Baseball Savvy

How Bad Do You Want It?

In the last 11 years I’ve coached Summer Ball, Fall Ball and Winter Ball outside of the regular season. I’ve been blessed to coach with two of the best organizations in the country (NorCal and Oakland Oaks). But before I coached with those teams I coached a club team for 3 years called the Walnut Creek Fightin’ Squirrels.

In my 4th and final year coaching at Berean Christian HS, I had a special group of players not because of their talent and ability but because of their effort and commitment. In my 2nd year as Head Coach we decided to start a club team based around a group of 12 freshmen and an 8th grader (my brother) that really loved the game of baseball. This story is about that group of kids. I knew there was some talent in that group and I threw them in the fire quickly scheduling a very tough off-season game and workout schedule. After our last year together 8 of the 9 starters on that team ended up playing college ball. (6 in baseball, 1 in football and 1 in basketball).

During that first year that group of about 15 played year round taking only August and the last half of December off.

The following year we had a great year with a few starting seniors, but the nucleus of players were sophomores and the one freshmen. We ended up going .500 on the year, which was an improvement from the previous year and had some huge wins against some big name schools including a 10-0 win over Concord HS in a tournament where we were the smallest school by over 1,000 students.

This group continued playing year round. I never pressured any of them to play they just enjoyed the game and each others friendships, while getting better by the day. They truly desired to work hard. They showed up to every summer workout and every off-season 6am weight room session before school. This group was dedicated to moving onto the next level. I spoke to colleges about this entire group almost daily. It was easy to recommend players who were focused on developing but also had a pure love of the game and fun doing it.

The following season this group was now mostly juniors and the one sophomore, we added another player on Varsity, who was a freshmen at the time. This freshmen ended up hitting 2 Home Runs in 1 inning (both over the LF fence) in a game that tied the state record and he became a member of an elite group which included Ted Williams. That spring we had a breakout year winning 18 games. We had a very successful summer season taking home trophies in Reno and Florida.

After taking August off, this group went back to work once school started. We practiced 3 days a week with our Fall Ball team and they practiced on their own outside of team practice. They wanted more. We only had 1 starter graduate and the group had started formulating goals that included things like League, Section, and even a State title for our upcoming season. Realistic goals.

In the next spring this group had finally arrived. Our roster had 12 seniors, 4 juniors, and 4 sophomores. This team immediately shot out of the gates. After winning their first 14 games, they were the #1 Division V ranked team in the state. A few weeks later we were 18-0 holding onto that #1 ranking and were named the East Bay Team of the Week by High School Sports Focus and on our way to all of our goals. After 18 games we had outscored our opponents an unbelievable 231 to 48. That was an average score of nearly 13-2. The following week we had 2 games with the states #2 ranked team in Div V. It was a tough week for us dropping both games in classic battles, but it didn’t discourage this group. We ended up winning our next 3 games by a combined score of 52-7.

Going into our league playoffs and garnishing a 21-2 record we ended up losing 8-7 to a team that we had already beaten 3 times during the year by a total score of 50-7. Shock was an understatement. Even after trailing much of the game, this team was still fighting. You had the feeling in the dugout that eventually we would come back and before you knew it we ran out of outs. I look back now and realize that that loss was really a learning experience for me. I had made some decisions that I wouldn’t have made today. I still had (and still have) a long way to go in the coaching profession. It was very humbling for all of us.

We ended up getting an at-large bid to the Section Playoffs and drew the #1 ranked team in Div IV in the first round. (Back then D4 and D5 were combined). We ended up losing to a team that was on its way to a win streak that went will into the 40′s and included Houston Astros infielder Brett Wallace.

The team that beat us went unscathed through the playoffs and ended up with a Section and (mythical) State Title. Amazingly the team we had lost to a few weeks earlier took home a (mythical) Div 5 state crown (Cal-Hi Sports Rankings).

It was a tough break but an incredible season and incredible 4 years. We broke the record for the best record in school history, longest winning streak and first state #1 ranking for any boys sport in school history and highest state ranking to end the season.

Over the course of those 3-4 years we played 10.5 months out of the year with a group that was dedicated to every practice and every offseason game. They played over 100 games per year and made several trips all over the country. Keep in mind that this team consisted of 90% of players from a school of less than 400 kids. (now 446)

Just as much as these players were dedicated to moving onto the next level, I was just as dedicated to helping them. In the last 12 years of coaching I’ve coached over 20 players that have been taken in the MLB draft and many more that have moved onto the college level but it was during those years that I spent the most time talking to college coaches about kids with great effort, attitude, commitment level and ability.

Having said all that, I am an advocate for athletes to play multiple sports. I lettered in four sports in high school and cherish every memory I have of playing all of them. The game has definitely changed since I was in high school. Players as they get older are almost forced to specialize if they want to compete with all the showcases, tournaments and everything else that is out there. There are many players in this country that compete in their sport year round and find it difficult to spend time playing other sports.

The moral of this story is not to encourage players to play year round baseball or to not play other sports or be involved in other things. Of those 15 players that played year round, at least 7 of them played football and basketball as well. At a small school like Berean it is very common for players to play 2-3 sports. Right now my youngest brother is a Senior at Berean (My father is the Head Baseball Coach, my other brother an Assistant Baseball Coach and my sister the Varsity Assistant Soccer Coach). He plays 3 sports. As of this writing he leads the county in TD’s so far this year as a RB on the football team. He plays football on either Friday/Saturday and then plays on our club baseball team on Sunday. How Bad Does He Want It?

Most important part of this entire article…right now…If you’re going to read only one paragraph of this article, please read this one. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen parents/players make is spending too much of their money at showcases, camps and tournaments and buying into the idea of “exposure”. 90% of the players/parents who buy into that should be investing their time and money on development instead. My heart always hurts for the players/parents who get caught up in that idea and spend a ton of their money and then end up wondering why they haven’t gotten any offers from colleges. If the player/parent had just came to me and asked for some honest evaluation and guidance, I could have saved them a lot of money. In Northern California we have two showcase guys that I recommend to my players. Blaine Clemmens and Nate Trosky. I always recommend that if one of my players gets the opportunity to and can afford their events that they will get the best “exposure” and evaluations.

I currently have 30+ returning upperclassmen. (2012 Juniors/Seniors) at the high school I coach at. Of those 30+ players, if I was asked my honest opinion, I would tell them that only about 2-3 of them should be spending their money on “exposure, showcases, tournaments” and the other 30 should focus on development. And that that 2-3 players still have a ways to go development wise. We have many student-athletes who have the “potential” to be college players but their efforts don’t match their goals. I encourage all the coaches out there to have an open door policy for the parents/players regarding their son’s ability/attitude/effort/commitment. Now please don’t mistake this policy as an invitation to give me your opinion on our starting lineup, where you think your son should bat in the lineup and what position he wants to play. That’s for the coaching staff to decide. Every single player that has ever come to me asking what they need to do to make the team or move onto college I have been honest with them even if it’s not what they want to hear. For all the players, I encourage you to ask your coaches for an honest evaluation of where you stand in the program, what your coach thinks you need to work on and develop goals to get where you want to go.

Players please read: YOUR GOALS MUST MATCH YOUR EFFORT. Coach Hutton the Head Coach at Archbishop Mitty said it best. Your goals have to match your effort. I come across kids all the time that say they want to play college baseball. Do they show up to off-season workouts? No. Are they playing Fall/Winter Ball? No. Are they staying in the cage for 30 minutes after practice? No. Getting up at 6am to workout? No. They end up hitting .167 and riding the bench and wondering why they aren’t reaching their goals.

Here in Northern California we have two high school programs on our schedule that every year are powerhouses. One of them is in our league. Why is that they continue to be successful as a high school program? Do they have talent? Yes. Do they have good coaches? Yes. But I can tell you this…they play together all summer/fall/winter and grew up playing together. They show up to everything. They want it bad. Is it a coincidence they continue to win league and section titles? Are there not other teams in their league and section that have talent and good coaching? The basketball coach at one of these schools yesterday told me, “I hate baseball here at this school. (he was half kidding). As soon as February comes along we lose a bunch of our basketball players because they want to play baseball. They check out when baseball season starts because baseball is a religion here”.

At the school that I coach at currently there hasn’t been many players that have moved onto the 4 year college level and it’s puzzling to me. We won a North Coast Section Title in 2008. The football program has had success in the past. We draw from almost 2,000 students and almost 100 tried out for baseball last year. Of the players that have moved on in the last 10+ years almost all of them were coached by my predecessor who ironically coached with me for a few years and was only the Head Coach here for 3 seasons. He is a great coach whom I’ve learned from and we both have spent 1,000′s of hours sharing ideas and philosophy over the last 7 years that we’ve known each other. In the 10 months that I’ve been at this current school, I have received “real” contact for only 1 player. One. And this player is a Freshmen. Will it be easy to change the culture of baseball in this community? It definitely is my goal. My goals are not to win championships, state rankings or more wins, although it would be a nice bonus. The goal is to develop a group of young men that will move onto the next level of life whether it’s in baseball or not. The goal is that when they leave I know that I’ve instilled responsibility, integrity, honor, commitment and challenged them with the question, “How Bad Do You Want It?”.

The legendary coach Augie Garrido taught me something very important. Coach Garrido says they have 2 rules on their team. #1 Always do whats right and #2 Always do your best. I believe that if we can do that, the championships, wins and rankings will all fall into place without ever having to focus on them.

Lastly, please take from this story this…You will get what you put into your playing days. Players; if you want to play year round or you want to get better coaches can encourage you direct you and guide you but they cannot do it for you. There is every opportunity out there for you to get better. There are camps, showcases, club teams, private lessons and indoor facilities. There are baseball fields near where you live, batting cages at or near your school and most likely a garage or backyard in your home. There are so many more distractions to players than when I played. They have video games, Facebook and text messaging and the world of technology. This doesn’t include much bigger things going on like schoolwork, family obligations and of course…girls.

A very wise coach once told me that coaches/teachers don’t motivate players/students. They create environments where those who are motivated can succeed. There are great coaches out there that would love to see their players succeed and will help in anyway possible, but at the end of the day it is up to the player to do it.

This week I want to challenge each player out there, what is it that you want? what are your goals? How are you going to achieve them?

Because I can tell you this…right now there is a batting cage or a bullpen or an infield where there is someone working their butt off to get better. This person wants it more than you do. This person has the goal of playing college or professional baseball. He wants to win a league championship. He wants to win a section championship. Maybe this person is on your team. Maybe this person is on your cross town rivals team. Maybe this person is you. How Bad Do You Want It? Here’s a video of a college football player who wants it badly…

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