Coaching career

2 games into my coaching career

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So here I am today with another episode of uh Four Clueless Dudes. Uh Usually my cohort on here. He's uh he's out. His wife had some surgery, so he's been I think he went back to work today, but uh and the other guys are working, so again, it's hard to get him down here. Same old song and dance. One of these days we will. You know, maybe when it gets football season, maybe I can get him down here. Uh talk about a little bit about high school baseball. You know, Varsity JB, where I coach at. We both started our seasons. Uh varsity's two-and-one. Should be three-o, but uh let one game get away from him, you know, with some uh, you know, let's say timely hitting from the other team, you know, 0-2 count, and you grew a fastball and the guy rips it looking for it. So other than that, then they did try to come back. So had the bases loaded in seventh inning, and uh guy hit a shot the second, the guy dropped it, but recovered and stepped on second base to uh get the out, so they tried to come back. Uh we started 2-0. Uh I'm not surprised. Uh we got some good players. Uh got three or four that play up both levels. So first game we had them all, and we won 18-2. And the second game, you know, we didn't have all of them, and we won 12-2. Uh you know, both schools are uh you know, they were good. They had some good players. Just, you know, we dominated on the pitching. Uh our pitching was really good. So first guy that we threw the night, the first game, he uh hit the first batter with the first pitch. And of course they always say, you know, the if the beginning of a game, if you hit a guy or you walk one, that runner is probably a 90% chance of gonna score. And it did. So anyway, you know, technically we hit we shouldn't have gave up any runs in these two games, but it you know, walks and hit batters, and uh this is the way it goes. So uh we'll uh see how it goes tonight, our second game. Uh it was really a good game to the third inning, one to one, both teams playing well, and then we just kind of scored four runs and took control of the game, and uh you know they had to switch pitchers, and we jumped all over the second pitcher of the night, and uh fourth inning we scored seven runs, so we went up 12-1. And again, brought in another pitcher we did, and the first thing he did was walk a guy, and guy stole a second, and next batter hit a double down the left field line, which from where I was at look foul, but you know, again, that's you know, different angle. So but uh bat run scored, and you know, the next guy won hopper to the pitcher, threw him out, and game over. So uh they've been playing well. I mean, even the freshmen are playing well. They got to play more this last game, and uh they contributed. So we got some guys that are really playing well, just gotta get them to know the situation on the field. A lot of them don't know. Uh you know, we had a couple of bonehead plays that cost us a run. Base is loaded, two outs. Hit a guy hit to our third baseman, and he tried to throw him out at first instead of just tagging second base or going to second or tag third base and go or go to second base to get the easy one, but instead he threw it to first and bad throw. So, you know, it is what it is. Again, these are 14-year-old kids, so uh, you know, that'll come with experience. Uh so you know it's been some tough practices since we started the first of the year, you know, a lot of stuff that these freshmen have to remember, and it's been difficult uh for some of them. So, you know, just trying to get into them, they gotta play hard four to ten seconds is what the coach says. Play hard for four to ten seconds per play. That's all you gotta do. And uh situational awareness, kind of know what the situation is. You should know that with whether you're in the field or if you're batting, you should know what the situation is and have a plan when you go the plate, how you want to execute, whether you have a guy's on second and third, and you know, you've gotten one out or no outs, you know, you want to hit a ball to the right side, score that guy from third. If you got runners on first and second, you know, you might want to lay down a skill bunt, get them over, or you know, maybe do a little hit and run, take a chance to get doubled up. I don't know. We'll have to wait and see on that. But you know, all in all, very proud of the guys. Uh again, this is my first gig at coaching high school baseball, and I started 2-0. Uh our game tonight will be difficult. Team we play tonight, uh, North High School, Evansville, Indiana. Uh I coach at a school called Gibson Southern High School in Fort Branch. But year in, year out, North's really good. You know, their their varsity team last year went to uh state championship, got beat. Uh our varsity lost to uh Jasper by a run, and then Jasper went to the state championship game, of course, got beat. So not saying that Gibson Suther would have win if they'd have beat him, but you never know. I mean, stranger stuff's happened. Uh we've had a rash of injuries this year. Varsity starting third baseman is out, broken foot, so he's out for the year. Uh my started catcher uh as an elbow injury. Not 100% sure what it is. It could be a fracture in the elbow, it could be a UCL tear. Uh it could be a uh nerve impingement, so we just don't know until they have an updated MRI and schedule for surgery. I think he's scheduled for surgery here in a couple weeks, out for the year. Um he was a damn good pitcher and gonna be a good catcher, so feel bad for him. But I'm glad he's a pressman, so he'll still have three years left. Uh and third baseman there at varsity's a junior, so he will have a uh uh a year left, so that's good. Uh, you know, some other little injuries. Varsity lost uh one of their better center fielders to an injury. He played football, pretty bad injury, so he was done. They were hoping to get him back maybe towards the end of the season, but it's not gonna happen. And then another outfielder decided he didn't want to play. So, and then we had another guy uh on the varsity team that didn't want to play, so you know, down three or four. Another one that quit. So, you know, there's there's four or five guys right now that you know the varsity is down. So uh I did have a coach earlier in the year before all this happened told me that uh Gibson Southern one was probably the best three or four-eight team in the state with their returning starters, and probably got the best pitching rotation possibly in the state. Uh if they would just get their head out of their ass and start pitching like they're capable of doing. Uh so yeah, so it's interesting. Um they played Tecumseh tonight and on the road, and we're at home against North, and then we're at home tomorrow night uh also. I can't remember who that is. It might be Forest Park, and then we got a home game next Monday against Central. So uh it'd be real cool to win all three games, but you know, I'm not you know guys are good enough too. They execute, so we'll see what happens. Uh I've been watching a little bit of Major League. I'm gonna switch gears a little bit of Major League Baseball. Uh Royals are eh, you know, they're they're there, just playing good, good enough to stay. I think they're a game under 500. Uh got their ass kicked last night by Cleveland, so uh so just uh yeah, tough part of the season. Seems like they always play pretty bad during the early and then kick it in later on in the season. So I hope they do well. They got the talent to do well. But like previous uh things here I've said, you know, it's still the Dodgers and the Yankees, possibly Toronto, but they're not playing that good. Seattle's playing horrible. But, you know, again, it's only God, 10-11 games into the season. So Mike could get hot and you go on a ripper. Just like Cincinnati, I think they won five or six in a row. I mean, you know, they got some good teams. Uh Cleveland got that kid back that fouled one off his foot when O'Tani was pitching. Hell, he hit a home run last night against us. Now, either a home run or a double. So good, sweet left-handed swing. So and then uh it's good to see Pittsburgh winning, too. I mean, I've always been a, I guess you could say, a closet Pittsburgh fan, you know. I've always loved the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh I am a Kansas City Chiefs fan, but Steelers will be team two, then Miami Dolphins. Uh one of my co-hosts on here, Tim, he's a huge Miami Dolphin fan, so uh see what happens. All four of us here are kind of different on football. I'm a Chiefs fan. Tim's a Dolphin fan. Jeremy, my cousin Jeremy, he's a damn Dallas Cowgirl fan, and uh cousin Bobby, another one of the guys, he's a Indianapolis Colts fan, so we'll see how that goes. So I know Tim hates the Colts. I don't hate them, but they ain't my favorite team. So we'll see what happens. Uh hopefully the Chiefs can do good this year. See how uh what's his name? Uh Mahomes comes back from my leg injury, so we'll see. But back to baseball. Uh yeah, I do see some teams playing different teams playing good this year. I mean, Cincinnati's playing good. Uh you know, Philly's not doing so good. Pittsburgh's doing pretty good. Connor Griffin just signed that huge contract and you know, come up's been playing halfway decent. So uh kind of can't wait to see how they do, you know, get some uh experience under him and Skeens and him and you know if they got any I think they picked up another pitcher in the draft last year that was really, really good from Alabama or Auburn or something like that. I think that's the guy that threw the no-hitter in College World Series. So uh we'll see, you know, how long it is. Maybe they'll bring him up, who knows? Uh so just to get some experience. It's gonna be a short one today. Gotta get stuff ready for the game tonight, but just want to jump on here and talk about a little bit about the high school baseball, a little bit pro. I didn't really want to talk much about pro football, but you know, just kind of threw that in there just because of the Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs fan. So uh hope my Royals kick it in. Cardinals, you know, are kind of surprising, playing better than I think people thought they would. That JJ Weatherholt's been playing very well. Nolan Gorman, you know, kind of these guys here get a chance to play every day and they produce. Uh so it's kind of good to see in that church. He's been playing good in the outfield and Jordan Walker been on fire. Maybe it's just need to clean out some of those guys and give him a spot every day and get him out there. And he's been killing the baseball. You know, their pitchers have been not doing so good, but you know, the offense has got a score of runs to keep him in the game. So, yeah, I don't know. So uh I think that being said, I'm gonna end on that right there. And uh again, probably come back on here over the weekend if we get time. You know, we usually practice on our days that we don't play for a little bit, just kind of keep the guys sharp. Have them lift a little bit, kind of, you know, do that. So other than that, you have a good day, and we'll talk about you later.