Online fundraiser
- Golf tournament
- You can’t be afraid to ask
- Hosting tournaments
- Youth camps (help with AC)
- Prospect camps (help with AC)
- The weightroom is the single biggest difference between HS and college athlete
- Leadership development meetings
- Ranger school team building activities
- Player voted team captains
Monday Feb 13, 2023
Monday Feb 13, 2023
Edwin Thompson Notes
Bio
- Head Coach Georgetown University
- First winning season since 1986
- 2022 was GU First Big East championship appearance since 2018
- GU first freshman of the year
- First Big East staff of the year
- 2022 record breaking year for wins, home runs, total bases and end of season RPI
- Former HC at Eastern Kentucky
- Losing program when he got there
- 12-2 before COVID, just beat LSU and then shut down
- Consecutive 30 win seasons
- 2 straight conference tournaments
- All 5 years his teams recorded a team gpa of 3.0 or better
- USA Baseball staff member
- Since 2015 in all duties
- 18U national team PC
- 17U National development program
- Manager of Stripes team in Tournament of Stars
- Former AC at Georgia State and Duke University
- Former HC start at Bates College (Maine) where he set school record for wins - last place team, and made a school record in wins
- Coaching career started at University of Maine at Farmington as associate HC and Recruiting coordinator
- Active in the Community working with local charities and non profit organizations as well as helping provide for people less fortunate
- First class guy!
Notes
- One of best memories of players experience was serving the kids with Samaritans feet
- We find the servants in the recruiting process
- Free clinics to serve the commnunity
- Serve Miracle league
- Service provides perspective
- Its not what we don’t have, its what we DO have
- Guys that don’t travel work in the community
- Based on your team - take them off campus to build chemistry, retreat, mini golf, and have a feel for the needs of your team
- We will compete in everything
- The difference is in the details (hangers on the ground)
- Until your address the details
- Ask the questions
- You don’t know how to do something or you don’t feel like it
- If you don’t feel like it you don’t want to win
- Like to connect baseball to life
- Got to be able to believe it, have a visual, and be sure to hold standards
- Got to have a great staff that can teach and coach the standards
- Listening to kids to evaluate the process
- Talk about winning games, winning series, and stacking those wins
- Shared partnerships
- No captains - “accountability leaders” = in charge of a small group
- Take more ownership to allow more leaders
- The players take the punishment amongst themselves is when you know you have a good group
- Talk about what we are capable of doing
- Not going to lose to ourselves
- Build consistency within the group
- Win the day
- I don't recruit, I present
- Coach development
- Goals, expectations,
- 1 on 1 with HC
- Help people move on
- Take care of your people the most you can and they want to stay
- Be where your dream job is wherever you are
- Encourage staff to talk to other in the industry to get more efficient and another voice
- 1 up and 1 down - 1 thing you like and 1 thing you need to get better
- Picked programs at the school who are really good and pick their brain and gather information of what works at that school
- What mistakes did you make in the early years?
- You have to make it your own?
- Be honest and direct
- Post a depth chart in the fall
- You want to get better - come talk to us, its about performance
- Constantly communicate with kids
- Teaching them the reality of the future
- “Professional out getter”
- Outs - love outs, who can pitch, who can compete
- The number 1 pitcher is the guy who has the ball!
- Any organization has communication - good or bad and aligned
- Listening to your players, but listening to your staff is important
- Earn your shirt - do your job
- Play 1 v 1 often! “Get period - get it done”
- Create environment to maximize the talent
- Train how to deal with the umpire
- You get 3 pitchers
- Have fun with our kids
- Who wants to lead, grow, and teach
- Enjoy this team
- 2 minute drill in baseball - closer comes in to get the job done with 2nd/3rd
- Make it as uncomfortable as possible
- Some guys would not hit on the field because they were not ready
- It can define or develop you!
- Group hitting - who they are and what the are
- Hitting test - advance or not
- You don’t train a lineman the same as kicker
- Pitcher test - progression from top pitcher in the conference and what it looks like
Monday Jan 30, 2023
Monday Jan 30, 2023
Vucan (View-can) Notes
Bio
- HC at TX 6A Southlake Carroll HS
- 2022 ABCA National HS COY
- 2018, 2019, and 2022 TX 6A State Champions
- Schools first back to back state championship
- 2018 El Paso Baseball HOF
- 2017 started HC at Southlake Carroll
- Dallas/Fort Worth Coach of the Year 2017 & 2019
- El Paso Franklin HS and last 6 straight playoff appearances
- AC at Bel Air
- Coached and managed in Italian Baseball League
- Known for his Player development system
- USA Baseball task force
Notes
- “The compete clause” -
- Build as much competition into your drillwork as much as you can
- Final four is ROund ROck - “Round Rock” challenge
- Break into teams and who can compete
- What can I do to make them competitive?
- Point system, scoreboard
- Teammates become the assistant coach
- 10-15 coaches on the field
- 3 headed monster in offense
- Video first, then rep, and start practice each day
- Long hold and glove drop to defend the bound jump
- What is your identity based on your abilities
- Tally the number of successful steals
- Feedback to the competition
- Tally the pickoffs form catchers and pitchers
- Recruit the kids who don’t want anything to with athletics, and they get credit for baseball as the statistician (or whatever role)
- Only way you will get them to grow is to get them uncomfortable
- How can I make this small segment tallied, competitive, get a result, and fun!
- Fall start more acclimation
- After fall ball shut down arms shutdown
- HHB - makes competitive spirit
- “Fundees”
- Coming up to tryouts focused more on culture than competition
- Here is your wake up warm up
- Here is where your bag goes
- How to set up machine and break them down
- Your competing to build culture!!
- Comfortable in my own skin as a coach
- 50/50 on mechanics and relationship talk
- Before practice and highlight who you have talked to
- Convo tab - tally each time we talked
- Research the kid based on the amount of tallies
- Holding them accountable and still get it back to wanting them to be successful
- No objectivity, it was all subjective
- Kids (managers) became data input
- Posted, running total of all data collected from practice
- Meetings and questioning went down
- Got the kids competitive
- Do not talk to the “nerds” (only rule or RUN)
- Situationals BP (tallied) - “mop up” BP based on previous game
- Competitive or tinker bullpen
- IPP - individual pitcher plans
- Catcher wears pre set script on wristband
- On deck pitcher tallies
- Stretch every 3 pitches, in and out an AB in 3 pitches
- Pattern 1 (fast) or pattern 2 (slow)
- Mental competition to build up intentional throwing - this is what we are looking for (goal/focus)
- After throwing send report how the arm felt
- Game changer accounts to see pitch loads and track pitchers progress
- Prescription for each individual pitches (no arm side run, vertical break on slider, flat fastball, etc) need to work on so they know what to work on based on where they are
- When you lose your edge, you die
- You may not be feeling it that day, but you can out compete that dude. You are not going to let that guy WIN.
Monday Jan 16, 2023
Monday Jan 16, 2023
Borba notes
Bio
- HC at Orange Lutheran for 15 years
- Multiple draft picks - most recent 1st rounder in 2022 class Mikey Romero
- 3 consecutive USA Baseball HS invitational title 2017-19 (first program ever to do it)
- 4 conference championships
- De La Sale HC from 2004 - 2008
- HC at Analy HS to start his head coaching career in 1999
- 2000 CIF championship
- Long time USA Baseball staff member. Most recently the 18U national team
- Incredible person, dad, and mentor
Notes
- When you hate losing you have to focus process over the outcome
- Focus on the bigger picture and the daily expectations
- Create men that is going to be successful as fathers and husbands
- When you invest in people there is a lot more return on your investment
- Retreat, bible studies, team dinners, community service to build the brotherhood
- Never talked about winning! Just about winning the day
- Can we rely on you? Can teammate, coaches rely on you?
- Take care of the things you can on your own
- Playing for a bigger cause!
- Doing your part of to your best of your ability
- Constantly adapting the team in high school
- Sit down and reflect each year and what are we going to have to do to be successful
- Establishing the things that are foundational
- Adaptability is huge, USA is more on personality driven and being able to communicate
- Getting that person to produce as much as possible
- High school is over time and through finding out what makes them tick
- USA is maximizing the hand
- To truly build relationships you have to know the person beyond what they do
- Open the air to build trust
- We all have to be able to trust one another
- Doing it for 25 guys
- Fall is for evaluation period
- Winter is for retreat
- Goals, internal hurdles
- Activities - ropes courses
- Bonfire
- Chapel service
- Team building with parents along with players
- More trust you can bring through the parents the more trust you can build more from the players
- Extra innings - pizza once a month, meal with parents - halftime of a game to give a “state of the union” address of the program.
- Booster committee to be the middle man for communication between staff and parents
- Every setback is a setup!
- Baseball is a small part of who we are based on the grand scheme of life
- The most successful people are people people
- The impact that we can have on young men and women are impacting them on what they become - there is so much more rewards for that
- The reward is the kids no one knows outside our program
- There are always outside influences on us, and if you believe there is something that is helping you then it is helping you. Be disciplined in your choices
- Much more intentional with my daughter to build that relationship
- Separate dad from coach
- Outside of the lines you need to have both
- Do you want the dad answer or the coach answer?
- Be dad at home
- “This is what it takes”
- This has to be your drive internally
- I want to have more of an influence on his mind that his physical body
- Get him thinking right!!
- Creating habits for life
- Being a sponge and understanding people around you
- The people we choose to surround ourselves with have a big impact
- We can learn 1 thing from everyone
Monday Jan 02, 2023
Monday Jan 02, 2023
Scott Jackson Notes
Bio
- Head Coach of Liberty University since 2016
- Lead the flames to 3 consecutive NCAA appearances for the first time in school history
- 2021 Conference coach of the year
- 3 regional wins in his time as HC
- GPA of 3.0 or better every year as a HC
- 11 players signed to MLB contracts during his time
- Reached highest ranking in program history (14) in 2022
- Breaking school records in strikeouts (620) and fielding percentage (.984), and consecutive wins (13)
- Former AC at UNC Chapel Hill where they went to 3 World Series, 6 straight regionals, and an ACC championship
- 5 Liberty alums on the staff. 4 out of 5 played for the staff
- Winner!!!!
Notes
- Great players win games!
- Right support, thought you could win, and win in post season on regular basis
- Have to have really good players
- Recruiting has stayed consistent
- Staff has stayed consistent
- Starts on a regular basis - can you show up everyday
- Admin has been supportive to be consistent
- Ultimate student athlete experience
- Leave liberty and saying WOW
- All parts of life
- Baseball part last because if other parts are not bigger then baseball will not be as best
- Keep priorities in line - habits and routines in place to make
- Frame the habits and routines
- Wake up
- Food
- Class
- Food
- Stadium
- How does it look for you?
- Stack enough good days and body knows what to expect
- Check in with players to see what does work for them
- Connect with the kids that has nothing to do with baseball.
- Relationship not just built on the game
- I don’t want our relationship to be all about baseball and tied to the player performance
- Come down to the park and leave everything and just be yourself at the ballpark!
- We talk about trust a lot with our players
- As long as we trust each other we can get through anything
- Staff meetings to keep pulse of players to see who needs a sit down and who is just having a bad day
- To establish trust you have to talk about your plan and goals for the kids
- How are we going to tackle (bullpen, grades, on time, etc)
- Make our team collectively and individually not worry and trust
- Stop and listen, let kids talk, ask questions, get to know the details
- Never say I have seen it all!
- Office door is always open
- The amount of time that things happen exactly the way they thought it would is very small.
- Bring your mother on a visit to know that someone will take care of your son
- If it’s just the baseball piece, don’t come here!
- It will come across really genuine or it will come across as a used car salesman/artificial
- Evolved over time with a passion for connection
- Are we delivering on the things we told these kids
- God has a plan for your life that is way better than what you have planned
- Life is about people and about relationships
- The more simple and direct, the easier it is to look back on it
- When you get outside yourself you will be surprised how much better you can perform
- Waited a couple years to focus on a couple pillars
- Focus on those 3 pillars fully everyday and then Omaha takes care of itself, its a byproduct
- Started with relationships with the kids and having fun with the kids on the field. I wanted it to be authentic and genuine
- Be there for them!! Be part of their journey and feel like I am fighting for them
- Keep eyes open on staff that are a great fit!
- Created a job description for the new positions on staff
- If you have a passion for people, we all have a passion for baseball, but you have to have a passion for people.
- Keep your head down and not worry about what is next
- Be so good with the relationships you are in right now, be where your feet are, and be present in the relationships you have
- The right place, the right people (trust), you will get through things that come up
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Monday Dec 19, 2022
BIO
- Centre College HC
- 15U USA Baseball National Team Manager
- Most recent 2022 USA Baseball Developmental Coach of the Year
- Centre College record for wins in a season
- Center college record for season winning percentage
- Former AC with Birmingham Southern
- 10 conference titles
- 4 straight regional appearances
- Has worked with USA baseball task force, AC on 15U national team in 2016 before getting promoted to manager in 2021
Notes
- Some of the best coaches are HC coaches based on the experience at the task force (ground level)
- “The gold standard” - how you go about your business
- Performing at a high level no matter what you do
- Trickle down from director to veteran coach to new coaches to set the standard
- Same formula in business and team
- Doesn’t happen without a clear vision
- First meeting go over the 10 standards of Center
- Individual decisions we make each day that build the vision or deviate from the vision.
- Motivating young people to make decision for the greater good
- Vision called “1 mission” - USA Baseball - “quick bake”
- College/School level - vision bigger and crossover into academic and personal realm
- We have to establish a relationship to see what makes them tick
- Talk about things other than baseball
- How is your body?
- Understand their thought process to help steer them in the right direction
- What do you like here?
- What are you most comfortable
- Grab them during down times or transitions
- Collaborative communication - ask a lot of questions about themselves and different situations
- Talk to kids and they earn that trust
- Have ownership and intentionality with their own game
- They work their game and work who they are
- Number 1 job as parents
- Coach pitch scrimmage
- Live at bats for guys who did not play so much over the weekend
- Machine pitch league - 3 teams and played twice a week and simulate velo
- Classroom before drilling it
- Intangibles are definitely something that has to be evaluated
- Checking in with kids about the lineup and how the game is going
- Top 2 hitters will hit top 3 to get most at bats
- Low strikeout guy in the 5 hole (12%)
- Play to strengths of the lineup
- Feed them (my staff) information to help them during the game
- Allow assistant coaches to be assistant coaches
- AC Be ready to show up and get to work!
- AC realize the power you have being the conduit between HC and players
- HC set clear vision of what we are going to do. Here is what is going to happen and how it will happen
- The foundation and what the team is about starts and ends right with me (HC)
- We have to set the hook and then make the choice to show up and work
- The game will continue…
- We allow the wins and losses to effect our relationships with our players
- Make sure the relationships are solid, and be sure
Monday Dec 05, 2022
Monday Dec 05, 2022
Ed Blankmeyer notes
Bio
- Former manager of Brooklyn Cyclones of New York Penn League
- Former St Johns HC (1996 - 2020)
- Winningest coach in St Johns history
- 6 Big east conference regular season championships
- 5 Big Beast tournament championships
- 1 super regional appearance
- Winningest coach in Big East history
- ABCA Hall of Fame
- Ranked top 25 of all Division 1 coach in career wins
- 3 tours with USA Baseball
Notes
- Had an itch for professional
- Develop a winning program, a winning culture
- College baseball pays better
- Coaching is coaching
- Relationships
- Accountable
- Routines
- Good players are routine driven
- Daily routine
- Game prep routine
- Post game routine
- Finding the right data
- Stick to it, tweek it, and it gets you through the season
- Work through drills to help work through the drill
- Defensive sequences
- Hitting routines
- Individual development complimented by team development
- Ins the framework make it competitive
- How will we know if our drills are working?
- Game comes down to pitching and hitting
- Its a game of 1-1
- Game called 1 pitch
- Script pitches
- Script counts
- Scripts situations
- Live defense work
- Time clock when doing defense work
- 8 seconds to 2b
- Change up times to 1b
- Situations
- Define the game
- 8 different situations
- What happens the most
- No runners
- Runners on 1B
- What happens the most
- Played against the clock with all defenders out
- Clips video of plays good and bad to go over in meetings
- Utilize video to catalog when they are swinging the bat good
- Video the pitcher on 3 sides of pitcher to see if we are missing anything
- Get a person facing a batter on your game mound more they will get better
- How do you know how the player will respond when it gets tough?
- Prior to stretch we would go through mental routines.
- Runners on base
- Pre pitch
- Post pitch
- Infielders step in
- In the box
- On deck
- Visual, self talk, and breathing
- For all physical skills you need to train your mental routines
- Meditations are good
- Breath and meditate to relax
- Some guys are better at 70% what they are
- Find the level of flow that you feel comfortable to allows you to execute consistently
- If you expect them to do mental routines, you have to practice
- Quality vs quantity
- Before defensive we would do baserunning techniques then do baserunning reads, situations, BP live reads
- Is it right for this player? (in terms of the weather)
- Not putting players at risk
- Would we play in this weather?
- Teaching is done in classroom or locker room if needed
- Work and repetitions in cold weather
- Modified intersquad when its cold
- Pitches outside and then finish inside
- Concerns with the ups and downs and how many pitches
- red , yellow, green pitching communication for pitchers to get ready (warm up, get hot, go in)
- Get good players to buy into what you want to do
- Good players that fit your system
- Continuity in the coaching staff
- Work hard, work smart
- All about relationships that improve communication
- Communicate and collaborate with the player
- You create the bond and trust you can get more out of the player
- Get athletes - they will grow and improve
- You have to be able to adapt to the game
- The game is the game, teach the game the way its supposed to be played
- Synthesize the information for all the information that the player can consume.
- I’m going to coach you the way you need to be coached!
- I’m a learner
- I’m going to let you do it, and we will collaborate it
Monday Nov 21, 2022
Monday Nov 21, 2022
Mamula “Mams” Notes
Mam - you - la
Bio
- HC at University of Delaware
- First year as HC
- Former recruiting coordinator and associate head coach at Florida Atlantic University
- 3 NCAA Regional appearances and won 2 Conference USA regular season titles
- 2019 Conference USA Assistant Coach of the Year
- Former assistant coach at the University of Cincinnati
- Former head coach at West Chester University for three years
- PSAC East Coach of the Year and Atlantic Region Coach of the Year in 2009
- Reached the World Series and placed 7th
- Former assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Delaware from 2002-06
- mamula@udel.edu
Notes
- Change the expectations
- Everything worthwhile is uphill!
- We will resort to what we know
- Its the guys that genuinely care about each other are the teams that win in April and May
- Getting to know each other the last 10 minutes of practice
- Hero, highlight, hardship
- NO CAPTAINS
- Leadership training - 21 laws of leadership - each guy teaches 1 law of leadership and how to apply it to the program
- Last 10 minutes of weight room break it down and call out players who did it well that day!
- We are all leaders! Household, job,
- Only as effective as the guys handle it and deal with it
- Not having captains because we are all leaders and can lead in different ways
- It is important to the staff that the players feel it is their team!!
- Naming guys captains put undo pressure on them
- I’m going to take notes and discuss/evaluate the next day
- Nobody is going to hit more on the field as much
- Rotations
- Coach BP (3 days)
- Machine BP (2 (days)
- Everyday rounds they don’t know what is coming
- Scripted and know the goal each round
- Recycling the good rounds
- Records are posted!!
- Chart all Bp (hard hit or not)
- Rank the hard hit % of hitters each day
- If you are going to spaz out in BP we got no shot in the game
- Defense is about getting pre pitch and first step down, we know you can catch the ball
- I want them to practice to get to that swing if they are a power guy
- Total rounds - 6 swings. Lose swings when don’t get bunt down
- Get some bunts down to help not shift
- Break the plate into thirds
- We fall back to our training, if we trained appropriately then we just compete
- Avoid talking about striking out!! We want to be fearless and not worrying about striking out
- 2K approach
- Every swing is aggressive
- In the end we still want to hit doubles and hit the ball hard
- At our level we don’t just put it in play
- Fear not getting off aggressive swings!!
- Personal 2k adjustments - in the box, hands, swing, etc
- Leave them be and see what works for them
- Early Work - Warm up with tee, flips, and most work with coach throwing over hand or off machine
- BP is hard in our program
- We will mix in feel good BP as needed
- Major leaguers can practice at 50%, but the lower levels just cannot practice at that level. We need to do practice different
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Bio
- HC of Virginia Military Institute
- Been pitching coach at VMI since 2017
- As a pitching coach recruited and mentored
- Josh Winder (7th round Twins)
- Matt Eagle (Free agent with Dodgers)
- Zak Kent (9th round Rangers)
- As a pitching coach recruited and mentored
- VMI’s all time hit leader
- Top 3 in 9 offensive categories
- Drafted by the Oakland A’s as an infielder and transitioned to a pitcher his last 2 seasons in pro ball
- robertsjs@vmi.edu
- https://vmikeydets.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/sam-roberts/1206
- VMI had 3 current big leaguers in the big leagues this year!!
Notes
- What works in college baseball?
- I got to get a hold of this guy!! (Learner)
- Think about more of the stuff we DO have, and not what we DON’T have
- We are trying to get our kids to be their own best coach
- Track
- Swing and miss in the zone
- Strike %
- Avg miss
- Swing and miss
- Don’t want kids to lock up due to too much information
- Kid to kid - coach needs to have an idea
- Buy in from the information that puts kids in best position
- Information holds coaches accountable
- Coaches have an idea of what the kid can handle
- Overall goal of pitcher is to get outs efficiently
- Videos in locker rooms of guys having success
- Before any knowledge you can give them they need to know you care
- Communicating with kids is most important to build relationship
- How was your day
- Are you having a good day
- Being there for them
- Talk to them outside the baseball field
- Ultimately you create more buy in based upon being there for the guys
- Be sure the information we are giving guys is allowing them to still play loose and fast.
- Do not get caught up in the negative results
- Consistently preach your message, so they don’t fear the mistake
- Get our guys in a position to understand themselves
- Practice
- Ton of baserunning - 20/30 minutes
- Bullpen pitcher right to the field to take reps off pitcher. Multiple lines to maximize reps.
- Live fungo
- Individualized as much as we can
- Break down each guys movements and plan how to attack it
- Be comfortable in an uncomfortable situation
- Relief guys don’t throw on a fresh mound!
- Start with starters!!
- The things that you value the teams are better at
- Create a situation that we can help multiple guys
- “Competitive moments”
- Last thing we do everyday
- Little bit uncomfortable
- Whole team
- Create different situations to compete and outside comfort zone
- Ton of baserunning - 20/30 minutes
- VMI had 3 guys in the major leagues this year!!
- Your best learner is failure
Monday Oct 24, 2022
Monday Oct 24, 2022
Bio
- Enters his 13th year as Air Force baseball head coach in 2023
- Coach Kaz retired from active duty (20 years), effective June 1, 2011, and his interim tag was lifted to official head coach status.
- A former player and Academy graduate, Kazlausky epitomizes what it means to don the Falcon baseball Blue and White.
- In first year he lead the program to the most wins since 2002 and second-most in school history against Division I
- Over 200 wins as Air Force's head man
- In 2016 The Falcons posted a 30-27 record, the second most wins for anyone at Air Force
- Six MLB Draft Picks
- Five All-Americans
- Three Freshman All-Americans
- All while leading young men to help better our country first and foremost.
- Inspiring leadership for “America’s Team”
Notes
- You have to know your people
- How are you going to be an effective leader if you don’t know your people?
- What are my priorities in life?
- How can I be an effective leader if I can’t be a good dad?
- I want them to see me outside of a coach
- How do you define winning?
- How do you define success
- Get off the scoreboard
- They trust you more
- Better relationship
- Far outweighs the white lines
- If i can’t be that person then i need to get out
- We are making them war fighters! The mission is a little different here
- We are here to serve and fight
- Mission is fly fight and win!
- We hold kids and coaches accountable
- Tell them and show them how much I love and care about them
- Take what i learned as a dad, husband, military background and teach it to everyone
- Mission has nothing to do with baseball
- Set standards for your program
- Its what our nation needs!
- 1 rule - DO IT RIGHT!
- Buy into our school, our military, and our program
- Hold them to high expectations hold accountable to the standards
- You learn so much from sports because you learn so much about yourself
- You have an “opportunity” to come play baseball
- Hold people accountable to the commitment or de-commitment
- We don't play any home games, because we don’t fight any wars on our home turf!
- I’m there dad
- Its not war, its a game, we shake our hands after the game and go home
- I don’t believe in switching the light switch, we want you always on! ATTACK!
- Its a lifestyle
- Lead by examples
- You know your people
- You take care of your people
- You need to set goals for every kid in that program
- Accountability and expectations are huge!
- Don’t want people that settle. We want people to be excellent
- We give our team leadership council (team of leaders for the team)
- I want kids to make decisions
- We put no limits, no boundaries on our kids
- We love for our kids to fail. How are you going to be a better leader if you don’t know how to fail?
- If we trained for it, prepped for it, had a routine then we will live with the result
- MAD - Make a difference. As adults is to make a difference
- Young people is about living your life with no regrets
- Be the person you can be today!!!
- Standards never sleep, and you are always on parade!!!
- Winning is important, but how do you define it?
- Follow our program on social media, come visit, email me!
Monday Sep 26, 2022
Monday Sep 26, 2022
Monaghan Notes
Bio
- Pitching coach/Recruiting coordinator Rutgers University
- bmonaghan@scarletknights.com
- 732-445-7746
- Recruited to help set a program record of 44 wins in 2022.
- Rutgers pitchers set program records for strikeouts with 534, shattering previous mark of 398.
- 2021 helped Scarlet Knights finished with highest conference winning percentage since joining the Big10.
- Previously coached at Bryant where they won the conference, had the POT, and finished either 1st or 2nd in the league in strikeouts.
- Help recruit and develop the only pitcher in Bryant history to win multiple POY honors.
- Prior to Bryant he served on the staff at George Washington and UMASS Lowell
- He began his coaching career as a volunteer at his alma mater, St Johns
Notes
- Identifying what teams are going to do to win
- Identifying how we are going to win with the team we have
- Within the system, within the non-negotiables
- Toughness, commitment and development (pillars/non-negotiables)
- Talk about every day
- Brought it from Bryant
- Part of staff of who we are and what we want to be about
- Relationship building with family and coaches to help identify the type of players that fit in the system
- 7 day cycle for a pitcher
- 7th day is the start
- Day 1 = recovery, pick up the ball or option to throw, heavy lift day, soft tissue and mobility work
- Day 2 and 3 = more volume throwing, building it back up. More lifting and conditioning.
- Day 4 = bullpen day, day 2 and 3 get ready for bullpen
- Based on previous outting, need, time of year
- Build and critique the system each day
- Day 5 and 6 = recover from bullpen and get geared up for day 7. Recover similarly from day 1.
- Routine vs superstition (Adam Wainwright)
- Relief pitching depends on the volume
- On the mound no more than 3 days in between
- Communication between my relief pitcher and me.
- Being open to the adjustment needed in throwing to get right
- Get more out of my guys with communication
- What they need
- What gets them feeling right
- What get them most prepared
- Doing it not just to check a box, but for their benefit, doing the “right” work
- Get them understanding the purpose and how they are going about their work
- We need to figure out why these dots are not lining up.
- How can we adjust your routine?
- Track each guy and individual rows and columns for each guy
- Proactive with communication - we are not figuring out who is throwing a bullpen at the start of practice
- If you don’t have 3 elite pitches you can’t get through a line up 3 times
- If he can give us 6 innings in a week it may work to get it multiple times
- Kept guys out of their own way!
- Manage things the right way as you understand your personnel
- Try to put guys in the best position to succeed.
- Play the game! Play the game the right way and with your team
- Winning is important to us and we want winner
- Do it for the joy of being with your teammates and to win
- bmonaghan@scarletknights.com
- 732-445-7746
- @MonnyBall15
Monday Sep 12, 2022
Monday Sep 12, 2022
Alex Guerra Notes
Bio
- Head Coach at Radford University
- Former player at Radford
- Former assistant coach at Radford University (2014-2015)
- For the past 7 years he has been the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at James Madison University (2016-2022)
- Started in college baseball at Central Florida as their director of baseball operations as well as their volunteer assistant coach (2012-13)
- Passionate!
- Aggressive player and coach!
- Serious about coaching!
Notes
- Got into coaching because you want to impact people
- Who did I want to surround myself with as a staff?
- Have the right people around you on a daily basis
- Have a guy that knew the area
- Developing great relationships with players, well versed in coaching, constantly learning, passionate about recruiting
- I want guys that want to be at Radford
- You need to define that you want in those positions when hiring a staff
- With my personality I need someone….
- Stick to your guns, and you have to be ok with making decisions that someone won’t like it
- How you explain the decisions is important
- Have something done before expected
- Challenging yourself to get better
- The people I work with are family to me
- This is how we are going to build it, and players will have to total ownership of it
- You either will be about it, or you just won’t be around it
- The head coach needs to set a direction for the entire program
- “We are going to be a Blue Collar Family”
- Everyday there will some type of lesson, example that you will bring back to define our culture
- Being vulnerable is going to be a part of our culture, and The coach needs to be one who starts that.
- Consistency is the best thing a coach can do. Whatever we do just stay consistent that helps cultivate our culture daily
- If you have the good players and can develop them with a strong culture you have a chance to win championships
- Consistently communicate to our guy what exactly their role is
- The process, the culture comes from one voice
- Be myself, treat people with respect, hold them accountable
- Twitter - @AGBaseball9
- ajguerra@radford.edu
Monday Aug 29, 2022
Monday Aug 29, 2022
Bio
- Current HC at East Carolina University
- 13 NCAA Regionals
- 2 College World Series appearances
- four-time American Athletic Conference Coach-of-the-Year
- 6 NCAA Regional berths (2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 Greenville Regional host)
- 4 Super Regional appearances (2022 Greenville Super Regional)
- 3 American Athletic Conference Regular season championships
- 3 AAC Tournament crowns
- 304-151-1 (.668) overall record
- 20 players have earned All-America status, while 23 were NCAA All-Regional selections, 33 were named all-conference (26 first teamers) and 14 were drafted by Major League Baseball teams.
- 64 players who have gone on to the professional ranks during his time as a coach at the Division I level
- 2 time USA Baseball National Team Staff member
- Strong man of faith
- One of the top respected people in college baseball
Notes
- Those rings represent relationships
- I believe I am at ECU for these moments not the championships
- I am more of coach to help people in tough times
- There is no textbook handed to your coach when dealing with a death or tragic incident
- SPORTWORKS company to do devotionals 2x week
- Each kid stands up and recites the mission, vision and pirate code before we play
- You will fall back on your preparation.
- Culture is more important than any mechanic
- I don’t need to go to Omaha for my ego. I want it for the other people more than me
- The more you give, the more you recieve.
- PIRATES has stayed consistent
- Vision has stayed pretty consistent
- There has to be a unbelievable amount of trust between coaches and players and it has to be 2 way street
- You have to be there everyday in terms of taking advice from pitching/hitting coach
- Unlimited trust on both sides
- Motto - triangle
- Trust
- Selfless
- Communication
- Goals
- We don’t talk about them everyday, we focus on getting 1% everyday
- Those things are more important to me when we can get people ready for life
- Its not just me on a podcast, people know exactly what they need to do here
- Look in the mirror and ask myself what I can do better??!!
- I try to speak to all of the players everyday
- Schedule meetings with individual players during the week
- When body language is off you schedule a meeting and talk
- The cell phone does not go out with me to practice
- I didn’t want to bring anyone external to our program because the foundation as already been set
- Hiring the right people!!
- If you hire young people who are hardworking and loyal, it will work out!!
- I need your loyalty!
- Write gratitude letters before thanksgiving
- None of us would be where we are without the help of someone else
- Best players have in common
- Comfortable in your own skin, be who you are
- Ultra competitive, hated losing
- Players advice
- Where you invest your time that is where you will get your best results
- You become the average of the 5 people you hang out with. Its all about who you hang out with
- Don’t play the comparison game
- Be the best version of yourself
- If you are going to do it, do it your best
- Do things that you don’t like to do
- Coach advice
- Keep blinders on and not worry about what someone else is doing
- Don’t spread yourself too thin
- You can get the players to do anything but you can’t get them to do everything
- Work hard, work your tail off, be loyal to who you work for
- Just keep showing up! It just won’t happen tomorrow.
Monday Aug 15, 2022
Monday Aug 15, 2022
Bio
- 5th head coach in UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County) history
- 8 years as an Assistant coach before being named HC
- AC during America East Championship run in 2017 while he was pitching coach
- surrendered just three runs per game
- schools first America East Championship
- third NCAA Tournament appearance
- Bowen recruited the 2017 America East Rookie of the Year, Christian Torres.
- lowering the team ERA from 9.01 in 2012 to 3.30 in 2015, the best improvement in the country over that span.
- Bowen has recruited and coached four freshman All-Americans, 33 All-Conference selections and 15 All-Rookie team selections
- Well respected coach and person
Notes
- Fit a need on our roster
- Academic fit, high level enough student that can succeed in our school
- People we can trust in our program
- Find the player that excites you on the field first to be sure they can play in our conference
- There is way more to baseball a D1 player than just playing baseball
- Being a d1 player, there is a lot going into it
- Keep the schedule consistent
- Master the routine
- Give the assistant their time
- Hire the right guys
- Make umbc the best place for assistant coaches
- How do I get our coaches in the best position to impact the players?
- How do I make that strength relevant for my assistants?
- This is what I am good at, how can I make an impact on my guys?
- Division of labor - everyone gets to do some work and people get to do what fires them up
- Common character traits
- Selfless - we win and lose together
- If you get the right characters you can get everyone working together
- Selfless and reliable people
- Define them
- Reliable - delivery their skillset on the field consistently. “What do you look like on your bad day?”
- Selfless - genuine joy of serving others. Can you find joy in your team and teammates' success?
- A team with true chemistry is guys who have a high regard for the team.
- If your not good when you are on, you better stop pitching.
- You got to clock your outs
- Each moment is important and how it affects your future, innings, result, season, next year, etc
- You don’t want the guys to feel like you are taking english 101 for 4 years. You use what the team needs.
- The most important scouting is your own practice time
- One practice a week, during the spring, we run practice like individuals and small groups
- You got to make time to use all the tools
- Respond to your own ball flight
- Everytime I throw the ball it needs to have the same shape
- Play a high level game of catch
- Hitter find the ball flight that will make you the most successful
- 10/80/10 -
- 10 percent will scrap
- 10 percent will be very good
- 80 percent who knows themselves the best
- How do I take my strengths into winning baseball and helping the team
- Know your identity and find a way to delivery it everyday through their reliability
- Let yourself be ok with not being the top 10%
- It is so impactful for our team and for their future
- We have a unique opportunity in our sport to teach these values because our game is so hard.
- Find a time to pick your spots where the player will be ready to listen
- If you are pushing yourself everyday you deserve honesty from the coaching staff
- Players give effort, coaches give the truth - if anyone falls on that scale things fall
- We will use every avenue available to help our team get better
- Portal is a compressed process
- Roster is smaller to be sure we can make an impact on all our players.
- What are the players going to remember about you?
- How do you learn and grow your own process
- How are we going to respond to this new environment?
- I know we are going to be selfless and reliable. It is our north star
- Twitter and come see us play! @UMBCbaseball
- League plays Fri-Sun
- Come in for free and enjoy!
Monday Aug 01, 2022
Monday Aug 01, 2022
Bio
- Current Head Coach at Ohio State University
- One of the most accomplished assistant coaches in the country with stops at seven different Power 5 programs.
- associate head coach at TCU for nine seasons (2014-22)
- nearly 30 years of collegiate coaching experience and seven more years of experience as a minor league manager.
- 2017 he was tabbed a coach on the USA Baseball 18U National Team
- 2018 16U NTDP head coach
- coached over 90 major league players, 28 All-Stars, two batting title winners, two AL MVPs, one AL Rookie of the Year and 2012 Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey.
- tutored MLB phenom Mike Trout for nearly two full seasons when he was part of the Arkansas Travelers AA club of the Angels
- Worked in the Yankees organization as well as with coaching icon Auggie Gorrido at Cal State Fullerton
- Offensive mastermind at each step of the way working with the top 5% of the game
- ABCA clinician speaker
- Incredible baseball mind
- Hell of a baseball GUY!!
Notes
- Adapt or die and you have to make some adjustments.
- I Have a certain set of core beliefs
- Have to be able to relate to the players
- How do players learn?
- Wear the pants the right way
- No bat flips - play the game with enthusiasm
- Going to keep joy in our own team
- Want them to have a blast but you have to respect your teammates and your team
- Keeper of the game!!!
- Teach guys to play the game the right way. Respect your opponents and respecting the team
- Baserunning is something we can bring to the park everyday
- Runner at 1b never knows when the guy at 2b will steal
- Baserunning worked on daily - some type of theme
- You can work on instincts
- You need to make a big deal about it everyday
- Don’t mistake activity for achievement. If you are not detail oriented you are just oding activity
- A great player learns from other players mistakes
- Good players learns from their own mistakes
- I have to do a better job articulating
- You cannot assume anything
- We can steal runs throughout the season from our daily baserunning work
- The FREEBIE WAR is huge for us! Just like the football coach is trying to win the turnover battle
- Different between reckless and fearless
- My guys are going to run because they can make it
- Enable your players that they can do things.
- Never underestimate your players
- Trust your players the sky limit
- Culture is how you operate
- Define it and then demand it
- Its just like a swing, you teach it daily
- O - ownership
- H - hard working
- I - integrity
- 0 - one pitch at a time
- Define them and what do they mean
- If you are doing it right they can tell you and you need you need to teach it daily
- Thoughts become things!
- I need them to see it, and make it important to them
- There are great kids all over the country
- Lets keep it simple
- Meet everyday and discuss everyday and keep it simple - 5 minutes a day
- Compound effect - doing a little a lot
- Video of what the play looks like
- Take notes, watch video, demonstrate, and then rep it out
- Brian Cain talking about dugout participation
- be a great teammate, be engaged, and be sure they are doing it
- Team organizational meetings
- Special guest speaker
- What do you know now that you wish you knew then
- All these things you have to teach and worked on daily
- You can only take out what you put in (bank account)
- Great players
- Super coachable
- Invested in teammates
- Quick learners
- Comfortable being uncomfortable - when you make changes that is where you grow
- Success leaves clues!
- Growth is what we are all trying to get
- Learners mindset
- Its what you know after you know it all that counts the most
- If i am going to ask my players to grow why wouldn’t I, the coach, be growing
- Great coaches
- ask questions
- We all need help
- Learners
- Humble in the way they acted
- Be who you are
- Continue to make adjustments
- I like to stay in the dugout so they don’t even know I am there
- Ohio State website - https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/coach/bill-mosiello/
Monday Jul 04, 2022
Monday Jul 04, 2022
Robbie Britt
HC University of Charleston (WV)
Bio
- Finished 3rd year a HC of Golden Eagles
- 16-game win streak, the longest in program history
- 11th in the country, its highest national ranking in program history.
- third straight regular season conference championship with a 24-4 conference record,
- hosted the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional for the first time in the program’s 118-year history.
- 4th straight semester with a team gpa above a 3.0 and served over 1000 hours of community service
- 5 top-25 victories, including a victory over #6 ranked Ashland, and a win over #15 ranked Wingate, a first in the history of the program.
- Former assistant and interim head baseball coach at Middle Tennessee State University from 2015-2018.
2022 Notes
40-18 Record (2nd most in program history)
Mountain East Regular Season & Tournament Champions
NCAA Atlantic Regional Finalist
4th straight conference championship and NCAA Tournament Appearance
6th straight semester with a 3.0+ team gpa
1000 Hours of Community Service in the Charleston community
Robbie Britt Notes
82-36 Career Record (.694 Win %)
53-12 Conference Record (.815 Win %)
Married to Courtney, Father to Ellie (3) and Camp (2).
Speaker at ABCA Barnstormer, TBCA, WVBCA, OHSBCA Conventions
Owner/CEO Culture House LLC., Empower Leaders, Inspire Excellence
Other Notes
Coaching Staff Features a Unique Model - Young Coaches, Bold Opportunities
Three Program Pillars: Graduate Leaders, Create Champions, Develop Stewards
UCWV Features 3 professional players (Logan Campbell, RHP Minnesota Twins; Austin Henrich, RHP Frontier League; Colt Webb, High Point Rockers, Atlantic League)
Show Notes
- Staffing provides the experience for the students athletes
- Oldest coach at 29
- If you hire great people, and unlock them to do great work, you can provide an awesome experience
- Creative content position
- 7 coaches who have coached with Britt now who are now in full time coaching positions
- Hire people who
- Self starters, internally motivated
- Growth minded - want to learn
- Collaborative and spirited
- Replicating the model
- Get a high school student involve
- Clearly define expectations and what it looks like
- Empower them to get it done
- Identify what you want it to look like (create the vision with width and depth)
- Width = a lot of people
- Depth = its not just about winning (something greater, the “transcendent” student experience
- Who are the people?
- What are the things I need in my organization?
- What am I good at? What am I not good at?
- Define a clearly defined program for the individual (staff and player)
- Player and personal side of player development (hire a player development)
- Cast, clip, quote
- Look at your resources
- Either worry about your resources or worry about your resourcefulness!
- Are their people on campus that want to help your baseball players?
- Is there a math teacher that would break down metrics? Create a meaningful title
- Do it If there is value to your program and you have a willingness to be told NO!
- Recruited a director of analytics just like a student athlete!!
- Life skills and platform you are teaching through the content
- If you are teaching so you can coach, you are out of wack!!!
- Made us be really focused on the type of recruit that is a fit for us!
- Run it like a business/board meeting - we meet everyday
- Individual staff meetings
- The “unseen” hours - where you make life work
- What are the metrics that we feel leads to winning? (clarify the metrics that are important)
- Core principles
- Primary strategies
- performance indicators
- EV with LA on BIP
- Physicality wins!
- Ever evolving (finding clarity)
- Clarity is always the goal, but evolution towards clarity is what you are trying to achieve (excellence)
- Its what the game provides!!
- @CoachRB6, @UCWV_baseball
- www.ucgoldeneagles.com
- Go to baseball page and then “mountain state of mind blog”
- Google - “mountain state of mind blog”
- robertbritt@ucwv.edu
Monday Mar 21, 2022
Monday Mar 21, 2022
Jack Leggett
Bio
- Former HC of USA Baseball 18U National Team
- Author of the ABC’s of Coaching
- 2014 ABCA Hall of Fame member
- Former head coach of the Clemson Tigers from 1994 to 2015
- 21 NCAA appearances, 9 Super Regional appearances, and 6 trips to the College World Series
- compiled a 955-480 record at Clemson
- coached over 140 professional baseball signees, 9 first rounders, and 25 players who have played in the Major Leagues.
- His 1,332 wins as a HC ranks 9th all time for Division 1
- ACC COY 1994, 1995 and 2006
- Watch Jack Leggett “The Man” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnosgDOBjY4&t=4s
- See more on his website - https://jackleggett.com/
Notes
- Delegated a lot to the players with small coaching staff
- Limited staff you had to know how to handle all aspects
- Conflict, change, committed, championships
- Make them believe we were all playing for 1 team (USA)
- First starts in the recruiting process - it will take you to be unselfish
- Emphasize at practice the unselfish plays
- Emphasize those elements in the game
- Every player on the bench needs to recognize
- Fundamentals are a big deal
- We are committed to fundamentals
- Throwing competition into your practice
- Engine runs at a higher level
- If there is no competition or consequence then they think it is ok to not execute
- If you practice like a harley davidson, then you will play like a harley davidson*
- Intense, repetition, and accountability*
- Talented play with fundamentals is much better than a talented player, and if they talented and fundamental and competitive they are special
- Throwing drills, base running drills, kept it simple (plays that you only really need to use, and just get an out), relationships with players, seeing the wide lense of the game, handled umpires better, more poise
- Helped being athletic, enthusiastic, and been around good coaching
- The players knew I cared about them more than just being a baseball player*
- You learn something all the time. Everytime you go to the field you find something to learn
- The minute you stop coaching and teaching that are not slidable, then you need to stop coaching
- watch, pay attention, listen, learn all the time, pick peoples brains, learn the fundamentals
- Show them the right way, and then show them the wrong way
- If you can show a kid something, break it down step by step, and then rep it
- Roll the ball, roll it further away, short fungo, longer fungo, live ground ball
- Accountability, feedback, and breakdown of fundamentals
- Have a plan, keep it simple, rep it out
- Willing to change, understand why he needs to change, attack the change
- Be willing to trust you
- Be willing to tell players WHY
- You are passionate, you care, you are with them in the trenches is the most important quality that you care about them more than just a baseball player
- Be able to talk to them when you lose and when you win
- MTA - make the adjustment
- Get to know your players so you make fewer mistakes
- If you want your players to be in shape you should be in shape
- If you can’t communicate what you know then it doesn’t matter how much you know
- Body language during tough moments in a game
- The most valuable lesson is the game is never over to till the last out, the last pitch - its never over
- Changing pitchers are the toughest decisions
- Make better decisions with better depth
- Get a good feel for what is happening in the game that day
- You can’t be right all the time
- Knowing what your team is all about and having them prepared
- Play consistently and be ready to play everyday together
- Email on the website https://jackleggett.com/
Monday Mar 14, 2022
Monday Mar 14, 2022
Bio
- HC Carson Newman University
- Over 18 years guiding the Eagles, the New Jersey-native has coached five Major League Baseball Draft Picks and 22 total professional players.
- 38 players have earned All-SAC honors, 15 have been named to all-region teams and seven have taken home All-American honors.
- Griffin is considered one of the premier catching minds in the game authoring an instructional catching baseball video, "Catch It, Block It, Throw It"
- featured speaker at the American Baseball Coaches Association convention in Orlando, Florida in 2007 and Anaheim, California in 2012.
- He has compiled an overall record of 421-321 and a conference record of 187-165 at Carson Newman.
- He is 605-489-2 in 30 seasons as a college baseball coach. (1 year in high school)
- Griffin, ranked second among active SAC coaches, becomes the 37th active skipper in Division II to win 600 games as a head coach
Notes
- Am I getting better at communicating?
- Am I getting better at helping the players get better?
- There is a greater purpose than the wins and losses
- The purpose in coaching, and it helps us reflect
- Coaches have a ton of content to be able to reflect and learn from so much of that good content
- Help run camps!
- This is more than just camp, this is lesson in life and how to play the game the right way
- Be a constant learner
- Learning when to say things
- Find out about your kids and what makes them tick
- Learn to communicate with kids either as a group or individually
- Have a feel, common sense, street awareness
- How do we get instincts?
- Experience, have awareness of what is happening, watching the game,
- Variety in our training
- Different drills create athlete as catcher
- The body get used to the training it is under
- Catchers Gear only comes off when they hit
- Ask our catchers how their legs are train accordingly. This is after you get to know them so you know who to push and who to put the brakes on
- Different stances during each commercials
- Nothing better than catching bullpens for a catcher
- Top Gun competition - different test for every aspect of competition
- The more you can have some competition for receiving, blocking, throwing
- Spending more time on hitting might not allow you to get in the lineup
- Working on balls out of the zone to learn how to handle it.
- Gives the pitcher more confidence
- Keeps the run game in order
- Dry work, shadow drills, specific area, simple to complex
- Pushup to catch - help the body organize it and help when the skill is les complex
- Training needs to be a higher level than the game so the game becomes easier
- Visual training, verbal training, and have a lot of tools in the toolbox to help kids get better
- We are teachers trying to get players from point a to point b
- We all have opinions and no one is wrong
- If i am passionate about something and i can get my players to buy in then do it!!
- Skid mark on a movement object
- Listen to the umpire (quit moving)
- Its got to be something you believe and you are passionate about it and what works for you
- What works for you!
- You have to have some core principles
- When you go shopping, bring a small cart
- The key is getting the players to buy into what you are teaching
- Servant hearts - when we develop our catcher we need to develop leaders!
- The catching position is the leadership position
- Pitching calling, umpire relationship, leading pitching staff/team relationships,
- Classroom, video, we talk about it, show examples of leadership
- If we don’t have them, we need to learn them
- What are the traits of a good leader?
- Teach, talk, and practice it!
- Get feedback when they do it!!
- Remind them of the time we missed it
- Specific feedback
- Intentional about finding wins everyday!!
- Pick up on things from a recruit during a visit and how they handle conversation and speak to parents
- Can we change this mans life?? Why not us??
- Never forget where your heart is and what your purpose is
- Need someone to tell you the right thing and hold you accountable
- Need some sort of pitt stop and check in to slow it down and take moments to spend time with someone to make sure you are
- Any relationship starts with HELLO!
- We don’t come to watch game, we come to learn!
- Life is about relationships and learning from others!
- You gotta see everything
- Bullpens to outfield - catch the good and catch the bad - want kids to know they are always being watch - everything matters
- Stretching, weight room - i need to evaluate the player to know you are going to our guy
- Want players to take ownership of that eventually
- 90% is being encouraging and 10% is correcting and holding the standard
- Practice variety - plan it like the game (from offense to defense)
- Baserunning, team defense, batting practice
- Creating mass hysteria!!! Help make them make decisions in those chaotic times
- Be a constant learner
- Find a mentor
- Find a servant heart
- Help the game grow
- We want a generational kid!
- Program built on developing the generational player
- tgriffin@cn.edu
- https://catchblockthrowit.com/
Monday Mar 07, 2022
Monday Mar 07, 2022
Bio
- Current HC and AD Kimberly High School (WI)
- Former HC at Oshkosh North
- Former AC at Xavier University (OH)
- His teams have won 9 FVA - Fox Valley Association Conference championships
- First ever baseball Conference championship at Oshkosh North 2005
- 9 sectional championships at Kimberly
- two state championships at Kimberly (2007, 2017)
- Runner up in 2008, 2014, 2015
- Over thirty players have garnered Academic All-State honors
- Served on the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association’s (WBCA) Executive Board from 2009-2015 and was the President for two years
- 2022 American Baseball Coaches Association’s (ABCA) Ethics Awards Winner
- ABCA National Convention speaker
- District Coach of the Year three times
- WI State Coach of the Year twice
- ABCA’s Regional Coach of the Year twice
- Former USA Baseball staff member
Note
- Unity council - group of guys once every 3 weeks in fall to winter, once a week after 1st of year
- Returning varsity guys that choose to get more of their experience
- More reflective, more leadership skills,
- Players own it!
- Staff has to hold council accountable
- What do we want to do? Experiences
- Its more than baseball!
- You need to have both, quality school/people and quality baseball experience
- A ballplayer is also a man!!
- It is the competitive environment that we bring to the program
- Attitude of gratitude - we do it everyday so we live it!!
- When you watch video you have to say good first, before you say anything critical
- Who you are as a player you need to overcome as a coach.
- Everything we do in practice is aligned and should make sense.
- Being a champion, being a ballplayer - you are a grinder, you take championship reps
- Be your own best coach - know yourself, take your reps, and know what you need
- The game slows down when you know what your doing
- Pressure happens when you don’t know what’s happening
- Food is a great barrier breaker
- Get on the same store, same section, same shelf, same book, same chapter, same page, same line, same word
- Common vocab - what does it mean to “hustle”
- A whole number of words - give them the definition and what it means to us
- Unity council create core values each year
- This is your definition of ___ do you want to be apart of this?
- Its not you, its your behavior
- You have to be good when you don’t feel great. It is consistency!
- We can have fun without looking in the other dugout
- When the shampoo is rinsed out, its time to move on (good or bad)
- Blue Collar shirts!!!
- Each core value becomes a day, so we make it part of what we do
- During throwing we do and talk to kids about the person
- This guy listens, this really is our class
- My goal is that every single day is to make you want to be here!
- Learned in practice, didn’t learn,
- Defensive checklist - ownership of what we need to work on
- Live, what question, who do you feel exhibited, who is not exhibiting it,
- Defining arm soreness - scale of 1-5 and be clear so we can help your arm so we can use it
- Helps us support the kid and becomes more positive
- Anything we can do to help build a positive relationship, we need to do
- When we are here, this is sacred time, it is special, and we don’t want anything to get in the way of it
- Am I practicing what I preach?
- There is part of practice for your personal development and parts that are team development
- Don’t have an identity crisis - you need to know who you are, and help me understand you better
- Here is how we improve certain metrics -
- How do those metrics help me be a better player
- Credible info for college coach to get recruited
- What is the best fit? Checklist for what you value?
- Excited about, looking forward to, and worried about
- If you are courageous enough to put signs down, then you better be courageous enough to make a mistake
- Cell phone - 920-570-3369
- Email - rmcginnis@kimberly.k12.wi.us
- Its is the process, it is the journey that is the heart of what we do
- Never should we anchor
Monday Feb 28, 2022
Monday Feb 28, 2022
Bio
Chas Pippitt is the founder of Baseball Rebellion and creator of the Baseball Rebellion Hitting Methodology. A combination of his unique ability to breakdown the swing to hitters of all ages and his understanding of the importance of technology in training, Chas has amassed over 25,000 one-on-one lessons during his career. Chas has aided in the development of hundreds of travel ball all-stars, dozens of scholarship-level college athletes, and 25 MLB draft picks. In addition to his in person training, Chas does remote training with elite high school, college, and professional baseball players and fly in training with nationally recognized college programs.
Chas has also invented four hitting products, the Launch Angle Tee, the Drive Developer, the Rebel’s Rack, Rack Bat, and the Bat Drag Buster, currently used in all 50 states and internationally in over 12 countries. When he’s not doing lessons or working on new products, Chas is writing and developing content for www.baseballrebellion.com and its social media pages, and author of “Learn the Turn.”
Notes
- Technology can bring more accountability to the coach
- What the teacher knows fails in comparison to what the student does
- Not everything I say will work for every player
- If you are not measuring what you player is doing you are stealing from them
- Restaurants use thermometer to make sure chicken is not under cooked, use your phone, pocket radar, sensor, pitch ball
- Put money back in the program to help your players
- 10-15 degree hard they hit 800 as a team (reward the window)
- Style of hit, style of swing can be built with hit trax to where the defenders will be in a game
- We train to hit the ball where defenders are not, hit the ball harder, and pull the ball in the air straight (no hook)
- Rotational skill acquisition
- Turn faster with good posture, vision
- Train from the great optimal level so when you go sub optimal it is easier
- Harder more often, pull the ball more in the air, turn faster
- Turn faster (chest to camera to away from camera, or how fast barrel goes from start to contact
- “Proving improvement”
- Not all players have the time. They have 1 game to get 1 at bat, and then 2, and then 3.
- It doesn’t matter what I think of them, it matters how the players USES them (not understand, but use)
- Work while you wait
- If you assume just cause the player plays at a high level we are doing a player a disservice
- Associate speed with hitting, not getting a hit with hitting
- You can’t control getting a hit
- Give yourself the best chance to turn fast with balance on time while you look at the ball
- Confidence comes from trusting your preparation
- A turn that they can control
- Elevate the floor of their performance, anyone can hit a ball hard once a while
- You don’t have anxiety of the history of past performances, but excitement for the task at hand from the training you went through
- Know the rotational movements - Posture, balance, hip hinge,
- Flare backside - stand up during turn, and head going forward
- Assess and address
- Every player benefits from practicing rotational movements
- Disciplined through rules of rotation
- Look fast and delay the turn to hit off speed (work on hesitating turn)
- When they ask how to hit the off speed, they are ready to hit the off speed
- The player is searching for feels that feel good
- A movement solution that can work when he feels broken
- He is the guy in the arena, and what works for him is great
- You can apply rules of rotation to any swing
- Maximize the opportunity.
- Better posture, vision and timing
- Game sense for vision testing
- Head lamp swinging - head lamp and keep head on ball
- Rack turns with multiple people on both sides, “Waterfall turns”
- Work on rotational work like we think of sprint work and weightlighting
- Contact Chas at https://baseballrebellion.com/
Monday Feb 21, 2022
Monday Feb 21, 2022
Bio
- 19th year at Parkview HS (GA) 18th as HC
- Former HC at Elbert County HS and AC Northwest Whitfield HS
- 2018 HOF class of the GA Dugout Club
- GA Dugouts Club Ethics Award winner in 2021
- In his tenure at Parkview the Panthers have:
- 3 national championships (2012, 2015, and 2018)
- 6 GA state championships
- 12 regional championships
- 14 guys drafted since he has been at Parkview
- Over 200 players in college since he has been HC at Parkview
Notes
- Travel program starts at 8 and ends at 14
- 12 weeks with each team - 6 offense and 6 defense to train coaches and players
- August - july 1
- Dad coach with paid assistant that goes to practice with them
- 11U and 12U paid HC and AC
- Mostly parkview kids
- Helps train the parents
- Learning the terminology
- Develop arm strength
- Educating and taking care of your arm
- Defensive series taught to all ages
- 10-13u practice at least 1 practice together
- Blend a family atmosphere because they will eventually be on the same team working to win a state championship
- Parent meeting with the tradition, expectation, ladder system (freshman taking spot of sophomore and building their expectations).
- Head coaches only meeting to set expectations
- All coaches meeting to set expectations
- Baseball class that gets all baseball guys 1:30-3:30 everyday
- Weightroom, speed and agility, leadership class
- Be a great person, great student, great teammate, and the player will take care of itself
- Leadership class
- Every wednesday and go into meeting room
- Hour-hour half
- 2022 seniors is first class to get class all 4 years
- Book study
- Discussion from each class member, break up into different classes
- Seniors took ownership of what they want out of the class/team
- During season do NG3 - mentor program (no coaches)
- Every 2 weeks we meet with each class and air out and see what is going on
- Player of the day and get them to talk in front of people (1 or 2 depending on schedule)
- If you get POD you have to speak about someone who made an impact in their life or a situation that made an impact on them
- Everyday first hour and 45 minutes practiced together (pre practice bunt and mechanic work, stretch and warm up, and defensive skills)
- Trust the process, look at the bigger picture (perspective)
- Consistency from all the levels to hear the same message
- We take what is there and work with it
- You might think it is the best idea in the world but you have to tweek it to put it in your system
- Infield throw around - each position has a bucket and make every throw during a game (charted)
- White series - game like throws (on the clock) with catcher, infielder, and pitchers
- Practices so fast that the game is slower
- Everything we do we are trying to compete in a in game situation
- 21 outs everyday
- Intersquad to make them compete under pressure
- Let your guys coach!
- You are going to have good practices and bad practices, learn from them and see what the coaches had to do with it
- The player part should be easy
- Don’t get lost in this game, don’t let the scoreboard run you!
- Teach the game in life
- chan.brown@gcpsk12.org
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Bio
- Current HC at University of Arkansa Rich Mountain
- In his first season (started the program brand new) he led the bucks to a Plains district championship runner up
- 3rd season, recruited 2019-2020, played 2020-2021, getting ready to start “playing” year 2
- 2021 ABCA Ethics Coaching award winner
- Former Horatio HS HC (28 years) - top of 2A and bottom of 3A
- HS Teacher of the year
- 3X ABCA region 6 COY
- 18 conference championships
- 10X regional championships
- Final four in the state 14 times
- 5X state champion
- Over 500 WINS
Notes
- When the people around you set the bar high and help you do the right thing the ethics come naturally
- Coaching is a relationship game (umpires, coaches, working on the field)
- Treat everyone with respect, and the way you want to be treated
- You can’t fool players now
- Everything now needs to be modeled or you won’t get the buy in
- Fine line between leading by example and sometimes you need to speak up
- If you don’t speak up you are condoning the behavior
- Same player just a different version
- 1 year of experience 30 times, or 30 years of experience
- We take days off when it is time to take days off
- Always thinking long run and we need to be fresh at the end
- You need to be able to read you team and play for the end game
- Variety is a big deal (the mind of an adolescent), get as much variety and competition as possible
- Better bunt game - pair up players and compete with a better bunt game
- Validation BP - swings in a round, if they get a hit, they have to validate it with a bunt and score a point
- Turn 2 game - 2 deep on infield, everyone else at home on the tee, run full speed to 1b, infielders try to turn 2 before runner gets to 1b,
- Owes a payback - jumping jacks
- Bridge activities - something that gets us to get to team d
- Live baserunning - 3 lines, and front guy actually goes live
- Push out or drag out - coach pitch
- Team defense
- Fundamental drill - 4 rounds, PFP, ground ball on infield (time on the clock), pickoff, ball to outfield
- Added a catcher play and timed DP (6 rounds)
- Add stop watch to outfield
- Practice binder with game situation script
- Game situation for team defense with live runners or vs air (time)
- Fundamental drill - 4 rounds, PFP, ground ball on infield (time on the clock), pickoff, ball to outfield
- Team offense
- Game situation scripts
- Runners at each base, yell out situation of each pitch
- Don’t train the same
- Production point BP
- 2 teams (could use more if you like)
- Rbi, dirtbags, runners - execute specific skills based on who they are
- Barrel, Barrel, Wall, Wall, Barel, wall - wall is it needs to get to the wall or get over the wall
- Train guy specifically to their skills
- 2 teams (could use more if you like)
- Production point BP
- Pair up pitchers on different groups (nasty boys)
- Horse bullpens as you match up pitchers
- Technology makes it easier to compete!
- 10% of your Max EV, with certain velo or spin rate
- Test max EV off tee
- Average EV on front toss, sitting down, over top, to imitate what they will see in the game
- You have to think about the level of baseball you are talking about in terms of playing the short game
- 28-32 ft from home plate painted on the field (kill bunt)
- Deer point game
- Rectangle painted 10 ft wide parellel to baseline and split it in half
- Pitcher side bunt 10 points, foul line side 20 points, on the line 30 points
- Goal is to make it through 10 rounds and should be 100 points minimum
- Rectangle painted 10 ft wide parellel to baseline and split it in half
- Infield ball handling - 10 reps and raise ball in the air for winner
- Around the waist
- Around the knee
- Figure 8
- scissor
- 25 ball drill - 2 groups, 90 ft apart, 25 in a row, and then go 25 run downs, miss it, start back at 0,
- STAR drill - throw the ball back and forth 25 times in a row, never turn your back to the baseball, and can’t throw it to your immediate left and right.
- Find a mentor or as many as you can to help mentor you
- Reach out to coaches, and don’t be afraid to reach out,
- Lifelong learner - keep growing, keep learning
- If you are not reading, you are missing out!!
- Twitter - @spigner23
- lspigner@uarichmountain.edu
- Game situation scripts
Monday Feb 07, 2022
Monday Feb 07, 2022
Bio
- Head Coach Central HS 6A (TX) - 2016
- Began as AC (2014)
- A team out of his district has played in last 4 state championships,
- nearly 100 wins in 6 years
- AC Allen HS (biggest HS in Texas)
- 3 rounds deep in state playoffs
- Coached Kyler Murray
- State football championship (7 kids on that team have taken NFL snaps)
- HC Mount Enterprise (4 years)
- Playoffs 3 out 4 years he was there
- AC at Ballinger HS
- Both years went to state playoff
- Been a football coach at stop of his career
- Manager of Colorado Springs Snow Sox in the Pecos League
- 31-14 and won the division
- The current Hitting coach for the Mat-Su Miners in the Alaskan League (Palmer, Alaska)
- Pitching coach in the Texas Collegiate league for the Frisco Rough Riders
- Covid cut short season
- Twitter - @kylewatson_22
- Email - watsonkyle09@yahoo.com
- 903-522-2693
Notes
- I wish there was so much that I knew when I was a player, and I would have been so much better
- Signed up for Brain Cain immersion
- Red light, yellow light, green light and what do we physically do when we are in those lights
- What we need to do at the plate
- Ball games are won and lost in between the ears!
- Watch a big league game tonight and watch why they step out of the box and do what they do
- Baseball class all year long
- Use classroom to show the WHY
- Give them a paper, what are you going to do to let that go? WRITE it down, and then practice it!!
- I want to see it!! Every time something bad happens, we need to do something.
- Before practice starts we do mental training and just listen, breath, and relax. Contain yourself, calm yourself down, and get back to green lights.
- We work on it in the weight room too!
- Control your breathing
- Different kids learn different ways
- I love the game so much I can listen and learn from them so much
- I want to continue to learn and be a student of the game, don’t ever stop learning
- I want to see my kids be successful
- I want them experience that type of success
- My heart has laces on it!!
- Pitching need to attack the zone
- Ways to compete in the zone
- We want quality PITCH (not strike)
- Play horse with 9 hole net
- I want them to know WHY we throw those pitches
- Pitchers should have a good routine
- Pre game to be ready for game time
- Players can come up with their own routine
- Type it up, laminate it, keep it with them
- Hitters - routine and approach at the plate (mental approach)
- Attack fastballs early in the count
- Each of them have their approach
- HS goal - hit a double in oppo gap
- Pitch dictates
- Feeling things is one of the best things you can do to get better
- Flat bats
- Palm up through the ball, no rollover
- Chart hard hit balls (self scout)
- Not yelling instruction while guy is at the plate
- Having the correct mindset and approach is where the at bat is won!!
- A3P - after 3 pitches, what happens within first 3 pitches
- 13 pitches of less each inning - we chart
- Chart on the wall to see how their inning went
- Tell him how confident we are with him to help with A3P, tell him how good our defense is to make a play for him (make 100% of the routine plays), throw the ball in a spot and do your job.
- They don’t have to be the best baseball player, they just need to believe they are!
- Practice planning
- Arm care - bands and arms up
- Mental break - lay down, listen, breath, and just be quiet
- Brian cain daily dominator
- Practice plan
- Catch play
- Fungo work
- BP session
- Cages - focus bats, flat bats, regular bats
- On field
- Bunt, hit and run, behind runner, score runner, firework show!!
- Baserunning group
- Defensive group
- Cage group
- Group guys based on all levels
- Baserunning every other day and at the beginning of practice
- Not every lead is good for everybody
- Vaulting (jump) lead is not good for everyone, but others is sooooo good
- Tight turns
- Break up infield and outfield to teach/throw and then switch
- Grass, dirt grass = 1st/3rd
- Dirt, then grass, and side to side = 2 bases
- 3 days a week year round
- In season - one light day, heavy day, and one recovery day
- Be open and honest with trying new things, but if I don’t know why then we won’t do it
- Give them a goal to allow them to be successful,
- Find the best way for them to learn
- Allowing kids to grow into their body before you make big time decisions to see where they may end up.
- Show them that you care!! The things they learn from the basebal field is what they will take long after they are done playing
- I want to get as many wedding invitations
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Bio
- Current HC of McLennan CC, and national COY for D1 JUCO
- 2021 D1 JUCO national champions
- In 9 seasons he is 322-125 (.720) record, including a 168-64 (.724) conference mark
- three conference championships, three regional championships, a second-place finish at the 2015 JUCO World Series, and the 2021 NJCAA Division I Baseball National Championship
- 16 MLB Draft picks including the top NJCAA MLB Draft Pick in America in three of the last four years
- 3 consecutive years being ranked number 1 in NJCAA polls in some point of season
- 108 players went on to play at four- year universities with 87 advancing to play at the NCAA Division 1 level of competition.
- Baylor University (1995-2012) as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator
- three Big 12 Conference titles, 12 NCAA Regional appearances, three Super Regional appearances and the 2005 College World Series.
- Former Auburn AC under Hal Baird and made a WS appearance (1994)
- Former Mississippi St GA, AC, and director of baseball ops under Ron Polk, making a WS appearance (1990)
- Constant winner
- Loved by many
Notes
- We really want the kids to know we care about them more than just baseball players
- Its more than just baseball with us
- Surround yourself with great people
- Pour into your players
- Challenge of juco with only 1 or 2 years
- Culture built every year -you will lose nearly half your team
- Creating the idea we are trying to be excellent and what it means to grow up
- Serving each other is big
- Look for ways to encourage your teammate and encourage their efforts
- Hold each other accountable - get to class, serve the team,
- If we ask the player to serve each other we need to serve our players!!
- No one is more important than the team
- The only way for us to keep them here is that they love it here and we make it a great experience***
- Juco allows for draft eligibility and still get a shot for their dream school
- We expect that kid to make those base running plays but we don’t find ways to practice it often
- Helps hold kids accountable
- This is my year 32, this is my players year number 1 *****
- I want performance
- Approach is all about swinging at strikes and taking balls, pitch recognition
- Help guys learn what they do well
- Create ways for hitters to feel offensive! Have an approach of how to attack the pitcher
- I don’t want my 9 hole guy to have the same approach as my 4 hole guy
- Group hitters in their BP groups to work on what they need, and who they are
- Get guys to be honest with themselves
- Trust who you are and do what you do! BE YOU!!!
- Get them to do what they do well, and maximize it for the team
- Keep on the players
- Set up situational BP
- Its a mentality
- Control their emotions or their emotions will control them! I got to keep working on it too!!!
- Breath!! Stick with the process
- Great players - incredibly hardworking, passion to improve, know where they are going, knew who they were, and not concerned with others
- Bring in guys with great competitors with great mentality you are going to win!
- Do they love it or not? I don’t want to kick you to work hard
- Seeing guys that have passion and are good teammates
- Talent is not enough
- Are you shaving everyday? How big are your feet? Catch them before they have a lot room to grow
- Do they have more left in the tank?
- You want to look young in the recruiting world, dream on me that I still have a lot left in the tank!
- I want these players to tell my daughters they loved me!!
- Mthompson@mclennan.edu
- Twitter - @mthompy25
Monday Jan 24, 2022
Monday Jan 24, 2022
Jon Fitzpatrick Notes
Bio
- Current Assistant AD and Head Baseball coach at Indianola High School in Indianola, Iowa
- Starting 2nd season (30-11)
- Below .500 year before
- Kasey Blake, Brady Blake is junior
- Former Head Baseball Coach at Martensdale St. Marys (public school)
- 10 years, 12 years total
- Part of 88 win streak as an assistant coach (under Justin Dehmer)
- 9 of 10 years as state finalist
- Ethan Westfall played professionally (Rockies)
- 3rd year as a Mental performance coach
- Author of Don’t Shoot the Young Buck: Living in the Present Moment
- Current Assistant AD and Head Baseball coach at Indianola High School in Indianola, Iowa
- Worked with 3 college teams - Concordia, Central College, Simpson College
- Multiple High school teams in all sports
- Provides 1 on 1 coaching to many athletes
Notes
- The mental game is a separator
- Brian Cain total immersion
- Mental minute at the beginning of practice
- Awareness, strategy, action
- Build in routines during practice
- Practice green lights, yellow lights, red lights
- Release routine - physical, breath, self talk
- Practice striking out
- End of practice journal - well, better, how or start, stop, continue to reflect on themselves, the team.
- Well, better, how for more of a weekly to kick start your week
- Start, stop, continue post game to get us closer to where we want to be at the end of the year
- Does the kids thinking align with the coaching staff thoughts
- APE - Attitude/Appearance, perspective/preparation, energy/effort
- Be clark kent and turn into superman when you get to the ball field and change into your uniform. Journaling post game helps them turn back from Superman to clark kent
- APE - stuffed animal to visualize APE
- Signal lights
- Green lights - GO! When things are going smooth,
- Yellow lights - caution - pump the brakes or speed up through the light
- Red light - STOP or you will crash
- Recognize as respond to get back to green light
- What does our body language look like in green lights?
- How does that change when adversity hits?
- Where is our focus?
- What does our self talk?
- Have kids write it down
- Release language
- Get big - take a deep breath on a focal point,
- GOOD
- SO what!
- First place to start with team was signal lights, then build routines based on those lights
- Shadow bullpens - no ball, just visualize, and lost in a routine
- Leadership drives culture, culture drives behavior, behavior leads to results (performance pathway)
- Go from coach fed leadership, to player led leadership
- Created 4 key principles to culture
- PETE - process, energy/effort, trust, excellence
- Define each of the principles
- What you do on the daily basis will get you the results
- Everything we talk about in baseball goes way beyond the field
- Person, student, and player and what is “above the line” and define it, there is no grey area
- “Was that above the line or below the line?” simple question to ask and hold each other accountable to
- Carving out time every single day
- What is driving your program? What are those things we are going to be really good at?
- What are your core values? What do they look like on the field
- Signal lights
- Strategies to handle signal lights
- 3-8 hitting chart - hard hit ball chart
- Defined each number of hard hit and find out which numbers you hit when you are going good
- What works best for you, and then get really good at that!
- Pitchers first pitch % (60-67%), and quality innings
- Figure out what pitcher is really good at and what they need to go with in certain situation
- A3P - After 3 pitches is the ball in play or is it a 1-2 count?
- Pitching is about being efficient due to pitch counts
- 2 out of 3 - 67% of at bats
- Reverse engineer what we want from our program
- Graduate
- State championship
- Get to the park
- Win sub state
- host/win a district
- Win the conference
- Go 1-0 today
- Everyone has that same goal, how are you going to get there? How are you going to separate yourself?
- www.coachfitzpatrick.com
- 515-339-5490
- Twitter - @Fitzpatrick_MP
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Bio
- Current HC at Mt. St. Marys (MD)
- Former HC at Marymount
- four seasons of 20 wins or more
- 2021 Atlantic East Conference Championship
- NCAA High Point Regional.
- Atlantic East Coaching Staff of the Year award.
- 6 years in a row won ABCA Academic Excellence
- Former HC at William & Mary
- averaged 28 victories a year with a top mark of 36-21 in 2008.
- 14 players were drafted by Major League Baseball clubs,
- Former HC of Rhode Island
- took the program from a two-win team in 1994 to back-to-back 30-win seasons by the end of his tenure
- 2010 inductee into the Rhode Island Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame
- 2015 Martha Vinyard Sharks (Futures Collegiate, now New England)- Co-Manager of the year, League Champs
- Leoni has led three programs to a combined total of 596 wins
- Servant leader and builds communities up!
Notes
- Interviewed every returning player - get to know, thoughts on program
- We do not want our guys to be devalued as a person!
- Give each player the fair amount of attention, returning and new
- Peer reviews at the end of the fall - survey the entire group of players and coaches
- Rank each person according to our values (ACCGL)
Rank each position (hitters, position, starters, relievers, etc) - Pick cy young, mvp, rookie of the fall, and top 3 captains
- Rank each person according to our values (ACCGL)
- ACCGL Core team values (values represented in the principles)
- Meetings to talk about who they want to be?
- How can you make core values more tangible?
- Need to understand what is most important, before we have that conversation with the team
- Team core principles (action statements)
- Process before results, quality over quantity, everything with a purpose, always compete
- Get better as a person and the results follow
- Overall theme is servant leadership - servant mentality
- Merit system to help quantify behaviors
- Excel sheet for each player
- Earn and lose points
- Everything is tied to playing time
- 7 or more points to be able to play in the game
- 3 ways to earn points
- Academic performance
- Service hours (2 hours - 1pt)
- Positive cultural experience
- Lose points
- Late
- Bad grades
- Bad behavior
- Send a copy of the points to the team
- Its about catching them when they do good! Gives kids opportunities to do positive.
- Guys that do not play all the time, it gives them a value in a program
- 7 days of service inspired by the book Leaders in the Locker Room
- You need leadership in every level of program
- 7 different team community service events - team split up between the 7 events, and all ages are part of a team as they plan, organize, and run event
- Off season break up into 4 teams and compete in all non-baseball competitions
- Teach about leadership during the competition - be ready for when adversity strikes
- We are in a people business!
- The more I have focused on culture and people the wins take care of themselves
- X’s and O’s will only take you so far
- If a player does not invite me to their wedding, I feel I had failed them
- Culture through practice
- Throwing progressions and players leading each other
- Skill work - baserunning
- Conditioning through baseball work, not running poles
- Hitting - swing practice and hitting practice
- Team defense - 3 line pitching
- Hitters - can we add value to that guy?
- Game changers - its how we play the game on the field
- When we win game changers we usually win the game
- Any 2K hit, rbi, Homeruns, leadoff batter, base hit bunts, HBP, positive team contributions
- For every 5 GC they get stickers, 10 stickers for pitchers and they get pitcher BP
- QPA - Quality plate appearances
- End of every week in the spring we talk about the cool things we did and write on a cookie and put it in the jar
- Bring the jar to the game and put it next to the helmets
- Whatever you deem important you will get better
- Email f.d.leoni@msmary.edu
- Twitter - @coachleoni, @msm_bsb
Monday Jan 10, 2022
Monday Jan 10, 2022
Bio
- Current HC of Paris Junior CC (TX) (2016 - present)
- Former assistant of the Dragons where in his 1st year as an assistant the Dragons doubled their win total and improved in every offensive category, including leading the conference in stolen bases.
- Whie at the helm his team has been:
- Teams rank in the top 10 for stolen bases multiple years
- Teams continue to be ranked nationally in offensive and defensive categories each year
- Played for regional championship 2021, longest streak in 30+ years
- Won nearly 70% of his games
- Sent over 50 guys D1
- 2021 2nd in the nation with team GPA
- Founder of Infield U - https://www.infieldu.com/
- Former Texas Collegiate League with Brazos Valley Bombers
- 4 straight TCL championships and broke several team records during his time as Skipper
- Former AC of West Alabama University
- Gulf South Conference regular season title and GSC tournament championship
- School record for winning percentage in a year and win record
- Multiple national known podcast guest, ABCA hot stove presenter
- 2021 USA Baseball 17U task force, USA Baseball coaches clinician
Notes
- Number 1 thing in our stolen base system is MINDSET!
- Break the mindset in the fall
- Have to go in the first 3 pitches
- Break the mindset in the fall
- Same lead
- What do you see off the pitcher
- Sheet in the dugout that keeps home to plate, catcher pop times
- Steal start times (78 ft), and then post what your numbers are, and then see the pitcher/catcher number
- 3.35 + = automatic greenlight
- DBR - dirt ball reads
- Read the angle of the ball, not just at contact
- Pressure bursts pipes!!
- Be careful when players make mistakes, allow them to fail forward
- Coaches own mistakes and get out in front of it
- This is a family, and we need to be in this together.
- OKG - Our Kind of Guys - if you are 99% then don’t come, you need to be 100% bought in
- If you expect it from the kids, you will get it!! When you are upfront about these expectations, you are either get it or get out
- 388 jucos in the country, 2nd in the nation with team GPA
- We want to WIN at everything
- Class attendance policy - if you miss you better let me know, if you do not whole team gets in trouble, if you tell me, you get in trouble
- Leave phones on the bus when we go on the road to eat!
- Take care of the little things, and the big things take care of themself
- Team get togethers with family, cooking for the players
- Gave the team more freedom to what they need to work on later in the year. Getting feedback to get ownership in their work
- Weights, nutrition, and sleep to perform at the optimum level
- 3 days a week year round in the weightroom
- Listening to players to see what they need
- Some teams can handle dyas off, and some teams cannot
- Yoga 3 days a week from august to May have decreased naggin injuries
- Post stretch just as important as pre stretch
- You grind because you love it!
- Work with each pitcher based on the innings/pitches to manage workload
- FB/CU only for 1st 3 weeks of fall, and then work up through the fall
- November active rest, put the ball down and just recover and work out
- Break up pitchers on charts, and rotate people doing them so everyone knows how to do the chart
- Give it to someone and say do the chart, not just say it, give it!
- Hell week - welcome to JUCO!
- First meeting classroom to walk through throwing program, prep step, and positioning, and then error analysis chart
- Like to show video of the move before explaining it
- Infeld group me! - send video to talk and get ready to work
- Offensive freedom with in your swing
- We discuss mentality and approach, and decision making
- In the fall I do not give them ABs to see who is coming in to watch film
- Be the best version of YOU!! If you are a speed guy, don’t try to be a big Bomber!
- 2 strike approach - we just will not go down. I am just as good with 2 strikes, that I am with 1
- Everybody needs to choke up some
- Expanding in and out, not up and down
- MENTALITY
- Step out of the box, pat chest, and coach gives it back
- 2 strike war
- Always a station, daily
- Each rep focus on 2 strike approach
- Lightening round
- Weekly 2 strike war winner
- 70% for year
- We have to win 70% - anything that puts us on base, or throw another 2K pitch
- Offensive find is when we do things that stand out (+ or -)
- % of gotta piece with 2K
- Pass the stick - next man up
- Refuse to lose (R2F)
- Notecard on game points for next day game recap, and if player can’t see coach then he goes to player to give him the touch
- Taking notes during the game and during recap it can go 20 minutes or it can go an hour
- I am here to develop the player
- If we put it on a recap, we do not want to see it on another recap
- The only thing that is forced on the infield is the hop on the prep step
- Things are repped and so in depth that they end up doing things the way they should
- Out of high school infielders are not getting through balls and pre pitch is bad
- multi-million dollar house needs a great foundation. That prep pitch is your foundation
- Infield report card
- drills/groups based on where guys are struggling
- Throwing program, ozzie and picks, drill work
- Infielders can run itself if I cannot be there.
- Try to relate things to the world so much, they will help off the field just as much on the field
- We are truly a family
- Put the person first!
- 99% of them
- Twitter @coachcox, or @infieldu
- Email on Paris JC website
Monday Jan 03, 2022
Monday Jan 03, 2022
Todd Fitz-Gerald - Stoneman Douglas High School
Bio
- Current HC Stoneman Douglas HS (FL)
- Stoneman Douglas ended a historic 2021 season being ranked the #1 HS team in the nation by Perfect Game (#2 Baseball America)
- 2021 National Head Coach of the Year (his 3rd time, 2016 & 2008)
- 2021 Florida State Coach of the Year (2nd time)
- 2021 Florida state champion
- 2nd state championship in 6 years
- 3rd FL state championship
- #1 in the country
- Former HC at American Heritage
- Florida state champion (2008)
- 2008 All USA COY
- Overall record of 446-119, .789 winning percentage
- His teams have been in the top 50 in the country 12 years in his 20 years as HC
- 32 players have been drafted into professional baseball
- Man of integrity, high character, and teaches life lessons
Notes
- More interactions with kids, more patience since the school shooting
- Let assistant coaches coach, so he can float around and talk to each position
- Don’t ever feel like you have to call me to come back to practice. You are always welcome
- Open door policy - promote guys as much as possible
- Sports are the best thing to bring people together
- Tragedy to triumph
- You need to have luck
- Baseball is a game that teaches you perseverance, failure, tough, level headed
- So many life lessons
- Toy drive for Joe Dimaggio hospital
- Rizzo walk for cancer
- Hang lights for foster kids
- Far major things in life than winning and losing games
- Want players to be the best version of yourself and don’t be anything different
- My resume is because of the players who have played for me
- INAM - Its Not About Me
- QAB - write down their at bat and grade it
- A or F
- Result
- Pitch, count, tendency chart
- Won’t tolerate after striking out and not giving love to other teammates. Being a bad teammate
- 20 minute meeting prior to practice to go over game night before
- Just because it is not D1 does not mean you are not a Dude!
- What is the best fit for you??!
- Decisions needs to be made on more than just baseball - school, baseball, academics, social, distance, etc
- Do you have a list of questions to ask coaches when recruiting?
- Chart and intersquad to be competitive
- Not just result - hard 90? You getting out of the box? You standing on 2 when you pop up?
- 4.3 seconds or less on the infield to make a play
- Intense at practice, relax at games - don’t make me coach you today!!! You have competed all week.
- The only team that can beat us is us!
- Competitive Pitchers
- Get outs!
- Control the running game
- There is a lot more than throwing the ball 60’6”
- Control emotion, stay in the moment, know you are the best guy on the mound
- Challenge period - all hitters around turtle, guy on the mound, runner at 2B, defense, 1 out
- Guys who have not done well in certain things well
- Pitching and defense win championships, offense wins games
- We will eliminate the inner third and look outside and over the plate and take advantage of mistakes
- Some years we bunt, some years we don’t!
- Try not to coach the first 4-5 innings
- I don’t want to coach on game days
- In the fall everyone has the green light
- How are you going to know if you don’t go??
- I don’t want them to rely on coaches to make decisions and then we will talk about it
- Its the only thing in life you can fail and be considered great
- Allow yourself to be successful, stop pouting
- Its not about you!
- Athletics roll the school system, and starts with the football team to have a good year
- Good AD
- Administration support
- Booster club - all fundraising is ran through own booster club
- Banners, hit a thon, dinner with a pro
- Bring excitement to the program
- Wall of fame
- Facility upgrade - fences and windscreen
- Cover the batting cages
- Clubhouse
- I want them to go off to college and BE READY!!! They are college ready is the best compliment I can get!
- 954-295-6878
- fitzyt17@gmail.com
Monday Dec 27, 2021
Monday Dec 27, 2021
Meet Gerry DeFilippo - https://www.challengerstrength.com/meet-gerry-defilippo.html
Bio
- Head trainer and owns and operates Challenger Strength
- Serves as the strength coach for the Jersey Hitmen.
- He orchestrates the programming and training for eight different Hitmen teams, which range all the way up to the Elite and Premier Junior's Level Programs.
- Since founding Challenger Strength in 2016, Gerry has worked with over 100 college, college bound and professional athletes across multiple sports.
- Numerous articles published on EliteFTS, Muscles and Strength and Elite Baseball Performance.
- Gerry is certified by industry legends Joe DeFranco and James Smith.
- As a Certified Physical Preparation Specialist he specializes in athletic performance, pre-movement preparation, strength, power, speed, core training, program design, and mental toughness, all built on the seven pillars of athletic performance.
- Aside from being a Certified Physical Preparation Specialist and working with athletes, he is also an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, with a background in personal training and general fitness.
- Great follow on Twitter, shares great content!
Notes
- We can’t just focus on the output, we need to decelerate as well
- Athletes need to get better at deceleration, start AND stop
- If we can’t get better at them in a controlled setting, then we will really be behind in a chaotic, game like setting
- Athletes are having to start up, after they have just stopped
- What do you see “prominent” in your sport?
- Look at it from a simple perspective and expand from there
- You will always have a baseline and a progression and regression
- Progress or regress depending on athlete and where the athlete is. Their “neutral”
- Deceleration isn’t needed if you are not fast enough
- “Earning progression”
- Start and stop sprints
- Yell
- Partner reacts
- Drop foam roller
- Avoid people
- Older athlete separated with sprint work and decel work
- Younger athlete needs more consistent sprint and decel work to get a foundation of movements
- Do they have a year or two of training under the belt to get them in the right group/plan
- In season versus out of season just depending on what you are getting a lot or have not gotten enough
- Are we looking at the movements we need in the game and base programming off that
- If you are not getting better in your rotational output then we have to go heavier
- Why am going to continue doing light rotation work when it is not working?
- Overrated in getting in balance (throwing med right and left handed, not needed)
- You are not going to undo movement with the few med ball throwing
- In season maintenance and focus on what we are not getting in our sport
- Hinge is different with the field and in the weightroom
- ***At a certain point you need to evaluate what your goal is and go all in
- If it is what the kid wants and they go after
- Causation vs correlation - was it the athlete and 3 sports or the genetics
- Jump mat and vertical power
- Learn the reasoning behind the test first, and then get the equipment
- Velocity based training
- Technical proficiency in movements
- If what they are doing is not working
- Instagram @ChallengerStrength
- Twitter @Challenger_ST
- Website - www.challeger
- Podcast - muscle and management - spotify
Monday Dec 20, 2021
Monday Dec 20, 2021
Ryan Kinnan Bio
- 17th year as a teacher and coach.
- started at Euless Junior High, 6th-9th grade
- During that time he was also the Varsity Assistant baseball coach at Euless Trinity High School
- Football State Championship in 2005 Euless Trinity year
- work for legendary Coach Steve Lineweaver
- Assistant at Irving High School for 2 years
- coach Trevor Story (Colorado Rockies)
- First HC job at a Texas 3A school called Carrollton Ranchview
- Ranchview we broke the single season stolen base record
- 9 years at 6A Irving MacArthur.
- Irving averaged 3 wins a year for the previous 10
- Averaged 14 a year during his 9 year tenure
- First Baseball team in school history to make back to back playoff appearances
- 4 straight playoff years.
- Also the first team to win 20 + games in school history.
- Current HC at Davenport
- Brand new school
- 600 kids
- Almost all juniors, sophomores and freshman. Every sport but football is competing on the Varsity level.
- 68 collegiate players and 7 MLB draft picks
- Learner, family man, cares about kids
Notes
- 3-5 year plan
- First had a meeting with players and parents
- You don’t take money with you, you take people
- Relationships and discipline
- Reward shirts
- Player of the week
- Golden glove - fielder of the week
- Silver slugger -
- Cy young -
- Baserunning tshirt -
- Tryout point system
- No more than 20 pitches at a time in a bullpen
- 1 first and third play
- 1 bunt coverage
- Don’t be a slave to the clock
- Mental training
- Ladder series with glove and ball
- Baserunning
- 3 bases, 4 bases, baserunning carousel
- Position specific
- Team D/O
- Offense theme days
- Monday - my pitch Monday - only hit your pitch or your out!
- Tuesday - 2 strike tuesday
- 21 outs
- Situational game - pull out card to do situation
- 4 base drill - call out where to throw the base in sequence
- Chart during offense BP using managers
- HR philosophy, if its your pitch, hammer it, if not swing late
- Intersquad - if you are thrown out you get to go back, second time your out
- Fathers night out - go out to local restaurant and spend night with dad
- Mothers night out - dress up in shirt and tie and go
- Team outing once a month - open to entire families
- Hand written Christmas cards to every player
- Professional baseball game
- Team dinners - team outings on Wednesday nights on shortened practice day (recovery day)
- We are only going to be as good as parents allow us to be
- Outside the fence needs to be pulling hard as inside the fence
- Steve Mackey - “2 Words”
- Video clip with follow up questions
- Brian Cain material during mental skills at the beginning of practice
- Stop and take good deep breath as we transition to hitting/different areas of practice
- “Always Grind” hitter and pitcher notebooks - guided notebook that breaks down each at bat/each pitch
- “Opportunity for improvement” - consequence for not doing what you are supposed to do
- Recruiting talks to figure out what they really want at the next level
- It is our job as a coach to help players in whatever they want to do
- “Virtual combine” - streamline all data to one site
- “Testing day” will put it in one site and track each year
- Test every 6 weeks
- Baseline testing
- Spotlight the highest achievers
- Distance throws
- 60, steal start
- EV and Blast for Bat speed
- Pull downs
- Command game with 9 pocket net
- Grade reports on Sunday!
- Have a standard of a GPA (3.0 or higher)
- Business card to give out kids, and kids stats on the back that the coach needs
- Baserunning - green, yellow, red system and just have it in the dugout to see and let them know
- Fire, Stop, Icicle
- Fire - no rules,
- Stop - station to station
- Icicle - cold, no risks
- Dugout participation chart - points for specific talk and engagement in the dugout
- Daily, weekly, and monthly sheet
- Gold, silver, and bronze medal winner shirts
- @coachkinnan
- @bsbldavenport
- DM on twitter
- ryan.kinnan@comalisd.org
Monday Dec 13, 2021
Monday Dec 13, 2021
Evans Notes
Bio
- 559-251-2 career record
- Dr. Phillips
- Back to back District title first two years (between COVID)
- Flanagan - 15 years
- 3 time state champion, 2005, 2006, 2010
- 12 district title
- 12 region finals
- 2010 National championship
- Dr. Krop - 5 years
- Started the program
- 3 out of 4 District titles
- Miami Beach - 10 years
- Restarted and revamped title to 1st district title in since 70’s (20 years later)
- Dr. Phillips
- HOF Class of 2021 National HS Baseball Coaches Association
- Currently works with Power Baseball and Assistant coach at Windermere HS (HC Eric Lasiter)
Notes
- Made a checklist of what he needed to be successful to take over a program
- Continuity of staff and admin to get to where we need to be very quickly
- Support from admin, parent, and player buy in to be successful
- Changed the look of the facility and culture came with it. Kids saw how committed I was and brought them in
- Great coaching staff that I surrounded myself with and that continuity was key
- Everyone had a position coach
- Staff was part of the checklist and admin helped make it happen
- Bring in a coach and let them do their job
- Its never just you! Players, admin, staff, parents, family
- Learned what NOT to do
- It doesn’t matter your age, it matters your talent
- At the end of the year evaluation yourself and evaluate your staff
- Observe at a parent meeting and see their family situation
- When they know you really care, the kids will open up
- You got to be able to speak to kids
- You are worried about the Wins than the kid and their life
- Needs to be ONE of the best thing, not the best thing
- Getting a game winning hit cannot be the best thing of your life, but it is something you will remember.
- The impact will be greater than any game you will win
- The game is important than any individual
- Program, team, individual
- You have to be involved with the kids and not just because of the game
- Look for great situations in moving jobs
- You want to win every year
- You can’t keep running the same offense if you don’t have the personnel
- You need to adapt
- Yes we want exit velo but it depends on your body (big guys can hit in air, but smaller guys need lower launch)
- You need adapt to the times
- Our 9 beats their 5!! Sprint on and off the field
- People want to see you smile, have fun, and hustle
- Its not about any one person, its about the kid
- Work ethic, we wanted to out work everyone.
- Competing everyday, scouted every team,
- What did we do wrong, not what did they do wrong
- Its constant comradery and then get back to the whole team and build chemistry
- Take seniors on trip
- Something with competition everyday
- Create some type of competitiveness to be successful
- Baserunning everyone does the same thing
- Automatic on certain counts, shut down on slide step, or unless coach shuts down
- You have to adapt and you have to love what you do
- If you are second guessing yourself then it is time to do something else
- Surround yourself with really great people
- Work hard at your craft
- evansr21@comcast.net
- 954-854-7855
Monday Dec 06, 2021
Monday Dec 06, 2021
Garrett Baker notes
BMBB store - https://stores.bjscustomcreations.com/better-men_better-ballplayers/shop/home
Bio
- Player development coordinator for Inspiration Academy (Bradenton, FL) (Summer of 2021)
- American International College pitching/recruiting coordinator, and assisted S&C (Fall of 2018)
- Westfield State University pitching and S&C (2017)
- Independent Baseball (empire league (NH), and Pecos league (AR))
- Undergraduate in Exercise science and Masters Degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology
Topics
- Starting with a breathing exercise and routine based warm up
- Meetings in small groups
- Skill emerges through my mental capacity
- Lets envision the best practice we possibly have!
- Check in with yourself and see if you are checking into thoughts in the past or future, and we need to get rid of them to have our best practice
- Signal lights - red, yellow, and green
- Green light I go
- Yellow light I need to be cautious, so be aware
- Red light I need to stop before I spin out of control
- Get rid of the red thoughts
- 4 box - inhale 4, exhale,
- Physical helps me wipe it away
- Final thought helps me get back to now and action
- Practice on the mound, and in the actual place
- Having the process in play and practicing it each day
- Same verbiage with hitting coach to discuss the mental skills
- The ability to bring yourself back to the moment will help be a better person and ballplayer
- Just notice the thought to bring yourself back to the moment
- If you are not locked into a drill, perform the mindfulness training to continue that skill
- Players need ownership in their own routines
- Need to have a routine of when things are not going to well
- Do something physical
- Take break
- Mental thought!
- Allowing freedom and learn themselves
- Movement challenge
- Somewhat based on assessment
- Encourage the body in a different way
- Blend a water bag with throwing to develop a pattern
- Assessment looking at indicators
- Back leg
- Front leg
- Glove arm
- Throw arm
- Rotation
- Capture trunk
- Trunk into arm
- Universal movements that are within everybody
- 2 days very individualize and 3 days of team workout
- Learning all movement patterns within team workout
- Guys given option for movement prep before game
- Savage pitching certification
- We can stabilize movements without thoughts
- Your body is interested it can use in multiple ways
- Mid week bullpen is all water bag bled throwing to targets
- 3 prescribed drills to pitching
- Basketball throw - treat the arm as an extension of the body (goalie throw)
- And blend with plyo/baseball
- “Success” is when the drill helps capture the movement
- The on field matters - and we will evaluate based on how they perform
- In game we do not want to have thoughts, and training within this environment by allowing the body to feel the force
- Encouraging the movement, by providing the outside force and stabilize to be in your best spot
- Create the best movers while ensuring the workload is there
- Your body adapts to the stress it gets put on it
- Movement madness Monday - movement challenges to be adaptable
- PVC Game
- Drop pvc pipe as low you can
- Challenging movement system
- Mimics sport
- Swipe up and swipe down and you have to either jump or squat down
- Minimal jerk, minimal joint motion, minimal processing
- Maximize everything
- Recovery movement circuit
- Walking in a squat
- Different lunge/squat in 15 yards
- Crawling
- The lizard
- Spine work
- Arm movements, low intensity easy movement
- Wrist clinics
- What matters is listening to the player because you can’t push the system that is already overloaded
- Have a framework to work off of
- Twitter and Instagram - @coachgbaker
- garrett.baker@inspirationacademy.com
BMBB store - https://stores.bjscustomcreations.com/better-men_better-ballplayers/shop/home
Monday Nov 29, 2021
Monday Nov 29, 2021
BMBB store - https://stores.bjscustomcreations.com/better-men_better-ballplayers/shop/home
Bio
- USA baseball women's national team head coach since 2019
- 2019 team of the year and coach of the year
- Been a part of the 12U baseball ID series, task force, and trials staff.
- Served as an assistant coach for one year prior to her time at the helm
- first woman to be named the USA Baseball Rod Dedeaux Coach of the Year
- Played 2008-2015 as a catcher on the US National team
- Team USA finished its tournament with a perfect 7-0 record and the program's first gold medal since the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games and was voted USA baseball team of the year that year
- 2019-2020 served as a coach with the Oakland Athletics at Minor League Baseball Spring Training
- 2021 Oakland A’s roving catching instructor for minor league baseball
Notes
- MLB breakthrough series - all girl event for high school girls
- The Trailblazer series for 12-14 year olds
- USA baseball develops
- USA baseball website for future events
- Veronica’s events on Instagram
- The softball and baseball swing should be more similar than they are
- Prepare for the highest level by tearing things down before we build them up.
- Attack your weaknesses and think more long term
- One knee down (OKD) has gotten out of control,
- If you don’t know why you are doing something then it can go by the wayside
- Capitalize on adjustability
- Receiving is about our feet, hips and have adjustability based on pitch location
- Adjustability when a pitcher misses so you don’t move too much
- Change to a knee when pitcher is missing up
- Pitcher throws down constantly and you need to receive low pitches more
- Be able to be balanced and have it all in your versatile.
- Keep strikes, strikes, make balls, strikes
- Blocking balls, making plays helps the pitchers mental capacity
- Catchers need to keep the mentality of the pitcher strong
- If pitcher is working fast, you need to keep them working fast
- Pitcher is working slow, slow them up - calling time, calling outs, talking to umpire, giving the pitchers extra seconds to think and take deep breaths
- bench/role players know their roles to keep the energy up and keep everyone engaged
- Catchers can call their own game and have that experience
- Target practice for throwing
- Blocking competition
- Receiving - thumb under technique
- Use 3 joints to help with framing - shoulder, elbow and wrist
- Less movement the better, lets make this look as sneaky as possible.
- Strike zone awareness - knowing where it is and how much I need to move my glove to get a strike
- Use markers on my body to know the zone (top of the catcher knee is the knee on hitter)
- Receiving starts in the middle of the strike zone, use your joints, and then catch the angle as it tries to go away from the strike zone
- Pre pitch movement - glove down to the ground to then come up and receive it (flex to firm); start with a neutral elbow
- Sneaky receivers done with good timing
- Tracking the ball is also pre pitch movement
- Exaggerate movements with youth level
- How can I explain the same things a million different ways
- I want them to have success
- All about the team, if it does not help the team, we are not doing it!
- Staying in touch with the players and have a personal relationship with each person
- Everyone is a leader in some way on the team
- Instagram @veronicaoalvarez
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Monday Nov 22, 2021
Monday Nov 22, 2021
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Bio
- Director of S&C at Absolute Sports Performance (2018 when opened)
- Loyola Blakefield Baseball S&C coach
- CCBC Dundalk Baseball S&C
- Personal training background, even since HS - graduated HS with certified personal trainer
- CSCS certified -
Notes
- Younger the person the easier it is to recover
- Train, recover, and compete in the sport
- 48-72 hours recover before next competition
- Communication for best program about what the week looks like, days off we take advantage for work
- Athletes will typically be sore from increase volume
- Can handle high weight less reps with not too much soreness
- Eccentric lower part of the lift provides from soreness than concentric
- RDL (eccentric) vs Hip thrust (more concentric)
- Limiting range of motion - back squat - using box with limit range of motion
- The best overall strategy to mitigate soreness is to consistently train
- Bowling analogy - if you just go once in a while you will be sore
- Stay in the weightroom
- Be able to adjust your plan, based on life! Have to be flexible
- Online, remote programming options
- Have separated season
- Under-development or over stress
- Have a system in place for different levels of movements and commitment
- Tier
- Foundations of movement - squat, hinge, push, and pull
- If we do not have these movements we can’t move on
- Accumulation block - build up so we can build
- Higher reps
- Strength block - maximal output
- Power and speed
- Foundations of movement - squat, hinge, push, and pull
- Tier
- Peak with power and speed as we enter the season
- During season we are maintaining strength and power/speed blocks
- Sprint work, plyo work, strength work
- Above 80-85%
- Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) - finding a weight to find a pretty good gauge
- Essentially finding his 3 rep max
- Rated 1-10; 1 - dynamic warmup, 2-5 very light weight, 6 - 4 or 5 left, 7 - 3 reps, 8 - 2 reps, 9 - 1 rep, 10 - max
- The real coaching comes into managing work loads and intensity
- Plan for the things you can plan for
- You need an assessment but it needs to make sense for you!
- Do not just copy and paste from big programs
- Take pieces of assessments that will actually help and you can use and know
- 10 different movements
- Performance test with Hinge, Jump, sprints
- Ncaa has data that you can compare with your data to see what average athlete can do
- What does the average of this team really need? What are the most lacking?
- Build around that weakness
- During phase 1 individual attention for specific patterns
- How you cue (verbal talk) and prescribe weight to each athlete is the best way to individualize
- Have a reprotirs of cues and rotate through each as best you can for each kid
- Re establish the foundation and based on the assessment determines how long we need to focus on the movements
- Weights and intensity can help determine the individualization
- Individualizing the weight and intensity is best way to see results in team
- RPE helps the player determine the best weight for them (become their best coach): automates the process
- As a coach you need to be there and talk to see if we need to increase or decrease weight. Be there, be honest!
- Bar speed, velocity based training, which correlates bar speed to intensity
- Assessing athletes every single day: RPE, movements, moving weight, soreness
- Program set weeks we will deload
- 3 weeks strong (RPE increase each week), 1 week deload (week 1 RPE)
- Checking with your athletes each day to gauge intensity - check numbers and communicate and adapt plan
- Track as much as you can
- Assessment you can handle - pick what you think is important to get baseline, and assess them periodically
- Record weights and have a training card that has a long term plan - write weights and sets
- Foundational movements are still foundational even with arm care
- Arm care (accessory work, you have to strong in the foundational movements to support your arm)
- Rotator cuff strengthening - j bands,
- Scap strengthening - good ROM and stability!
- Landmine presses
- Full ROM on rows
- Timing - up tosses, med ball drops, shoulder tube, tramp work
- Whatever you are assessing it should matter for the sport
- Lateral jump - single leg force production is important for baseball
- Split squat, lateral lunge,
- Rate of force production and velocity
- Lateral jump - single leg force production is important for baseball
- Pre and post activity questionnaire - sleep, soreness, stress, perception of lift,
- @hashsportsperformance on Twitter and Instagram
- www.absolutesportsperformanceMD.com
Monday Nov 15, 2021
Monday Nov 15, 2021
Joyner Notes
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Bio
- Current Auburn S&C coach Baseball (August 2018 - Present, 4th season)
- 16 years in pro ball
- Major League S&C Coordinator for Toronto Blue Jays 2014-2017.
- Major League S&C Coordinator for Brewers 2007-2010
- Minor League S&C coordinator for Toronto Blue Jays from 2003-2006 working with more than 150 players in the system including Roy Halladay.
- Has worked with some big time big leaugers like Roy Halladay, Trevor Hoffman, Jose Bautista, and Josh Donaldson.
Notes
- Run your own ship - need to be able to make adjustment on your own because coaches will not always be around
- Scouts asking S&C what a player is like!
- Journaling each week and reflecting on the week
- Sleep, final exam before the start, program, drink enough?
- All about Developing trust
- Listening to the players
- Know players you have the best interest at heart
- Push when they need pushed
- Let them rest when they need to rest
- Create athlete profiles
- Movement assessment
- Force plate
- Range of motion
- Baseline test
- FMS
- What is the development from the day they stepped in?
- Movement is the foundation, and whatever is on top of it will fall
- You have to have a baseline of movement
- Explode, load, and drive -
- Track average velo and peak velo
- What does that profile look like?
- Recognize red flags
- Earn the right to load up
- Weight Room where they can just train and be a safe place
- All about patterning (hinge, push, pull , carry)
- Menu of options of the patterns (uppers, lowers, total body,)
- Give them an arm throwing program working with the PC with weightlifting on a calendar. Try to detail as much as possible
- Adapt to skill work, scrimmage,
- Treat it like spring training - hit the most important patterns
- Starters get them on their routine
- Relievers treated like position players - 2 days in season or 4 days in off season
- Always encourage recovery
- Be as consistent as you can on workout days
- In season - be on a routine, be consistent,
- Giving them ownership of a program based on how their body performs, what they like and how it works for them (individualize)
- Master the simple things
- Surveys at the end of fall to get feedback from players on all areas what they like and do not like
- Incoming guys take summer school and it helps tremendously to get used to routine, campus, coaches and their style.
- Not stretching the cold rubber band - lacrosse ball, thera gun, foam roller
- How do I prepare? I’m fixing to go do some work, so attack it in your pre work
- Philosophy - prepare, work, recovery, repeat
- In season we are more “recovery specialist”
- Foam roller
- Cold tub
- Hot tub
- Recovery boots
- Lacrosse ball
- Same movement pattern but different phase of the pattern (load, explode, drive)
- How does their top velo and average velo correlate to show when guys can go back to back and how to program him the days before and after appearance
- What is going on with your body weight?
- The numbers are telling me you just need to rest and recover
- squat , hinge, push, pull, carry
- What movements are they doing on the field
- Work on them!
- What the fundamental patterns are - it just doesn’t look right and you address those
- Make time for it in practice - body weight, pushups, balance, stretch
- For us it is movement!! If you are not moving right, work on it
- Heart rate ranges based on who they were (for conditioning)
- Different conditioning for different guys based on their development
- Its not a one size fits all
- Conditioning is about work capacity and does not have to be just running
- cnj0018@auburn.edu
Monday Nov 08, 2021
Monday Nov 08, 2021
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Bio
- Toronto Blue Jays S&C Coordinator since 2019
- Webber International University Head S&C Coach 2009 - 2019 and Associate AD (2016)
- he was working with every team
- he has transformed the department into one of the most well-renowned programs in the country
- over 80 coaches that have been under the tutelage
- 2 Full time coaches, Interns, and GA
- S&C finalist 2016 and 2018 for National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)
- Daytona Cubs S&C coach 2009
Notes
- Helping people through training
- Train the person and we hire and fire based on culture and skill level
- Training to help the team but ultimately helping the individual
- Collaboration is key to talk to coaches on different sides (S&C and player development)
- Total collaboration to help solve problems together (mental, player development, S&C, medical, coaches)
- Balance between performance and development
- Not trying to develop them so much that we would sacrifice performance
- Continuity and being able to speak the same language to align as player move
- Team of Teams model
- US special forces joint command to have an effective team
- General stanley mcCrystal
- We could not what we wanted to do, but we can do what we had resources
- You may want the whole gauntlet, but you need to settle on smaller test now
- Assessment driven process is to help understand the athlete
- Pay attention to details, learning, and compiling information
- Identify what people need the most (pillars)
- Need more bracing forces
- All gas no brakes, so be sure you have holistic and balanced approach
- Stay open minded while you are training
- Informed approach and learn what is impacting performance
- Its important to approach it systematically
- Reaching out to an expertise and find out what these athletes need to get better
- Minimal effective dose - don’t bite off more than you can manage. What are you comfortable doing to help them reach the next step
- holistic, movement program - push, pull, hinge, simple movement patterns
- You want ownership and asking why because that means they want it, keeps you on your toes, and speak at a high level
- You can’t start something in something, it needs to be a blend from off season to in season so they aren’t as sore
- In season should look different than off season program
- Minimal effective dose in season.
- Progressive fatigue, but not nose diving
- Have a training program that they are maintaining during the season
- Total body approaches during the season, twice a week, once a week last half of the season
- “Mirco-dose” - two to 3 exercises in a short period of time
- Young players are resilient and may need a higher “dose” so they do not nose dive
- Gradual progression from off season to in season
- Med ball training very important for baseball players
- Young players need multi-sport approach to help athleticism
- Training needs to be in balance (strength with movement)
- Light weighted implements to train the movements and as you start to advance you add the weight
- You don’t want to push for external strength without willing to brace internally
- Body weight plank test
- Activate glutes
- Its not about loading weight, but also holding tension!
- Elite in stability and strength
- Single leg RDL
- Squat hold - two legs and single
- Hip bridge
- Hold loads and don’t strain externally
- Less load on shoulders in season
- Lay a foundation of volume in the off season
- Slow motion temp work
- Building that foundation on purpose
- Off season phases (typically 4 weeks), stack phases, sometimes deload depending on player
- Purpose of the phase!
- Keeping core beliefs at the front of your decisions
- Another dude trying to figure it out and pick people brain an implement
- “Adjusting spokes!”
- Relentless growth!
- steve.rassel@bluejays.com
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Monday Nov 01, 2021
Monday Nov 01, 2021
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Bio
Coach Clary is going into his second year as the Head Coach of the R.L. Turner Lions in Carrollton, TX. He has made previous coaching stops at Ranchview, Lubbock-Cooper, & Slaton prior to that. Worked his way up through the ranks at each level coaching to make his way into the head coaching job. He played his college baseball at Lubbock Christian University while receiving a degree in History with a minor in Exercise Sports Science. He holds memberships from NHSBCA, THSBCA & ABCA. He was a recent ABCA Barnstormer Clinician at TCU.
Coach Clary also coaches with the Dallas Patriots organization in the Fall & Summer as the head coach of a 2024 group.
Coach Clary has been married 3 years to his wife Kelsey, who also teaches and coaches. They welcomed their first child into the world, daughter Charlotte, over this past summer.
Notes
- Fall 3 innings or 25 pitches
- “Machine league” - 6 outs in an inning, 2 pitches, time limit to go play as much as possible
- At school - “foundational and relational”
- “Ron Washington’s” -
- 5/5/5 - knee work, fielding position
- Med ball progression - movement patterns without having to teach it
- Heel toe action with med ball
- “Kickball roll” - ask the pitcher for what you want
- Roll Series - outfielders going back as long as they like to, and work through each side
- Get behind drills - ball up and get through the ball
- Travel ball kids - “chasing opportunity for the next level”
- Individual skill based
- Play tennis - find a line and get the ball back and forth
- Pre practice period for everyday drills
- “The Menu” - list 5 drills, and players get to choose 3 to complete
- Gets ownership of their development
- Flacco’s - wide receiver drills
- Leadership council - kids voted on 3, and they chose 2, and coach picked 2
- Parent GroupMe along with email
- Write down my identity and what you want as a program.
- Growth plan for 3-5 years with more process based
- Created jobs and duties for assistants
- Ask questions
- Our culture grows everyday
- We are the protectors and keepers of our own culture
- Little things do turn into big things
- We protect our culture as much as we can
- Practice plan out in group me
- Copy in locker room
- Movement prep, j bands, arm blades, plyos, PCR (play catch routine)
- PCR - 12-15 minutes
- If you are going to throw then you need to warm up and then go throw, not go practice everywhere and then come back to throw
- Combo work -
- “Cinco series” -
- If you want to eat spaghetti, you need to go get that noodle warmed up and ready to eat. If it sits around it gets tight and sticks together, and
- Outfield Grid system - 9 boxes, 1,2,3 in, 4,5,6 in the middle right and left, 7,8,9 back and left to right
- Infield grid system - 4 boxes to simplify communication
- Red, yellow, green running system
- Colored baseballs that will determine how to get the ball to first
- The feet will dictate the throw, stay in the box to make a good throw
- The best pickoff most time is a step off
- Have an “active” take
- Taken “sacrifice” out of the word bunt
- Get the bunt down and away from the pitcher
- Bunting is offense
- 21 outs and will sometime do 6 outs with varsity and 3 outs for JV
- Deck of cards to pick situations
- Middle of practice and throw a guy in a situation and see if they win/lose and go back to practice
- @brendan_clary
- brendan.r.clary@gmail.com
- Join the state association, and the national association to help grow your career.