The RosterPilot Show

Latest Episodes:

Coaching Division 2 College Baseball with Troy Merriman Jun 13, 2022

Show notes

In today's episode, we have Troy Merriman Troy is currently the hitting coach at the University of Findlay. He played at the University of Findlay, and now he's coached there for eight years.

In this episode, he gives some insight into not only how they do things at the University of Findlay, but also how the DII landscape is laid out, what scholarships are like at that level, how they allocate money at Findlay, and then he gets into a little bit more in-depth on what specifically are they looking for out on the recruiting side. Troy talk about how do they go about trying to develop players and what tools they use. Learn if they utilize the transfer portal.

We can get into a lot of different areas of a college program in this episode!

This episode can be very beneficial for parents, players out there, and even coaches maybe in other schools giving you all kinds of insight into what exactly goes on behind closed doors with these colleges so be sure to listen in!

SHOW NOTES:

[2:31] What's been something that stands out at the University of Findlay?

[4:10] How do division two scholarships work?

[6:42] If you give someone $10,000 can they take that $10,000 and spent it on tuition or can they do it on room and board?

[10:28] What takeaways did you have from watching and evaluating players and just the whole nine yards?

[13:48] In your eyes, what does a recruitable player mean?

[15:33] How many guys can you have on the roster?

[16:59] What's a typical day for you?

[19:51] Is there a system that you can kind of have to make sure everyone gets some time and knows what they need to work on?

[24:23] What do you like to do has been a player yourself and now a coach to help players with that side of the game?

[30:50] How often do you utilize social media for recruits or transfers and just everything out there?

[33:08] What do you think about kids tagging you in posts?

[37:23] When do you guys start looking at players specifically Division two level?

[40:50] Do you guys utilize the transfer portal?

[42:29] Why wouldn't I bring in the guy who's already had some experience?

[48:09] Why would someone want to come to play at the University of Findlay?

FOLLOW TROY:

Twitter:

Assistant Baseball Coach

@UF_Baseball_

@Coach_Merriman

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T.J. Bruce – Head Coach University of Nevada Jun 06, 2022

Show notes

Resilient. That would be the best word to describe T.J. Bruce. After his playing career ended, he decided he wanted to get into coaching. When he first started coaching junior college baseball he was making 5k while supporting his wife who was still in school.

He was passed over three times while he was a volunteer assistant at Long Beach State for the paid position. He never gave up. After he became the head coach at the University of Nevada, he had a player pass away, and then two weeks later, his dad passed away. He held it all together and became a stronger man.

He did all of this while becoming known as one of the best college recruiters in the country, won a national championship, and have a family.

SHOW NOTES:

[1:49] Why did you decide then to transfer to Long Beach State?

[3:27] When you say the style of play, what do you mean?

[5:58] So you're a graduate assistant when you came back and then did you transition into just a full-time assistant coach?

[9:17] During those four years was there ever a point where like I need to get a real job?

[13:19] Do you have a game plan of like what you want to do?

[15:08] Do you have to go out and watch just as many games as a mid-major school or can you just go to the big tournaments and just kind of pick and choose the best ones because it is UCLA?

[18:01] What was your recruiting pitch to someone who was drafted pretty high but obviously, still wanted to go to school with you?

[19:27] What do you think makes you a good recruiter?

[21:21] Why did you end up taking that big instead of staying at UCLA?

[24:28] How do you balance having a family with four kids and a wife plus being the head coach of a Division one baseball program?

[25:53] What was one thing that was unexpected that you found whether it be a good or bad thing about being a head coach that you didn't know you would kind of feel or figure out?

[28:08] How were you able to kind of hold everything together and just keep it going?

[29:36] When you got there what did you put in a completely new, system-like philosophies for offense and pitching and everything, Or how do you kind of go about changing the baseball culture?

[31:35] Do you man pretty much the offense?

[34:13] Have you implemented anything in terms of helping guys with their mental game?

[39:19] How do you decide how much an incoming recruit gets?

[41:49] What do you make of that of those bigger schools sometimes recruiting players and I've seen it even in the fall the guys coming in the fall and they don't play well They're on a big seller ship in the spring there at a junior college?

[43:50] Do you look at junior college players?

[44:16] If I'm a recruit right now listening to you what are some of the best things that you can kind of describe about going to the University of Nevada and playing baseball there?

FOLLOW T.J.:

TWITTER:

@NevadaBaseball

@tj_bruce

INSTAGRAM:

nevadawolfpackbaseball

Tjbruce02

Blast Motion Code: pjb25 for $25 off

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Vrable, Assistant Baseball Coach - University of Louisville May 29, 2022

Show notes

Currently, in his 7th season as a Volunteer Assistant and the University of Louisville, Adam Vrable loves what he gets to do, coach. His passion for baseball sticks out like a sore thumb when you listen to him talk. Adam played College Baseball at Coastal Carolina where get graduated with a degree in History. After graduating he began his coaching journey, with stops at The Citadel and Charleston Southern. He also was involved in travel baseball coaching in South Carolina right after graduating from South Carolina. In this episode, Adam explains what it's like coaching at Louisville, why they compete in everything that they do, and working with baserunners, outfielders, and hitters at Louisville.

SHOW NOTES:

[2:12] Does that change the philosophy of the game when it's that cold outside?

[3:18] Do you guys change your philosophy on hitting or just approach or anything just based on where you guys play?

[5:11] Would you say that at Louisville you guys didn't waver your approach too much just in the last couple of years with the whole launch angle revolution?

[7:50] What's your guys' approach to stealing bases?

[10:41] Are there certain drills you like having the guys do?

[15:22] Did you teach something specific down there for outfielders as they're fielding the ball?

[20:20] Is it just all approach and mindset based with two strikes?

[23:05] What's a typical practice look like for you guys maybe just in the offseason what's that environment looks like?

[27:29] How do you make sure that these guys do get what they need individually in a team setting?

[40:26] How do you gauge that in a recruit?

[44:58] How many times do you want to go and watch a recruit?

[48:47] You mentioned two-way players. How often do you recruit two-way players?

FOLLOW ADAM:

@avrabes

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Cornwell, Pitching Coach - University of Indianapolis May 23, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode, I talk to Adam Cornwell. Adam joined the University of Indianapolis coaching staff after a two-year stay at the University of Dayton. The Flyers finished second in the A-10 during the regular season. He helped guide the Flyers to the 2nd most strikeouts in program history during the 2021 season.

He joined the University of Dayton baseball staff in August 2019 following a one-year stint as an assistant coach at Iona College, where he served as the pitching coach for the Gaels.

He talked about the pitching development side as a coach. He shares that pitching is all about disrupting timing.

In this episode, learn about the growth opportunity as a pitcher and what velocity he is looking for when recruiting.

SHOW NOTES:

[2:19] What was one thing that you thought you did an excellent job of and one thing that you are reflecting you feel like you could have improved upon as a coach?

[4:48] How did you get some players to believe in themselves?

[7:01] What rabbit holes have you recently gone down on the pitching development side?

[10:01] What were some of the everyday things you found when doing that screen on pictures? Was there a specific screen that failed or like a low-hanging fruit like all of them?

[11:45] How did you like the marv trainers? Are you talking about the ply balls that they had? How'd you like those with the seams?

[14:24] Are more guys playing catch with those because it feels like a baseball?

[15:15] Is increasing the velocity of your pitchers overall like a goal that you have at the end of the year?

[17:37] What's the most significant value you see in pitchers who have experience versus those not having experience?

[20:00] The average velocity at the d2 level versus the d1 level?

[22:09] What velocity are you looking for when you're out recruiting?

[23:56] Why did you transfer to Pittsburgh?

[25:46] What were some of the things you learned as a pitcher when playing in California?

[27:24] What did you say you went out there and worked with?

[32:12] What would you say from a mechanical standpoint? Was there anything that you changed when you were out there?

[40:03] What pitchers do you like to watch right now?

FOLLOW ADAM:

Twitter:

@AdamCornwell10

@UIndyBaseball

Instagram:

adam_cornwell10

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Texas A&M Softball Hitting Coach - Craig Snider May 16, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we have Craig Snider. Craig is currently the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator at Texas A&M University. He won a National Championship when he was at his prior school, Florida State University, back in 2018.

Craig talks a bit about what they do at Texas A&M from a development standpoint and what he's looking for in recruits. It's fun to go across onto the softball side and see some of the similarities and differences between baseball and softball, doing some cool stuff with force plates down there.

He talks a bit about some of the fantastic projects behind the scenes.

SHOW NOTES:

[1:52] Why did you start and continue to stay in softball your entire career?

[4:27] How have you evolved over those 21 years as a coach?

[6:04] How have you gone about being able to make changes that show up in the game?

[8:05] What good exit velocity for a college softball player?

[9:09] Is there a team philosophy you have like I was listening to another podcast you did earlier. Did you talk about having a common language amongst your players?

[10:36] Vertical elite-What would be elite?

[10:46] Is there a correlation between the release point and vertical break?

[10:58] What would be an approach to facing a pitcher with an eight to ten-inch vertical break?

[15:24] Why would you want to run and swing, and I mean, is that just you're trying to hit ground balls?

[17:40] If you see someone's a slapper, are you probably not to look at them?

[18:23] What are you looking for from a defensive standpoint?

[20:27] How do you identify players you want to recruit?

[22:51] This is purely testing how the brain works, so this is actually like a blueprint of how your brain thinks and works.

[26:31] What are the percentages for pitchers who throw change-up versus other pitches?

[27:40] How do you give this information to the players?

[29:48] What's something that you would say the majority of players out there if they worked on it, would help them in the long run?

[33:09] Why do you think that is about players being on top of the play?

FOLLOW CRAIG:

TWITTER:

WEBSITE:

INSTAGRAM:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 12 Commandments of Amateur Baseball with Mark Helsel May 09, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, I talk to Mark Helsel. Mark is the founder and current director of US Elite Baseball which is a successful travel baseball organization for several years. US Elite is one of the top travel baseball organizations in the country.

He talked about practical guides for parents of young athletes and how to develop youth players.

He shares tips with parents and coaches on how to act during practices and games.

SHOW NOTES:

[2:57] What separates US Elite Baseball?

[4:40] What advice would you give to people across the country?

[5:52] What's been a big challenge for your organization over the last couple of years?

[6: 57] What's your take on dealing with parents?

[10:42] What are some of the things that you you try to educate the parents on?

[16:58 What I want parents to do is understand that everybody matures differently.

[20:34] What do you tell parents if their kid isn't hustling, running hard, or being a good teammate?

[22:51] Glass half empty type personality and baseball.

[23:52] One of the things that I talk to our parents a lot about is you can't want this more than they want it.

[27:47] We can just focus on the process the development and stop talking about how many hits we have.

[30:27] Let them speak for themselves if they're gonna be a college athlete.

[31:25] I would never let sports become a rift between me and my son.

[35:10] When we call this game of failure.

[38:41] We have a definition for the word commitment.

[41:32] Four roles that you can play.

[42:27] You got to trust us as your son's mentor.

Follow US Elite Baseball

Twitter:

USElitebase

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Travel Baseball, College Recruiting, and working with Hitters - Marcus Davis May 02, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode, I speak to Marcus Davis. Marcus is a hitting coach in the private sector but has been on each side of the spectrum from former Midland and professional player to now coach of the 17U Braves.

He brings a wide variety of content about college recruiting, working with players, parents' expectations, and hitting as well.

He talks about working with players in the cage.

Learn about work habits and the ability of players to work through some adversity in this episode.

SHOW NOTES

[2:38] What's been your experience you coaching travel baseball last couple of years?

[3:36] What are you looking for when it comes to just players on your team obviously you can't take everybody. What type of players are you looking for?

[5:02] These days it seems that there are probably way more kids feeling that they're a top prospect when they're not actually but because of how early a lot of the recruiting is and social media. How did you handle the hype?

[6:40] Do you see that though with other kids nowadays where they get some attention and then they maybe get a little bit complacent they stop working because they get an offer really early on for big schools?

[9:34] Why do you need to be traveling all over the country if you're already really good at getting offers at a young age?

[11:30] How do you go about choosing the tournaments that you guys are going to play in?

[12:20] Are you guys able to practice during the summer and how does that work with the travel schedule?

[13:49] You played at junior college in Walters state and then went on to Florida state, so you went from a junior college to a power five school.

[22:33] How could you expect these parents and players to know what it's like?

[28:39] Why did you decide to go to a power five school?

[29:45] You already had performed at junior college which is good baseball it wasn't like you went from high school.

[32:24] What if his thing is I might go to JUCO for a year and then try to transfer but he already has division one offers?

[38:11] How do you go about helping your own guys?

[40:43] Is there a system you have when it comes to working with guys?

[42:48 ] If you're hitting baseballs over 100 miles an hour you probably don't need to set aside just an hour focused solely on bat speed training.

[50:23] What's the best way for someone to contact you if they want to hit with you?

FOLLOW MARCUS:

Twitter:

@_thehittingMD

Patrick Jones Baseball

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David Pearson - University of Iowa Apr 24, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode, I talk to David Pearson. David is in his first season as a volunteer assistant coach with the University of Iowa baseball program. He serves as the Hawkeyes’ hitting coach.

David joins the program following a two-year run as an assistant coach at North Dakota State – his second stint with the Bison. He also has served as head coach at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) from 2016-19.

In this episode, he shares tips and pieces of advice with young coaches and young players.

He talks about how he goes about helping his players deal with failure.

Learn from his coaching career at different levels from a Player Development standpoint and ways to get better as Coaches and Players.

SHOW NOTES

[3:17] What was it like playing baseball in North Dakota growing up?

[4:17] When did you know that you wanted to get into coaching and that you want to be a coach?

[5:08] Did you know when you started coaching were there certain things that looking back you're like probably shouldn't have done?

[6:24] The biggest thing that I stress to a lot of young coaches.

[7:17] What's like one thing that really drew you to go to Iowa?

[8:26] Player development side at Iowa with the analytics department.

[9:22] What's something that you've learned maybe it's been at Iowa or maybe just in general just from all your years coaching?

[12:19] How do you help players with just dealing with failure?

[15:06] Our game is so predicated on how confident I am and how successful a person's been in the past.

[16:40] When you're in the box you need to see the ball big as you can and then trust your swing and be able all the work you've done in the weight room all the work you've done in the cages you have to be able to trust that when we get out onto the field you just now have to see the ball get a good pitch to hit.

[17:18] I wonder how many more players out there who start out struggling and because they don't know how to handle it they don't know how to do some of the things that you just described right there they never see the light at the end of the tunnel.

[19:08] Are there certain statistics or things that you emphasize to your players like for example in the minor leagues with the Orioles?

[20:20] Do you find that college kids the players on your team that they can handle like some of the information that they're giving them about that day's starting pitcher and the scouting reports and maybe movement and everything like that in their bowl?

[21:37] What's your take on teaching hitters two-strike approach?

[24:50] A lot of the great ones have the adjustability to be able to keep their hands back and fight pitches and be off time and still make something happen.

[25:46] Is hitting the breaking ball working on practicing hitting breaking balls off the machines something that you've done more of as your career has gone on?

[27:32] Trying to get players to improve their eyesight by working with eye doctors locally.

[29:27] Players now maybe focus more on the release point of the pitcher which allows them to see the ball better because of some of the stuff they're doing.

[30:44] Do you guys still put the screens across the infield so the players can't hit ground balls?

FOLLOW DAVID:

TWITTER:

@baseballDP

EMAIL:

david-pearson@iowabaseball.com

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Tyler Jackson - Morehead State University Apr 17, 2022

Show notes

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT AND SUMMER RECRUITMENT WITH TYLER JACKSON

In today's episode, I speak to Tyler Jackson. Tyler has helped Liberty to the finals of an NCAA regional in 2021 and is in his first season on the Morehead State baseball coaching staff as an assistant coach.

Tyler, who also was part of two NCAA Tournament qualifying teams at the College of Charleston, helped guide Liberty to 41 wins and the Atlantic Sun regular season title this past season. The Flames won two games in the NCAA Knoxville regional, eliminating Duke to reach the finals against host Tennessee.

In this episode, he shares his experiences as a hitting coach on different levels.

He talks about what he likes to emphasize with players during fall and during the season.

He shares some Recruiting trail tips with everybody who’s in that process or will be in that process.

In this episode learn how Tyler develops his players during the fall!

SHOW NOTES

[2:21] What's something that you're implementing now that you've learned from all your years of coaching and playing experience?

[4:01] Why do you have that approach to coaching where it's more so kind of giving letting them take the reins and do what they want?

[5:27] What are some of the things that maybe you could possibly share when it comes to getting ready for a game, is there a certain process that you have to help guys get ready to face a certain starting pitcher?

[6:41] What are your thoughts on random versus block practice before a game?

[7:36] What do the guys think of the machine?

[8:43] What's been the biggest challenge?

[10:17] What's your take on recruiting a high school player versus a JUCO or a transfer?

[11:50] JUCO guys are a little bit different.

[15:02] Are you looking for guys more so like up the middle first and then corner spots?

[17:52] What value do you put on speed?

[19:06] When you find out about a player and you look at maybe their pbr information like will you look at their 60 time there?

[19:40] How do you find players?

[20:18] Are you not always necessarily trying to recruit the very best player but you're trying to find a replacement for a player that's on your team right now?

[22:39] Do you think that transfers and the transfer portal have hurt high school kids getting recruited?

[23:31] Division one schools are done recruiting for the 2022 class.

[25:22] How do you go about developing these guys in the fall when you have a little bit more time to work with them?

[27:31] How little time you have versus how many players are out there. I mean you're the only hitting coach and you have all the over 20 guys.

[28:37] Is there a certain philosophy that you guys have?

[30:00] What is it like if you're coaching and there are maybe some players who aren't everyday starters?

[32:26] Why would someone want to come and play at Morehead state?

Follow Tyler:

Twitter

@tjacks17

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lessons Learned Through Baseball - Charles Schultz Apr 10, 2022

Show notes

How to Achieve Greatness

Charles Schultz is the Owner of Super Fit Ohio and Edge of Greatness Podcast. Charles has always been enthusiastic about the pursuit of excellence, both personally and in coaching others.

He talks about why is it important to have relationships and build connections with players.

He shares why coaches should have real conversations and open the door for players to understand that all these little things that they're working on are a specific part of their journey towards their ultimate goal.

He talks about how players should sacrifice to achieve excellence in the field.

Learn about the importance of proper mentality before and during the game.

SHOW NOTES:

[2:42] What does that mean to be great?

[4:01] Building a system and then following through on the system.

[4:29] When you're working with athletes they obviously want to be great so how do you go about instilling that in them and making it so it's applicable to them at their age?

[5:47] Do you think it's really though sacrificing some of those other things like hanging out with friends or is it more so when they're just working harder and they're more focused?

[7:42] From a hitting coach standpoint right where it's like we want these guys to be confident in the box and that comes from preparation of course but it also comes from you know feeling like you're part of a group or a community and I think having friends is important too.

[10:28] Did you go back your junior year to what you were doing your freshman year or did you stay course the entire the rest of the way?

[11:02] Why do you think you decided to change course after your freshman?

[12:52] Do you think that if you would have went to a bigger school where there's more competition and you wouldn't have been able to be comfortable?

[14:55] Where were you thinking about transferring to?

[16:33] There are opportunities south at smaller schools that are considered d2.

[16:55] When you graduate after your senior year did you have any independent opportunities to continue playing baseball?

[18:37] How important age is in professional baseball?

[19:30] If you feel like you're ready to move on and you're ready to roll, and from a strength conditioning standpoint too when did that start taking place right after you got done playing?

[20:22] What's it like at your facility give us some background on like how you go about what's the system like there when it comes to kids coming in to train?

[21:44] What do you like better the lifting part or working with hitters?

[22:26] What's the smartest thing you've ever done as a coach?

[22:37] On the flip side, what's the one thing that you did as a coach that you know maybe was like a failure but you learned from it made you a better coach?

[24:41] On the business side of your strength conditioning business that you have, what are some of the things that maybe have surprised you since you owned a business?

[25:57] What's your vision?

[30:27] High school baseball's tough.

Follow Charles:

Website

Twitter

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