February 26, 2025 • 37 mins
Dive into the mind of Head Coach John Dowling, who recently guided McLean High School (VA) to its first state baseball championship. In this episode, Coach Dowling reflects on the thrilling journey of winning, delving into the mental adjustments necessary to maintain focus and manage increased expectations as reigning champions. He highlights the pivotal role assistant coaches play in the development of players, sharing insights on fostering a competitive spirit while nurturing young talent.
Throughout our discussion, Dowling emphasizes the art of creating competitive environments during practice, ensuring players not only develop technical skills but also the performance mindset crucial for success. He candidly shares advice on structuring a challenging schedule, acknowledging that tough match-ups are vital for genuine growth on the field.
Listeners will also gain invaluable insights into forming meaningful connections within the baseball community, a key ingredient in crafting a vibrant program that is fueled by enthusiasm and ongoing support. As the episode unfolds, Dowling’s vision for nurturing a culture of resilience and adaptability shines through, providing takeaways that apply to coaches, players, and sports enthusiasts alike. Don’t miss this deep dive into winning strategies and pivotal lessons learned in the game. Tune in, subscribe, and let us know your thoughts!
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):
On today's podcast defending Virginia 6A state
champion, head baseball coachJohn Dowling shares what his
team does that led to a statetitle, how he creates
competitive game speedenvironments in practice and
trusting your assistant coaches.
Next on Baseball CoachesUnplugged.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented by AthleteOne.
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.
(00:42):
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 getthem truly bought into your game
philosophy Plus, get the latestinsights on recruiting,
coaching, leadership andcrafting a team culture that
(01:02):
champions productivity andsuccess.
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 (01:20):
Hello and welcome to another edition of Baseball
Coaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter, and thanks for
joining.
If you enjoyed today's show,please be sure to hit the
subscribe button and share itwith a friend.
It helps us to grow the show.
Before we get to our episodewith Head Coach John Dowling,
I've got to give a shout out toour partners, will Miner and his
(01:43):
team at the NettingProfessionals.
They're improving programs onefacility 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,
screens, ball carts and more.
They also design and installdigital graphic wall padding and
(02:06):
more.
They also design and installdigital graphic wall padding,
windscreen, turf, turfedprotectors, dugout benches and
cubbies.
The Netting Pros also work withfootball, soccer, lacrosse and
golf courses.
You can contact them today at844-620-2707.
That's 844-620-2707.
That's 844-620-2707.
(02:32):
Or visit them online atwwwnettingproscom.
Check out Netting Pros on X,instagram, facebook and LinkedIn
for all their latest productsand projects.
Now let's get to Head CoachJohn Dowling at McLean High
School in Virginia.
Coach, thanks for taking thetime to join me on Baseball
Football.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Club.
Yeah, thanks for having me on,I appreciate it Well first off
congratulations.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Anytime a coach wins a state title, that's great.
But you know, when you win thatstate title are you like a lot
of coaches?
When you hear them talk, theysay that their thoughts quickly
move on to the next season yeah,I mean, I think that we we
certainly took some time to uhto enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Um, and you know, I had always heard coaches speak
and they say you know, when you,when you win that big thing the
conference championship, thestate championship you think you
can wake up the next day andfeel different, and you really
don't.
It's a great achievement.
I'm so proud of our kids andthe way we battled last season
(03:36):
and all that stuff, but at theend of the day, I'm the same guy
.
I still show up to work and itdidn't have that like life
changing moment.
I don't think it was awesome,but at the end of the day, you
know, we start up on Monday.
So now we got to target on ourback and we got to get back to
work.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
That kind of leads right into my next question is
from what I what I've read it,you've, you've got a pretty
strong team coming back.
So you know, you've got thestate title under your belt and
the expectations have got to bepretty high.
Two-part question what steps doyou take to keep your guys
(04:15):
focused and humbled?
And your thoughts on havingthat bullseye on your team's
back?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, I mean, I think you know, from from day one,
we're going to have to be veryclear that and I think they
already kind of know that we'regoing to get served some humble
pie at some point.
Like I've, I've put togetherwhat is undoubtedly the hardest
schedule we've had since I'vebeen a head coach, and so, you
know, we're going to try tochallenge them and I think,
(04:48):
having conversations up frontjust to say, like guys, just
because that ring says 2024, itdoesn't say 2025.
And now you know, we've got theburden of the target on the
back and success has a tax, andthat tax is that everyone's
going to want to beat us andinevitably we are going to lose
a game, and to them, you know,to the opponent, that might be
(05:09):
their biggest win of the seasonand they're probably going to
act accordingly, and so it does.
You know, that idea thatsuccess has a tax and we're
going to have to pay that tax issomething that we want to
communicate really early on andmake sure everyone's on the same
page.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
We want to communicate really early on and
make sure everyone's on the samepage.
Well, you mentioned that.
You know you really loaded upyour schedule.
Sometimes teams are focused on.
Well, they have no choice.
They have the league schedulethat they have because of the
league they're in.
So how many league games do youget?
And then how many non-leaguegames do you end up having to
(05:45):
pick up?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
So we play 12 district games that we don't you
know same six opponents twiceeach, and then we're allowed to
play in a tournament over springbreak.
So that's kind of luck of thedraw who you get.
That's four games and then thelast five we get 20.
We used to get 20, this yearthey upped it to 21.
So the last five I can schedulebasically whoever I want, um,
(06:07):
and so I kind of kind of lookedaround and said you know who did
we play last year?
That was really good and andwe're right outside of dc.
So there's a ton of privateschools that are really really
good because they're fortunateto get a bunch of them on the on
schedule yes, I I seem to agreewith most coaches when they
load their schedule up like that.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
It's, you know, may not get as many wins as you'd
like, but come tournament time,your, your team's, gonna be
better prepared, without a doubtyeah, that's, I stole that from
my college coach.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
We I went to ifycoc college in state new york and we
would go to Los Angeles everyyear for spring break and just
get our bus kicked by teams thatwere already 12-2.
We hadn't seen green grasssince previous November, and one
time I asked them and they saidyou're going to figure out real
quick who can do it and whocan't.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
And so I've just kind of always taken that approach
and I've joked a couple of timesalready with staff and a couple
of other kids that I hope Ididn't bite off more than we can
chew this year, but I'm lookingforward to it.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Well, talk about your assistant coaches and how
important they are to yourteam's success.
No-transcript, they're going tostart to tune it out, and so
(07:48):
I'm so lucky to have Ryan, who'sbeen with me for 13 years now.
My pitching coach is thesharpest baseball mind I know.
Like he 100%.
His work situation kind ofprecludes him from being a head
coach, but if he was in theopposing dugout I would be
concerned.
And this past season we're ableto bring on a younger guy that
(08:11):
played at a really high level,was drafted out of high school,
started four years at JMU,really good in the technical
side of hitting, really goodcommunicator, and so that was
huge as well.
And so I'm just lucky this yearwe've got one of our alums
coming on, and so now that I'vebeen here a while and kind of
building that community, I'mhopeful we can get more and more
(08:33):
alumni joining us too.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Well, you mentioned community there.
How did the community react?
Because, if my research iscorrect, that was the first
state championship for yourschool, correct?
In baseball?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yes, it was.
Yeah, I mean, between that dayand the next morning I still had
like 200 text messages on myphone that I hadn't gotten to
yet.
And so you know, this will beour 12th season, and so I'm a
teacher at the school, so I'vereally gotten to know a lot of
the families and a lot of thefolks that even you know.
(09:10):
After they graduated they comeback and watch games, and there
was a very overwhelming andhumbling response, for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
That's probably the one time you don't mind having
to deal with ticks on your phone.
Yes, well, definitely.
Well, like you said, inVirginia you're now up to 21
games seasons.
Up here in Ohio we played 28.
And if you look at some ofthese schools around the country
(09:41):
, I see them playing 40 gamesand I always found it
challenging to get 28 in withthe weather up here.
I'm looking out right now andthere's snow all over the ground
, so you know, yeah, so how doyou prepare your pitching staff
(10:03):
to you know when you gothroughout the season?
You guys, if I am I correct, doyou guys have like a one one
and done, or is a best two outof three in Virginia?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
For the postseason.
Yeah, yeah.
So it's like our district hasseven teams and four will
qualify for the region, the nextlevel, um, and then out of the
regionals, the top two advanceto states, and then it's one and
done.
There's three, there's aquarter semi-final state
tournament.
So, okay, um, out of the 13teams in our region, two will
(10:40):
advance to the state tournamentmakes sense.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
well, in ohio it, in Ohio it's like Hoosiers.
I mean not like Hoosiers inthat sense, but everybody gets
in and on occasion you'll have ateam that just things go their
way and they didn't have a greatseason but all of a sudden they
make a deep, deep run.
But as far as once you get intothe tournament play, you know
(11:08):
you can kind of you know mostteams probably can get by with,
you know, a three-man rotationas far as starting pitchers.
But when you get into thattournament play it's a little
different.
Do you do anything differentlyto have your guys ready for
tournament play?
Speaker 3 (11:27):
you do anything differently to have your guys
ready for for tournament play?
No, it's funny.
Actually, in virginia, most ofour weeks, like your district,
games are always tuesday, fridayand then the district in the
regional tournament.
You only play twice a week.
Um, so, like in 2014, we wentto the state tournament and we
we've literally used two.
We had two studs one went totech, one ended up getting
drafted by the Nats a coupleyears later and, like, we rode
(11:47):
these two dudes to the statetournament.
And now the state tournament isthe only.
It's Tuesday, friday, saturdayfor the quarter semis finals,
and that's the only week of theyear where you're going to play
three meeting-tall games in oneweek.
And so pitching depth is, Imean.
I think pitching depth is thebiggest reason why we were able
(12:11):
to win it, because we hadstarters who could go deep in
the games and we had guys comingout of the pen that we trusted,
and it's just funny that youknow, rain messes that up.
But your district scheduledistrict tournament, region
tournament it's always just twogames a week.
And then you get to States andit's like, oh crap, we need a
third starter.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Well, you know, I I watched you on a podcast talking
about how you.
You were a pitcher in collegeand you decided to drop down as
a pitcher in college and and itit worked out for you and my son
.
I did that with him when he wasa sophomore in high school and
(12:53):
because I thought he'd have abetter opportunity of getting
more outs that way.
Talk about how that changed andaccepting that mindset, and is
that something you try to dowith anybody on your pitching
staffs?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
yeah, um.
So I was pretty mediocre andyou know I was kind of a diamond
doesn't writey with a mediocrefastball and it.
It was enough like to be apretty good high school pitcher,
but it was not enough at thenext level.
So so we were in a fallscrimmage, we were at Rowan and
they had a.
They had a guy come out of thepen.
(13:29):
It was like submarine, like waydown.
My coach was like what do youthink of that?
I was like dude, he's effective, he's getting a bunch of meat
contacts.
He's like cool, go to thebullpen and do it.
And so so I went in and I gotthrough the inning and you know
I kind of settled.
I was more of like a really lowthree quarters sidearm movement
(13:52):
and you know that extended mycareer.
I was going to get caught thatspring and then I ended up being
the closer the next two years.
So that taught me like theimportance of adaptability and
(14:13):
being willing to try new thingsand not do what's comfortable,
even if you kind of know thewriting's on the wall there.
In terms of our team, we havehad a couple guys that have
dropped down, not supersuccessful, I can't've.
We've churned out these sidearmrelievers, but it's always kind
of in the back pocket as a, asan option, and, and you know I
can literally say to him, likeI've been in your shoes, I've
been told like, hey, yourstuff's not good enough from
(14:35):
this more traditional slot.
Let's get weird and see whathappens.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, and I, you know , I look back on my coaching
career and I wish I could havedone that with a couple guys,
just because I think when abatter comes up to see that you
just don't see it very often inhigh school and when you do,
it's, you know, hey, give methree outs.
Yeah, you know, and sometimesit's all you need out of a
(14:59):
relief game, yeah, well, youknow, I'm looking here.
You've played the game, you'vecoached the game.
Tell me about a time when youfailed and what you took from
that and how that turned youinto becoming a better coach.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I mean I think, like most coaches early in my career
I was too much piss and vinegarand not enough, like the old
show.
You know you got to show themyou care first.
I am competitive and I let thatdrive me towards too
(15:49):
transactional and just like weneed to get better so we can win
, and it was always weak.
But I think my motivationsstemmed too much from that on us
to win and not I want us to win, comma.
In an environment whereeverybody walks away and says
(16:09):
you know that being a part ofthe McLean baseball team was my
favorite part of my high schoolexperience.
Um, and so I've kind of youknow you don't want to say like
lightened up, like we still havestandards and we still demand
the best of our guys, but I'vejust learned to do it in a more
beneficial way to the, to theathlete as a whole, as a person,
(16:30):
um, and and not that moretransactional like what can we
do for each other?
Um, kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Makes total sense.
I can totally relate with thewith what you're saying there.
I can totally relate with whatyou're saying there because I,
you know, I'm ultra competitiveand everything you know.
It was either win or loss forme.
You know, and I, now that Ilook back on it, I wish I could
change things early on.
But you learn as a coach andthat's one of those things that
(17:03):
you do.
Yep, well, I noticed you spokeat the ABCA convention and I was
looking at your form that youput out there and it talked
about how you create acompetitive game speed
environment in practice.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat and maybe throw out a
(17:27):
couple examples of what youmight do, whether it's inside in
a gym or when you?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
finally get outside on the field.
Yeah, um.
So you know there's, there's abunch of science in like the
skill acquisition world.
Now that basically says thatlike when we do things that are
easy, we don't get better likefull stop, and I call it 40, 40,
40 bp.
You got a 40 year old guythrowing 40 miles an hour from
40 feet away.
Um, and that's a greatenvironment to work on your
(17:55):
swing, but we don't playbaseball swing, we play baseball
.
And so kind of drawing thatline between, like when are we
trying to work on technique,mechanics, whatever you want to
call it, and doing that in thelow stakes environment where
it's easier, but then figuringout like how do we blend that to
the game?
Because if it's not going totransfer, it's pointless anyway.
(18:17):
So we've all had the guy that'sgot the ugly swing, but man,
he's always on time and healways finds barrels and it's
like that's the guy that I needcome 630 on Friday night and
we've all seen the guy with theperfect, beautiful swing.
It's textbook, it's beautiful.
And then game day comes andit's another rofer.
(18:38):
And so early on in my first headcoaching job it was not a
baseball school we had 12 kidson the varsity baseball team my
last year there, um, and so Ikind of realized like I can't
just do things the way everybodyelse does.
The previous three statechampions my first year there um
(18:59):
, one of the teams in ourdistrict won the state
championship.
In the previous two years itwas won by a team from this
district and we got 12 kids onthe team.
So it's like if I do everythingthe same way they do, if I roll
out the balls, throw bp forhalf an hour, take I out of the
home like we don't stand achance, um, and so that just
kind of forced me to kind ofadapt and figure out you know
(19:20):
what's the more optimal way forus to train.
And realistically it comes downto like thinking about things
like the spin of the ball andthe angle of the ball and speed
of the ball and speed of therunner and, whenever possible,
putting ourselves inenvironments that replicate
those game speeds.
Using stopwatch when you'rehitting ground balls to the
(19:41):
infielders.
One, we all suck at hittingtopspin ground balls.
It's really really hard to do,so we probably should be using a
machine.
And two, just putting them on astopwatch so that they
understand, like what's a 4-1runner feel like?
For me it's shortstop.
When I got to go to my right ona ball.
What does a 4-1 runner feellike?
And do I have time to set myfeet?
(20:01):
Or do I have to pull off thecheater, jump, throw and
exposing them to that as oftenas possible?
And my kids are in youthbaseball space and just from
being around the game, I thinkI'm of the opinion that we spend
and I did it too early on.
I was the same way.
I'm not casting stones here,but we spend too much time on
(20:23):
the technique, mechanics,baseball swing and not enough
time putting kids inenvironments where they have to
play baseball at game speed.
Um, and then the game comes andthe game's really hard.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
So my goal is to make practice harder than the game
now, when you, when you startmaking those changes, how will
the players I'm assuming theplayers probably like that?
I would think well.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
The competitive side.
Yeah, everybody loves to playgames.
Making it competitive instantlydrives up engagement, and the
competitive piece gives kids anopportunity to learn to deal
with failure in a lower stakesenvironment than the game and in
terms of the challenging them.
One of the biggest errors I didearly on was like say hey, guys
(21:11):
, we're going to reallychallenge you, period.
End of sentence.
They go into the cage.
They don't.
They barrel up one out of eightand they walk away saying I
stink.
And so when you create anenvironment like that, the
biggest lesson I've learned isto be crystal clear with the
expectations.
And you know, we'll set up themachine and we call it Garrett
Cole Fastballs.
It's like super.
(21:32):
We'll use the foam balls out ofthe machine at the top of the
zone and it's like find a way toget the barrel on top of this
thing.
We'll tell them, though, sayhey, man, if you could barrel up
one or two out of these eight,that's a pretty darn good round.
So now they walk out of theircage saying I'm the man.
(21:53):
I barreled up three out of me.
Um, as opposed to it's bp, Ishould have barreled eight out
of me.
I only barreled three.
I stick, um and so the one.
That's definitely a bit of acautionary tale that I didn't
fully realize early on theimportance of um.
You're going to put them inenvironments that are more game
like being crystal clear aboutwhat is success and what is
failure, because they're goingto just think three for eight in
a BP setting is failure.
Meanwhile I'm like the ball isliterally rising, guys.
(22:14):
It's doing things that physics,a human, can't replicate.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Do you spend much time on the mental side as far
as positive talk and gettingguys to understand that it's a
game of failure, at least whenyou're swinging the bat and
you've got to have a strongmindset.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Yeah, and I think that what we found to be the
most successful is building in aroutine and I shared this at my
ABCA convention and you putthem in these really challenging
settings.
You've got to remind them to usethat routine, a physical reset
and a big deep breath.
And I'm like I think I was likeevery other coach in America 10
years ago when this kind ofthing really started to take off
(23:00):
.
And there was this clip ofLongoria and he stares at the
ball pole.
Every time he takes a big deepbreath and we do this PowerPoint
and we have the kids all writedown their routine.
And then I didn't talk about itagain, we never brought it up,
we didn't follow up on it, wedidn't build chances in practice
to practice it, so that it'ssecond nature in the game.
And so now you've got thatdouble wing in practice.
(23:20):
If you've built that routine inand you see them getting
frustrated and engaged, all wehave to do is say, hey, physical
reset, work your routine, takedeep breaths, step out, do your
little, stare at your point.
And now, all of a sudden, thatbecomes second nature in game.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Well, my most recent episode I talked about the pros
and cons of cutting players.
Now, you know I don't know muchabout your experience or if
you've had to deal with havingto cut a player, but what are
your thoughts on that?
Because there's so manyvariables, you know like it
(24:03):
could be.
The school only has so manyuniforms.
You know you might have 120guys come out and you only got
three teams.
And have you ever experiencedanything when it happened to
make a decision like that?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, it's the worst.
It's the Wednesday.
You know, our kids get aminimum three-day tryout, and
that Wednesday, when we've gotto send kids home, it's the
absolute worst.
We're really fortunate thatit's a really strong baseball
community.
We've got a really good LittleLeague and so we usually have
(24:39):
around 60 kids try out everyyear.
The last few years it's been 60to 70.
And we're only allowed to havetwo teams.
We don't have a freshman team.
We're not allowed to self-funda freshman team, um, and so that
process is um.
But we just try to be reallyyeah, we just try to be really,
like, honest with them and givethem some feedback on, you know,
(25:02):
the guys that we're not able tokeep around, you know, give
them some feedback on what theyneed to do and and and I say it
every year and it happens everycouple of years like we'll cut
somebody as a freshman or as ajunior, and then they come back
the next year and they hit theweight room and all of a sudden
you're like yeah, you're great,you did exactly what we said you
needed to do and now you'remore successful on the field.
(25:24):
We'd love to have you, but wedon't have a roster limit per se
, but for me would that practicetime be the most important time
we have together.
It's not practical to carry 22hitters.
I don't think it's fair to the19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd hitter to
(25:46):
be like you're probably nevergoing to play.
And I don't think it's fair tothe 6th, 7th and 8th hitters to
say you're going to get 30% lessopportunities in practice
because we've got these otherguys.
So it's finding that balancebetween giving kids an
opportunity but at the same timeproviding the best experience
we can for for the rest, so if Icould ask, how many do you
(26:11):
carry on your varsity and jv?
uh, it depends.
I mean, there's not.
I think last year we had 16hitters, uh, and a handful of
pos.
Um, we don't like to po guys.
Sometimes they come to us andthey're like nah, I'm done, I
don't, I don't, I don't hit.
And and the POs are a littleeasier to handle because they
(26:33):
don't like, they don't take upas much practice time For me to
throw 24 pitches to a to ahitter, we're, we're adding
three, four minutes to practicefor each one of them.
That adds up pretty quickly.
And we I've always had a firmwe practice two hours on the
nose.
Now we don't, we don't go long,we don't.
(26:54):
Hey, you got to finish thisdrill before we go home.
And so it's finding thatbalance between you know
providing as many kids as we canand opportunity, but at the
same time you know saying we'renot going to run three hour
practice so we can't carry 22hitters.
What?
Speaker 1 (27:09):
is your approach to that 14, 15, 16 guy that you
know he's he's gonna see limitedplaying time.
How do you, uh, how do youhandle that with him?
Speaker 3 (27:23):
as far as the communication part, yeah, I mean
, when we bring, you know webring everybody, it's a
one-on-one, it's myself and my,my jv coach and sit down with
them.
We say, like you made a team,you didn't.
Here's what we saw good, bad,otherwise.
Um.
And for the guys that arestaying, like we try to be
honest with them and you, hey,it's three days into the season,
(27:45):
we hopefully have another 50days of practice to go.
So you have 50 opportunities toshow us that you know the
things that we see as a weaknessright now.
You could work.
But sometimes we're, you know,we try to be pretty honest with
them and say like, hey, man,like you're here because you're
a stud defender and you runreally well, but it's going to
(28:11):
be really challenging for you toget at bats unless A, b and C
happen, and it's it's.
It's tough to tell that to kidsto be, you know, it's kind of
the brutal honesty, but I thinkit's the most fair for everybody
involved.
So we're all kind of startingwith the same information and
then, three or four weeks intothe season, we sit down.
I'll sit down with each kid, um, and kind of give them some
(28:32):
feedback on where we see themright now.
Hey, you know you're kind of thefourth outfielder right now.
Hey, you're gonna have to startthrowing strikes so you won't
throw like we don't.
If you don't throw strikes, youwill not pitch for us.
Period, full stop.
We've got enough arms that dothrow strikes.
That, mike, you could throw 102.
If it's not around the zoneenough to get outs, you're not
(28:52):
going to play.
And we have those conversationsand try to just be as honest as
we can up front.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yes, I had a coach tell me that a parent got upset
with him one time about his sonwas a senior and he got very
little playing time and the dadactually told him he goes.
You know, if you would havejust cut him he would have been
upset for the day, maybe acouple of days he goes, but now
(29:18):
he's been upset the whole seasonand you know the coach was
looking at it more like you knowhe's getting to be part of a
team.
You know the coach was lookingat it more like you know he's
getting to be part of a team,you know, and things could
change.
So it's a challenge.
No matter what you do as acoach, you just do what you
think is best for the team andfor each individual player.
(29:40):
I'm sure.
Yeah, well, I gotta ask thisbecause I ask it every.
Every guest hate losing or lovewinning.
Um, I bet after 2024 you'dreally loved winning that.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
yeah yeah, I it.
Unfortunately, I think it stillis.
Hate losing, like winning's theexpectation, um, and yeah, it
does feel good and to win ourlast game feels really good, but
at the same time, like I thinklike we were more talented in
2022.
And we just had like the nogood, very bad day, and that's a
(30:20):
series of one game, playoffsand that was it.
And so you know that, thinkingback to those days, the, the
games like that, where you'relike I can't believe we lost um
kind of burns more than the joyof winning winning a game.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
All right.
So what?
What MLT MLB team do you like?
Speaker 3 (30:43):
I'm a Mets fan.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
You're a Mets fan, so you got sodas.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yes, I'm a Mets fan concession stand to enjoy
yourself.
I mean, if I could sit anywhere, I'd love to sit behind home
plate at an MLB game.
I've never had, you know, maybe25 or 30 rows up once.
So yeah, give me that front rowseat right behind the dish.
It's a really good feel for theMLB pitchers, their stuff and I
would definitely I would get.
I would get some nachos and ahot dog.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
There you go.
Well, if, if the Mets couldhave two players and one manager
?
I'm going to give you twogroups.
Who would you take?
The first group that you couldhave on the Mets would be Bobby
Witt Jr from the Royals, ronaldAcuna Jr from the Braves and
(31:55):
Terry Francona as your manager.
Or Group B, jose Ramirez fromthe I want to say Indians, but
it's the Guardians Mookie Bettsfrom the Dodgers and Dave
Roberts, the Dodgers manager.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
That's tough.
I think I'm going to take groupA.
They're younger.
Frank Cona has been there, doneit a number of times with a
number of teams.
Now I mean Witt man.
He is a star and as much as aMets fan, as much as I hate
Acuna, that dude can play.
I think those two at the top ofthe order would be a pretty big
(32:39):
problem.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yes, definitely.
If you could sit down with twofamous people athletes or
whatever from history and havedinner and just pick their mind
on leadership, who would youpick?
Speaker 3 (32:58):
I'm a history teacher , so I'm going to go.
Abraham Lincoln who elseLeadership?
Uh, who else Leadership?
Speaker 1 (33:14):
I'm going to go Lincoln and Eisenhower Really
Okay, I love it.
All right, finish up.
I kind of shot to that in atext your best or funniest story
, and it can be from being aplayer or a coach.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Um, I thought about this and I I you know, having
grown up in upstate new york andand um and dealing with that
weather, I've had games.
I had my buddy pitched ano-hitter in the snow.
Um, we had a game fogged out atithaca.
We started the game clear day.
Two hours later you couldn'tsee the lights on the scoreboard
.
Um, and there's a lot of justkind of funny ones like that.
(33:53):
I think one of my, one of myfavorites, was um, in my first
year here we had a kid that wasa stud player, stud catcher, and
we had a big arm and he wasjust having like a hard day
behind the plate, likestruggling to receive, like not
blocking balls he normally does.
And there's this fan of theopposing team that is just
(34:15):
wearing him out, like to thepoint where I'm like I said to
the official, I'm like can yousay something?
He's like, you know, it's notlike obvious, he could be saying
it about anybody whatever.
Sixth, seventh, sixth, seventhinning comes up.
This guy comes up big spot,hits a ball.
It's 430 feet over the right.
I mean, this field is like acavern out to right center, it's
like 400 feet.
(34:36):
He hits this ball.
It's never more than nine feetoff the ground.
The entire way, absolutemissile Circles the bases, steps
on home plate, takes off hishelmet and tips it to a guy that
was heckling him in the crowd.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Love it.
You know you talked about gamesgetting canceled.
My son had a game in collegeand you hear of all kinds of
stories rain outs, but the gamehad to be canceled because a
tree fell on the opposing team'sdugout.
That was one I didn't have onthe bingo card.
(35:10):
I guess you could say Well, Igot one more question, if you
don't mind.
2025 season comes to an end andyour high school team is fill
(35:30):
in the blank proud of the workthey've put in good stuff.
Well, coach, um I you know Ican't thank you enough for
taking the time.
I know how important it is toum take advantage of planning
time as a teacher and, uh, youknow you're um taking the time
(35:55):
to do this for me is, uh, Ireally do appreciate it and um,
best of luck and love to love tosee you make another run and
get you back to back.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Yeah, that's, that's the plan.
A lot of work to do.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Yes, definitely All right.
Well, Coach, thanks and takecare.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Thanks for having me on Appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Special thanks to McLean High School head baseball
coach in Virginia, john Dowling.
Today's episode of BaseballCoaches Unplugged is powered by
the netting professionalsimproving programs one facility
at a time.
Contact them today at844-620-2707.
That's 844-620-2707.
(36:39):
Or visit them online atwwwnettingproscom.
As always, I'm your host, coachKen Carpenter.
Tune in every Wednesday for anew episode and thanks for
listening to Baseball CoachesUnplugged.
On today's podcast defending Virginia 6A state
champion, head baseball coachJohn Dowling shares what his
team does that led to a statetitle, how he creates
competitive game speedenvironments in practice and
trusting your assistant coaches.
Next on Baseball CoachesUnplugged.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented by AthleteOne.
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.
(00:42):
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 getthem truly bought into your game
philosophy Plus, get the latestinsights on recruiting,
coaching, leadership andcrafting a team culture that
(01:02):
champions productivity andsuccess.
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 (01:20):
Hello and welcome to another edition of Baseball
Coaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter, and thanks for
joining.
If you enjoyed today's show,please be sure to hit the
subscribe button and share itwith a friend.
It helps us to grow the show.
Before we get to our episodewith Head Coach John Dowling,
I've got to give a shout out toour partners, will Miner and his
(01:43):
team at the NettingProfessionals.
They're improving programs onefacility 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,
screens, ball carts and more.
They also design and installdigital graphic wall padding and
(02:06):
more.
They also design and installdigital graphic wall padding,
windscreen, turf, turfedprotectors, dugout benches and
cubbies.
The Netting Pros also work withfootball, soccer, lacrosse and
golf courses.
You can contact them today at844-620-2707.
That's 844-620-2707.
That's 844-620-2707.
(02:32):
Or visit them online atwwwnettingproscom.
Check out Netting Pros on X,instagram, facebook and LinkedIn
for all their latest productsand projects.
Now let's get to Head CoachJohn Dowling at McLean High
School in Virginia.
Coach, thanks for taking thetime to join me on Baseball
Football.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Club.
Yeah, thanks for having me on,I appreciate it Well first off
congratulations.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Anytime a coach wins a state title, that's great.
But you know, when you win thatstate title are you like a lot
of coaches?
When you hear them talk, theysay that their thoughts quickly
move on to the next season yeah,I mean, I think that we we
certainly took some time to uhto enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Um, and you know, I had always heard coaches speak
and they say you know, when you,when you win that big thing the
conference championship, thestate championship you think you
can wake up the next day andfeel different, and you really
don't.
It's a great achievement.
I'm so proud of our kids andthe way we battled last season
(03:36):
and all that stuff, but at theend of the day, I'm the same guy
.
I still show up to work and itdidn't have that like life
changing moment.
I don't think it was awesome,but at the end of the day, you
know, we start up on Monday.
So now we got to target on ourback and we got to get back to
work.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
That kind of leads right into my next question is
from what I what I've read it,you've, you've got a pretty
strong team coming back.
So you know, you've got thestate title under your belt and
the expectations have got to bepretty high.
Two-part question what steps doyou take to keep your guys
(04:15):
focused and humbled?
And your thoughts on havingthat bullseye on your team's
back?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, I mean, I think you know, from from day one,
we're going to have to be veryclear that and I think they
already kind of know that we'regoing to get served some humble
pie at some point.
Like I've, I've put togetherwhat is undoubtedly the hardest
schedule we've had since I'vebeen a head coach, and so, you
know, we're going to try tochallenge them and I think,
(04:48):
having conversations up frontjust to say, like guys, just
because that ring says 2024, itdoesn't say 2025.
And now you know, we've got theburden of the target on the
back and success has a tax, andthat tax is that everyone's
going to want to beat us andinevitably we are going to lose
a game, and to them, you know,to the opponent, that might be
(05:09):
their biggest win of the seasonand they're probably going to
act accordingly, and so it does.
You know, that idea thatsuccess has a tax and we're
going to have to pay that tax issomething that we want to
communicate really early on andmake sure everyone's on the same
page.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
We want to communicate really early on and
make sure everyone's on the samepage.
Well, you mentioned that.
You know you really loaded upyour schedule.
Sometimes teams are focused on.
Well, they have no choice.
They have the league schedulethat they have because of the
league they're in.
So how many league games do youget?
And then how many non-leaguegames do you end up having to
(05:45):
pick up?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
So we play 12 district games that we don't you
know same six opponents twiceeach, and then we're allowed to
play in a tournament over springbreak.
So that's kind of luck of thedraw who you get.
That's four games and then thelast five we get 20.
We used to get 20, this yearthey upped it to 21.
So the last five I can schedulebasically whoever I want, um,
(06:07):
and so I kind of kind of lookedaround and said you know who did
we play last year?
That was really good and andwe're right outside of dc.
So there's a ton of privateschools that are really really
good because they're fortunateto get a bunch of them on the on
schedule yes, I I seem to agreewith most coaches when they
load their schedule up like that.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
It's, you know, may not get as many wins as you'd
like, but come tournament time,your, your team's, gonna be
better prepared, without a doubtyeah, that's, I stole that from
my college coach.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
We I went to ifycoc college in state new york and we
would go to Los Angeles everyyear for spring break and just
get our bus kicked by teams thatwere already 12-2.
We hadn't seen green grasssince previous November, and one
time I asked them and they saidyou're going to figure out real
quick who can do it and whocan't.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
And so I've just kind of always taken that approach
and I've joked a couple of timesalready with staff and a couple
of other kids that I hope Ididn't bite off more than we can
chew this year, but I'm lookingforward to it.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Well, talk about your assistant coaches and how
important they are to yourteam's success.
No-transcript, they're going tostart to tune it out, and so
(07:48):
I'm so lucky to have Ryan, who'sbeen with me for 13 years now.
My pitching coach is thesharpest baseball mind I know.
Like he 100%.
His work situation kind ofprecludes him from being a head
coach, but if he was in theopposing dugout I would be
concerned.
And this past season we're ableto bring on a younger guy that
(08:11):
played at a really high level,was drafted out of high school,
started four years at JMU,really good in the technical
side of hitting, really goodcommunicator, and so that was
huge as well.
And so I'm just lucky this yearwe've got one of our alums
coming on, and so now that I'vebeen here a while and kind of
building that community, I'mhopeful we can get more and more
(08:33):
alumni joining us too.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Well, you mentioned community there.
How did the community react?
Because, if my research iscorrect, that was the first
state championship for yourschool, correct?
In baseball?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yes, it was.
Yeah, I mean, between that dayand the next morning I still had
like 200 text messages on myphone that I hadn't gotten to
yet.
And so you know, this will beour 12th season, and so I'm a
teacher at the school, so I'vereally gotten to know a lot of
the families and a lot of thefolks that even you know.
(09:10):
After they graduated they comeback and watch games, and there
was a very overwhelming andhumbling response, for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
That's probably the one time you don't mind having
to deal with ticks on your phone.
Yes, well, definitely.
Well, like you said, inVirginia you're now up to 21
games seasons.
Up here in Ohio we played 28.
And if you look at some ofthese schools around the country
(09:41):
, I see them playing 40 gamesand I always found it
challenging to get 28 in withthe weather up here.
I'm looking out right now andthere's snow all over the ground
, so you know, yeah, so how doyou prepare your pitching staff
(10:03):
to you know when you gothroughout the season?
You guys, if I am I correct, doyou guys have like a one one
and done, or is a best two outof three in Virginia?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
For the postseason.
Yeah, yeah.
So it's like our district hasseven teams and four will
qualify for the region, the nextlevel, um, and then out of the
regionals, the top two advanceto states, and then it's one and
done.
There's three, there's aquarter semi-final state
tournament.
So, okay, um, out of the 13teams in our region, two will
(10:40):
advance to the state tournamentmakes sense.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
well, in ohio it, in Ohio it's like Hoosiers.
I mean not like Hoosiers inthat sense, but everybody gets
in and on occasion you'll have ateam that just things go their
way and they didn't have a greatseason but all of a sudden they
make a deep, deep run.
But as far as once you get intothe tournament play, you know
(11:08):
you can kind of you know mostteams probably can get by with,
you know, a three-man rotationas far as starting pitchers.
But when you get into thattournament play it's a little
different.
Do you do anything differentlyto have your guys ready for
tournament play?
Speaker 3 (11:27):
you do anything differently to have your guys
ready for for tournament play?
No, it's funny.
Actually, in virginia, most ofour weeks, like your district,
games are always tuesday, fridayand then the district in the
regional tournament.
You only play twice a week.
Um, so, like in 2014, we wentto the state tournament and we
we've literally used two.
We had two studs one went totech, one ended up getting
drafted by the Nats a coupleyears later and, like, we rode
(11:47):
these two dudes to the statetournament.
And now the state tournament isthe only.
It's Tuesday, friday, saturdayfor the quarter semis finals,
and that's the only week of theyear where you're going to play
three meeting-tall games in oneweek.
And so pitching depth is, Imean.
I think pitching depth is thebiggest reason why we were able
(12:11):
to win it, because we hadstarters who could go deep in
the games and we had guys comingout of the pen that we trusted,
and it's just funny that youknow, rain messes that up.
But your district scheduledistrict tournament, region
tournament it's always just twogames a week.
And then you get to States andit's like, oh crap, we need a
third starter.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Well, you know, I I watched you on a podcast talking
about how you.
You were a pitcher in collegeand you decided to drop down as
a pitcher in college and and itit worked out for you and my son
.
I did that with him when he wasa sophomore in high school and
(12:53):
because I thought he'd have abetter opportunity of getting
more outs that way.
Talk about how that changed andaccepting that mindset, and is
that something you try to dowith anybody on your pitching
staffs?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
yeah, um.
So I was pretty mediocre andyou know I was kind of a diamond
doesn't writey with a mediocrefastball and it.
It was enough like to be apretty good high school pitcher,
but it was not enough at thenext level.
So so we were in a fallscrimmage, we were at Rowan and
they had a.
They had a guy come out of thepen.
(13:29):
It was like submarine, like waydown.
My coach was like what do youthink of that?
I was like dude, he's effective, he's getting a bunch of meat
contacts.
He's like cool, go to thebullpen and do it.
And so so I went in and I gotthrough the inning and you know
I kind of settled.
I was more of like a really lowthree quarters sidearm movement
(13:52):
and you know that extended mycareer.
I was going to get caught thatspring and then I ended up being
the closer the next two years.
So that taught me like theimportance of adaptability and
(14:13):
being willing to try new thingsand not do what's comfortable,
even if you kind of know thewriting's on the wall there.
In terms of our team, we havehad a couple guys that have
dropped down, not supersuccessful, I can't've.
We've churned out these sidearmrelievers, but it's always kind
of in the back pocket as a, asan option, and, and you know I
can literally say to him, likeI've been in your shoes, I've
been told like, hey, yourstuff's not good enough from
(14:35):
this more traditional slot.
Let's get weird and see whathappens.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, and I, you know , I look back on my coaching
career and I wish I could havedone that with a couple guys,
just because I think when abatter comes up to see that you
just don't see it very often inhigh school and when you do,
it's, you know, hey, give methree outs.
Yeah, you know, and sometimesit's all you need out of a
(14:59):
relief game, yeah, well, youknow, I'm looking here.
You've played the game, you'vecoached the game.
Tell me about a time when youfailed and what you took from
that and how that turned youinto becoming a better coach.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I mean I think, like most coaches early in my career
I was too much piss and vinegarand not enough, like the old
show.
You know you got to show themyou care first.
I am competitive and I let thatdrive me towards too
(15:49):
transactional and just like weneed to get better so we can win
, and it was always weak.
But I think my motivationsstemmed too much from that on us
to win and not I want us to win, comma.
In an environment whereeverybody walks away and says
(16:09):
you know that being a part ofthe McLean baseball team was my
favorite part of my high schoolexperience.
Um, and so I've kind of youknow you don't want to say like
lightened up, like we still havestandards and we still demand
the best of our guys, but I'vejust learned to do it in a more
beneficial way to the, to theathlete as a whole, as a person,
(16:30):
um, and and not that moretransactional like what can we
do for each other?
Um, kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Makes total sense.
I can totally relate with thewith what you're saying there.
I can totally relate with whatyou're saying there because I,
you know, I'm ultra competitiveand everything you know.
It was either win or loss forme.
You know, and I, now that Ilook back on it, I wish I could
change things early on.
But you learn as a coach andthat's one of those things that
(17:03):
you do.
Yep, well, I noticed you spokeat the ABCA convention and I was
looking at your form that youput out there and it talked
about how you create acompetitive game speed
environment in practice.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat and maybe throw out a
(17:27):
couple examples of what youmight do, whether it's inside in
a gym or when you?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
finally get outside on the field.
Yeah, um.
So you know there's, there's abunch of science in like the
skill acquisition world.
Now that basically says thatlike when we do things that are
easy, we don't get better likefull stop, and I call it 40, 40,
40 bp.
You got a 40 year old guythrowing 40 miles an hour from
40 feet away.
Um, and that's a greatenvironment to work on your
(17:55):
swing, but we don't playbaseball swing, we play baseball
.
And so kind of drawing thatline between, like when are we
trying to work on technique,mechanics, whatever you want to
call it, and doing that in thelow stakes environment where
it's easier, but then figuringout like how do we blend that to
the game?
Because if it's not going totransfer, it's pointless anyway.
(18:17):
So we've all had the guy that'sgot the ugly swing, but man,
he's always on time and healways finds barrels and it's
like that's the guy that I needcome 630 on Friday night and
we've all seen the guy with theperfect, beautiful swing.
It's textbook, it's beautiful.
And then game day comes andit's another rofer.
(18:38):
And so early on in my first headcoaching job it was not a
baseball school we had 12 kidson the varsity baseball team my
last year there, um, and so Ikind of realized like I can't
just do things the way everybodyelse does.
The previous three statechampions my first year there um
(18:59):
, one of the teams in ourdistrict won the state
championship.
In the previous two years itwas won by a team from this
district and we got 12 kids onthe team.
So it's like if I do everythingthe same way they do, if I roll
out the balls, throw bp forhalf an hour, take I out of the
home like we don't stand achance, um, and so that just
kind of forced me to kind ofadapt and figure out you know
(19:20):
what's the more optimal way forus to train.
And realistically it comes downto like thinking about things
like the spin of the ball andthe angle of the ball and speed
of the ball and speed of therunner and, whenever possible,
putting ourselves inenvironments that replicate
those game speeds.
Using stopwatch when you'rehitting ground balls to the
(19:41):
infielders.
One, we all suck at hittingtopspin ground balls.
It's really really hard to do,so we probably should be using a
machine.
And two, just putting them on astopwatch so that they
understand, like what's a 4-1runner feel like?
For me it's shortstop.
When I got to go to my right ona ball.
What does a 4-1 runner feellike?
And do I have time to set myfeet?
(20:01):
Or do I have to pull off thecheater, jump, throw and
exposing them to that as oftenas possible?
And my kids are in youthbaseball space and just from
being around the game, I thinkI'm of the opinion that we spend
and I did it too early on.
I was the same way.
I'm not casting stones here,but we spend too much time on
(20:23):
the technique, mechanics,baseball swing and not enough
time putting kids inenvironments where they have to
play baseball at game speed.
Um, and then the game comes andthe game's really hard.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
So my goal is to make practice harder than the game
now, when you, when you startmaking those changes, how will
the players I'm assuming theplayers probably like that?
I would think well.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
The competitive side.
Yeah, everybody loves to playgames.
Making it competitive instantlydrives up engagement, and the
competitive piece gives kids anopportunity to learn to deal
with failure in a lower stakesenvironment than the game and in
terms of the challenging them.
One of the biggest errors I didearly on was like say hey, guys
(21:11):
, we're going to reallychallenge you, period.
End of sentence.
They go into the cage.
They don't.
They barrel up one out of eightand they walk away saying I
stink.
And so when you create anenvironment like that, the
biggest lesson I've learned isto be crystal clear with the
expectations.
And you know, we'll set up themachine and we call it Garrett
Cole Fastballs.
It's like super.
(21:32):
We'll use the foam balls out ofthe machine at the top of the
zone and it's like find a way toget the barrel on top of this
thing.
We'll tell them, though, sayhey, man, if you could barrel up
one or two out of these eight,that's a pretty darn good round.
So now they walk out of theircage saying I'm the man.
(21:53):
I barreled up three out of me.
Um, as opposed to it's bp, Ishould have barreled eight out
of me.
I only barreled three.
I stick, um and so the one.
That's definitely a bit of acautionary tale that I didn't
fully realize early on theimportance of um.
You're going to put them inenvironments that are more game
like being crystal clear aboutwhat is success and what is
failure, because they're goingto just think three for eight in
a BP setting is failure.
Meanwhile I'm like the ball isliterally rising, guys.
(22:14):
It's doing things that physics,a human, can't replicate.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Do you spend much time on the mental side as far
as positive talk and gettingguys to understand that it's a
game of failure, at least whenyou're swinging the bat and
you've got to have a strongmindset.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Yeah, and I think that what we found to be the
most successful is building in aroutine and I shared this at my
ABCA convention and you putthem in these really challenging
settings.
You've got to remind them to usethat routine, a physical reset
and a big deep breath.
And I'm like I think I was likeevery other coach in America 10
years ago when this kind ofthing really started to take off
(23:00):
.
And there was this clip ofLongoria and he stares at the
ball pole.
Every time he takes a big deepbreath and we do this PowerPoint
and we have the kids all writedown their routine.
And then I didn't talk about itagain, we never brought it up,
we didn't follow up on it, wedidn't build chances in practice
to practice it, so that it'ssecond nature in the game.
And so now you've got thatdouble wing in practice.
(23:20):
If you've built that routine inand you see them getting
frustrated and engaged, all wehave to do is say, hey, physical
reset, work your routine, takedeep breaths, step out, do your
little, stare at your point.
And now, all of a sudden, thatbecomes second nature in game.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Well, my most recent episode I talked about the pros
and cons of cutting players.
Now, you know I don't know muchabout your experience or if
you've had to deal with havingto cut a player, but what are
your thoughts on that?
Because there's so manyvariables, you know like it
(24:03):
could be.
The school only has so manyuniforms.
You know you might have 120guys come out and you only got
three teams.
And have you ever experiencedanything when it happened to
make a decision like that?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, it's the worst.
It's the Wednesday.
You know, our kids get aminimum three-day tryout, and
that Wednesday, when we've gotto send kids home, it's the
absolute worst.
We're really fortunate thatit's a really strong baseball
community.
We've got a really good LittleLeague and so we usually have
(24:39):
around 60 kids try out everyyear.
The last few years it's been 60to 70.
And we're only allowed to havetwo teams.
We don't have a freshman team.
We're not allowed to self-funda freshman team, um, and so that
process is um.
But we just try to be reallyyeah, we just try to be really,
like, honest with them and givethem some feedback on, you know,
(25:02):
the guys that we're not able tokeep around, you know, give
them some feedback on what theyneed to do and and and I say it
every year and it happens everycouple of years like we'll cut
somebody as a freshman or as ajunior, and then they come back
the next year and they hit theweight room and all of a sudden
you're like yeah, you're great,you did exactly what we said you
needed to do and now you'remore successful on the field.
(25:24):
We'd love to have you, but wedon't have a roster limit per se
, but for me would that practicetime be the most important time
we have together.
It's not practical to carry 22hitters.
I don't think it's fair to the19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd hitter to
(25:46):
be like you're probably nevergoing to play.
And I don't think it's fair tothe 6th, 7th and 8th hitters to
say you're going to get 30% lessopportunities in practice
because we've got these otherguys.
So it's finding that balancebetween giving kids an
opportunity but at the same timeproviding the best experience
we can for for the rest, so if Icould ask, how many do you
(26:11):
carry on your varsity and jv?
uh, it depends.
I mean, there's not.
I think last year we had 16hitters, uh, and a handful of
pos.
Um, we don't like to po guys.
Sometimes they come to us andthey're like nah, I'm done, I
don't, I don't, I don't hit.
And and the POs are a littleeasier to handle because they
(26:33):
don't like, they don't take upas much practice time For me to
throw 24 pitches to a to ahitter, we're, we're adding
three, four minutes to practicefor each one of them.
That adds up pretty quickly.
And we I've always had a firmwe practice two hours on the
nose.
Now we don't, we don't go long,we don't.
(26:54):
Hey, you got to finish thisdrill before we go home.
And so it's finding thatbalance between you know
providing as many kids as we canand opportunity, but at the
same time you know saying we'renot going to run three hour
practice so we can't carry 22hitters.
What?
Speaker 1 (27:09):
is your approach to that 14, 15, 16 guy that you
know he's he's gonna see limitedplaying time.
How do you, uh, how do youhandle that with him?
Speaker 3 (27:23):
as far as the communication part, yeah, I mean
, when we bring, you know webring everybody, it's a
one-on-one, it's myself and my,my jv coach and sit down with
them.
We say, like you made a team,you didn't.
Here's what we saw good, bad,otherwise.
Um.
And for the guys that arestaying, like we try to be
honest with them and you, hey,it's three days into the season,
(27:45):
we hopefully have another 50days of practice to go.
So you have 50 opportunities toshow us that you know the
things that we see as a weaknessright now.
You could work.
But sometimes we're, you know,we try to be pretty honest with
them and say like, hey, man,like you're here because you're
a stud defender and you runreally well, but it's going to
(28:11):
be really challenging for you toget at bats unless A, b and C
happen, and it's it's.
It's tough to tell that to kidsto be, you know, it's kind of
the brutal honesty, but I thinkit's the most fair for everybody
involved.
So we're all kind of startingwith the same information and
then, three or four weeks intothe season, we sit down.
I'll sit down with each kid, um, and kind of give them some
(28:32):
feedback on where we see themright now.
Hey, you know you're kind of thefourth outfielder right now.
Hey, you're gonna have to startthrowing strikes so you won't
throw like we don't.
If you don't throw strikes, youwill not pitch for us.
Period, full stop.
We've got enough arms that dothrow strikes.
That, mike, you could throw 102.
If it's not around the zoneenough to get outs, you're not
(28:52):
going to play.
And we have those conversationsand try to just be as honest as
we can up front.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yes, I had a coach tell me that a parent got upset
with him one time about his sonwas a senior and he got very
little playing time and the dadactually told him he goes.
You know, if you would havejust cut him he would have been
upset for the day, maybe acouple of days he goes, but now
(29:18):
he's been upset the whole seasonand you know the coach was
looking at it more like you knowhe's getting to be part of a
team.
You know the coach was lookingat it more like you know he's
getting to be part of a team,you know, and things could
change.
So it's a challenge.
No matter what you do as acoach, you just do what you
think is best for the team andfor each individual player.
(29:40):
I'm sure.
Yeah, well, I gotta ask thisbecause I ask it every.
Every guest hate losing or lovewinning.
Um, I bet after 2024 you'dreally loved winning that.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
yeah yeah, I it.
Unfortunately, I think it stillis.
Hate losing, like winning's theexpectation, um, and yeah, it
does feel good and to win ourlast game feels really good, but
at the same time, like I thinklike we were more talented in
2022.
And we just had like the nogood, very bad day, and that's a
(30:20):
series of one game, playoffsand that was it.
And so you know that, thinkingback to those days, the, the
games like that, where you'relike I can't believe we lost um
kind of burns more than the joyof winning winning a game.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
All right.
So what?
What MLT MLB team do you like?
Speaker 3 (30:43):
I'm a Mets fan.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
You're a Mets fan, so you got sodas.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yes, I'm a Mets fan concession stand to enjoy
yourself.
I mean, if I could sit anywhere, I'd love to sit behind home
plate at an MLB game.
I've never had, you know, maybe25 or 30 rows up once.
So yeah, give me that front rowseat right behind the dish.
It's a really good feel for theMLB pitchers, their stuff and I
would definitely I would get.
I would get some nachos and ahot dog.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
There you go.
Well, if, if the Mets couldhave two players and one manager
?
I'm going to give you twogroups.
Who would you take?
The first group that you couldhave on the Mets would be Bobby
Witt Jr from the Royals, ronaldAcuna Jr from the Braves and
(31:55):
Terry Francona as your manager.
Or Group B, jose Ramirez fromthe I want to say Indians, but
it's the Guardians Mookie Bettsfrom the Dodgers and Dave
Roberts, the Dodgers manager.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
That's tough.
I think I'm going to take groupA.
They're younger.
Frank Cona has been there, doneit a number of times with a
number of teams.
Now I mean Witt man.
He is a star and as much as aMets fan, as much as I hate
Acuna, that dude can play.
I think those two at the top ofthe order would be a pretty big
(32:39):
problem.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yes, definitely.
If you could sit down with twofamous people athletes or
whatever from history and havedinner and just pick their mind
on leadership, who would youpick?
Speaker 3 (32:58):
I'm a history teacher , so I'm going to go.
Abraham Lincoln who elseLeadership?
Uh, who else Leadership?
Speaker 1 (33:14):
I'm going to go Lincoln and Eisenhower Really
Okay, I love it.
All right, finish up.
I kind of shot to that in atext your best or funniest story
, and it can be from being aplayer or a coach.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Um, I thought about this and I I you know, having
grown up in upstate new york andand um and dealing with that
weather, I've had games.
I had my buddy pitched ano-hitter in the snow.
Um, we had a game fogged out atithaca.
We started the game clear day.
Two hours later you couldn'tsee the lights on the scoreboard
.
Um, and there's a lot of justkind of funny ones like that.
(33:53):
I think one of my, one of myfavorites, was um, in my first
year here we had a kid that wasa stud player, stud catcher, and
we had a big arm and he wasjust having like a hard day
behind the plate, likestruggling to receive, like not
blocking balls he normally does.
And there's this fan of theopposing team that is just
(34:15):
wearing him out, like to thepoint where I'm like I said to
the official, I'm like can yousay something?
He's like, you know, it's notlike obvious, he could be saying
it about anybody whatever.
Sixth, seventh, sixth, seventhinning comes up.
This guy comes up big spot,hits a ball.
It's 430 feet over the right.
I mean, this field is like acavern out to right center, it's
like 400 feet.
(34:36):
He hits this ball.
It's never more than nine feetoff the ground.
The entire way, absolutemissile Circles the bases, steps
on home plate, takes off hishelmet and tips it to a guy that
was heckling him in the crowd.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Love it.
You know you talked about gamesgetting canceled.
My son had a game in collegeand you hear of all kinds of
stories rain outs, but the gamehad to be canceled because a
tree fell on the opposing team'sdugout.
That was one I didn't have onthe bingo card.
(35:10):
I guess you could say Well, Igot one more question, if you
don't mind.
2025 season comes to an end andyour high school team is fill
(35:30):
in the blank proud of the workthey've put in good stuff.
Well, coach, um I you know Ican't thank you enough for
taking the time.
I know how important it is toum take advantage of planning
time as a teacher and, uh, youknow you're um taking the time
(35:55):
to do this for me is, uh, Ireally do appreciate it and um,
best of luck and love to love tosee you make another run and
get you back to back.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Yeah, that's, that's the plan.
A lot of work to do.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Yes, definitely All right.
Well, Coach, thanks and takecare.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Thanks for having me on Appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Special thanks to McLean High School head baseball
coach in Virginia, john Dowling.
Today's episode of BaseballCoaches Unplugged is powered by
the netting professionalsimproving programs one facility
at a time.
Contact them today at844-620-2707.
That's 844-620-2707.
(36:39):
Or visit them online atwwwnettingproscom.
As always, I'm your host, coachKen Carpenter.
Tune in every Wednesday for anew episode and thanks for
listening to Baseball CoachesUnplugged.
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.