Timesheet
January 11:
Today’s practice was my last one in order to complete my mentorship hours. The best part about this fall and winter was the knowledge I gained about the ins and outs of the college coaching process. Yes, hitting and pitching philosophies are good to know, but it is just as important to see what coaches look for in recruits. What they look for talent wise as well as what type of fit they are in the program. Also learning a little bit about budgets and how coaches have to work within those constraints to make upgrades in the program. Today the defensive portion of practice was spent on bunt defense and 1st and 3rd defense. Both are vital because if an out is not recorded it can lead to a big inning. However, these situations occur throughout the course of a series multiple times. They seem easy to defend, however, when not practiced it becomes difficult to get outs when the game speeds up. The hitting portion of practice, groups were broken up into shagging, live on the field, and in the cages. I was with the group in the cage feeding balls into the machine. We worked on hitting right handed hanging breaking balls and two strike breaking balls. Most of the time when they hit off the machine on their own they crank it up with fastballs, so it is good for them to see breaking balls in team practice. It was a good team practice working on little things, after inter squads the first two days back from break. January 9: Today was the first day back of spring practices at Point Loma. It’s always exciting to get back on campus after a break and get going. Especially because the season is a little over 3 weeks away. Because we are expecting a lot of rain over the weekend the practice schedule was changed to an inner squad. Voluntary early work started at 1:30 for all position players. Infielders went over their fundamentals while I assisted in hitting fungoes. Outfielders worked on their drills in the outfield, while catchers were in the cages getting their work in. After each group finished, they went up into the cages to get their tee work and extra swings in. Practice started at 2:45 with their normal stretch and throwing routine and once the first pitcher was ready the inner squad began. In a way it was good to get a game in the first day back because it showed where players are at coming out of a break. Only 4 innings were scheduled which we got in easily before the sun went down. There was an emphasis on fundamentals and energy, and a sense that the team has 3 weeks to fine tune everything. December 28: Today was the last day of kids camp. It was a competition day where the group was split into their “teams” and did competition drills most of the day. After the warm up, the younger 2 teams did a pitching competition and the older 2 teams did a defensive competition. I had the defensive competition where I hit groundballs that had to be fielded cleanly and thrown into a net in the air. Any ground ball that was bobbled or any throw that wasn’t on target meant the kid was out for that round. Last man standing one. After 15 minutes of this the groups switched. After each team went through pitching and infield, we took them to outfield. I had the older kids where I hit ground balls and pop flies that had to be thrown into a screen at second base. This was a little bit more challenging because the screen was further away. Because of this a throw on one hop into the screen was allowed. After this station we went into hitting where I threw batting practice on the field. We played a modified home run derby, where points were given for good swings as well. After this offensive station, it was lunch and finishing a movie before ending the day. We started the last part of the day with “3 base pickle” again before going into scrimmages. I took the younger 2 teams to the outfield again and we played another tennis ball scrimmage game. After the scrimmage, we ended the camp with a raffle giveaway. We raffled away two hats, two MLB.com gift cards, and 1 set of season tickets. It was a good way to end the 3 day camp which had good feedback from everybody. December 27: Today was the second day of kids camp. All 18 kids showed up again and we stuck to the same plan as Day 1 for the most part. The biggest difference in the infield portion were the drills that we ran the kids through. Before hitting ground balls we did standard drills. Today the drills were short hops straight at them, then to the forehand side, and to the backhand side. This gets their hands going in the proper direction before fielding a ball off of the bat. After the defensive portion, we again went into hitting. I again threw on the field to each group, and made sure the group shagging was in the proper position. Lunch was at the same time and the second half of the day included “3 base pickle” and scrimmage games. Even though the day had a very similar plan as yesterday there were different teaching moments presented. Whether it came in the defensive portion with new drills, or in the scrimmage game teaching how to properly run bases. It was also encouraging to see almost every kid hit better in the offensive portion of the day. Tomorrow will be a mostly competition day to end the camp. December 26: Today was the first day of the Point Loma winter kids camp. We had 18 kids sign up with ages ranging from 6-12. This is a decent amount, especially the day after Christmas. There were three other coaches and myself running it today. Coach James ran this camp for a number of years with great success and he gave us his template to use. We arrived at 8:00 am in order to set the field up and prepare for registration. The camp day began at 9:00 where we organized the groups for the rest of the week, stretched and warmed-up. From there we went into defensive stations. Coach Jervis and myself ran the infield station, Coach Orozco ran the outfield station, and Coach McMullin ran the pitching station. After defense we went into hitting. I threw on the field while one group shagged and the other two groups hit in the cages. This took us until noon where we stopped for lunch before going into the 2nd part of the day. After playing the popular “3 base pickle” game, the groups were broken up. The two older groups played each other in a tennis ball game in right field, while the two younger groups played each other in left field. It was a good way to end the day before cleaning the field and getting ready for tomorrow. December 4: Today concluded the exit meetings. Each player has a good feel for how their fall went and what improvements needs need to be made still. There is also a better understanding of roles. Players can now concentrate on finals and enjoy Christmas break break because there will be no team work until after the New Year. The next item up on the agenda is kids camp and a prospect camp right after Christmas. December 3: Today was the first day of exit meetings. There are 35 players and 15-20 minutes per meeting adds up. That is why it is split into two days. The players come according to their class schedule throughout the day. These meetings give an overview of the fall for each player and what the expectation is moving forward. It can range from how players performed, what adjustments need to be made, what needs to be done over the winter break, and where players stand in the lineup and rotation. This gives players a better idea of where they are at going into the season and what areas the coaching staff is looking for them to improve. November 30: Today was the last day of individual drills for the fall at Point Loma. The hitters tested exit velocity off of a tee and pitchers threw their final bullpens with the Rapsodo machine. The exit velocity was a good test to see improvements, or sometimes a lack of improvement off of the tee. It was a good way to show how some of the fall training affected the strength in a positive or negative way. The bullpens on the field were scripted, meaning the pitchers were told how many pitches to throw and what pitches to throw. This was a good way to end the fall because it was more information put into the Rapsodo. The more data the coaching staff has, the better ideas they have on what adjustments to make. November 28: For individual drills today the position players worked on defense, while the pitchers worked on getting ready quickly to come into a game. The first position group was outfielders. We worked on the daily drills of ground balls right at them and to each side, then choppers at them and to each side, line drives at them and to each side, and fly balls at them and to each side. Next we moved into communication when they get near a fence. Finally we ended their work with hitting them fly balls off of a fungo. The second group was in the infield. The first half of the group I hit a ground ball to a designated position while the infield coach was doing specific drill work with another position. He started with the third baseman and worked his way around the infield, and I hit ground balls accordingly. The second half of the group I took the two first baseman and worked on footwork around the bag and picks. The third positions group was a mixture of infielders and outfielders. I took the outfielders and went through the same process as group one. The pitchers were broken up into individual groups as well. They were tasked with learning how to warm up in a very short time. This situation will arise throughout the season, and each pitchers must know their routine. They were given two minutes to warm up in the bullpen and then sent to the mound on the field to throw 8 warm up pitches. The final part of this was throwing a breaking ball for a strike after those 8 warm up pitches. That is all they threw. One pitch. All of this showed the importance of routine, knowing how to “get hot” quickly, and come in to get to throw strike one. November 26: Today was back to an individual day after returning from Thanksgiving break. Hitters worked on bunting and baserunning. There were three separate groups, and each group was broken into two. While one half of a group went through a bunting progression on the field, the other half of the group was baserunning. Pitchers had an interesting day because they were in individual groups as well, however their day involved biomechanics. An undergraduate class from the Kinesiology department came down and connected dots to a handful of pitchers for their bullpens. These dots were similar to how video games are made. They are put on the athlete and the information is connected and recorded to a laptop. The information gathered included how efficient movements were, body positioning, angles, alignments, how to get more power, ways to prevent injury, etc. Biomechanics are becoming an important part of baseball because every team is looking for an edge. How the body moves and what position we put our bodies into has a direct correlation to success. This is not just for pitchers. It works the same for hitters as well. That is why any day that involves specific biomechanics is important. For the pitchers that did not go through this, they performed competition bullpens against each other. November 19: Today was an individual day and a long one because of pitchers bullpens. A moniter called the Rapsodo was set up in order to track each bullpen. The monitor is set up directly behind home plate and connects via WiFi to an app on an iPad. Once set up, it tracks every pitch that a pitcher throws and shows velocity, spin rate, and spin efficiency. The spin rate and spin efficiency is important because there is a direct correlation to high spin efficiency and swing and miss. A high spin efficiency means the pitch is doing what it is supposed to and if there are adjustments that need to be made. Another huge takeaway from this is that it gives hard data to every pitcher and backs up the eye test. However, because there is only one moniter, only one pitcher can go at a time. It is well worth it however because of the information that can be used. Hitters were in individual groups as well and each group was an hour. Their day consisted of BP on the field with one group taking the field and playing every other ball live off the bat. The group on offense was split between on the field and in the cages. It was a good day before the Thanksgiving break. November 16: Today was an individual day again. Because of class scheduled there was a big break in between the first and second hitting groups. Both groups worked on the same two strike approach. There was enough hitters in each group to break them up into two smaller groups as well. The machine was set up for breaking balls on the mound while the BP thrower threw fastballs away for 5 rounds. This simulated the approach they want to be in with two strikes. The last 3 rounds they had a feel good round where it simulated being ahead in the count and looking for an inside pitch to turn on. Those on defense took ground balls or fly balls off of a fungo or live off of the bat. Group one I fed the machine and group two I threw. After the hitters were done, the pitchers came down. It was a light day throwing wise for them, but the emphasis was on pickoffs and holding runners. There was a problem holding runners on second base during the Green and Gold Fall World Series. Pitchers worked on their looks and varying how long they hold their set position before delivering a pitch. To end the day they worked on quick pitcher fielding practice. One half worked on covering first while the other half worked on fielding bunts and getting an out at third. The day ended with normal ground balls back at them. This was an important day for pitchers even though nobody threw a pitch because they have to be able to control the running game on defense. November 15: Today was back to an individual group day. Hitters were broken up into two separate groups and within their groups there was a bunting station and hitting on the field station. For on the field work, cones were set up in the right and left center gaps. The goal was to keep it in between the cones. I charted each hitters round and kept tally on how many they kept in between the cones for three rounds. Rounds 4 and 5 I kept track of exit velocities off the bat. This was good to get a gauge on how hard a ball was off of the bat. The start of group 2 also had two pitchers throwing live to hitters. All of their pitches were predetermined by Coach James and we watched from behind the mound. This gave a good perspective on how the pitches were breaking, as well as filming to get a better look at mechanics. With the video you can slow it down, and we looked at body positioning of one of the pitchers as he was coming down the mound. Tomorrow will be individuals again. November 14: Today was the third and final day of the Green and Gold Fall World Series. Before the game started, coaches were working on a lot of camp invites that are scheduled in December. This is a good way to see High School players that you have not seen before if they come to a camp. It was also National Signing Day so the morning was full of making sure the commitments signed their necessary paperwork. The game itself started sloppy with pitchers not finding the strike zone, but it turned into a good game. Team Green ended up winning 6-5. In the press box today I was in charge of the hitting chart. The most noticeable part of the chart was the amount of pitches that hitters saw early in the game compared to later in the game. Part of this had to do with pitchers not throwing strikes, and some of this had to do with over aggressiveness later in the game. It was also noticeable from behind home plate that hitters had hittable pitches that they missed with guys on base. All of these are correctable but something that hitters need to know. Now that team practices have wrapped up it is back to individual drills. November 13: Today was the second day of the Green and Gold Fall World Series. It was the exact opposite outcome yesterday. This time, Team Black won 8-2. The biggest thing the coaches noticed during the game was pitch selection from the pitching staff. This can come from catchers or pitchers. There were too many breaking balls being called in general, but especially in counts where, if it is a ball, the next pitch is forced to be a fastball. For example, there were a lot of 2-2 counts today where a breaking ball was thrown for a ball which forces a 3-2 count. This forces a pitcher to throw a fastball the majority of the time. Even if they get an out in this count, it was an unnecessary pitch that was thrown. Tomorrow will be the deciding game of the series before we go back to individual work the rest of the fall. November 12: Today was the first day of the Green and Gold Fall World Series. This is a best of 3 game series where seniors are split up and draft their own teams. They then manage the game themselves while coaches watch from the press box. Team Black won the game 9-2, behind a Home Run from the senior first baseman. During the game coaches still keep charts of everything. There is a defensive chart to keep track of all errors, chances and put outs. Pitching chart that shows total number of pitches, strikes, balls, outcomes, etc. Hitting chart that shows what each hitter did in their at bat. These are the same charts that have been used the entire fall during at bats against any pitchers. After the game it is entered into the computer to keep track of every players’ numbers throughout the fall. November 9: Today was a normal practice day at Point Loma. We started optional early BP at 1:00 where I threw a bucketful to all of the hitters to came early. Another assistant coach threw the second round and because of this hitters got a lot of work in before practice. Practice started at 2:00 where they went through their normal warm up and were then introduced to a Point Loma alumni from 2001. After working as an assistant coach at different universities, he was the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers Rookie Arizona League team this past season. It’s always good for current players to get a different perspective from alumni who have been in their shoes before. After the warm up, we went into batting practice where there were two groups in the field, one hitting, and one in the cages. The group in the field took up every spot in the field and every two pitches played a ball off of the bat live. On these pitches, if a ball was fouled off I hit a fungo to a random player on defense. The last swing of the hitters round he himself played it live, which means he ran it out depending on where the ball was hit. To end practice we went through the rapid fire drill called “frogger”, where the three coaches on fungoes hit baseballs to specific defenders. November 8: Today was another inner squad day at Point Loma. We started a half an hour earlier in order to get an extra inning in. The plan for today was the same as yesterday, except all of the pitchers who didn’t throw yesterday threw today. Because of the lack of strikes yesterday, it was even more of an emphasis today. I also did the same work as yesterday. I filmed all of the at bats for the hitters and in between innings hit ground balls to infielders. It was a better day for the pitchers. Hitters had too many strikeouts and had some hiccups baserunning. This prompted Coach James to have the coaching staff double down on efforts to make sure every detail is perfected. Mostly this comes from a communication standpoint. Players have to be sure on philosophy, hitting approach, baserunning rules, etc. November 7: Today was an inner squad day at Point Loma. Because of the time change there was an emphasis on tempo throughout the day. Players had to be ready to go for first pitch at 3:00 sharp. This meant that all early work and warm ups had to be done before then. Almost 6 innings were played. The biggest keys of the day for hitters was getting quality at bats in against live arms, and a key for pitchers was throwing strikes. Pitchers had a rough day in this area, and expectations are much higher. Throughout the inner squad I was tasked with filming every hitter from the side so it could be broken down after practice. This is the best time to film a hitter so you can see what adjustments need to be made in a game like environment. In between innings I hit grounderballs to infielders. This is better then the first baseman flipping ground balls himself because I can hit it harder and, again, make it more game like. Tomorrow will be a similar a day, and hopefully we can squeeze in an extra inning. November 2: Today was another normal day of practice at Point Loma. It started with early work on the field where three pitchers threw live to a handful of hitters. These pitchers threw today because they are all rehabbing from injuries. The first two pitchers that threw I had the radar gun and charted velocities for each pitch. When the third pitchers began to throw, I went with outfielders and worked on a couple quick drills. The first was simply working on running to a spot without looking at the ball before finding it in the air. Each player started at one cone, and ran straight back to a second cone while looking at me. Once they hit the second cone they would turn their head and sprint to the third one before looking up to see where I had thrown the baseball. After this was over we went into hitting. There were four groups and I was in the cages feeding baseballs into the machine. Today the emphasis in the cages was right handed sliders up in the zone to do damage on. Their on the field hitting had a different emphasis for each round they took. To end practice it was team defense, which included first and third defense, bunt defense, and rapid fire drill where three coaches hit ground balls to designated positions. For this drills I hit ground balls to the first baseman each round. The purpose of this drill is to remain calm and make plays when the game speeds up and chaos occurs. November 1: Today was back to a normal day of practice at Point Loma and it was a good one. Hitters had early work where they took normal BP on the field while catchers worked on receiving off of the machine in the cages. After this they went into the normal warm up and throwing routine before more hitting. This portion of the hitting had them working on situations on the field and hitting breaking balls off of the machine in the cages. There were four groups total for this and I was in the cages feeding baseballs into the machine. The final portion of practice had pitchers and infielders working together on bunt plays, first and third defense, pickoffs and pitcher fielding practice while I was with the outfielders in the cages. During this time we did a lot of work on bunting before finishing up with even more swings. It was a heavy offensive day, especially for the outfielders but that is always good. October 31: Today was Halloween and Point Loma had their annual Halloween game. The players wore pre-approved costumes to practice, and instead of normal practice played a softball game. The game itself was quick, and it broke up the normal fall ball routine with a relaxed fun day. Other than the game itself, the coaches discussed recruiting heavily today. A lot of video of junior college players was shared as well as key positions being looked at. October 26: Today was a normal practice day at Point Loma. However, it was a bit longer in order to make up for yesterday’s cancellation. There was a heavy emphasis on doing little things right. Every time a baseball was not caught at any point during practice the entire team had to do burpees. This provided extra attention to detail. There was also a big emphasis on offense today. Broken up into four groups, one group was on the field hitting, one was in the cages, and two were on defense playing the ball live off the bat. I was in the cages for the majority of practice feeding baseballs in to the machine. During this portion of practice we were working on hitting left handed sliders. After this part of practice was over, the infield and pitchers worked on bunt defense, first and thirds, and pitcher fielding practice while I stayed in the cages with outfielders. Again, this was all with the machine where we worked on bunting, high velocity fastballs, and then breaking balls again. Because of this outfielders got a good amount of hitting in today, but everybody got a lot of work in overall. October 18: Today was scout day at Point Loma. All of the area scouts were invited out to watch the upperclassmen. Almost every MLB team was represented so that was good to see. I chatted with a couple of the scouts that I knew before the workout started as well. The first part of the workout began with a 60 yard dash for the position players. After this was an in-an-out for defense where outfielders threw to third base and home plate before infielders took ground balls throwing to first and turning double plays. The purpose of the 60 yard dash was to see foot speed, and the defensive round mostly showed arm strength. After this, the same upperclassmen took batting practice before a 4 inning scrimmage. The scrimmage showed the hitters facing live pitchers which is always good to gage because it is game like. On a day like this, the best thing pitchers can do is throw hard, or in baseball terms “light up the radar gun”. It was an easy day for coaches as far as on field work, but you could still analyze and chart everything that was going on. The work for the coaching staff really began before the event as far as getting the invites out to scouts and setting a date for this. The head coach also bought sandwiches and had water and gatorades set up on a bench by the stands for the scouts to get. This was a nice touch and makes it easier for scouts to want to come back, other than simply having to watch a certain player. It showed the program was going out of their way for the scouts. October 17: Today was a little bit lighter day as far as what I did on the field. The team was broken up into two and scrimmaged. I got to the coaches office early again to see how the teams were divided, how the scrimmage was going to be ran, look at video of players on the team as well as possible recruits, and talk about baseball in general. It is a good time to talk about baseball because we can see what playoff baseball teams did the night before and discuss the players and the strategies each team has. When it was time for the scrimmage I mostly watched but learned a lot because it was very game like. The first base and third base coach were both out there each inning for both offenses coaching the same way they would in a real game. I spent most of my time by the third baseball coach getting a better understanding of the hitters in game approach and the different signs used. This was good to know because the approach and what hitters looked for was very much dependent on counts and situations. The biggest difference between college and professional with this, is professional hitters have a good idea and feel for this without the verbal cues. October 15: Today was an individual/group day where position players were in two different groups and pitchers were in two different groups. The first group I was with catchers working on blocking. We started with a couple of their “daily” drills which consisted of getting their hip loose and going through the mechanics before actually blocking anything. After this we moved to blocking curveballs of the machine. We started with curve balls right at them, then to their glove side, and then to their throwing side. We ended with curve balls right at them but used a small training glove to make sure the glove stayed down. The second group I was with outfielders to start. We started with shooting fly balls from the machine working directly to their left. Next we had them work back and to their left. The final part of their work was cutting off ground balls and line drives to their left. The second half of this group I had the final catcher. He has a bit of a sore ankle so instead of blocking we worked on receiving. We still used the machine, but received fastballs. Because it was just him there was a lot of reps, and we ended with “daily” receiving drills. These drills were simple bare handed work with regular baseballs and heavy balls. Most of the work for pitchers on individual days is with pickoffs. They went through their normal warm up routine, and after worked on pickoffs to second. We implemented the sign system and what sign means pick and when to pick off a runner. October 12: Today’s team practice encompassed everything. Each group broke into their position groups for individual position work. Today I was with the catchers where we worked on blocking. There was a number of different drills that we went through, but each one was considered a “daily blocking drill”. After the defensive work, it was time to hit. There were four groups and the round included opposite field, pull side, mix of fastball and breakin balls, and 2 strike approach. To end the day it was a conditioning/communication drill called tank wars. A big circle arena is created with cones. Inside of the arena there are tennis balls with obstacles such as buckets, chairs, etc. Teams are split evenly with one player from each team being a “tank” and one being a “commander”. The tanks are blindfolded with helmets on, and the commander has to lead them thru the arena to get tennis balls and knock out the other tanks. The communication comes into play because commands have to be given on where the tennis balls is, where other tanks are, and where to move if you are on the verge of being knocked out. It is a fun game that promotes camaraderie. October 11: Today was back to a team practice with the emphasis on defense. Before practice began there was a talk with hitters about routine and slowing the game down in between pitches. They were given a sheet to read from the Mariners mental skills coach that talked about the 15 seconds for a hitter in between pitches where you can take 5 seconds to think about everything that happened the previous pitch, the next 5 seconds to breathe and get under control, and the last 5 seconds to lock back in. After the normal warmup the focus was on defense. This included bunt defense, first and third defense, and three fast paced drills of double plays. the bunt defense and first and third defense also had an overview of the signs that will be given. After this portion of practice ended the infielders and pitchers worked more drills on the field, while there were a group of outfielders I went to the cages with. They went thru their drills and then finished with hitting off of the machine both curveballs and fastballs. This was mostly freedom for them. The focus for the day was on defense but it was fast paced with quality work. October 8: Today was an individual/group day. For position players they split their work between offense and defense. Half of a particular group would start in the cages while the other half would be on defense until it was time to switch. While the hitters were in the cages I worked with each position group depending on what was needed. The first group I started with catchers where we worked on receiving. This started with fundamental bare handed drills before moving on to high velocity work off of the machine with their regular mitt and a smaller training mitt. The second half of the group I hit ground balls to all of the infielders after they went through their drills. The second group I started with the outfielders where I fed balls in to a machine for them to work on high fly balls. The second half of this group I worked with a third catcher where we did all of the same drills the first group did. The pitchers groups partly coincided with and came after the position players. They went through their normal extensive pre-throw routine before throwing and then went to the infield to work on pickoffs. Once pitchers were done the day was done before retreating to the coaches office. October 5: Today was another full teams practice. After their warm up the defense went over cuts and relays from the outfield. This is always important to do during the fall because everyone needs to know where to be, in particular on balls that go to the wall with runners on base. After cuts and relays I took outfielders while the infielders went thru a couple different drills involving double plays. With the outfielders we went thru their daily drills. These drills are simple but important because it reinforces good habits and fundamentals. I started by rolling groundballs at them then side to side. Next came choppers. And finally pop ups. After the daily drills, I hit a variety of groundballs and pop ups. Again this emphasized fundamentals, but it actually gets a ball off of the bat. BP today was curveball machine and normal BP with a coach throwing. The field was set up where I could put a ball in the machine, and the next pitch the hitting coach would throw a fastball for them to hit. Every swing was rotated between curveball machine and normal BP for four rounds of four swings. The day ended with a quick talk about making decisions that we all think help prioritize our day both on and off of the field. October 4: Today was finally a full team practice. This was enjoyable because instead of having to split everybody into individual groups, the entire team was out there at once. They went through their normal stretch and throw routine, before breaking into their positions for specific work. Outfielders, infielders, and catchers all did defensive work for about 15 minutes. Next came team defense work on pop-ups, and specifically communication on pop-ups. This was re-emphasizing which positions have priority over the other positions and then putting that into action. It was. A quick paced drill with two coaches hitting pop-ups one after the other. It might seem simple, but it never ceases to amaze when a routine pop up falls in between an infielder and outfielders because there was no communication. After this it was time to hit. There were four hitting groups. The first two rounds hitters worked on breaking balls off of the machine, and their last two rounds a coach threw with emphasis on hitting the ball the other way. After the last group, there was a quick wrap-up talk before the field was cleaned up. October 1: Today’s practice the position players were in two groups and pitchers were broken up into their different groups. The position players went over baserunning. There was not any actual running involved, but it was a detailed talk about what goes on at each base. It was more than simply how to take a lead and get a secondary. We went over situations such as when to tag, how outs in an inning determine what you do as a runner, and verbal cues from coaches. For example, as a runner one second with no outs and a deeper fly ball to the outfield you want to tag in order to get to third with less than two outs. If there is one out you wouldn’t look to tag right away because you are already in scoring position with two outs. We also went over how outfielders approaching fly balls and ground balls can decide whether to stay at a base or advance to the next base. The pitchers had a somewhat light day even though they were in different groups. Before their warm up there was a recap of the inter squad. This talk went over key stats, goals going forward, and mindset on the bump. After this they went through their normal warm up, threw, and did their post-throw routine. September 28: Today the position players were back in their groups and it was an offensive day. They started with their drills in the cage that included hitting off the tee and front toss with the different weighted bats. When they finished their sets they came down to the field where the machine was set up for curve balls. A “two-plate” drill was set up where two plates were set up about 5 feet apart from each other. The curveballs would bounce on top of the plate in the back, and the curveballs would be hanging breaking balls (good pitches to hit) for the plate in the front. The hitter would stand at the plate in the back and take a pitch, and then the next pitch would move up to hit the hanger. They would do this for 6 pitches then switch. The purpose of this drill is pitch recognition and know which pitches to hit and which pitches to lay off. There was a break in between groups when the coaches went back into the coaches office and talked shop. The day ended with conditioning. The conditioning coach put them thru “tank wars” where they were split into teams and have to communicate and use teamwork along with the tough conditioning test to win. The basis of tank wars is one person on each team is blindfolded and there are random objects in a big circle that the team has to guide the blind person around in order to get whatever the goal happens to be. I am learning that even though coaches can only be with the groups of players for a certain amount of time, there is still work going on off the field and in the coaches office whether it is fundraising or recruiting. September 27: Today the position players were all on the field together at the same time for 30 minutes of on field work. Before the work began they read over a couple pages from a book with the focus on attitude. It is not so much pointing any one player out, but it is good for the players to get an idea of little details to pay attention to. For the onfield work catchers did receiving work off of the machine, while outfielders and infielders went thru their daily drills for about 15 minutes. The next 15 minutes outfielders took fly balls off of the machine while I hit groundballs to the infield. I started hitting to shortstop while the infield coach worked specifically with the third baseman. When he moved to the shortstops I hit to third base. When he moved to the second base man I hit balls in between the shortstops and third base man so they could work on communication. When he moved to the first baseman I rotated hitting grounders to second and third again. Finally we ended with what we call “mass fungo” where I hit to everybody. It was only 15 minutes of work but it was very fast paced so there was a lot of work done. In the dead period between the position players getting done and the pitchers coming in for their work the coaching staff got the field set up for what was going to be worked on next. The pitchers came down and went thru their warmup program, throwing program, and then finally the emphasis of the day was pickoffs to second base. The pitchers were in groups today and took up a good chunk of time in total. September 24: Today the team was broken up back into their different groups at different times. The first group I worked with an assistant coach and the outfielders. I was introduced to some of the new drills and how they want the footwork to be on ground balls and fly balls. The drills were simple. It involved rolling grounders, throwing choppers, line drives and pop ups in different directions. These drills ended with machine pop ups. The second group I helped with the catchers' daily drills and filmed their throws to second base. The third group I assisted with the outfielders again, where the drill set was the same as the first group. An alumni that I played with at PLNU was visiting during this group, so we were able to show him some of the differences and new ideas in the program. In between the groups, the coaches retreated to the coaches office to grind away with emails, fundraising ideas, recruiting, etc. September 20: Today was a little bit of a lighter day for position players because instead of being in separate groups, they were all together for 30 minutes of on field work. Before the work started, the players were given three pages from a chapter in The Mental ABC’s of Pitching. The chapter was about dedication. This can encompass many areas, but for a collegiate athletes it boils down to schoolwork and sports. All of the players are at PLNU to get a degree and play baseball. Any decision that they make that takes them away from these two things matters. Business in the classroom has to be taken care of and full commitment to becoming the best player they can be comes down to how dedicated they are. When it came to the thirty minutes of on field work I was with the catchers today. We simply went thru one of their daily routines. Mostly receiving drills, then blocking drills, and a little bit of feetwork for throwing. Receiving drills were mostly bare handed, which promotes soft hands. Blocking drills included me throwing balls in the dirt for them to block. And the feetwork was simple as well. It was just re-emphasizing the proper steps when throwing out a runner at second. After this the pitchers came down in their individual groups, with about 6 per group. They all went thru their normal pre-throwing routine, then their throwing routine before moving on to pickoffs. It was a somewhat lighter day for them, however, the pre-throwing routine takes longer than most think. This includes a dynamic warmup, foam rolling, arm bands, then plyo balls before actually picking up a baseball to throw. September 17: My third day in the mentorship was similar to the first day. It is still individual/group work at the university for another week or two. The first group I put baseballs into a machine for outfielders to work on cutting off ground balls in the gaps and making throws. The second group I fed balls into the machine for catchers to work on receiving. The third group was back to feeding balls into the machine for outfielders. Because there is limited time available for each group, the defense had to get done quickly before hitters went to the cages to test their exit velocities off of the bat. Pitchers had different group times than position players and at the end of the day they went over basic pickoffs and signs. I am quickly getting used to the players and the philosophy of the coaching staff in what they want accomplished. September 13: My second day in my mentorship involved a lot more cleaning. With a new coaching staff it was time to change and organize the sheds. The biggest reason for this was to keep everything organized and know where things like buckets, bags, helmets, etc. were. However, there was a lot of extra things found that were simply thrown away. A couple other reasons to keep these sheds cleaned and organized are to set standards and for new recruits. When you have high school recruits on campus it is important to take pride in your facilities. You certainly don’t want to be hesitant about showing them anything. It is also about details. In baseball, especially college baseball, details matter. If you stress details on the field, and stress those details all the way down to keeping a shed nice and tight then the little details become second nature. September 12: Today was my first day in my mentorship at PLNU. It was mostly getting my feet yet. I was getting used to the players and assisting with the coaches in any way. Because of NCAA guidelines and specific rules on how much time coaches can spend with players in the fall, players are grouped up and are given separate times to get their work in. There was 12:00, 2:00, and 5:00 group with conditioning for all players mixed in at 3:45. Each group I did something different. One group I put baseballs in a machine which fed fly balls to outfielders. One group I put baseballs in a machine for catchers to work on receiving. Another group I assisted the infield coach with their drill work. Half of the time spent in group work was on defense and the other half the players went to the cages. In cage work I observed what was being taught and what they players were working on. Coach James has a background in pitching which is where his focus is on outside of overseeing the entire team. The hitting coach is also in charge of the catchers, and the third coach is in charge of infielders. I will routinely assist all of the coaches in any means necessary. This was a good day because not only did I get my feet wet, I got to see first hand what the hitters are taught and how they accomplish the goals in drill work. |