April 9, 2025 • 48 mins
Johnny DeRing, head baseball coach at Buckeye Valley High School(OH), offers a masterclass in building successful high school baseball programs that goes far beyond traditional coaching wisdom.
The power of community stands at the heart of Buckeye Valley's baseball success. In this tight-knit, blue-collar community, parents and former players eagerly volunteer their expertise to transform facilities and support the program. When DeRing needed a bullpen built, community members stepped up with labor and materials, demonstrating how small-town commitment creates championship environments without massive budgets.
DeRing's philosophical approach to player development reveals why multi-sport athletes thrive in baseball. He shares compelling examples of how wrestlers bring unmatched mental toughness, football players develop critical agility, and golfers master the emotional control needed in pressure situations. At Buckeye Valley, where roughly 750 students attend, this cross-training approach strengthens all athletic programs while producing more complete baseball players.
Perhaps most revolutionary is DeRing's approach to pitching management and arm care. Beyond following OHSAA guidelines, his program implements a stricter "one hour of rest per pitch thrown" rule and comprehensive 45-minute pregame routines designed to have pitchers "third-inning ready" from the first pitch. This philosophy preserves arms for when games matter most—May tournament play.
Communication emerges as the common thread among all successful programs. From assistant coaches challenging his thinking to players constantly communicating on field and in dugouts, DeRing fosters an environment where baseball IQ flourishes through open dialogue. His veteran coaching staff—most with deep community ties—creates a perfect blend of experience and fresh thinking.
Tune in for candid discussions about the coaching lifestyle, balancing family commitments, and why loving winning beats hating losing every time. Whether you're a coach looking to build a stronger program or a baseball enthusiast seeking deeper insights, DeRing's wisdom offers a blueprint for success both on and off the diamond.
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Today on Baseball Coaches Unplugged, I sit down
with Johnny DeRing, headbaseball coach at Buckeye Valley
High School, and we discusswhat all successful high school
teams do consistently thebenefits of multi-sport athletes
and a totally differentapproach to pitchers and the
pitch count rule.
This and so much more next onBaseball Coaches Unplugged and
(00:23):
so much more next on Baseball.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Coaches Unplugged.
Welcome to Baseball CoachesUnplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented byAthleteOne.
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.
(00:44):
We're covering it all.
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
(01:07):
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 (01:24):
Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter, and today's episode
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Now to my interview with headbaseball coach at Buckeye Valley
High School, johnny DeRing.
And joining me today is JohnnyDeRing, head baseball coach at
(03:16):
Buckeye Valley High School inDelaware, ohio.
Coach, thanks for taking thetime to be on Baseball Coaches.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Unplugged Absolutely.
I'm honored to be asked so veryhappy to be here.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
For the people out there that know me, I coached at
Buckeye Valley for almost 15years and I have a lot of great
memories of BV baseball.
But one of the first thingsthat I think of is the
community's passion for baseball, and now that you're settled in
up there and you've continuedthe winning ways, explain your
(03:50):
experience and why the communityis so important to your program
.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
First of all, it's a pretty small community, which I
think makes a huge difference,and a lot of the people who are
around have been there for yearsand years and years.
You know I'm coaching a lot ofkids whose dads have come
through, had graduated fromBuckeye Valley and now they're
kids.
You know I've got a freshmanright now whose dad played for
(04:19):
you and you know he graduatedback in the early 2000s and you
know he graduated back in backin the early 2000s.
But you know it's small andit's a.
It's a great blue collarneighborhood or a blue collar
community.
You know, when I first took thejob, looking around the field, I
kind of came up with a list ofthings that we had to have done
and I had two dads, one of whichwas a Buckeye Valley grad.
(04:43):
He actually played footballthere and his son was a junior
at the time.
And there was another dad thatI met after my first meeting and
they said you know, hey, whatdo you need?
What do we need to do?
What do we need as far asfacilities?
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And of course, you know youhave your wish list, you have
(05:04):
your wish list and, and some ofthose things aren't necessarily
feasible, but the, the ones thatthat were were feasible, uh, we
, I think we started working onthem the next week, um, and you
know the, the first thing we, wehad to address was, you know,
having a having a good bullpen,uh, for our catchers to, or for
our pitchers to prepare on, and,um, you know, we, we did that,
(05:25):
we did that, we did, we got someestimates to have it done, um,
somewhat professionally, um, andthose estimates came in the
price-wise pretty high.
And you know, we, we kind ofsat down back at the drawing
board and said, you know, howcan we do this, uh, within a,
within a reasonable budget?
And they were, they were muchhandy, much more handy than I am
(05:47):
.
So we came up with some ideasand they led the way and I was
the grunt work and, you know, webuilt a magnificent bullpen for
our kids to use.
So it's just stuff like that.
The smaller community if we needsomething with my coaching
staff I think I'm the only oneon my coaching staff without
ties to the community Um, youknow, uh, my, my, my assistants,
(06:11):
um, all grew up in thecommunity.
So if there's something we needdone, you know it's very easy.
Hey, well, I know this guy, hecan, he can help us out with
this.
And I know this guy, maybe hecan get us a donation of this
and, um, so, just the, thecommunity aspect of of being
able to, to, to get things doneis is incredible.
So, and then also, you know,living in the community, um,
(06:36):
it's great, like I, my favoritepart of it, and this is kind of
a product of how I grew up Um,my parents were both teachers.
My dad was a coach.
You know, I love going out.
When I go out to dinner with myfamily, I love going out to
dinner and seeing not just myplayers but I like seeing my
students.
So, you know, being a smallcommunity, it's great.
(06:59):
I love every aspect of it.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, you talk about the volunteering part of it.
You know the team used to playdown in Radnor.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
There's a lot of great memories that people have
in the community of Radnor Fieldand Dickmeyer Field, but we
needed to get something on thecampus there and I literally sat
down and drew a baseballdiamond in dimensions and some
ideas and they made it come tolife.
And you know, it's amazing thework ethic of the people in that
(07:36):
community.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
It is.
And you know another thingabout the community we started
doing a youth night my firstyear, my first year I take that
back, I think it was my secondyear.
We did a youth night my firstyear, my first year I take that
back, I think it was my secondyear.
We did a youth night and it wasawesome, it was great.
And there the the number ofpeople that came back there and
they were like, wow, you know,this is, this is beautiful.
Back here, you know it's thatfield secluded and yeah, and,
(07:58):
and if you're not a baseballperson you may not know it's
back there and.
And um, uh, you know, just thatinitial youth night that we did
it was my second year Um, justthat initial youth night we did,
man it is, it is exploded where, uh, last year we were able to
get, um, I think every kid got ahot dog, I think every kid got
a, got a cone of ice and, and itwas paid for by people in the
(08:22):
community.
Um, so it was, it was great andwe're looking forward to
another, another huge youthnight.
You know we do it there towardsthe end of the year when the
weather's nice and people wantto be outside.
I don't this coming week itwouldn't be good to do youth
night, because it's going to bea little chilly, but you know
it's a testament to thecommunity and how much of a
(08:42):
baseball community is too,because there are people I've
already had people reach out,you know, hey, when is it that
are already looking forward toit?
So, and again, that's that wasrun by.
That was run by by my, by myparents.
They set it up, you know.
They said, hey, can we do ayouth night?
And I said yeah, let's do it.
They said, give us a date.
I gave them a date and theysaid we'll take care of the rest
(09:03):
.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So well, your high school coaching career started
off in Effingham, georgia, andyou know I I've always wanted to
ask this question what are someof the differences in high
school baseball between coachingdown South and coaching here in
the uh, in the Midwest, slashNorth, I guess you can say.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Uh well, number number one.
I think.
I think every baseball coachwill appreciate it.
And first thing comes to mymind is weather.
Um, you know, we, we, we, wehave some, we had a few cold
games down there, um, but youknow, the biggest thing is, it's
just, it's year round, like it,it's a hundred percent
year-round.
You know, there are times when,when we're we're stuck inside
(09:49):
in a, in in the gym, or, youknow, in a, in a, in a indoor
facility somewhere, whereas downthere, I mean, we wanted to
take bp on christmas day.
We were saying we could take bpon christmas day.
Um, you, you know, it was, uh,it was like and and and the
other thing is is is sports arevery, very, very much at the
(10:09):
forefront of every school downthere.
Um, it is, it is a major um,it's, it's the most important
thing, which, which has its, hasits benefits and it has its
drawbacks.
You know we're what's thepercentage of kids that go to
the big leagues?
You know it's less than lessthan one percent.
Um, so it, you know there'ssome trade-off there, but, um, I
(10:34):
would say you know just, thebiggest thing is the weather and
and the.
The facilities are absolutelyincredible.
Um, every, every school haslights.
Every school has a, has ahitting facility.
Every most schools I would saybetter part of 95, 90, 95
percent of schools have just anoutstanding playing surface to
(10:55):
play on.
So you know it, it has its, ithas its, it has its.
Obviously, just like everythingelse, it has its pros and its
cons, but the biggest thing isjust, you know the weather.
You can do anything you wantall year round.
You know we can't even get outto work on our field in December
(11:16):
and January, so any work we'regoing to do on our field has to
be done excuse me, over thesummer in preparation for the
next season, you know.
So we're always kind of workingahead, you know, looking ahead
to the next season.
There, you know you haveweather to work on your field,
to improve your facilities and,like I said, it truly is, it's
(11:37):
year-round.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Well, the thing I like about Buckeye Valley and
I'm a big proponent of this is Iwanted to ask you, on average,
how many of the baseball playersat Buckeye Valley are
multi-sport athletes, and talkabout the benefits of your
players competing in more thanjust baseball.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
So we have a lot of multi-sport athletes.
You know Buckeye Valley, we'vegot somewhere between 700 and
800 kids in our school.
And so back to the smallcommunity.
For our programs, for ourathletic programs and our
athletic department to besuccessful, we need our athletes
playing across the board.
You know we need our bestathletes playing football.
(12:22):
We need our best athletesplaying basketball.
We need our best athletesplaying football.
We need our best athletesplaying basketball.
We need our best athletesplaying baseball, and you know
we have some soccer players thatplay.
We have some wrestlers and youknow there aren't too many kids
who are tougher than wrestlers.
So you know, when you get awrestler that brings a wrestling
mentality to baseball, you knowthe big thing in baseball now
(12:45):
is you talk about mentaltoughness.
You're not going to findanybody more mentally tough than
a wrestler.
You know those kids are adifferent breed.
So you know, as far as just theimportance of playing multiple
sports, it helps.
Obviously it helps withathleticism and fostering
athleticism.
But the mental side of it.
(13:07):
We have a couple golfers andour golf coach is fantastic.
He actually got his team amental training coach.
You can see those kids bringwhat he's taught them with the
mental stuff into their baseball.
They have a few bad at-batsthey're able to.
(13:27):
You know, just like in golf,you can't let one bad shot ruin
your hole.
So you've got to flush it,you've got to move on, and you
know how often do we say that toa pitcher.
You know, forget about the lastpitch, make the next one,
forget about the last at-bat, besuccessful in the next one.
So those those multi-sportathletes are just are fantastic.
(13:50):
You know, I've had over theyears, I've had some.
I've had football players thathave played for me, and one kid
actually, in particular comes tomind.
He.
He was going into his senioryear and you know we weren't
really sure if he was going tobe able to be our starting
catcher.
He was a football player andgoing into his senior year a
(14:13):
football coach moved him to nosetackle.
That work that he got at nosetackle made him the starting
catcher that year for his senioryear.
Because his, his agilityimproved, his footwork improved,
he just his overall quicknessand every facet of being a
catcher was improved.
(14:34):
And we talk about it all thetime because the other two guys
I was coaching with at the timethey were also football coaches
as well as myself.
You know those that work thathe got got him to the next step,
to be to be our startingcatcher.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
So well, you know I can't have you on the podcast
and not talk about yourassistant coaches.
Three were my assistants when Iwas there 10 years ago and one
of them played for me.
You know, I'm thinking of DougHoucher, greg Georgick, rod
(15:12):
Baster, and then the player waswhen I first showed up in
Buckeye Valley, josh Hall.
He's there, and how importanthas that group of guys been to
your team's success.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Oh man, they're the backbone.
I mean, they're the reason I'mable to be so successful.
You know, doug Houchard, I'dlike to find somebody that could
outwork him.
Number one I tell him all thetime he's terrible at being
retired.
I wake up every morning to atext from him at 7 o'clock in
(15:49):
the morning.
And well, I'm already awake,but I get a text from him at 7
o'clock in the morning everymorning.
Here's the outline of the day,here's what my plan is today.
And you know he's alreadytexting me today.
He's going to swing by thefield and check it after all the
rain we've had, and see what wecan do to to prep it for
tomorrow, because, because we'resupposed to have games all week
(16:09):
, um, and you know, greg, excuseme, greg, back to back to the
community part.
A man's been entrenched in thiscommunity for years upon years,
upon years, um, and, and youknow, greg, and, and doug and
rod, uh, rod, they volunteer.
They don't want to dime, theyjust want to be around and they
(16:31):
make me better, and they're notafraid to tell me what they
think, and they're not afraid totell me when they think I'm
doing wrong.
And it's something I trulyvalue, because I think we had a
discussion about some of our,some of our players behavior and
and they and they weren'tsaying the kids were doing
(16:51):
anything wrong, but they weresaying this needs to be
addressed.
We need to change this part ofit.
And and it was something thatyou know there's there's what?
A 30 year age gap betweenmyself and the three of them.
You know there's something thatI didn a 30 year age gap
between myself and the three ofthem.
Um, you know something that Ididn't really pick up on, but as
soon as they brought it up, Iwas like, yeah, you know,
they're right, we, we do need tochange that.
(17:13):
Um, and so we did.
And then, of course, um, youknow Rod, rod's a former, former
school board member.
Um, you know, just having himaround, they are able.
The three of them are, you know,with the freshman team and they
really get those freshmen ingear for going to JV.
(17:33):
And then, once they come to mewith varsity you know it takes a
lot off of my plate where Idon't have to teach them about
the culture, I don't have toteach them about what the
coaches expect, because thosethree guys are, are on top of it
.
Um, they do.
They do that part for me.
And, um, and you know that thatage, that age difference makes
(17:56):
it makes a huge difference.
Um, you know they're they'reviewed as that.
They older, wiser, and our kidssee that too.
You know when they, when theylook at those kids, they're
looking at a true adult figurethat has been around the block
quite a few times.
And then, of course, josh.
(18:19):
I can't say enough about Josh,not only with his knowledge of
the game, just the way he isable to communicate with our
kids and break things down withour kids.
You know, those guys are justabsolutely invaluable.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yes, without a doubt.
And you know I can't go anyfurther without also talking
about your pitching coach,because you guys your approach
to pitch counts and and keepingthem, keeping them fresh.
So when you get to the end ofthe season and you're going into
(18:56):
postseason play, talk aboutwhat you guys do exactly to
maximize that.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
So well, number one you know games matter, winning
matters, winning really matters.
Like I'm not diminishingwinning by any stretch of the
imagination, because you know,as coaches, we want to win more
than the players a lot of thetime.
But you know, in Ohio everybodymakes the playoffs.
So we don't want to be playingour best in March and April, we
(19:32):
want to be playing our best inMay, and so we really just try
to build our guys up because wewant to win in May, we want to
win in June, we want to prepareourselves for a long playoff run
, and so we try to not overworkour kids early in the season
(19:54):
especially.
You know we're going to beplaying a game this week when
it's going to be 40 degrees andthere's a 15-mile-an-hour wind.
It's going to be chilly.
You know, just from an arm carestandpoint, it doesn't matter
how many times you run down tothe foul pole in between innings
, you're, you're not going to bewarm, you're not going to,
you're not going to stay hot,and and so we, we try to take
(20:16):
all those things intoconsideration.
The other thing that that we'vereally incorporated excuse me,
since I took over is is is ourpreparing to pitch.
Our pitchers have a minimum45-minute routine prior to the
game that they are expected togo through so that they can get
(20:39):
ready to step on the mound.
And we don't want we call itbeing third inning ready.
We want them to be as loose andas warm and as hot at the first
pitch of the game that somepitchers would be at the third
inning.
We've all seen pitchers go outthere and they might struggle
for inning one and two and thenthey get on cruise control third
(21:03):
inning.
I want cruise control in thefirst inning.
We're looking at hitters, we'retrying to figure out hitters
that first time through thelineup.
So we want to take one of theelements out of it.
We want them to be prepared andthen let the coaches do their
job to evaluate that first timethrough the lineup to see where
we can get.
(21:23):
We can get them um, later on inthe game and you know that that
the idea was always there.
But that phrasing I got from umla court.
Uh, he was a, he was atotterbein and then um, I think
he does some stuff down at thebow dome still um he's a white
horse la court is.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I didn't, I didn't realize that oh, oh yeah, we
faced him when I was there, okay.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So he came and did a mini clinic for the central
district coaches and he wastalking about their preparation
and what they do and he saidthird inning ready.
And there was something aboutit.
That just registered with me.
But then you know, we alsofollow.
Obviously we follow the pitchcount guidelines put forth by
OHSAA, but ours is actually alittle bit more in depth than
(22:09):
that.
We do an hour per pitch of rest.
So if they throw 50 pitchesthey have to have 50 hours of
rest.
So I think off the top of myhead.
One thing on the OHSAAguidelines is at 75 pitches they
(22:30):
require three days rest.
Then there's 125 pitch maximum.
Well, by letter of the law, ifmy kid goes out there and throws
85 pitches on Monday, he couldturn around and pitch again on
Friday.
We're not doing that.
That's too much for what we'retrying to do.
(22:51):
So we, you know, we try tobalance that out as well.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Well, coaching's a calling and parents sometimes
forget how much time is spentaway from family.
Yeah, and obviously for verylittle pay.
Any coach will tell you that.
But this morning I I saw a poston x where the coach was
(23:17):
looking at his phone prior tothe game.
The head coach and, uh, but forlike the average person walking
up to the game, they'reprobably thinking you know what
is this coach doing?
He's playing on Twitter.
But what he was actually doingwas his young son was playing in
(23:38):
his first game of baseball andit was his first at-bat and his
wife was recording it for himlive.
Wife was recording it for himlive and that was he.
He was watching that andobviously missing it because he
was with his team.
Yeah, and I, I guess you knowyou've been around enough and
and every coach out there thatis, uh, that's been around long
(24:02):
enough.
You know what do you say to theparent that you know tunes into
this podcast about thechallenges of being a head coach
, because you spend a lot moretime with their kids than you do
with your own family sometimes.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah, I um, so we do um.
I don't.
I don't know if I can directlyanswer that, but I'll maybe
circle around it and go aroundit.
You know, as a side note, Imissed my son's first T-ball
game because we had a game.
You know I'll never get it back.
(24:41):
So you know, I try to make upfor it and I talk about it with
my coaches all the time.
They have a little bit moreleniency because I don't want
them to make the same mistakethat I did um, so um, one of the
things I do is is in the offseason, I try to do all my
off-season stuff in the morningum, and and and one those things
(25:04):
.
Main reason is just ourfacilities.
We don't have the space um inour program, and that I'm not.
I'm not, not.
Lots of people have to dealwith lack of space.
I'm not.
This is not a woe is me, thisis not a shot at anyone Um, but
we do a lot of our stuff.
We hit in the morning, we throwin the morning and we lift in
(25:24):
the morning, all duringpreseason.
So once, uh, usually oncefootball's over and and we can
start using um, using the lockerroom, and have access to the
shower for the boys.
We do do that stuff in themorning, you know.
Reason number one is facilities.
We can't get in the gym duringbasketball season and we
shouldn't expect we shouldn'texpect to get in the gym during
basketball season either.
(25:44):
But the hidden benefit of thatis, you know, this time of year,
starting whenever we startedFebruary 28th this year, our
evenings are done, they're shotbecause now we are doing, we do
have access to the gym, we dohave practices, and so one of
the hidden benefits of doingthat stuff in the morning is it
(26:05):
allows us to be with ourfamilies.
You know, I was able to be withmy son.
I didn't miss a single.
He played basketball this year.
I didn't miss a singlebasketball game, you know, and
(26:26):
kind of, it's kind of inpreparation for baseball season.
But but at the same time, youknow, we have to, we have to
take care of our families too.
So I don't, I don't know what Iwould, I don't know what
message I would, I would give toa parent.
But you know, I and I myfrustration just kind of leads
into my frustration with, withcollege coaches that aren't
calling the high school coachesas much as they should be
(26:47):
anymore.
We spend a lot of time with ourplayers and especially I'm in
the building at our school, so Iget the opportunity.
I see them when they're havinga bad day.
I see them first thing in themorning when they're rolling out
of bed.
I see them at the end of theday.
(27:08):
I see them after a bad test.
I see them.
You know, I spend over 200 daysa year with these boys.
It's probably more than that.
That's probably a bad, a lowbaseline, but I see these kids
(27:29):
in a lot of different scenarios.
I see them at lunch, uh, whenthey think no one's watching.
Um, I see how they, how theytalk to their.
I see how they talk to theirpeers.
Um, you know, we, we, we knowour kids inside and out, and and
and one of the things that thatI've, that that that I love
right now about being being atBuckeye Valley, where I'm at, is
I've never been so close with agroup of kids as I am with them
(27:51):
and, um, you know I'm, I justI'm very fortunate, like we have
.
You know, they come into my roomjust to hang out sometimes, um,
you know, hey, did you see thisplay last night?
Hey, did you see what LeBrondid last night.
I had a couple kids come in oneday and they were helping me
fill out my NCAA bracket.
So I guess, from a time awayfrom our family, point message
(28:20):
to the parents I mean, we'reputting into your kid, we're
we're, we're putting into your,we're putting into your kid.
Most coaches, most coaches, areputting into your kid exactly
what you want, what you wouldwant a coach to put into your
kid, and and and.
A lot of times it's coming.
It's coming at the sacrifice ofof you know, being being with
(28:41):
their family as well.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
So Well, baseball is a game of stats and a lot of
times when a team that makes thefewest mistakes, they usually
win.
Um, we've talked aboutsomething earlier where you um
not on the podcast, obviously,but you talked about five runs.
Yeah, yeah, why not?
(29:03):
To the listeners?
And and your approach to that.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
So it came true after our conversation.
I was thinking last night Iwent back through some
statistics, so I had a pitchingcoach when I was down in Georgia
and he played by the rule offive.
He said if you score five runs,you have like an 80-plus
percent chance of winning, andif you give up five runs, you
have an an 80 plus percentchance of winning, and if you
give up five runs, you have an80 plus percent chance of losing
(29:30):
.
Um, so I, I, I, we, he broughtit up to me and we looked at it
and I was like, well, you know,for his career, it it it pretty
well held held true.
And and I went back throughsome stuff last night and it's
pretty well held true for me.
So, um, uh, I guess you knowtalking about defense, um, you
(29:50):
know, defense saves runs forsure.
And, uh, we had a discussion,we had a.
We had a hard, hard, hardfought battle with um, with one
of your team that you've hadsome battles with too as well,
which was, which was watterson,the other night and and there
were some we won't call themthey weren't errors because we
played error free but we gave upsome, some hidden runs where,
(30:13):
if you know if, if we lay outfor a ball and knock it down,
that might save us a run and andyou know that game ended, ended
, uh got called because ofdarkness and it was uh ended in
a four, four tie, um, but youknow, if we, if we, if we take
that extra step, we knock a balldown, we lay out for a ball, um
, you know again, not errors,cause we didn't make errors.
(30:34):
I can't say enough about ourdefense so far this year.
Knock on wood, um, but you knowjust those hidden runs.
You know we could have won thatgame.
Couldn't want that game four totwo.
You know we could have won thatgame.
Could have won that game 4-2.
You know it could have been adifferent story there.
You know, at 7.30, when theycalled the game because of
darkness, or they wouldn't haveto call the game, because of
(30:56):
darkness, because the game wouldhave been open, especially this
time of the year.
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Well, let me ask you this what is something you
notice about every good highschool baseball team outside of
pitching?
That is the key to them winningbaseball games, because
everybody's going to have goodpitching if you want to win.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Yeah.
So communication, when I seekids communicating with each
other when they're on the fieldplaying defense and, you know,
after an at bat One of thethings I just got done, talking
to my boys about this I haveseen, I have seen a lot of
things and you know we've onlyplayed four games this year, but
I have seen so muchcommunication with our kids this
(31:43):
year and it's made a difference.
It's already making adifference for us.
There's just, hey, I saw hethrew X, y, z, blah, blah, blah,
blah blah.
You know he might be tippingthis, he might be tipping that.
So it's communication.
I mean there's just our coaches.
Back to our coaching staff.
You know our coaches, when thatdefensive ending is over, I
(32:06):
mean we're out there, we talkwith our kids.
Hey, what'd you see?
This is what it looked likefrom our coaching perspective.
What did you tell us?
What you saw?
And one of the you know anotherthing my background is catching
, that's I was a catcher.
That's where I feel the mostcomfortable.
You know our starting catcher.
Yesterday we had kind of an offday for varsity.
(32:29):
They were just going to come inand lift and, I'm sorry, on
Friday they were going to justlift after school and then I was
going to send them home and Iwas talking to my catcher, who,
you know, we all need catchersto be an extension of the
coaching staff, and he certainlyis, and so he was.
He was getting some stufftogether for me because we were
practicing with the younger guys.
(32:49):
I said hey, I said we needlet's, let's meet up, let's go
through some catching stuffafterwards and he, you know, he
said absolutely let's do it andsomething with him.
And I've had this experiencewith with I've got two other
players that are that are atOhio Dominican right now, and
another player that's playing atBMI right now.
(33:10):
The thing that all four of thoseboys have in common is when we
were working, when we were doingdrills or whatever, there was
so much conversation back andforth.
It wasn't just you're doing thedrill, you know, get your reps
in, do the drill this way, makesure your footwork looks like
this, make sure your swing lookslike this.
It there's a lot of, there's somuch communication.
(33:33):
Um, and you know that mystarting catcher right now, he
he came into the, into the gymwhere, where the young guys were
working out, and we went off inthe corner and I think he was
there for about 45 minutes and Iwould say that only 15 minutes
(33:55):
of it was him doing an actualdrill and 30 minutes of it was
he and I.
Just all right, this is whatI'm seeing.
Yep, you're right, coach,that's how I feel.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Just a lot of dialogue back andforth and, like I said, those
three other boys that have comethrough that are now off and
playing.
It was the same thing.
There was a lot ofcommunication and I think that's
(34:17):
probably one way that I'vegrown as a coach and one way
that our relationshipsdeveloping my relationships with
these kids, one way that ourrelationships developing my
relationships with these kidsit's fostered more baseball IQ
growth, I guess, would be thebest way to say it.
So we try to.
I think your original questionwas what do you see out of good
(34:38):
teams?
It's just that communicationpiece.
You know being loud in thedugout, being behind your
teammates.
You know not being I'm nottalking about being Bush League
but you know being behind yourteammates, being behind your
pitchers.
You know every team, every goodteam, is loud and not in a bad
(34:59):
way.
They're loud in a good way andit can be, it can be your.
I was coaching in the districtall-star game a few years ago
and the third baseman was noneof those kids play together,
they were just playing togetherfor an all-star team.
The third baseman he was fromand I know, you know Corey.
(35:20):
He was from Lancaster and heplayed for Corey.
He never stopped talking onthird base.
He never stopped talking.
He was always saying somethingto the shortstop, he was saying
something to the left fielderand you know that's a testament
to what Corey does over there inLancaster and it's just evident
(35:43):
that that kid's a heck of aball player.
You know he just communicates,talking to his pitch the whole
time.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Tell me about a time where you failed as a coach and
how that lesson has made you abetter coach.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
That's a tough one, I would say, early on in my head
coaching career, I think, uh, Ithink I think the the, the one
place that I failed was wasinstead of, instead of having
the difficult conversations andgetting them over with, um is,
(36:22):
is is just waiting until theykind of festered too long, um
long.
So now I try to have difficultconversations as soon as
possible, just so we don'tfester.
You know we don't letfrustration build.
You know we just talk.
And my kids I hope my kids knowit.
I know a few of them know it.
(36:43):
You know my door is always openit.
Um, you know my, my door isalways open.
Um, I kid I, I there there,there are kids that that I've
told you know I, you candisagree with me.
I have no problem with it, andI want you to tell me when you
disagree with me.
Um, you come into my office,you shut the door and you sit
down and you tell me exactlywhat you think, because I'm
(37:03):
going to do the same with youand and and and you know I, I
respect, I respect and value my,my player's opinion.
So, um, you know, when they have, when they have an issue, um,
especially especially my leaders.
You know we're not going to,we're not going to get.
Nobody, not everybody's goingto feel comfortable doing that,
but my leaders, uh darn wellshould, and I hope they do, and
(37:35):
but my leaders darn well should,and I hope they do, and it's
happened and sometimes,sometimes they've changed my
mind, sometimes they haven't,but that's why you know, that's
why I'm the head coach.
Sometimes I have to.
You have to put your foot downand say how things are going to
be.
But then you know, part of partof being a great role model is
recognizing when something needsto change too.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
So setting that example for them is huge.
Well, switch it up a little bitnow.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Hate losing or love winning, and why I love winning.
I love winning, I just love it.
There's such a I get prettynervous, get pretty worked up
before a game and when thatfinal pitch is thrown and that
(38:21):
win goes in the right column, Idon't think there's any better
feeling and goes in the rightcolumn, I don't think there's
any better feeling.
Obviously, we all hate gettingour teeth kicked in, but the
good thing about losing is itmakes you humble.
You know, if we go out there ifI go out there and go, you know
33-0 and win a state title or35-0, whatever I have to do to
(38:46):
win a state title and do itundefeated, you know I don't
know how much I'd learn fromthat.
So I look, I always.
I always try to look at mylosses as a as a where you know,
as a learning, learningexperience.
You know we we took one, tookone on the chin.
We played Hartley really toughFriday.
You were there, yeah, you know.
(39:09):
We sat down for an hour up inthe coach's office afterwards
trying to figure out where we'regoing to improve.
So I love winning, I lovewinning and I try to look at
losing as a learning experienceor a chance to learn.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Well, everybody's got an opinion on this next
question TurboBat in MajorLeague Baseball.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Oh those, yeah, the torpedo bats or whatever.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
I've heard torpedo bat my bad.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
I don't know.
I don't think there's enoughdata on it yet to tell you know.
They say there's been a coupleguys that have used it here the
past couple years and it kind ofcame to the forefront because
the Yankees went on thatexplosion last weekend.
But if the Yankees are going todo something like that, for
(40:06):
every Yankees fan you find twopeople who despise them, right?
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
I feel like if the Arizona, the arizona
diamondbacks had done it, youknow it, it might be, uh, people
might be on board and trying tohave everyone do it.
But I think, just because theyankees brought it to the
forefront, you know, I don'tknow what's going to happen.
I, I don't know, that's that'skind of an interesting, but you
know, by letter of law, you know, there's nothing wrong with
(40:31):
what they did.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Um, yeah, I I heard will clark talking about it, the
old, uh, san francisco giantand he's like, basically, you
know, they changed the sweetspot, uh, because they're
getting jammed so they're notvery good hitters.
He had a real good take on itso I found that interesting.
But, staying with the MajorLeague Baseball, you're managing
(40:56):
an MLB team and I'm going togive you three players, all
right, and you've got to choosebetween Group A and Group B.
Group A Shohei Otani, mookieBetts and Tariq Schoobel the
Tigers pitcher who tore it uplast year.
Group B Aaron Judge, joseRamirez and Paul Skeens.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Well.
So it's going to be a littlebit biased but I'm probably
going to take Group A becauseI'm a huge Tigers fan and I love
Tariq Scoo fan and I loveTerrence Kubel, I love Mookie
Betts, Paul Skeens I mean,that's a hard one to pass up on,
but no, I've got to take GroupA.
There's just there's some thejury's still out on.
(41:49):
Paul Skeens, right?
Isn't this only his second year?
We you know, maybe he secondyear, Maybe he had that good
first year and good first rookieyear, and who knows what's
going to happen here.
But some of those other threeyou mentioned are pretty
seasoned between Mookie andShohei and Tarek.
So between the biased and, Ithink, the experience, I'm going
(42:11):
to take group A on that one.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
All right.
Well, two more questions foryou.
Best or slash funny story fromyour experience of coaching high
school baseball.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
I wasn't prepared.
I was not prepared for that.
But the first thing that comesto mind, and, and and, if I hope
, I hope that, uh, I hope thatmy old pitching coach will, uh,
will watch, will, will watchthis because he will.
He'll lose his mind because hetells the story better.
But we're, uh, we were in atough, we were in a tough game.
We're playing one of our rivalsand, uh, you know, he, he, he
(42:49):
did a good job of, he was mypitching coach, he did a good
job of keeping me grounded attimes.
But sometimes you know, thestress, just you know, gets to
you and you don't see the forestfor the trees.
And we were playing one of ourrivals and we made a pitching
change.
And you know, as a head coach,you're looking at a lot of
(43:10):
things.
You're looking at theadjustments you made in the
lineup, you're making sure youreported your subs, and so
you're not watching that kidthrow his eight warm-up pitches,
and you're thinking about whenyou come up to bat.
So we make a pitching changeand he brings in his next
pitcher and the first pitch hethrows, he threw it in the dirt.
(43:31):
And the first pitch he throws,he threw it in the dirt and in
my mind I was thinking that waslike the 10th ball he's thrown
in the dirt.
I was thinking he walked, thefirst guy that he faced, and I
said Stephen.
I said who do you have up?
Who's ready to go in?
He said John.
(43:51):
He said that was his firstpitch.
I said he's only thrown onepitch.
He said yeah, that was hisfirst pitch.
I said all right, and I justkind of looked around and
realized that, you know, it wastime for me to settle down and
I'm not doing the story justiceby any stretch of the
imagination, but man, it wasfunny, it was a good, it was a
(44:14):
good humbling moment for me aswell.
You know, sit back, take a deepbreath, watch the game, enjoy
the game, enjoy coaching.
Try not to try to try to settledown a little bit.
But you know, as I as, as Isaid earlier, you know we, we've
grown, or I've grown umthroughout my head coaching
career especially so all right,to finish it up here.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
If you can make one change to high school baseball,
what would it be?
Speaker 3 (44:40):
One change to high school baseball.
That's a tough one, coach.
Um, I'm trying to think of youknow, I'm not a big fan of the
pitch clock, I'm not a big fanof the pickoff rule One change,
(45:06):
yeah, I know.
Yeah, I know, I'm just tryingto think of things that could be
done at high school baseball.
You know it's hard to mess withthe most perfect game on the
face of the earth, right, youknow?
So, um, wow, I would say, I, Iguess, I guess, really, if we
could, if we could make theseason longer, I mean like, yeah
(45:29):
, play more games and and as faras I'm concerned, we could run
all the way up to we could havethe state title on July 4th
weekend.
I mean, how much more Americancould that get?
You know, we talk about this, Italk about this with our
athletic director all the timethat our spring season is so
short, I mean so short.
(45:50):
We're two weeks into the lastquarter and we've only played
four games, but we're going tobe playing another 20 before
graduation.
To me, if we could makebaseball season longer and the
OHSAA actually even did make itthey gave us an extra week this
(46:10):
year, they shifted everythingback, which is fantastic.
But as far as I'm concerned,man, let's play all the way up.
Let's have the state title onJuly 4th, you know, I think that
would be great.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Well, I'm sure the travel listeners listening right
now probably wouldn't be toothrilled about that.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
Iowa has a.
They have a summer baseballseason.
Their season is in the summer.
No, let's just make it longer.
High school baseball is awesome.
I mean it really is.
It's hard to beat, you know,with all the college baseball
games that are on right now andall the battles that are going
(46:51):
on, you know that's great andeverything, and again I'm biased
.
But man, let's make, let's makethe high school baseball season
longer.
Let's just let's play.
Let's play through june.
We'll have better weather, youknow, let's do that.
Let's make it as long.
Let's play 40 games and thenhave the playoffs.
That's, that's my take on itwell, it's uh, it's johnny
dering.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
he's's the head baseball coach at Buckeye Valley
High School in Delaware Countyhere at Ohio.
Coach, you're doing greatthings up there and just keep
doing what you're doing becauseyou're doing it the right way,
and thanks so much for takingtime to be on Baseball Coaches
Unplugged.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
Thanks for having me, coach.
I really appreciate it.
I hope to see you here soon too, at a few more games.
There we go.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
That'll do it for today's show.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged isproud to be partnered with the
netting professionals, improvingprograms 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.
(48:00):
As always, I'm your host, CoachKen Carpenter.
Thanks for joining me forBaseball Coaches Unplugged.
Thank you.
Today on Baseball Coaches Unplugged, I sit down
with Johnny DeRing, headbaseball coach at Buckeye Valley
High School, and we discusswhat all successful high school
teams do consistently thebenefits of multi-sport athletes
and a totally differentapproach to pitchers and the
pitch count rule.
This and so much more next onBaseball Coaches Unplugged and
(00:23):
so much more next on Baseball.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Coaches Unplugged.
Welcome to Baseball CoachesUnplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented byAthleteOne.
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.
(00:44):
We're covering it all.
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
(01:07):
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Join Coach every week as hebreaks down the game and shares
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Your competitive edge startshere, so check out the show
weekly and hear from the bestcoaches in the game.
On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
I'm your host, coach KenCarpenter, and today's episode
of Baseball Coaches Unplugged ispowered by the netting
professionals Improving programsone facility at a time.
Coaches, are you hoping you canget one more season out of that
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Now to my interview with headbaseball coach at Buckeye Valley
High School, johnny DeRing.
And joining me today is JohnnyDeRing, head baseball coach at
(03:16):
Buckeye Valley High School inDelaware, ohio.
Coach, thanks for taking thetime to be on Baseball Coaches.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Unplugged Absolutely.
I'm honored to be asked so veryhappy to be here.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
For the people out there that know me, I coached at
Buckeye Valley for almost 15years and I have a lot of great
memories of BV baseball.
But one of the first thingsthat I think of is the
community's passion for baseball, and now that you're settled in
up there and you've continuedthe winning ways, explain your
(03:50):
experience and why the communityis so important to your program
.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
First of all, it's a pretty small community, which I
think makes a huge difference,and a lot of the people who are
around have been there for yearsand years and years.
You know I'm coaching a lot ofkids whose dads have come
through, had graduated fromBuckeye Valley and now they're
kids.
You know I've got a freshmanright now whose dad played for
(04:19):
you and you know he graduatedback in the early 2000s and you
know he graduated back in backin the early 2000s.
But you know it's small andit's a.
It's a great blue collarneighborhood or a blue collar
community.
You know, when I first took thejob, looking around the field, I
kind of came up with a list ofthings that we had to have done
and I had two dads, one of whichwas a Buckeye Valley grad.
(04:43):
He actually played footballthere and his son was a junior
at the time.
And there was another dad thatI met after my first meeting and
they said you know, hey, whatdo you need?
What do we need to do?
What do we need as far asfacilities?
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And of course, you know youhave your wish list, you have
(05:04):
your wish list and, and some ofthose things aren't necessarily
feasible, but the, the ones thatthat were were feasible, uh, we
, I think we started working onthem the next week, um, and you
know the, the first thing we, wehad to address was, you know,
having a having a good bullpen,uh, for our catchers to, or for
our pitchers to prepare on, and,um, you know, we, we did that,
(05:25):
we did that, we did, we got someestimates to have it done, um,
somewhat professionally, um, andthose estimates came in the
price-wise pretty high.
And you know, we, we kind ofsat down back at the drawing
board and said, you know, howcan we do this, uh, within a,
within a reasonable budget?
And they were, they were muchhandy, much more handy than I am
(05:47):
.
So we came up with some ideasand they led the way and I was
the grunt work and, you know, webuilt a magnificent bullpen for
our kids to use.
So it's just stuff like that.
The smaller community if we needsomething with my coaching
staff I think I'm the only oneon my coaching staff without
ties to the community Um, youknow, uh, my, my, my assistants,
(06:11):
um, all grew up in thecommunity.
So if there's something we needdone, you know it's very easy.
Hey, well, I know this guy, hecan, he can help us out with
this.
And I know this guy, maybe hecan get us a donation of this
and, um, so, just the, thecommunity aspect of of being
able to, to, to get things doneis is incredible.
So, and then also, you know,living in the community, um,
(06:36):
it's great, like I, my favoritepart of it, and this is kind of
a product of how I grew up Um,my parents were both teachers.
My dad was a coach.
You know, I love going out.
When I go out to dinner with myfamily, I love going out to
dinner and seeing not just myplayers but I like seeing my
students.
So, you know, being a smallcommunity, it's great.
(06:59):
I love every aspect of it.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, you talk about the volunteering part of it.
You know the team used to playdown in Radnor.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
There's a lot of great memories that people have
in the community of Radnor Fieldand Dickmeyer Field, but we
needed to get something on thecampus there and I literally sat
down and drew a baseballdiamond in dimensions and some
ideas and they made it come tolife.
And you know, it's amazing thework ethic of the people in that
(07:36):
community.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
It is.
And you know another thingabout the community we started
doing a youth night my firstyear, my first year I take that
back, I think it was my secondyear.
We did a youth night my firstyear, my first year I take that
back, I think it was my secondyear.
We did a youth night and it wasawesome, it was great.
And there the the number ofpeople that came back there and
they were like, wow, you know,this is, this is beautiful.
Back here, you know it's thatfield secluded and yeah, and,
(07:58):
and if you're not a baseballperson you may not know it's
back there and.
And um, uh, you know, just thatinitial youth night that we did
it was my second year Um, justthat initial youth night we did,
man it is, it is exploded where, uh, last year we were able to
get, um, I think every kid got ahot dog, I think every kid got
a, got a cone of ice and, and itwas paid for by people in the
(08:22):
community.
Um, so it was, it was great andwe're looking forward to
another, another huge youthnight.
You know we do it there towardsthe end of the year when the
weather's nice and people wantto be outside.
I don't this coming week itwouldn't be good to do youth
night, because it's going to bea little chilly, but you know
it's a testament to thecommunity and how much of a
(08:42):
baseball community is too,because there are people I've
already had people reach out,you know, hey, when is it that
are already looking forward toit?
So, and again, that's that wasrun by.
That was run by by my, by myparents.
They set it up, you know.
They said, hey, can we do ayouth night?
And I said yeah, let's do it.
They said, give us a date.
I gave them a date and theysaid we'll take care of the rest
(09:03):
.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So well, your high school coaching career started
off in Effingham, georgia, andyou know I I've always wanted to
ask this question what are someof the differences in high
school baseball between coachingdown South and coaching here in
the uh, in the Midwest, slashNorth, I guess you can say.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Uh well, number number one.
I think.
I think every baseball coachwill appreciate it.
And first thing comes to mymind is weather.
Um, you know, we, we, we, wehave some, we had a few cold
games down there, um, but youknow, the biggest thing is, it's
just, it's year round, like it,it's a hundred percent
year-round.
You know, there are times when,when we're we're stuck inside
(09:49):
in a, in in the gym, or, youknow, in a, in a, in a indoor
facility somewhere, whereas downthere, I mean, we wanted to
take bp on christmas day.
We were saying we could take bpon christmas day.
Um, you, you know, it was, uh,it was like and and and the
other thing is is is sports arevery, very, very much at the
(10:09):
forefront of every school downthere.
Um, it is, it is a major um,it's, it's the most important
thing, which, which has its, hasits benefits and it has its
drawbacks.
You know we're what's thepercentage of kids that go to
the big leagues?
You know it's less than lessthan one percent.
Um, so it, you know there'ssome trade-off there, but, um, I
(10:34):
would say you know just, thebiggest thing is the weather and
and the.
The facilities are absolutelyincredible.
Um, every, every school haslights.
Every school has a, has ahitting facility.
Every most schools I would saybetter part of 95, 90, 95
percent of schools have just anoutstanding playing surface to
(10:55):
play on.
So you know it, it has its, ithas its, it has its.
Obviously, just like everythingelse, it has its pros and its
cons, but the biggest thing isjust, you know the weather.
You can do anything you wantall year round.
You know we can't even get outto work on our field in December
(11:16):
and January, so any work we'regoing to do on our field has to
be done excuse me, over thesummer in preparation for the
next season, you know.
So we're always kind of workingahead, you know, looking ahead
to the next season.
There, you know you haveweather to work on your field,
to improve your facilities and,like I said, it truly is, it's
(11:37):
year-round.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Well, the thing I like about Buckeye Valley and
I'm a big proponent of this is Iwanted to ask you, on average,
how many of the baseball playersat Buckeye Valley are
multi-sport athletes, and talkabout the benefits of your
players competing in more thanjust baseball.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
So we have a lot of multi-sport athletes.
You know Buckeye Valley, we'vegot somewhere between 700 and
800 kids in our school.
And so back to the smallcommunity.
For our programs, for ourathletic programs and our
athletic department to besuccessful, we need our athletes
playing across the board.
You know we need our bestathletes playing football.
(12:22):
We need our best athletesplaying basketball.
We need our best athletesplaying football.
We need our best athletesplaying basketball.
We need our best athletesplaying baseball, and you know
we have some soccer players thatplay.
We have some wrestlers and youknow there aren't too many kids
who are tougher than wrestlers.
So you know, when you get awrestler that brings a wrestling
mentality to baseball, you knowthe big thing in baseball now
(12:45):
is you talk about mentaltoughness.
You're not going to findanybody more mentally tough than
a wrestler.
You know those kids are adifferent breed.
So you know, as far as just theimportance of playing multiple
sports, it helps.
Obviously it helps withathleticism and fostering
athleticism.
But the mental side of it.
(13:07):
We have a couple golfers andour golf coach is fantastic.
He actually got his team amental training coach.
You can see those kids bringwhat he's taught them with the
mental stuff into their baseball.
They have a few bad at-batsthey're able to.
(13:27):
You know, just like in golf,you can't let one bad shot ruin
your hole.
So you've got to flush it,you've got to move on, and you
know how often do we say that toa pitcher.
You know, forget about the lastpitch, make the next one,
forget about the last at-bat, besuccessful in the next one.
So those those multi-sportathletes are just are fantastic.
(13:50):
You know, I've had over theyears, I've had some.
I've had football players thathave played for me, and one kid
actually, in particular comes tomind.
He.
He was going into his senioryear and you know we weren't
really sure if he was going tobe able to be our starting
catcher.
He was a football player andgoing into his senior year a
(14:13):
football coach moved him to nosetackle.
That work that he got at nosetackle made him the starting
catcher that year for his senioryear.
Because his, his agilityimproved, his footwork improved,
he just his overall quicknessand every facet of being a
catcher was improved.
(14:34):
And we talk about it all thetime because the other two guys
I was coaching with at the timethey were also football coaches
as well as myself.
You know those that work thathe got got him to the next step,
to be to be our startingcatcher.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
So well, you know I can't have you on the podcast
and not talk about yourassistant coaches.
Three were my assistants when Iwas there 10 years ago and one
of them played for me.
You know, I'm thinking of DougHoucher, greg Georgick, rod
(15:12):
Baster, and then the player waswhen I first showed up in
Buckeye Valley, josh Hall.
He's there, and how importanthas that group of guys been to
your team's success.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Oh man, they're the backbone.
I mean, they're the reason I'mable to be so successful.
You know, doug Houchard, I'dlike to find somebody that could
outwork him.
Number one I tell him all thetime he's terrible at being
retired.
I wake up every morning to atext from him at 7 o'clock in
(15:49):
the morning.
And well, I'm already awake,but I get a text from him at 7
o'clock in the morning everymorning.
Here's the outline of the day,here's what my plan is today.
And you know he's alreadytexting me today.
He's going to swing by thefield and check it after all the
rain we've had, and see what wecan do to to prep it for
tomorrow, because, because we'resupposed to have games all week
(16:09):
, um, and you know, greg, excuseme, greg, back to back to the
community part.
A man's been entrenched in thiscommunity for years upon years,
upon years, um, and, and youknow, greg, and, and doug and
rod, uh, rod, they volunteer.
They don't want to dime, theyjust want to be around and they
(16:31):
make me better, and they're notafraid to tell me what they
think, and they're not afraid totell me when they think I'm
doing wrong.
And it's something I trulyvalue, because I think we had a
discussion about some of our,some of our players behavior and
and they and they weren'tsaying the kids were doing
(16:51):
anything wrong, but they weresaying this needs to be
addressed.
We need to change this part ofit.
And and it was something thatyou know there's there's what?
A 30 year age gap betweenmyself and the three of them.
You know there's something thatI didn a 30 year age gap
between myself and the three ofthem.
Um, you know something that Ididn't really pick up on, but as
soon as they brought it up, Iwas like, yeah, you know,
they're right, we, we do need tochange that.
(17:13):
Um, and so we did.
And then, of course, um, youknow Rod, rod's a former, former
school board member.
Um, you know, just having himaround, they are able.
The three of them are, you know,with the freshman team and they
really get those freshmen ingear for going to JV.
(17:33):
And then, once they come to mewith varsity you know it takes a
lot off of my plate where Idon't have to teach them about
the culture, I don't have toteach them about what the
coaches expect, because thosethree guys are, are on top of it
.
Um, they do.
They do that part for me.
And, um, and you know that thatage, that age difference makes
(17:56):
it makes a huge difference.
Um, you know they're they'reviewed as that.
They older, wiser, and our kidssee that too.
You know when they, when theylook at those kids, they're
looking at a true adult figurethat has been around the block
quite a few times.
And then, of course, josh.
(18:19):
I can't say enough about Josh,not only with his knowledge of
the game, just the way he isable to communicate with our
kids and break things down withour kids.
You know, those guys are justabsolutely invaluable.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yes, without a doubt.
And you know I can't go anyfurther without also talking
about your pitching coach,because you guys your approach
to pitch counts and and keepingthem, keeping them fresh.
So when you get to the end ofthe season and you're going into
(18:56):
postseason play, talk aboutwhat you guys do exactly to
maximize that.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
So well, number one you know games matter, winning
matters, winning really matters.
Like I'm not diminishingwinning by any stretch of the
imagination, because you know,as coaches, we want to win more
than the players a lot of thetime.
But you know, in Ohio everybodymakes the playoffs.
So we don't want to be playingour best in March and April, we
(19:32):
want to be playing our best inMay, and so we really just try
to build our guys up because wewant to win in May, we want to
win in June, we want to prepareourselves for a long playoff run
, and so we try to not overworkour kids early in the season
(19:54):
especially.
You know we're going to beplaying a game this week when
it's going to be 40 degrees andthere's a 15-mile-an-hour wind.
It's going to be chilly.
You know, just from an arm carestandpoint, it doesn't matter
how many times you run down tothe foul pole in between innings
, you're, you're not going to bewarm, you're not going to,
you're not going to stay hot,and and so we, we try to take
(20:16):
all those things intoconsideration.
The other thing that that we'vereally incorporated excuse me,
since I took over is is is ourpreparing to pitch.
Our pitchers have a minimum45-minute routine prior to the
game that they are expected togo through so that they can get
(20:39):
ready to step on the mound.
And we don't want we call itbeing third inning ready.
We want them to be as loose andas warm and as hot at the first
pitch of the game that somepitchers would be at the third
inning.
We've all seen pitchers go outthere and they might struggle
for inning one and two and thenthey get on cruise control third
(21:03):
inning.
I want cruise control in thefirst inning.
We're looking at hitters, we'retrying to figure out hitters
that first time through thelineup.
So we want to take one of theelements out of it.
We want them to be prepared andthen let the coaches do their
job to evaluate that first timethrough the lineup to see where
we can get.
(21:23):
We can get them um, later on inthe game and you know that that
the idea was always there.
But that phrasing I got from umla court.
Uh, he was a, he was atotterbein and then um, I think
he does some stuff down at thebow dome still um he's a white
horse la court is.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I didn't, I didn't realize that oh, oh yeah, we
faced him when I was there, okay.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So he came and did a mini clinic for the central
district coaches and he wastalking about their preparation
and what they do and he saidthird inning ready.
And there was something aboutit.
That just registered with me.
But then you know, we alsofollow.
Obviously we follow the pitchcount guidelines put forth by
OHSAA, but ours is actually alittle bit more in depth than
(22:09):
that.
We do an hour per pitch of rest.
So if they throw 50 pitchesthey have to have 50 hours of
rest.
So I think off the top of myhead.
One thing on the OHSAAguidelines is at 75 pitches they
(22:30):
require three days rest.
Then there's 125 pitch maximum.
Well, by letter of the law, ifmy kid goes out there and throws
85 pitches on Monday, he couldturn around and pitch again on
Friday.
We're not doing that.
That's too much for what we'retrying to do.
(22:51):
So we, you know, we try tobalance that out as well.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Well, coaching's a calling and parents sometimes
forget how much time is spentaway from family.
Yeah, and obviously for verylittle pay.
Any coach will tell you that.
But this morning I I saw a poston x where the coach was
(23:17):
looking at his phone prior tothe game.
The head coach and, uh, but forlike the average person walking
up to the game, they'reprobably thinking you know what
is this coach doing?
He's playing on Twitter.
But what he was actually doingwas his young son was playing in
(23:38):
his first game of baseball andit was his first at-bat and his
wife was recording it for himlive.
Wife was recording it for himlive and that was he.
He was watching that andobviously missing it because he
was with his team.
Yeah, and I, I guess you knowyou've been around enough and
and every coach out there thatis, uh, that's been around long
(24:02):
enough.
You know what do you say to theparent that you know tunes into
this podcast about thechallenges of being a head coach
, because you spend a lot moretime with their kids than you do
with your own family sometimes.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah, I um, so we do um.
I don't.
I don't know if I can directlyanswer that, but I'll maybe
circle around it and go aroundit.
You know, as a side note, Imissed my son's first T-ball
game because we had a game.
You know I'll never get it back.
(24:41):
So you know, I try to make upfor it and I talk about it with
my coaches all the time.
They have a little bit moreleniency because I don't want
them to make the same mistakethat I did um, so um, one of the
things I do is is in the offseason, I try to do all my
off-season stuff in the morningum, and and and one those things
(25:04):
.
Main reason is just ourfacilities.
We don't have the space um inour program, and that I'm not.
I'm not, not.
Lots of people have to dealwith lack of space.
I'm not.
This is not a woe is me, thisis not a shot at anyone Um, but
we do a lot of our stuff.
We hit in the morning, we throwin the morning and we lift in
(25:24):
the morning, all duringpreseason.
So once, uh, usually oncefootball's over and and we can
start using um, using the lockerroom, and have access to the
shower for the boys.
We do do that stuff in themorning, you know.
Reason number one is facilities.
We can't get in the gym duringbasketball season and we
shouldn't expect we shouldn'texpect to get in the gym during
basketball season either.
(25:44):
But the hidden benefit of thatis, you know, this time of year,
starting whenever we startedFebruary 28th this year, our
evenings are done, they're shotbecause now we are doing, we do
have access to the gym, we dohave practices, and so one of
the hidden benefits of doingthat stuff in the morning is it
(26:05):
allows us to be with ourfamilies.
You know, I was able to be withmy son.
I didn't miss a single.
He played basketball this year.
I didn't miss a singlebasketball game, you know, and
(26:26):
kind of, it's kind of inpreparation for baseball season.
But but at the same time, youknow, we have to, we have to
take care of our families too.
So I don't, I don't know what Iwould, I don't know what
message I would, I would give toa parent.
But you know, I and I myfrustration just kind of leads
into my frustration with, withcollege coaches that aren't
calling the high school coachesas much as they should be
(26:47):
anymore.
We spend a lot of time with ourplayers and especially I'm in
the building at our school, so Iget the opportunity.
I see them when they're havinga bad day.
I see them first thing in themorning when they're rolling out
of bed.
I see them at the end of theday.
(27:08):
I see them after a bad test.
I see them.
You know, I spend over 200 daysa year with these boys.
It's probably more than that.
That's probably a bad, a lowbaseline, but I see these kids
(27:29):
in a lot of different scenarios.
I see them at lunch, uh, whenthey think no one's watching.
Um, I see how they, how theytalk to their.
I see how they talk to theirpeers.
Um, you know, we, we, we knowour kids inside and out, and and
and one of the things that thatI've, that that that I love
right now about being being atBuckeye Valley, where I'm at, is
I've never been so close with agroup of kids as I am with them
(27:51):
and, um, you know I'm, I justI'm very fortunate, like we have
.
You know, they come into my roomjust to hang out sometimes, um,
you know, hey, did you see thisplay last night?
Hey, did you see what LeBrondid last night.
I had a couple kids come in oneday and they were helping me
fill out my NCAA bracket.
So I guess, from a time awayfrom our family, point message
(28:20):
to the parents I mean, we'reputting into your kid, we're
we're, we're putting into your,we're putting into your kid.
Most coaches, most coaches, areputting into your kid exactly
what you want, what you wouldwant a coach to put into your
kid, and and and.
A lot of times it's coming.
It's coming at the sacrifice ofof you know, being being with
(28:41):
their family as well.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
So Well, baseball is a game of stats and a lot of
times when a team that makes thefewest mistakes, they usually
win.
Um, we've talked aboutsomething earlier where you um
not on the podcast, obviously,but you talked about five runs.
Yeah, yeah, why not?
(29:03):
To the listeners?
And and your approach to that.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
So it came true after our conversation.
I was thinking last night Iwent back through some
statistics, so I had a pitchingcoach when I was down in Georgia
and he played by the rule offive.
He said if you score five runs,you have like an 80-plus
percent chance of winning, andif you give up five runs, you
have an an 80 plus percentchance of winning, and if you
give up five runs, you have an80 plus percent chance of losing
(29:30):
.
Um, so I, I, I, we, he broughtit up to me and we looked at it
and I was like, well, you know,for his career, it it it pretty
well held held true.
And and I went back throughsome stuff last night and it's
pretty well held true for me.
So, um, uh, I guess you knowtalking about defense, um, you
(29:50):
know, defense saves runs forsure.
And, uh, we had a discussion,we had a.
We had a hard, hard, hardfought battle with um, with one
of your team that you've hadsome battles with too as well,
which was, which was watterson,the other night and and there
were some we won't call themthey weren't errors because we
played error free but we gave upsome, some hidden runs where,
(30:13):
if you know if, if we lay outfor a ball and knock it down,
that might save us a run and andyou know that game ended, ended
, uh got called because ofdarkness and it was uh ended in
a four, four tie, um, but youknow, if we, if we, if we take
that extra step, we knock a balldown, we lay out for a ball, um
, you know again, not errors,cause we didn't make errors.
(30:34):
I can't say enough about ourdefense so far this year.
Knock on wood, um, but you knowjust those hidden runs.
You know we could have won thatgame.
Couldn't want that game four totwo.
You know we could have won thatgame.
Could have won that game 4-2.
You know it could have been adifferent story there.
You know, at 7.30, when theycalled the game because of
darkness, or they wouldn't haveto call the game, because of
(30:56):
darkness, because the game wouldhave been open, especially this
time of the year.
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Well, let me ask you this what is something you
notice about every good highschool baseball team outside of
pitching?
That is the key to them winningbaseball games, because
everybody's going to have goodpitching if you want to win.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Yeah.
So communication, when I seekids communicating with each
other when they're on the fieldplaying defense and, you know,
after an at bat One of thethings I just got done, talking
to my boys about this I haveseen, I have seen a lot of
things and you know we've onlyplayed four games this year, but
I have seen so muchcommunication with our kids this
(31:43):
year and it's made a difference.
It's already making adifference for us.
There's just, hey, I saw hethrew X, y, z, blah, blah, blah,
blah blah.
You know he might be tippingthis, he might be tipping that.
So it's communication.
I mean there's just our coaches.
Back to our coaching staff.
You know our coaches, when thatdefensive ending is over, I
(32:06):
mean we're out there, we talkwith our kids.
Hey, what'd you see?
This is what it looked likefrom our coaching perspective.
What did you tell us?
What you saw?
And one of the you know anotherthing my background is catching
, that's I was a catcher.
That's where I feel the mostcomfortable.
You know our starting catcher.
Yesterday we had kind of an offday for varsity.
(32:29):
They were just going to come inand lift and, I'm sorry, on
Friday they were going to justlift after school and then I was
going to send them home and Iwas talking to my catcher, who,
you know, we all need catchersto be an extension of the
coaching staff, and he certainlyis, and so he was.
He was getting some stufftogether for me because we were
practicing with the younger guys.
(32:49):
I said hey, I said we needlet's, let's meet up, let's go
through some catching stuffafterwards and he, you know, he
said absolutely let's do it andsomething with him.
And I've had this experiencewith with I've got two other
players that are that are atOhio Dominican right now, and
another player that's playing atBMI right now.
(33:10):
The thing that all four of thoseboys have in common is when we
were working, when we were doingdrills or whatever, there was
so much conversation back andforth.
It wasn't just you're doing thedrill, you know, get your reps
in, do the drill this way, makesure your footwork looks like
this, make sure your swing lookslike this.
It there's a lot of, there's somuch communication.
(33:33):
Um, and you know that mystarting catcher right now, he
he came into the, into the gymwhere, where the young guys were
working out, and we went off inthe corner and I think he was
there for about 45 minutes and Iwould say that only 15 minutes
(33:55):
of it was him doing an actualdrill and 30 minutes of it was
he and I.
Just all right, this is whatI'm seeing.
Yep, you're right, coach,that's how I feel.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Just a lot of dialogue back andforth and, like I said, those
three other boys that have comethrough that are now off and
playing.
It was the same thing.
There was a lot ofcommunication and I think that's
(34:17):
probably one way that I'vegrown as a coach and one way
that our relationshipsdeveloping my relationships with
these kids, one way that ourrelationships developing my
relationships with these kidsit's fostered more baseball IQ
growth, I guess, would be thebest way to say it.
So we try to.
I think your original questionwas what do you see out of good
(34:38):
teams?
It's just that communicationpiece.
You know being loud in thedugout, being behind your
teammates.
You know not being I'm nottalking about being Bush League
but you know being behind yourteammates, being behind your
pitchers.
You know every team, every goodteam, is loud and not in a bad
(34:59):
way.
They're loud in a good way andit can be, it can be your.
I was coaching in the districtall-star game a few years ago
and the third baseman was noneof those kids play together,
they were just playing togetherfor an all-star team.
The third baseman he was fromand I know, you know Corey.
(35:20):
He was from Lancaster and heplayed for Corey.
He never stopped talking onthird base.
He never stopped talking.
He was always saying somethingto the shortstop, he was saying
something to the left fielderand you know that's a testament
to what Corey does over there inLancaster and it's just evident
(35:43):
that that kid's a heck of aball player.
You know he just communicates,talking to his pitch the whole
time.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Tell me about a time where you failed as a coach and
how that lesson has made you abetter coach.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
That's a tough one, I would say, early on in my head
coaching career, I think, uh, Ithink I think the the, the one
place that I failed was wasinstead of, instead of having
the difficult conversations andgetting them over with, um is,
(36:22):
is is just waiting until theykind of festered too long, um
long.
So now I try to have difficultconversations as soon as
possible, just so we don'tfester.
You know we don't letfrustration build.
You know we just talk.
And my kids I hope my kids knowit.
I know a few of them know it.
(36:43):
You know my door is always openit.
Um, you know my, my door isalways open.
Um, I kid I, I there there,there are kids that that I've
told you know I, you candisagree with me.
I have no problem with it, andI want you to tell me when you
disagree with me.
Um, you come into my office,you shut the door and you sit
down and you tell me exactlywhat you think, because I'm
(37:03):
going to do the same with youand and and and you know I, I
respect, I respect and value my,my player's opinion.
So, um, you know, when they have, when they have an issue, um,
especially especially my leaders.
You know we're not going to,we're not going to get.
Nobody, not everybody's goingto feel comfortable doing that,
but my leaders, uh darn wellshould, and I hope they do, and
(37:35):
but my leaders darn well should,and I hope they do, and it's
happened and sometimes,sometimes they've changed my
mind, sometimes they haven't,but that's why you know, that's
why I'm the head coach.
Sometimes I have to.
You have to put your foot downand say how things are going to
be.
But then you know, part of partof being a great role model is
recognizing when something needsto change too.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
So setting that example for them is huge.
Well, switch it up a little bitnow.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Hate losing or love winning, and why I love winning.
I love winning, I just love it.
There's such a I get prettynervous, get pretty worked up
before a game and when thatfinal pitch is thrown and that
(38:21):
win goes in the right column, Idon't think there's any better
feeling and goes in the rightcolumn, I don't think there's
any better feeling.
Obviously, we all hate gettingour teeth kicked in, but the
good thing about losing is itmakes you humble.
You know, if we go out there ifI go out there and go, you know
33-0 and win a state title or35-0, whatever I have to do to
(38:46):
win a state title and do itundefeated, you know I don't
know how much I'd learn fromthat.
So I look, I always.
I always try to look at mylosses as a as a where you know,
as a learning, learningexperience.
You know we we took one, tookone on the chin.
We played Hartley really toughFriday.
You were there, yeah, you know.
(39:09):
We sat down for an hour up inthe coach's office afterwards
trying to figure out where we'regoing to improve.
So I love winning, I lovewinning and I try to look at
losing as a learning experienceor a chance to learn.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Well, everybody's got an opinion on this next
question TurboBat in MajorLeague Baseball.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Oh those, yeah, the torpedo bats or whatever.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
I've heard torpedo bat my bad.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
I don't know.
I don't think there's enoughdata on it yet to tell you know.
They say there's been a coupleguys that have used it here the
past couple years and it kind ofcame to the forefront because
the Yankees went on thatexplosion last weekend.
But if the Yankees are going todo something like that, for
(40:06):
every Yankees fan you find twopeople who despise them, right?
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
I feel like if the Arizona, the arizona
diamondbacks had done it, youknow it, it might be, uh, people
might be on board and trying tohave everyone do it.
But I think, just because theyankees brought it to the
forefront, you know, I don'tknow what's going to happen.
I, I don't know, that's that'skind of an interesting, but you
know, by letter of law, you know, there's nothing wrong with
(40:31):
what they did.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Um, yeah, I I heard will clark talking about it, the
old, uh, san francisco giantand he's like, basically, you
know, they changed the sweetspot, uh, because they're
getting jammed so they're notvery good hitters.
He had a real good take on itso I found that interesting.
But, staying with the MajorLeague Baseball, you're managing
(40:56):
an MLB team and I'm going togive you three players, all
right, and you've got to choosebetween Group A and Group B.
Group A Shohei Otani, mookieBetts and Tariq Schoobel the
Tigers pitcher who tore it uplast year.
Group B Aaron Judge, joseRamirez and Paul Skeens.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Well.
So it's going to be a littlebit biased but I'm probably
going to take Group A becauseI'm a huge Tigers fan and I love
Tariq Scoo fan and I loveTerrence Kubel, I love Mookie
Betts, Paul Skeens I mean,that's a hard one to pass up on,
but no, I've got to take GroupA.
There's just there's some thejury's still out on.
(41:49):
Paul Skeens, right?
Isn't this only his second year?
We you know, maybe he secondyear, Maybe he had that good
first year and good first rookieyear, and who knows what's
going to happen here.
But some of those other threeyou mentioned are pretty
seasoned between Mookie andShohei and Tarek.
So between the biased and, Ithink, the experience, I'm going
(42:11):
to take group A on that one.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
All right.
Well, two more questions foryou.
Best or slash funny story fromyour experience of coaching high
school baseball.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
I wasn't prepared.
I was not prepared for that.
But the first thing that comesto mind, and, and and, if I hope
, I hope that, uh, I hope thatmy old pitching coach will, uh,
will watch, will, will watchthis because he will.
He'll lose his mind because hetells the story better.
But we're, uh, we were in atough, we were in a tough game.
We're playing one of our rivalsand, uh, you know, he, he, he
(42:49):
did a good job of, he was mypitching coach, he did a good
job of keeping me grounded attimes.
But sometimes you know, thestress, just you know, gets to
you and you don't see the forestfor the trees.
And we were playing one of ourrivals and we made a pitching
change.
And you know, as a head coach,you're looking at a lot of
(43:10):
things.
You're looking at theadjustments you made in the
lineup, you're making sure youreported your subs, and so
you're not watching that kidthrow his eight warm-up pitches,
and you're thinking about whenyou come up to bat.
So we make a pitching changeand he brings in his next
pitcher and the first pitch hethrows, he threw it in the dirt.
(43:31):
And the first pitch he throws,he threw it in the dirt and in
my mind I was thinking that waslike the 10th ball he's thrown
in the dirt.
I was thinking he walked, thefirst guy that he faced, and I
said Stephen.
I said who do you have up?
Who's ready to go in?
He said John.
(43:51):
He said that was his firstpitch.
I said he's only thrown onepitch.
He said yeah, that was hisfirst pitch.
I said all right, and I justkind of looked around and
realized that, you know, it wastime for me to settle down and
I'm not doing the story justiceby any stretch of the
imagination, but man, it wasfunny, it was a good, it was a
(44:14):
good humbling moment for me aswell.
You know, sit back, take a deepbreath, watch the game, enjoy
the game, enjoy coaching.
Try not to try to try to settledown a little bit.
But you know, as I as, as Isaid earlier, you know we, we've
grown, or I've grown umthroughout my head coaching
career especially so all right,to finish it up here.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
If you can make one change to high school baseball,
what would it be?
Speaker 3 (44:40):
One change to high school baseball.
That's a tough one, coach.
Um, I'm trying to think of youknow, I'm not a big fan of the
pitch clock, I'm not a big fanof the pickoff rule One change,
(45:06):
yeah, I know.
Yeah, I know, I'm just tryingto think of things that could be
done at high school baseball.
You know it's hard to mess withthe most perfect game on the
face of the earth, right, youknow?
So, um, wow, I would say, I, Iguess, I guess, really, if we
could, if we could make theseason longer, I mean like, yeah
(45:29):
, play more games and and as faras I'm concerned, we could run
all the way up to we could havethe state title on July 4th
weekend.
I mean, how much more Americancould that get?
You know, we talk about this, Italk about this with our
athletic director all the timethat our spring season is so
short, I mean so short.
(45:50):
We're two weeks into the lastquarter and we've only played
four games, but we're going tobe playing another 20 before
graduation.
To me, if we could makebaseball season longer and the
OHSAA actually even did make itthey gave us an extra week this
(46:10):
year, they shifted everythingback, which is fantastic.
But as far as I'm concerned,man, let's play all the way up.
Let's have the state title onJuly 4th, you know, I think that
would be great.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Well, I'm sure the travel listeners listening right
now probably wouldn't be toothrilled about that.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
Iowa has a.
They have a summer baseballseason.
Their season is in the summer.
No, let's just make it longer.
High school baseball is awesome.
I mean it really is.
It's hard to beat, you know,with all the college baseball
games that are on right now andall the battles that are going
(46:51):
on, you know that's great andeverything, and again I'm biased
.
But man, let's make, let's makethe high school baseball season
longer.
Let's just let's play.
Let's play through june.
We'll have better weather, youknow, let's do that.
Let's make it as long.
Let's play 40 games and thenhave the playoffs.
That's, that's my take on itwell, it's uh, it's johnny
dering.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
he's's the head baseball coach at Buckeye Valley
High School in Delaware Countyhere at Ohio.
Coach, you're doing greatthings up there and just keep
doing what you're doing becauseyou're doing it the right way,
and thanks so much for takingtime to be on Baseball Coaches
Unplugged.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
Thanks for having me, coach.
I really appreciate it.
I hope to see you here soon too, at a few more games.
There we go.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
That'll do it for today's show.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged isproud to be partnered with the
netting professionals, improvingprograms 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.
(48:00):
As always, I'm your host, CoachKen Carpenter.
Thanks for joining me forBaseball Coaches Unplugged.
Thank you.
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