April 23, 2025 • 36 mins
What happens when American Legion baseball meets small-town Montana culture? Paul Mrazek, Director of the Montana Baseball Coaches Association and Head Coach for Cranbrook Post 24 Legion, takes us into a world where baseball thrives despite vast distances between communities and limited resources.
Montana's baseball landscape is evolving rapidly. After being one of just five states without high school baseball, Montana now boasts 35 high school programs in just three years. Rather than seeing this as competition, Legion baseball has adapted, creating a seamless transition from high school to Legion seasons that gives players more opportunities to develop and compete for championships.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Paul shares the remarkable story of Allie Schroeder, a female pitcher who joined his Legion team and dominated male competition. Hitting 82 mph on the radar gun and striking out 13 batters in six innings, Allie went on to become the first female in the Canadian College Baseball League before playing professionally in Australia and representing Team Canada. When not playing baseball, she fights forest fires, sometimes throwing baseballs against school fences in remote towns during her downtime.
Paul's development philosophy stands in stark contrast to today's velocity-obsessed culture. "I would rather they play for a long time than a short time," he explains, criticizing the push for young pitchers to throw harder before their bodies are ready. His approach has produced remarkable results – 43.75% of his players advance to college baseball, compared to the national average of just 7%.
The magic of Canada/Montana baseball lies in its community connections and multi-sport athletes. In towns where populations barely reach 5,000, Friday night games fill wooden grandstands reminiscent of "Bull Durham," and athletes must play multiple sports for teams to exist at all. This natural cross-training seems to benefit players' development and reduce injuries compared to year-round specialization.
Subscribe now to hear more stories of baseball innovation from unexpected places. How is your program developing players for long-term success rather than short-term velocity gains?
Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on high school baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, youth and travel baseball, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.
- Follow: Twitter | Instagram @Athlete1Podcast
- https://www.athlete1.net
- Sponsor: The Netting Professionals
- https://www.nettingpros.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Over 130 episodes of talking to some of the best high
school, college andprofessional coaches around the
country.
And I was asked the other dayhave you ever had someone on
from Canada?
Simple answer is no, but thatcomes to an end.
Today he runs the MontanaBaseball Coaches Association
head coach for Cranbrook Post 24Legion and you'll want to hear
(00:25):
the incredible story of apitcher he coached, who fought
wildfires and is one of the bestin the world Paul Mrazik next
on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented byAthleteOne.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged withCoach Ken Carpenter, presented
by Athlete One.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged is apodcast for baseball coaches,
with 27 years of high schoolbaseball coaching under his belt
.
Here to bring you the insidescoop on all things baseball,
from game-winning strategies andpitching secrets to hitting
drills and defensive drills.
We're covering it all.
(01:00):
Whether you're a high schoolcoach, college coach or just a
baseball enthusiast, we'll diveinto the tactics and techniques
that make the difference on andoff the field.
Discover how to build a winningmentality, inspire your players
and get them truly bought intoyour game philosophy Plus.
Get the latest insights onrecruiting, coaching, leadership
and crafting a team culturethat champions productivity and
(01:21):
success.
Join Coach every week as hebreaks down the game and shares
incredible behind-the-scenesstories.
Your competitive edge startshere, so check out the show
weekly and hear from the bestcoaches in the game.
On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged isproud to be partnered with the
netting professionals, improvingprograms one facility at a time
.
The netting pros specialize inthe design, fabrication and
installation of custom nettingfor baseball and softball.
This includes backstops,batting cages, bp turtles,
(01:58):
screens, ball carts and more.
They also design and installdigital graphic wall padding,
windscreen, turf, turfprotectors, dugout benches and
cubbies.
They're not limited to justbaseball and softball.
They also work with football,soccer, lacrosse and golf
courses.
Contact them today at844-620-2707.
(02:18):
That's 844-620-2707.
Or visit them online atwwwnettingproscom.
You can check out Netting Proson X, instagram, facebook and
LinkedIn for all their latestproducts and projects.
If you enjoyed today's show,don't forget to hit the
(02:38):
subscribe button, rate the showand leave us a review.
It helps us to grow BaseballCoaches Unplugged and look for a
new episode every Wednesday.
Now to my sit-down with PaulMrazik, director of Montana
Baseball Coaches Association,legion Baseball, which Coach?
One thanks for being on theshow, and you're my first Legion
(03:02):
guy, so I'm excited for that.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Okay, no, I appreciate you having me on.
Yeah, the.
Uh, it's the the Montanabaseball coaches conference,
myself and um the head coach inLibby, montana.
We started the Montana baseballcoaches conference, um, open to
all coaches from allassociations and um that, and we
(03:28):
just finished our 10th year ofthat.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well, there are currently, from my latest
research, 35 high schoolbaseball programs in the state
of Montana.
How excited are you about thegrowth of high school baseball
in Montana?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Correct.
Yeah, there was.
So Montana has typically beenvery strong American Legion
baseball right, and I'm veryproud of it and we still are.
So this is year three of highschool, high school baseball in
Montana.
There was five states thatdidn't have high school baseball
and Montana was one of them.
(04:08):
And now Montana has it andthey're going into year three.
Not every school but it'sgrowing and I think it's fine.
You know Ohio, where you are,has had it for years.
Tim Saunders has spoke at theMontana Coaches Conference twice
and the first year when highschool was coming, he talked
(04:29):
about it and you know, legionjust starts a little bit later.
So now the high school startskind of similar time as normal
and then it finishes and thenLegion will take off.
So you can play your highschool and I think it's good
that the players get to play fora high school championship.
You know they have anopportunity to go for like their
(04:53):
other sports, because inbaseball they never had an
opportunity to win a high schoolstate championship and now they
do and I think that's good andthen just roll into your Legion
and once again play for adistrict championship and then
move on to state and thenregionals.
So I think it's just bothorganizations working together
(05:17):
and making it work and try andget more kids playing baseball.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
When does Legion season start and does it kind of
coincide with the Montana highschool baseball?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
It's Cranbrook.
Montana has five or sixCanadian border cities, border
towns that play American Legionbaseball.
So we were just in Kalispellyesterday for a doubleheader.
A team from Calgary was there,so we've got a three-way Calgary
, kalispell and us.
So typically we would getoutside before high school
(05:52):
started, we would get outside inearly April and then, you know,
we'd get our first Legion gamesearly May.
So now we're starting our gamesa little bit earlier.
We're starting in April, um,but down, uh, depending where
you are in Montana, they arelooking at their first practices
(06:13):
um beginning of March, gettingoutside.
So if there's, if the snow'snot on the ground and it's, you
know, warm enough that they canget outside.
Every year is different, butthey're looking to get outside
early March.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Now with Montana.
I mean, I personally have neverbeen there and you know it's a
good-sized state and not onlyhaving 35 teams that are playing
high school baseball.
I imagine the challenges arepretty daunting when it comes to
high schools wanting to startit up because the field probably
(06:52):
trying to find umpires andthings like that.
Is that the case?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Montana has lots of little towns, lots of
populations of 4,000, 5,000,8,000.
Uh, missoula is the secondbiggest city after Billings and
it's got a population of uhroughly 70,000, 69,000, 70,000
people.
That's the second secondbiggest city.
I think Billings is up around130, 140,000.
(07:20):
So there's lots of travel.
Um, you know they, and yes,there's only so many people and
so probably the same umpires aredoing multiple schools and a
little bit of driving multiplecities.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Definitely.
Well, I grew up playing Legionbaseball so I didn't have the
travel baseball experience andyou know, with you coaching with
Post 24, in that part of thecountry, what makes Legion
baseball so special.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
One is it's good baseball.
Okay, you don't need to goanywhere else.
Now I know that travel baseballis growing and in some states
it's very big and I go to theColorado Clinic every year and a
lot of those coaches that Italk to they're like you play
Legion in Montana and I'm like,yeah, and they're like I loved
(08:23):
playing Legion, I loved coachingLegion.
However, it's, it's gone theother way in some States.
You know, you're playing in aleague, your games mean
something.
Sure, we go into sometournaments, but we have our
conferenceals, um, and if, uh,there's, there's a handful um of
(08:59):
cities that have double alegion which goes to the world
series, our single a divisionthat we play in that stops at
after regionals, um, so it's,yeah, it's good baseball.
The towns come out and supportit.
You go to a friday night,saturday game in Libby and the
grandstand's packed.
(09:20):
They've done.
You know it's a great oldschool grandstand wood frame.
It's like Bull Durham rightwhen we go there.
And, yeah, it's the small townsgood baseball.
I think the players are coachedwell.
(09:41):
We've got a lot of greatcoaches in Montana and, yeah,
it's competitive and we'removing our players along.
A lot of our players are movingalong to college if they want
to.
And there's still because thesetowns are small, there's still
a lot of two and three sportathletes, and that's me.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I think that makes baseball players better when
they're playing multiple sports,and I'm sure that's probably
the case when you're in a statelike Montana.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, I agree, and so you know that player might be
playing baseball, might be hissport, but he's playing
basketball because that town of3,000, 4,000 people, if he
doesn't play basketball, hisfriends don't have basketball
that year and there's nobasketball at the school.
So you know they're spendingtheir time on their primary
(10:32):
sport that they love, butthey're also playing other
sports there.
I think you know they'rebecoming more better athletes
and overall athletes and it'sthe injury rate on multi sport
athletes is less than singlesport athletes.
They're not doing the samething for 12 months of the year,
(10:52):
right?
So if you, if you take, take alook at other sports too.
So where I am in Cranbrook, it'sa, it's a big hockey town, um,
small town, canada.
We're 20,000 people and we havea lot of players that um, um,
have gone on to the NHL.
For a town this size, right, um, in Canada, per capita, um, and
(11:16):
yeah, the, you, the, you knowum, and I've coached and trained
some of the higher end umhockey players here, uh, male
and female that have that havegone on um, because I also do
strength and conditioning and um, but just if you take a look at
basketball, if you take a lookat hockey, these high ankle
injuries that are very commonnow.
(11:37):
They weren't happening 20, 30years ago, right when we had
multi-sport players.
So I think doing the same sport, the same repetitive motion, is
hard on the body and youdefinitely have to control the
volume and the intensity.
And in Montana in small townsthey don't have a choice.
They hate to play all threesports, otherwise they don't
(11:59):
have a team.
But with my kids in Cranbrookwe've got some basketball,
volleyball, hockey and when it'shockey season they play hockey.
And you know my center fielder,vinny Ferdino.
He comes out and he hits onFriday nights when he doesn't
have hockey.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Right, maybe he's got a whole game, I would guess the
coaches, in all those differentsports.
They have to get along becausethey need each.
Each team needs those playersto because, like you have in
some of the big schools that yourun across, maybe here in Ohio
you have coaches who are like,hey, you're lifting weights when
(12:39):
you're not playing football orwhatever it may be.
So imagine that up there.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Yeah, if you play baseball, you're not playing
basketball next year, right,because you need to be training
all year for that.
Yeah, there's less of it, forsure In Montana and and where I
am there's, you know, there'sstill a little bit because some
of these sports are starting togo year round.
But in the small, small townsin Montana it's.
(13:13):
It's hard to do becauseotherwise that school won't have
a team.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I think on the western part of Montana travel
baseball is starting to pick upa little bit.
Is it having any effect onLegion baseball?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Yeah, there's a few travel programs out there.
Now, when I started, we startedin the Montana Legion, we used
to be in idaho.
We moved into montana um, inabout 2013 it was and there
wasn't any, and now now there is, um, yeah, it's, uh, I guess,
(13:52):
yeah, there's, there's an effectthere, you know, looking for
players and to be a part oftheir program, and so that means
that player isn't playing withthe local Legion program.
So, you know, definitely, andyeah, we think that and we play
them, you know they'll be insome of the tournaments that we
(14:13):
play and stuff, and it's notlike they're be in some of the
tournaments that we play andstuff and, um, it's not like
they're all better than all theLegion teams and, uh, the the
Legion players, the travel ballplayers, they're going to the
same colleges, they're going tothe same universities.
Um, you know, we are movingjust as many players along.
Um, it's not like theopportunities.
(14:35):
I don't think.
I don't think.
I don't think the opportunitiesare better if you look at my
program, because in in BritishColumbia, here, you know, some
of my guys get noticed and we'vegot some academies here in
Alberta, which is close by,there's quite a few now and
there's some really good,well-run academies for sure, and
(14:55):
you know they're interested insome of my guys, but my senior
team.
We have two Legion teams, a andB.
So B goes to 17, a goes to 19.
So if when you play with 11players and that travel team or
that academy wants you know myplayer, that gets me down to 10.
(15:21):
I lose two players when I got11.
We may not have senior boyscompetitive baseball in this
region of the province and wewant to give our athletes that
opportunity to keep playingbaseball at a higher level and
move them along.
So since 2013 to today, welland the last year, the players
(15:44):
that have stuck with my programand aged out 43.75% have moved
on to play college baseball.
So in America, 7% of highschool players move on to play
college baseball is the numbersthat they were saying at the
ABCA this year, and so we'repretty happy with that and we
(16:05):
think we're developing ourplayers and giving them the
opportunity to move on.
And so are all the otherMontana Legion teams, in my
opinion, are all the otherMontana.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Legion teams.
In my opinion, you've developeda lot of good pitchers, and
talk about what you do with youroff-season program to get
baseball players to reach theirpotential.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Sure, basically, our calendar year, basically our
calendar year, we are runninglike a college program or like
an academy, basically.
But our kids don't have toleave home and they don't have
to spend whatever.
It is $17,000, $20,000, $25,000and they get to lay at home and
(16:54):
they're playing with their highschool friends and we want to
develop them and give them theopportunity to move on to play
college baseball if they wish.
If they don't, they finishtheir years with our program and
they're hardworking individuals, they know how to work hard,
they listen and they'rerespectful.
(17:14):
But for those that want to moveon, we want to make sure we
develop everyone so that they'vegot an opportunity to go
somewhere.
So we've got our regular springsummer season.
Then we take August off.
Some will go to some baseballcamps but we rest the arms and
then we start up in the fall.
So we start after Labor Day andwe'll uh, we get into games
(17:38):
pretty fast there and we willplay about 18 to 20 games in the
fall, um, and that takes usthrough to about October 20th.
Then it starts getting a littlebit too cold, um, then we take
a couple of weeks off, then westart indoor and we are indoor
(17:58):
fall season is.
We hit on Friday nights and wedo speed, agility and quickness.
So we're working a lot of conework ladders.
We're working on running form,um, our bounding, um, we're
sprinting hurdles, so we're justwe're working on that and they
start lifting there too.
(18:18):
So that's our bigger, stronger,faster phase, um, but we, we do
make sure that they get theirrest and then their active
recovery before we start movingweights.
Then after that, um mid January, we'll start throwing.
Um, that's a traditionalprogram.
There's programs they'rethrowing throughout the whole
(18:39):
year now and then they're justcontrolling the volume and the
intensity, making sure it'slight.
But this also gives our otherkids playing other sports right.
You know the hockey, basketball, volleyball.
So we started throwing inJanuary.
Volleyball, so we startedthrowing in January and, uh, we,
(18:59):
we slowly start ramping it up.
Penn started in February, um,and they have a pre-season, uh,
lifting program.
So we go from an off season topre-season so that we're getting
more functional sports,specific lifts going.
And, um, really, you makingsure that we're doing the right
things for the shoulders and theback and the throwing motion
(19:21):
Because we want to keep themhealthy.
And I tell my players, becausethey're all interested in
chasing velo and that, and Iwould rather they play for a
long time than a short time.
So these players that you know,they'll show me a video or
something.
And here's this kid he's 15,he's throwing 92.
Generally speaking, most of theplayers that I've seen 15, and
(19:44):
you know, throwing that kind ofvelo.
I don't see them when they're21 or 22.
So where have they gone?
And I don't think the body cankeep up to it.
So I like to try and developthem slow and steady, good
mechanics and then get them tocollege.
And then I turn it over to thecollege guy.
You know, I've had anopportunity, depending where
(20:04):
they've gone, and work with someof my pitchers a little bit
longer, working with one rightnow, and but the coach has
always said you can continue towork with with your coach.
But I don't like that.
You know, I don't want anotherhitting coach, I don't want
another pitching coach.
My kid going another guy, um,while we're in season and we're,
we know what we're doing, we'vemoved enough players along, but
(20:27):
um, yeah, just, uh, um, it's,it's very sports specific.
And then in season is the kidsare going to school.
You know, maybe when they getout of school, june 20th-ish
they can start lifting a littlebit.
But we're on the field.
They're on the field six days aweek.
I'm there seven, becauseMondays is just footwork and
(20:49):
ground balls and we call itMotown Monday.
We play the music and it'srelaxed, relaxed and it's glove
work and footwork, no throwingum.
But uh, they really don't liftmuch when we get in season
because, you know, some of themhave jobs, their work, they've
got that, they've got school,they've got baseball and I don't
(21:10):
know.
It's it's tough for them to fitin.
So we do some body weightstrength, you know, do some
pushups at home, we'll do somebounding and plyometrics on
field.
We work that into the week andour and our sprints of practice.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
What do you, what do you say to?
You know the parent that'slistening right now, who you
know, they want, you know theywant their kid to play at the
next level, college level, andthey need their kid to be
hitting 90 and above or they'renot going to be recruited by
college coaches.
(21:46):
And what, what?
What do you say to those, thoseparents?
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Um, I'm lucky where I am, cause most of my my parents
know more about hockey, rightwhen I am.
But no, we talk about the andwe'll play video.
One is let us coach your kid,let us develop your kid.
We will move your kid along.
Okay, your kid might not hit 90until his second year of
(22:15):
college.
It might be his third year ofcollege, right, billy Wagner
started D3.
He's had a great career.
Everyone's going to develop at adifferent time as an athlete.
So the athlete development atthe early ages and as you move
through and then also dependingon their birth date and their
(22:37):
size and their strength,everyone's different.
So if we push this kid and tryto get that velo and his body
can't handle it, then I'm sayingto the parent you know, we can
try that, but your kid might notbe throwing baseballs when he's
20 years old.
So you need to decide, um, butour model and what we do.
(23:00):
We have healthy arms and andour players generally play for a
long time.
Um, so just kind of saying thisis what we do, this is how we
get them there, and you know alot of these players, um, that
they're watching, are continuingto play because the body breaks
down.
Or there's a lot of stuff onsocial media and you see a lot
(23:23):
of 92, 93 and radar guns and alot of them aren't strikes.
Or you saw two pitches, okay,and if it's really that good,
then how come they're not in theSEC?
How come we're not watchingthem in the SEC and we're seeing
three pitches with a pocketradar, right.
Or you know, I don't see guysrun and throw on the mound Okay,
(23:48):
95 running and throwing into anet 15 feet away, right, you
know what I'm talking about.
So there's, and now we, we, werun and gun we've done that in
the past and turn and burn andall this stuff and get into it
and loading up and I think a lotof it too.
Velo depends on the athlete.
(24:08):
Not everyone is going to beable to throw 95.
There's no way.
So we just want them healthyand move them on and then let
the college person take a lookat that and if they think they
got to throw 90, to play collegebaseball, to pitch at the
college level, maybe in the SEC,but there's a lot of other
(24:30):
places that most of the playersare going, because not all of
the players are going to the SECright are going to the SEC
right.
So and we're trying to move ourplayers to where they will play
and be picky right.
You know we'd go to differentprospect camps at colleges and
(24:51):
stuff, and Desi's story atCentral Washington.
He does a good talk with theplayers and it's like you need
to first make sure that you havethe classes right that you want
to take and what you want to do, and then take a look at the
roster and you know, do theyhave seven catchers right?
And you know how many aremoving along?
And you know they have noseniors.
(25:11):
That might not be a good placefor you because no one's moving
on.
So take a look at that.
And you know, are you going toplay?
So take a look at that.
And are you going to play?
So you could go to someuniversity and put the sticker
on your car and never play andpay $40,000 if that makes you
happy.
But I think we've got to getthe kids to the right place and
(25:36):
the right fit and if they don'tget innings, they're not going
to develop.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Well, I've been doing this podcast since 2020.
I've got, I believe, over 130episodes out and I came across
this Ali Schroeder.
Yes, Tell me about AliSchroeder.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Okay, ali Schroeder.
Ali Schroeder played for us in2019.
Um, allie Schroeder neverplayed softball, played baseball
.
She was from, uh, trail,british Columbia, where Jason
Bay was from.
Okay, so, very strong hockeybaseball community.
(26:16):
Um, very competitive, verycompetitive.
And that year there was no teamin her age for her to play.
They were, I guess, rebuildinga little bit and stuff at that
age and so they reached out andsaid, can I play with you guys?
So she came out and met us inLibby.
(26:40):
So Trail signed the releasebecause they were playing
American Legion 2.
So all the coaches in Montana,right, and all the areas that
had to sign a release, right inthe closest towns, oh yeah,
we'll release.
You want this girl?
Yeah, no problem, right?
Well, they didn't know how goodshe was.
Yeah, no problem, right.
Well, they didn't know how goodshe was.
(27:02):
So she's been pitching for TeamCanada since she was 15 for
women's baseball, okay, and Itook her down to Central
Washington for the prospectscamp in December of 2019, and
she hit 82 on the gun.
So there's some ladies throwingout faster now, but at that
point in time she was probablysecond, second or third in
(27:25):
women's baseball and velo.
There was a lady in Japan thatwas throwing harder and knows
the game very well, verycompetitive.
She played outfield for us.
She played some third base.
She played shortstop.
She pitched field for us.
She played some third base.
She played shortstop.
(27:45):
She pitched.
Yeah, she struck out 13 in sixinnings in Libby in May 2019
there.
And, yeah, she was the firstfemale to play in the Canadian
College Baseball League, so sheand she held her own.
She played two years there.
So she held her own.
She played two years there andthen some teams noticed her.
So Australia picked her up,flew her over for women's
(28:07):
baseball in the AustralianLeague and she played in the
playoffs for them.
I think for the team she playedwas the Bandits also, I think it
might have been the BrisbaneBandits and so she hit some few
home runs and now they'restarting that league of her own
again and so she goes down toFlorida and plays in that and
(28:32):
they're doing a documentary onwomen's baseball around the
world.
So she is the Canadian femaleplayer that they're profiling
and she's had dinner withFerguson Jenkins and he's
watched her pitch and, yeah,she's an extremely hard worker,
very talented, very competitive,and when she's not baseball
(28:53):
season, when there's time off,she's fighting forest fires.
She works for the ForestService in the riot fighting
fires.
So she will take a dozenbaseballs or 10 baseballs and
when she has time off she'll bein the middle of nowhere and she
will find like the littleelementary school in the small
town and go to go to the fieldarea and throw baseballs against
(29:16):
the feds on her own.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
That's amazing.
I mean, that's, that's thatjust.
I love stories like that andand the fact that you had a
chance, an opportunity to towork with her and be open to
having her on your team, thatsays a lot about you?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
she's, she's great um had dinner with her a few weeks
ago before I was doing acoach's clinic, so I I was
driving through where she'sliving and so we saw her and
she's uh is still playing forteam Canada and um, yeah, we're
trying to get her into uh playsoftball um in the States and um
(29:52):
, yeah, so she's reaching out toa few schools, but, uh, very,
very, very competitive, greatathlete, great person and it
sounds like she holds aroundwith guys because she's out
there fighting forest fires too.
We're playing in Kalispell andshe gets up there and there's a
guy dealing about 85, 86.
(30:14):
And she hits a double right,center and right to the fence.
And, yeah, the Kalispellplayers were standing up and
giving it to their pitcher.
It was pretty funny she couldhold her own, that's for sure,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Yeah, well, let me ask you this Do you hate losing
or love winning?
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Yeah, I might hate losing more.
Yeah, yesterday wasn't a goodday.
The players would probably saythat, yeah, we're very
competitive and just trying to.
You know, kids are differenttoday than when I played and
(30:59):
from a coaching standpoint,standpoint, to get them
competitive to, you know, lovewinning to get on the field
expecting to win, but knowingthat they got to work hard and
they got to play it right, andnot accepting the losing and not
liking it Right and keepstriving.
(31:20):
Yeah, that's a tough question,for sure.
And not liking it right andkeep striving.
Yeah, that's a tough questionfor sure.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Well, I ask it of every guest, and every guest has
a different approach, and Ilove hearing their opinions on
it.
The next thing I wanted to askyou, I want to test your
knowledge.
A little bit Simple true, trueor false, babe?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Ruth hit more home runs than any other team in a
season.
Twice Than any other team in aseason twice.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Yeah, probably did.
Yes, that's true.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I read that and I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
I was like yeah, all right, the next question.
Hank aaron yeah true or false?
He had 21 appearances inall-star games.
Most players don't even get to20 years as a career.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Yeah, 21 is a lot, but I wouldn't doubt that that's
a lot.
But I wouldn't doubt it.
I'd say true, You're right.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
He didn't do it.
He didn't make it his firstyear and, I think, his last year
he didn't make it.
Well, you've been aroundbaseball for such a long time.
What is your best story?
Speaker 3 (32:40):
I outside of alley, in your years of coaching just
our small town and playing withthese small numbers and playing
american legion.
We just love, love, loveplaying legion.
Um, and yeah, that we've gotthis.
(33:01):
Uh, you know you got I don'tknow how many kids playing
hockey 1100 kids playing hockey,right, and you know we've got
our team of 11.
So with youth, you know there'smaybe 150 kids playing baseball
in the minor youth system here,which they do a very good job.
And yeah, you know, the lastfew years, some of our players
(33:24):
being All-State, more and moreplayers becoming All-District
and more players a coupleplayers becoming All-State the
last two years, two right-handedpitchers yeah, I think, just
(33:54):
seeing the players develop,being able to develop them to a
high, having kids and hardworkers, good careers, great
people in the community, I thinkit's just great seeing, you
know, seeing them when, evenwhen they finish playing, seeing
them develop and how they moveon and the people that they are.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Well, it's Paul Mrazek.
He's coaching Legion Baseballup in Canada.
Coach, I can't thank you enoughfor for one being on the
podcast.
But the effort that you'redoing to get baseball going in
Montana, the way you're doingand bringing in great coaches to
talk at your clinics, yourclinics, and the fact that
(34:38):
you've been all over doing whatyou do best and that's sharing
your, your baseball knowledge, Itruly appreciate you taking the
time to be on baseball coachesunplugged?
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Yeah, no, thank you.
And I want to thank TimSaunders and you know I've just
been really lucky to to meetgood people, meet the right
people like Tim Saunders, whothen passed my name along to you
, and Bill Percy in ColoradoSprings, another ABCA Hall of
(35:10):
Fame member, and he's the onethat introduced me to Tim, and
all of these people have beensaying do you know this person?
Do you know Darren Fenster?
Do you know Jerry Weinstein?
Okay, I'll get you in touch withthem and Kai Correa and the
people that have spoken at ourclinic that we've been able to
(35:33):
bring on Donagall Fergus andAaron Sutton he was with the
Twins and just so many the guysin Wisconsin Mark Fuller, marty
Paulson, john Vonlich and youknow Eric Kibler, another Ohio
guy.
I'm sure you know Coach Kibler,who's now in Arizona and we've
(35:54):
been down and he's worked withmy teams twice over the years
taking teams down to tournamentswith my teams twice over the
years taking teams down totournaments and I've just been,
yeah, really lucky to meet theright people.
And other people keepintroducing me to other people
and giving me opportunities andwe just try and right, turn it
(36:15):
over to the kids, develop themthe best we can.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
This episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged is
powered by the nettingprofessionals, improving
programs one facility at a time.
Contact them today at844-620-2707, or visit them
online at wwwnettingproscom.
Be sure to tune in everyWednesday for a new episode and,
(36:39):
as always, I'm your host, coachKen Carpenter.
Thanks for listening toBaseball Coaches Unplugged.
Over 130 episodes of talking to some of the best high
school, college andprofessional coaches around the
country.
And I was asked the other dayhave you ever had someone on
from Canada?
Simple answer is no, but thatcomes to an end.
Today he runs the MontanaBaseball Coaches Association
head coach for Cranbrook Post 24Legion and you'll want to hear
(00:25):
the incredible story of apitcher he coached, who fought
wildfires and is one of the bestin the world Paul Mrazik next
on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented byAthleteOne.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged withCoach Ken Carpenter, presented
by Athlete One.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged is apodcast for baseball coaches,
with 27 years of high schoolbaseball coaching under his belt
.
Here to bring you the insidescoop on all things baseball,
from game-winning strategies andpitching secrets to hitting
drills and defensive drills.
We're covering it all.
(01:00):
Whether you're a high schoolcoach, college coach or just a
baseball enthusiast, we'll diveinto the tactics and techniques
that make the difference on andoff the field.
Discover how to build a winningmentality, inspire your players
and get them truly bought intoyour game philosophy Plus.
Get the latest insights onrecruiting, coaching, leadership
and crafting a team culturethat champions productivity and
(01:21):
success.
Join Coach every week as hebreaks down the game and shares
incredible behind-the-scenesstories.
Your competitive edge startshere, so check out the show
weekly and hear from the bestcoaches in the game.
On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged isproud to be partnered with the
netting professionals, improvingprograms one facility at a time
.
The netting pros specialize inthe design, fabrication and
installation of custom nettingfor baseball and softball.
This includes backstops,batting cages, bp turtles,
(01:58):
screens, ball carts and more.
They also design and installdigital graphic wall padding,
windscreen, turf, turfprotectors, dugout benches and
cubbies.
They're not limited to justbaseball and softball.
They also work with football,soccer, lacrosse and golf
courses.
Contact them today at844-620-2707.
(02:18):
That's 844-620-2707.
Or visit them online atwwwnettingproscom.
You can check out Netting Proson X, instagram, facebook and
LinkedIn for all their latestproducts and projects.
If you enjoyed today's show,don't forget to hit the
(02:38):
subscribe button, rate the showand leave us a review.
It helps us to grow BaseballCoaches Unplugged and look for a
new episode every Wednesday.
Now to my sit-down with PaulMrazik, director of Montana
Baseball Coaches Association,legion Baseball, which Coach?
One thanks for being on theshow, and you're my first Legion
(03:02):
guy, so I'm excited for that.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Okay, no, I appreciate you having me on.
Yeah, the.
Uh, it's the the Montanabaseball coaches conference,
myself and um the head coach inLibby, montana.
We started the Montana baseballcoaches conference, um, open to
all coaches from allassociations and um that, and we
(03:28):
just finished our 10th year ofthat.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well, there are currently, from my latest
research, 35 high schoolbaseball programs in the state
of Montana.
How excited are you about thegrowth of high school baseball
in Montana?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Correct.
Yeah, there was.
So Montana has typically beenvery strong American Legion
baseball right, and I'm veryproud of it and we still are.
So this is year three of highschool, high school baseball in
Montana.
There was five states thatdidn't have high school baseball
and Montana was one of them.
(04:08):
And now Montana has it andthey're going into year three.
Not every school but it'sgrowing and I think it's fine.
You know Ohio, where you are,has had it for years.
Tim Saunders has spoke at theMontana Coaches Conference twice
and the first year when highschool was coming, he talked
(04:29):
about it and you know, legionjust starts a little bit later.
So now the high school startskind of similar time as normal
and then it finishes and thenLegion will take off.
So you can play your highschool and I think it's good
that the players get to play fora high school championship.
You know they have anopportunity to go for like their
(04:53):
other sports, because inbaseball they never had an
opportunity to win a high schoolstate championship and now they
do and I think that's good andthen just roll into your Legion
and once again play for adistrict championship and then
move on to state and thenregionals.
So I think it's just bothorganizations working together
(05:17):
and making it work and try andget more kids playing baseball.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
When does Legion season start and does it kind of
coincide with the Montana highschool baseball?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
It's Cranbrook.
Montana has five or sixCanadian border cities, border
towns that play American Legionbaseball.
So we were just in Kalispellyesterday for a doubleheader.
A team from Calgary was there,so we've got a three-way Calgary
, kalispell and us.
So typically we would getoutside before high school
(05:52):
started, we would get outside inearly April and then, you know,
we'd get our first Legion gamesearly May.
So now we're starting our gamesa little bit earlier.
We're starting in April, um,but down, uh, depending where
you are in Montana, they arelooking at their first practices
(06:13):
um beginning of March, gettingoutside.
So if there's, if the snow'snot on the ground and it's, you
know, warm enough that they canget outside.
Every year is different, butthey're looking to get outside
early March.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Now with Montana.
I mean, I personally have neverbeen there and you know it's a
good-sized state and not onlyhaving 35 teams that are playing
high school baseball.
I imagine the challenges arepretty daunting when it comes to
high schools wanting to startit up because the field probably
(06:52):
trying to find umpires andthings like that.
Is that the case?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Montana has lots of little towns, lots of
populations of 4,000, 5,000,8,000.
Uh, missoula is the secondbiggest city after Billings and
it's got a population of uhroughly 70,000, 69,000, 70,000
people.
That's the second secondbiggest city.
I think Billings is up around130, 140,000.
(07:20):
So there's lots of travel.
Um, you know they, and yes,there's only so many people and
so probably the same umpires aredoing multiple schools and a
little bit of driving multiplecities.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Definitely.
Well, I grew up playing Legionbaseball so I didn't have the
travel baseball experience andyou know, with you coaching with
Post 24, in that part of thecountry, what makes Legion
baseball so special.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
One is it's good baseball.
Okay, you don't need to goanywhere else.
Now I know that travel baseballis growing and in some states
it's very big and I go to theColorado Clinic every year and a
lot of those coaches that Italk to they're like you play
Legion in Montana and I'm like,yeah, and they're like I loved
(08:23):
playing Legion, I loved coachingLegion.
However, it's, it's gone theother way in some States.
You know, you're playing in aleague, your games mean
something.
Sure, we go into sometournaments, but we have our
conferenceals, um, and if, uh,there's, there's a handful um of
(08:59):
cities that have double alegion which goes to the world
series, our single a divisionthat we play in that stops at
after regionals, um, so it's,yeah, it's good baseball.
The towns come out and supportit.
You go to a friday night,saturday game in Libby and the
grandstand's packed.
(09:20):
They've done.
You know it's a great oldschool grandstand wood frame.
It's like Bull Durham rightwhen we go there.
And, yeah, it's the small townsgood baseball.
I think the players are coachedwell.
(09:41):
We've got a lot of greatcoaches in Montana and, yeah,
it's competitive and we'removing our players along.
A lot of our players are movingalong to college if they want
to.
And there's still because thesetowns are small, there's still
a lot of two and three sportathletes, and that's me.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I think that makes baseball players better when
they're playing multiple sports,and I'm sure that's probably
the case when you're in a statelike Montana.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, I agree, and so you know that player might be
playing baseball, might be hissport, but he's playing
basketball because that town of3,000, 4,000 people, if he
doesn't play basketball, hisfriends don't have basketball
that year and there's nobasketball at the school.
So you know they're spendingtheir time on their primary
(10:32):
sport that they love, butthey're also playing other
sports there.
I think you know they'rebecoming more better athletes
and overall athletes and it'sthe injury rate on multi sport
athletes is less than singlesport athletes.
They're not doing the samething for 12 months of the year,
(10:52):
right?
So if you, if you take, take alook at other sports too.
So where I am in Cranbrook, it'sa, it's a big hockey town, um,
small town, canada.
We're 20,000 people and we havea lot of players that um, um,
have gone on to the NHL.
For a town this size, right, um, in Canada, per capita, um, and
(11:16):
yeah, the, you, the, you knowum, and I've coached and trained
some of the higher end umhockey players here, uh, male
and female that have that havegone on um, because I also do
strength and conditioning and um, but just if you take a look at
basketball, if you take a lookat hockey, these high ankle
injuries that are very commonnow.
(11:37):
They weren't happening 20, 30years ago, right when we had
multi-sport players.
So I think doing the same sport, the same repetitive motion, is
hard on the body and youdefinitely have to control the
volume and the intensity.
And in Montana in small townsthey don't have a choice.
They hate to play all threesports, otherwise they don't
(11:59):
have a team.
But with my kids in Cranbrookwe've got some basketball,
volleyball, hockey and when it'shockey season they play hockey.
And you know my center fielder,vinny Ferdino.
He comes out and he hits onFriday nights when he doesn't
have hockey.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Right, maybe he's got a whole game, I would guess the
coaches, in all those differentsports.
They have to get along becausethey need each.
Each team needs those playersto because, like you have in
some of the big schools that yourun across, maybe here in Ohio
you have coaches who are like,hey, you're lifting weights when
(12:39):
you're not playing football orwhatever it may be.
So imagine that up there.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Yeah, if you play baseball, you're not playing
basketball next year, right,because you need to be training
all year for that.
Yeah, there's less of it, forsure In Montana and and where I
am there's, you know, there'sstill a little bit because some
of these sports are starting togo year round.
But in the small, small townsin Montana it's.
(13:13):
It's hard to do becauseotherwise that school won't have
a team.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I think on the western part of Montana travel
baseball is starting to pick upa little bit.
Is it having any effect onLegion baseball?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Yeah, there's a few travel programs out there.
Now, when I started, we startedin the Montana Legion, we used
to be in idaho.
We moved into montana um, inabout 2013 it was and there
wasn't any, and now now there is, um, yeah, it's, uh, I guess,
(13:52):
yeah, there's, there's an effectthere, you know, looking for
players and to be a part oftheir program, and so that means
that player isn't playing withthe local Legion program.
So, you know, definitely, andyeah, we think that and we play
them, you know they'll be insome of the tournaments that we
(14:13):
play and stuff, and it's notlike they're be in some of the
tournaments that we play andstuff and, um, it's not like
they're all better than all theLegion teams and, uh, the the
Legion players, the travel ballplayers, they're going to the
same colleges, they're going tothe same universities.
Um, you know, we are movingjust as many players along.
Um, it's not like theopportunities.
(14:35):
I don't think.
I don't think.
I don't think the opportunitiesare better if you look at my
program, because in in BritishColumbia, here, you know, some
of my guys get noticed and we'vegot some academies here in
Alberta, which is close by,there's quite a few now and
there's some really good,well-run academies for sure, and
(14:55):
you know they're interested insome of my guys, but my senior
team.
We have two Legion teams, a andB.
So B goes to 17, a goes to 19.
So if when you play with 11players and that travel team or
that academy wants you know myplayer, that gets me down to 10.
(15:21):
I lose two players when I got11.
We may not have senior boyscompetitive baseball in this
region of the province and wewant to give our athletes that
opportunity to keep playingbaseball at a higher level and
move them along.
So since 2013 to today, welland the last year, the players
(15:44):
that have stuck with my programand aged out 43.75% have moved
on to play college baseball.
So in America, 7% of highschool players move on to play
college baseball is the numbersthat they were saying at the
ABCA this year, and so we'repretty happy with that and we
(16:05):
think we're developing ourplayers and giving them the
opportunity to move on.
And so are all the otherMontana Legion teams, in my
opinion, are all the otherMontana.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Legion teams.
In my opinion, you've developeda lot of good pitchers, and
talk about what you do with youroff-season program to get
baseball players to reach theirpotential.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Sure, basically, our calendar year, basically our
calendar year, we are runninglike a college program or like
an academy, basically.
But our kids don't have toleave home and they don't have
to spend whatever.
It is $17,000, $20,000, $25,000and they get to lay at home and
(16:54):
they're playing with their highschool friends and we want to
develop them and give them theopportunity to move on to play
college baseball if they wish.
If they don't, they finishtheir years with our program and
they're hardworking individuals, they know how to work hard,
they listen and they'rerespectful.
(17:14):
But for those that want to moveon, we want to make sure we
develop everyone so that they'vegot an opportunity to go
somewhere.
So we've got our regular springsummer season.
Then we take August off.
Some will go to some baseballcamps but we rest the arms and
then we start up in the fall.
So we start after Labor Day andwe'll uh, we get into games
(17:38):
pretty fast there and we willplay about 18 to 20 games in the
fall, um, and that takes usthrough to about October 20th.
Then it starts getting a littlebit too cold, um, then we take
a couple of weeks off, then westart indoor and we are indoor
(17:58):
fall season is.
We hit on Friday nights and wedo speed, agility and quickness.
So we're working a lot of conework ladders.
We're working on running form,um, our bounding, um, we're
sprinting hurdles, so we're justwe're working on that and they
start lifting there too.
(18:18):
So that's our bigger, stronger,faster phase, um, but we, we do
make sure that they get theirrest and then their active
recovery before we start movingweights.
Then after that, um mid January, we'll start throwing.
Um, that's a traditionalprogram.
There's programs they'rethrowing throughout the whole
(18:39):
year now and then they're justcontrolling the volume and the
intensity, making sure it'slight.
But this also gives our otherkids playing other sports right.
You know the hockey, basketball, volleyball.
So we started throwing inJanuary.
Volleyball, so we startedthrowing in January and, uh, we,
(18:59):
we slowly start ramping it up.
Penn started in February, um,and they have a pre-season, uh,
lifting program.
So we go from an off season topre-season so that we're getting
more functional sports,specific lifts going.
And, um, really, you makingsure that we're doing the right
things for the shoulders and theback and the throwing motion
(19:21):
Because we want to keep themhealthy.
And I tell my players, becausethey're all interested in
chasing velo and that, and Iwould rather they play for a
long time than a short time.
So these players that you know,they'll show me a video or
something.
And here's this kid he's 15,he's throwing 92.
Generally speaking, most of theplayers that I've seen 15, and
(19:44):
you know, throwing that kind ofvelo.
I don't see them when they're21 or 22.
So where have they gone?
And I don't think the body cankeep up to it.
So I like to try and developthem slow and steady, good
mechanics and then get them tocollege.
And then I turn it over to thecollege guy.
You know, I've had anopportunity, depending where
(20:04):
they've gone, and work with someof my pitchers a little bit
longer, working with one rightnow, and but the coach has
always said you can continue towork with with your coach.
But I don't like that.
You know, I don't want anotherhitting coach, I don't want
another pitching coach.
My kid going another guy, um,while we're in season and we're,
we know what we're doing, we'vemoved enough players along, but
(20:27):
um, yeah, just, uh, um, it's,it's very sports specific.
And then in season is the kidsare going to school.
You know, maybe when they getout of school, june 20th-ish
they can start lifting a littlebit.
But we're on the field.
They're on the field six days aweek.
I'm there seven, becauseMondays is just footwork and
(20:49):
ground balls and we call itMotown Monday.
We play the music and it'srelaxed, relaxed and it's glove
work and footwork, no throwingum.
But uh, they really don't liftmuch when we get in season
because, you know, some of themhave jobs, their work, they've
got that, they've got school,they've got baseball and I don't
(21:10):
know.
It's it's tough for them to fitin.
So we do some body weightstrength, you know, do some
pushups at home, we'll do somebounding and plyometrics on
field.
We work that into the week andour and our sprints of practice.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
What do you, what do you say to?
You know the parent that'slistening right now, who you
know, they want, you know theywant their kid to play at the
next level, college level, andthey need their kid to be
hitting 90 and above or they'renot going to be recruited by
college coaches.
(21:46):
And what, what?
What do you say to those, thoseparents?
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Um, I'm lucky where I am, cause most of my my parents
know more about hockey, rightwhen I am.
But no, we talk about the andwe'll play video.
One is let us coach your kid,let us develop your kid.
We will move your kid along.
Okay, your kid might not hit 90until his second year of
(22:15):
college.
It might be his third year ofcollege, right, billy Wagner
started D3.
He's had a great career.
Everyone's going to develop at adifferent time as an athlete.
So the athlete development atthe early ages and as you move
through and then also dependingon their birth date and their
(22:37):
size and their strength,everyone's different.
So if we push this kid and tryto get that velo and his body
can't handle it, then I'm sayingto the parent you know, we can
try that, but your kid might notbe throwing baseballs when he's
20 years old.
So you need to decide, um, butour model and what we do.
(23:00):
We have healthy arms and andour players generally play for a
long time.
Um, so just kind of saying thisis what we do, this is how we
get them there, and you know alot of these players, um, that
they're watching, are continuingto play because the body breaks
down.
Or there's a lot of stuff onsocial media and you see a lot
(23:23):
of 92, 93 and radar guns and alot of them aren't strikes.
Or you saw two pitches, okay,and if it's really that good,
then how come they're not in theSEC?
How come we're not watchingthem in the SEC and we're seeing
three pitches with a pocketradar, right.
Or you know, I don't see guysrun and throw on the mound Okay,
(23:48):
95 running and throwing into anet 15 feet away, right, you
know what I'm talking about.
So there's, and now we, we, werun and gun we've done that in
the past and turn and burn andall this stuff and get into it
and loading up and I think a lotof it too.
Velo depends on the athlete.
(24:08):
Not everyone is going to beable to throw 95.
There's no way.
So we just want them healthyand move them on and then let
the college person take a lookat that and if they think they
got to throw 90, to play collegebaseball, to pitch at the
college level, maybe in the SEC,but there's a lot of other
(24:30):
places that most of the playersare going, because not all of
the players are going to the SECright are going to the SEC
right.
So and we're trying to move ourplayers to where they will play
and be picky right.
You know we'd go to differentprospect camps at colleges and
(24:51):
stuff, and Desi's story atCentral Washington.
He does a good talk with theplayers and it's like you need
to first make sure that you havethe classes right that you want
to take and what you want to do, and then take a look at the
roster and you know, do theyhave seven catchers right?
And you know how many aremoving along?
And you know they have noseniors.
(25:11):
That might not be a good placefor you because no one's moving
on.
So take a look at that.
And you know, are you going toplay?
So take a look at that.
And are you going to play?
So you could go to someuniversity and put the sticker
on your car and never play andpay $40,000 if that makes you
happy.
But I think we've got to getthe kids to the right place and
(25:36):
the right fit and if they don'tget innings, they're not going
to develop.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Well, I've been doing this podcast since 2020.
I've got, I believe, over 130episodes out and I came across
this Ali Schroeder.
Yes, Tell me about AliSchroeder.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Okay, ali Schroeder.
Ali Schroeder played for us in2019.
Um, allie Schroeder neverplayed softball, played baseball
.
She was from, uh, trail,british Columbia, where Jason
Bay was from.
Okay, so, very strong hockeybaseball community.
(26:16):
Um, very competitive, verycompetitive.
And that year there was no teamin her age for her to play.
They were, I guess, rebuildinga little bit and stuff at that
age and so they reached out andsaid, can I play with you guys?
So she came out and met us inLibby.
(26:40):
So Trail signed the releasebecause they were playing
American Legion 2.
So all the coaches in Montana,right, and all the areas that
had to sign a release, right inthe closest towns, oh yeah,
we'll release.
You want this girl?
Yeah, no problem, right?
Well, they didn't know how goodshe was.
Yeah, no problem, right.
Well, they didn't know how goodshe was.
(27:02):
So she's been pitching for TeamCanada since she was 15 for
women's baseball, okay, and Itook her down to Central
Washington for the prospectscamp in December of 2019, and
she hit 82 on the gun.
So there's some ladies throwingout faster now, but at that
point in time she was probablysecond, second or third in
(27:25):
women's baseball and velo.
There was a lady in Japan thatwas throwing harder and knows
the game very well, verycompetitive.
She played outfield for us.
She played some third base.
She played shortstop.
She pitched field for us.
She played some third base.
She played shortstop.
(27:45):
She pitched.
Yeah, she struck out 13 in sixinnings in Libby in May 2019
there.
And, yeah, she was the firstfemale to play in the Canadian
College Baseball League, so sheand she held her own.
She played two years there.
So she held her own.
She played two years there andthen some teams noticed her.
So Australia picked her up,flew her over for women's
(28:07):
baseball in the AustralianLeague and she played in the
playoffs for them.
I think for the team she playedwas the Bandits also, I think it
might have been the BrisbaneBandits and so she hit some few
home runs and now they'restarting that league of her own
again and so she goes down toFlorida and plays in that and
(28:32):
they're doing a documentary onwomen's baseball around the
world.
So she is the Canadian femaleplayer that they're profiling
and she's had dinner withFerguson Jenkins and he's
watched her pitch and, yeah,she's an extremely hard worker,
very talented, very competitive,and when she's not baseball
(28:53):
season, when there's time off,she's fighting forest fires.
She works for the ForestService in the riot fighting
fires.
So she will take a dozenbaseballs or 10 baseballs and
when she has time off she'll bein the middle of nowhere and she
will find like the littleelementary school in the small
town and go to go to the fieldarea and throw baseballs against
(29:16):
the feds on her own.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
That's amazing.
I mean, that's, that's thatjust.
I love stories like that andand the fact that you had a
chance, an opportunity to towork with her and be open to
having her on your team, thatsays a lot about you?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
she's, she's great um had dinner with her a few weeks
ago before I was doing acoach's clinic, so I I was
driving through where she'sliving and so we saw her and
she's uh is still playing forteam Canada and um, yeah, we're
trying to get her into uh playsoftball um in the States and um
(29:52):
, yeah, so she's reaching out toa few schools, but, uh, very,
very, very competitive, greatathlete, great person and it
sounds like she holds aroundwith guys because she's out
there fighting forest fires too.
We're playing in Kalispell andshe gets up there and there's a
guy dealing about 85, 86.
(30:14):
And she hits a double right,center and right to the fence.
And, yeah, the Kalispellplayers were standing up and
giving it to their pitcher.
It was pretty funny she couldhold her own, that's for sure,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Yeah, well, let me ask you this Do you hate losing
or love winning?
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Yeah, I might hate losing more.
Yeah, yesterday wasn't a goodday.
The players would probably saythat, yeah, we're very
competitive and just trying to.
You know, kids are differenttoday than when I played and
(30:59):
from a coaching standpoint,standpoint, to get them
competitive to, you know, lovewinning to get on the field
expecting to win, but knowingthat they got to work hard and
they got to play it right, andnot accepting the losing and not
liking it Right and keepstriving.
(31:20):
Yeah, that's a tough question,for sure.
And not liking it right andkeep striving.
Yeah, that's a tough questionfor sure.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Well, I ask it of every guest, and every guest has
a different approach, and Ilove hearing their opinions on
it.
The next thing I wanted to askyou, I want to test your
knowledge.
A little bit Simple true, trueor false, babe?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Ruth hit more home runs than any other team in a
season.
Twice Than any other team in aseason twice.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Yeah, probably did.
Yes, that's true.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I read that and I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
I was like yeah, all right, the next question.
Hank aaron yeah true or false?
He had 21 appearances inall-star games.
Most players don't even get to20 years as a career.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Yeah, 21 is a lot, but I wouldn't doubt that that's
a lot.
But I wouldn't doubt it.
I'd say true, You're right.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
He didn't do it.
He didn't make it his firstyear and, I think, his last year
he didn't make it.
Well, you've been aroundbaseball for such a long time.
What is your best story?
Speaker 3 (32:40):
I outside of alley, in your years of coaching just
our small town and playing withthese small numbers and playing
american legion.
We just love, love, loveplaying legion.
Um, and yeah, that we've gotthis.
(33:01):
Uh, you know you got I don'tknow how many kids playing
hockey 1100 kids playing hockey,right, and you know we've got
our team of 11.
So with youth, you know there'smaybe 150 kids playing baseball
in the minor youth system here,which they do a very good job.
And yeah, you know, the lastfew years, some of our players
(33:24):
being All-State, more and moreplayers becoming All-District
and more players a coupleplayers becoming All-State the
last two years, two right-handedpitchers yeah, I think, just
(33:54):
seeing the players develop,being able to develop them to a
high, having kids and hardworkers, good careers, great
people in the community, I thinkit's just great seeing, you
know, seeing them when, evenwhen they finish playing, seeing
them develop and how they moveon and the people that they are.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Well, it's Paul Mrazek.
He's coaching Legion Baseballup in Canada.
Coach, I can't thank you enoughfor for one being on the
podcast.
But the effort that you'redoing to get baseball going in
Montana, the way you're doingand bringing in great coaches to
talk at your clinics, yourclinics, and the fact that
(34:38):
you've been all over doing whatyou do best and that's sharing
your, your baseball knowledge, Itruly appreciate you taking the
time to be on baseball coachesunplugged?
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Yeah, no, thank you.
And I want to thank TimSaunders and you know I've just
been really lucky to to meetgood people, meet the right
people like Tim Saunders, whothen passed my name along to you
, and Bill Percy in ColoradoSprings, another ABCA Hall of
(35:10):
Fame member, and he's the onethat introduced me to Tim, and
all of these people have beensaying do you know this person?
Do you know Darren Fenster?
Do you know Jerry Weinstein?
Okay, I'll get you in touch withthem and Kai Correa and the
people that have spoken at ourclinic that we've been able to
(35:33):
bring on Donagall Fergus andAaron Sutton he was with the
Twins and just so many the guysin Wisconsin Mark Fuller, marty
Paulson, john Vonlich and youknow Eric Kibler, another Ohio
guy.
I'm sure you know Coach Kibler,who's now in Arizona and we've
(35:54):
been down and he's worked withmy teams twice over the years
taking teams down to tournamentswith my teams twice over the
years taking teams down totournaments and I've just been,
yeah, really lucky to meet theright people.
And other people keepintroducing me to other people
and giving me opportunities andwe just try and right, turn it
(36:15):
over to the kids, develop themthe best we can.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
This episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged is
powered by the nettingprofessionals, improving
programs one facility at a time.
Contact them today at844-620-2707, or visit them
online at wwwnettingproscom.
Be sure to tune in everyWednesday for a new episode and,
(36:39):
as always, I'm your host, coachKen Carpenter.
Thanks for listening toBaseball Coaches Unplugged.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.