Baseball around the clock

So we did it.  We won the regular season title for 2010 and finished off the year with 8 straight conference wins (10 if you include the first two games of the conference tournament).  What a great season and the guys did it as a team. 

This team had great leadership, and they help each other accountable everyday.  You do not often see that from a group of ball players at any level but for a group of 34 college students to be able to pull it off is special.  This team worked hard all year long and never let anything get to them.  You would always here the team say “1 game at a time” and “the game we are playing is the most important game of the year”.  As a coaching staff we kept saying “play all nine innings”.  This group bought into what they were taught and they truly believed in what they said.  We treated every game as it was the biggest game of the year and we always played 9 innings.  The guys never gave up and because of that we had multiple come from behind walk off wins, two of which were in the same weekend.  We came back against Akron down 3 in the 9th and tied it and then won it in the 10th.  Then the next day we were down 4 and scored 5 in the bottom of the 9th to complete the single most unbelievable weekend in my baseball history.  In the conference tournament three outs away from elimination we were down 8-5 and scored 4 runs for the win and the chance to play in the championship game.  Although we came up short the guys did not quit in that game either.  After falling behind 5-0 the team scored 3 in the 8th to make it interesting and had runners on 1st and 2nd in the bottom of the 9th with no outs.  Yes we lost, but there was never a feeling of we can’t win. 

Hard work, dedication, trust in each other, accountability, the ability to take 1 it one game at a time, and being able to worry about only the things they could control were all reasons why this team was successful.  They never let the small things get to them, they never allowed bad calls or outright bad umps to take them out of their game, they never allowed each other to quit, and they always picked each other up.  If you coaches out there can figure out how to get your guys to do these things, you will have a great team no matter the circumstances. 

Coaches are out recruiting all the time, they are at fields you would never expect them to be at and they are watching and they are taking notes crossing kids off and adding kids to their list.  Why am I telling you this?  so you will play hard all the time.  I have found myself watching baseball games and a kid will hit a routine fly ball to center and the ball will be caught before he gets to first base, and just to top it off after the catch is made he will yell out an obscenity.  I simply put a line through that kids name and move on.  Obscenity or not he gets a mark against his name for being a player who doesn’t go hard all the time, the obscenity just makes it official that the kid won’t be able to handle adversity in the long run. 

Coaches how can we help make sure kids are hustling all the time and playing the game the right way?  Set up some rules.

Rule 1: Every player must make it to first base under 5 seconds (use a stop watch).  Time each player as they run in the game. 

Rule 2: Stick to your rules as a coach.  If you pull the right fielder for a lack of hustle you must pull the shortstop too.  Your best players cannot get special treatment or your team will stop listening all together.

Rule 3: Lack of hustle results in extra sprints in practice.  “10 sprints for every time the player does not hustle on top from immediately getting pulled from the game.  Sooner or later the player will realize it is simply easier to run hard the one time to first base.

Rule 4: This one is for the kids. Take accountability for your actions.  If you get pulled from a game for a lack of hustle or acting like a baby, do not blame the coach and quit.  If you do this it just reaffirms you are a baby, take it in stride, apologize to your team, then your coaches, and never let it happen again. 

Rule 5: Play the game for your team, not the scouts.  If you play hard and do the right things, meaning executing bunts, moving runners overs, putting the ball in play with two strikes, hustle on and off the field, people will notice.  If scouts have you on their list and watch you play and you do these small things they will come back, even if you didn’t get a hit or make a great play.  Simply play the game the right way and hustle.

Coaches are always telling their players to stay in the game when they are sitting on the bench.  This is true they need to do this, but one thing you must realize is how boring it is to sit on the bench.  Imagine how short your attention span would be just sitting there and now understand you are dealing with kids who probably have an even shorter attention span.  So what do we do?  Here are a few ideas of how to keep kids in the game.  This will work great for High School aged kids and if taught properly could work good for the younger ages as well.

Keep spray charts:  Spray charts help you see how you pitched to certain hitters and what they did with the at bat as well as where the ball ended up.  This chart helps your hitters see how the pitcher is pitching them and it helps keep the kids on the bench involved because they can keep the charts.  Also, do one for their team as well, especially if you will play the team multiple times per year or may see them later in the playoffs.  Spray charts are a great tool to help both your hitters and your pitchers during the game.  It will also help you coaches develop a plan on how to pitch to certain guys during the game, or even after if you play the team again. 

Get a few more stop watches:  Get enough stop watches for the guys on the bench and have them be responsible for getting all the times of the runners to first for both teams, the pitchers time to home, the catchers throw to second, and even the pitchers move to first.  If certain kids are responsible for this then they will have to be paying attention to the game.  It also helps you as a coach because you will be able to see who is fast on their team and who is hustling on your team.  These are just a few ideas for now but try them out and see if you like it. 

One thing I love to see is a team that is always putting pressure on the defense.  These teams are very aggressive and do everything the right way.  They round first hard looking for second, they steal, hit and run, drag bunt, slash, they do anything and everything to force mistakes from the other team.  Teams like this are tough to play against because you can never relax, it feels like you never get to catch your breath and if you do let your guard down for one second they delay steal or take the extra base on a ball in the dirt.  Every team has the capability to do this and every player will buy into the system, it just takes a coach to impress upon his players the importance of all these little things.  If you are going to have your team play this style of baseball, which in my opinion is the only way to play, you must practice it, you must repeat the practice, and when you think they understand you must do it again.  I am not saying you have to be a drill sergeant but you must build a culture of hard work and non stop hustle in order to get kids to buy into the system.  The biggest part of this style for a coach is to hold everyone accountable.  All coaches preach this style of play but when their star player messes up some coaches look past it.  This is a huge no no because the other players pick up on this and realize you have not completely bought into the system you are trying to teach.  In closing, make sure everyone plays hard 100 percent of the time, and do not make any exceptions for anyone no matter their batting average or on base %.  Play hard and have fun.

Again I am missing in action.  After this weekend it will be 5 straight weeks of being on the road including 10 straight days.  I love the job but that is why keeping up on here has been tough…OK, impossible.  Our season is in full swing and we are playing every weekend and once or twice during the week. 

For all you kids out there who dream of playing college baseball please make sure you are doing the right things.  First and foremost keep your grades up, and when it is time to practice, take it seriously and learn.  If anyone has any specific questions please ask and I will do my best to get back to you in a timely fashion.  We are gone today for Bowling Green and then we leave tomorrow for Miami, OH.  You can follow every college game on www.d1baseball.com.  After that just click on the calendar and then scroll down to the Mid American Conference and you will see Central Michigan University.  I hope everyone is having a great start to their season.  Keep playing hard.

mightyflynn asked: Have you seen this story & video about changes in the Mariners' conditioning program? I thought you'd find it interesting.
http://www.ghostrunneronfirst.com/2010/02/next-level.html

I just watched the video on that link you sent me.  I love it, thank you for sharing that.