Latest / From the Coach's Mouth / Episode 32: Jay and Ken on Changeup, Offspeed, Sept 1, Transitioning to College

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Episode 32: Jay and Ken on Changeup, Offspeed, Sept 1, Transitioning to College · From the Coach's Mouth

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September 1st, I think for a lot of people, they think that
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that's when offers are coming and there are kids that do get
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offers absolutely right. But that's just the start of the
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journey of you being able to actually communicate with these
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coaches and for them to actually get to know you as a player at
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the field. In your car or on the couch, get
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your basket from the coach's mouth.
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Welcome to the From the Coaches Mount podcast with your hosts
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Jay Bolden and Ken Krause. Hello and welcome to the From
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the Coach's Mouth podcast. This is Ken Kraus coming to you
1:06
along with my good buddy and the Oracle of Orland Park, Mr. Jay
1:10
Bolden. Jay, how you doing today?
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One I'm not in Orland Park an Oracle I'm not not quite sure
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about that one either, but yeah, I'm I'm here and you know the
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the great state of Indiana, you know just across the border, I
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think we're still considered a suburb of Chicago.
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So, you know, at least we still have our ties there.
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But yeah, I'm doing great, Ken. I'm actually excited right now.
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There's a big tournament down there in Bourbon A and in Orland
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Park, actually the Triple Crown 72.
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So there's a lot of teams playing.
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Yeah. Excited to see what some of the
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kids are going to do. It's I know they're getting used
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to each other. I watched some games last night
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on Game Changer and I was like, Oh yeah, that's rough, you know,
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But then you got to remember it's, it's just these teams are
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getting used to each other, you know, most of them.
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So yeah, it's a exciting time, Exciting time.
1:56
Yeah, Well, and hopefully the coaches are being smart and, you
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know, they have new players and hopefully rather than saying,
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OK, I know I can win if I pitch this kid or if I put this kid at
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shortstop. They're using this time to take
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a look at the new kids they have, give them some good
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playing time and see if they're going to be able to be good
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contributors along the way or if they're going to have buyers
2:17
remorse. Yeah, I think that's right.
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I think, you know, a lot of it is for the kids that we work
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with, our hitters and our pitchers is, you know, hey, this
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is time for you to try some of the things that we've been
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working on. You know, the start of this
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fall, you know, we got to throw the change up more.
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We've got to work on the rise ball, getting better spin on it,
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so on. And I think that's that's huge.
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And again, it's it's nice to see.
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I think a lot of the coaches were, from what I saw last night
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were doing really well. They were, you know, every two
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innings switching kids in and out and, you know, they all want
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to win that Triple Crown thing means that they believe that
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they get a free entry or money towards the Colorado tournament
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out there. So I think that's, you know,
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they're they're still doing it the right way.
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So I'm excited this week and then next weekend, maybe you can
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come on down here. There's a qualifier PGF
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qualifier down here at crown point, you know, on the
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weekends. I don't know what you got
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planned or you know, you and your, your, your wife live in,
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you know, that luxury lifestyle with all of your, all of your
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vacations and all that kind of stuff, you know, So I don't know
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if you're not busy, let me know. Come on down.
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Yeah, well, I might come down. Actually I was thinking about
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trying to check out down at Saint Xavier.
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I know you guys are playing next Saturday.
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We're going to be getting ready. I'm going on vacation, going to
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be gone for a couple of weeks. So we'll be posting some re
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releases over the next couple of weeks.
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We're going down to Hawaii. So that's something I'm looking
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forward to. Never been, so that'll probably
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be taking up a lot of my Saturday.
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Yeah, you know, I was going to ask you next Saturday.
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Maybe we could do from the coach's mouth at Saint Xavier.
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That would be interesting. Yeah.
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I'll have to see if I have a little handheld recorder.
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Have to see if that thing even still works.
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It's pretty ancient technology, but, you know, fire it up, see
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if it don't hold a charge. And although I think maybe you
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have to plug it in, but yeah, you know, we might be able to do
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it that way. We'll have to see.
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All right, well, all right. I was just throwing it out there
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anyway. All right, I, I wanted to tell
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you a story just real quick. I don't know what made me think
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of it today, but just kind of competition and all that and
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unintended consequences. So this is when my oldest
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daughter, Stephanie, was probably about three years old.
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We'd gone out for a family walk around the neighborhood.
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We had my son Adam in the stroller.
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My wife was there. And we're going along.
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And as we could turn back onto our street, starting to head
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toward our house, Stephanie says, Daddy, I'll race you.
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And I said, OK. And she takes off.
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So I start running up, and I start catching up to her from
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behind. And she wants to win.
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She doesn't want me to pass her. So at the top of her lungs, she
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starts yelling, Daddy don't beat me.
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So here I am chasing this little kid yelling Daddy don't beat me.
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And I thought, man, if the police are ever coming to my
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house, this is going to be the day.
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Yeah, your neighbors are staring at you for that one there.
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Yeah, Yeah. Yeah.
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That's yeah. So nice to know that you're
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still around, Ken. That's nice to know you're still
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here. Yep, unfortunately the neighbors
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knew me and they knew her, so they probably figured if I was
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going to beat her it was well deserved.
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You know, I want to, I want to, I want to talk about something
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to here. I know I'm going to change gears
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here and get into a little softball.
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I want to give a couple shout outs to some of the people that
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we are, you know, that are some of our, what do you want to call
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them? Our collaborators, if you will,
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our colleagues, our buddy Sean, Sean Walker out there in West
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Virginia just spent some time with the University of Virginia
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right at, at working with some of their pitchers, right,
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putting them through profiles and, and stuff like that, I
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think was great. And then Rick, Paul, he's been
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at a couple different places I think too.
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So starting to get some of our people out there, you know,
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doing some of these assessments and you know, using some of the,
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the tools that we have, the MPE, the 4D motion, the spin rates
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and, and that stuff as well as the corrective exercise
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specialist stuff that that we've all gotten certified in.
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So I think that's really cool to see the people that, you know,
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we know out there also working with some of the higher programs
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now. I think last year, Rick, and who
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was it that was out there in Utah?
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No BYU. Rob.
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Rob. Rob, Rob and Rick was out there
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too, right? They were out there working with
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the BYU pitchers. So I just think that's really
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good. And, you know, good stuff that,
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you know, we're getting out there and starting to work with
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some of those upper programs, which I think is really good
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too. There's a lot of value to the
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people that you know that we're a part of and I think that's
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great. So shout out to all those people
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for for doing that and, and get in working with those pitchers
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and those Staffs. I'm excited to see how those
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pitching Staffs do this this this fall and this this spring.
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Yeah, no, that's it's very exciting.
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It's good to to see people getting to be, you know, open to
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those kinds of ideas and maybe taking a little time to rethink
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some of the things they're doing.
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So Speaking of rethinking, let's talk about the change up a
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little bit because, you know, that's one of those things that
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change up seemed to go away in college softball for a while.
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But the last two or three years, I think it's really had a
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revival. You know, when we had Emma
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Lemley on last week, she was talking about the change up and
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how she's really come to value it and, you know, especially in
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the AUSL and you know, that she was going to put in a lot of
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work on hers to try to improve it.
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And then, you know, we've seen Nigerie Kennedy, she's, you
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know, really done a lot with it. I think that taking Kavan was
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doing a lot with her change up. So it's great to see that
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revival. So what do you think about that,
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Jay? Yeah, I want to throw out there
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Sam Landry too. I use a lot of video as Sam
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Landry's change up about what she does with her thumb and her
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grip. People think that you have to
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have some magical grip on your change up and Sam Landry's just
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kind of holding it like she holds her fastball, but that
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thumb turns over that ball really quickly and she gets some
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really good spin. I think that's one of the
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things, Ken, that I've been working with a lot with my kids,
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you know, now that the my pitch logic balls, it's excellent.
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I love that ball that the the spin rate I get back on that
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instantly is fantastic and I think it's great.
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So I'm really trying to tell them, Hey, listen, it's yes, we
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want the speed off first. However, we want some high spin
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rate on that ball too, you know, you know, because the more spin
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we get on that ball in the in the direction of that of that
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change up is is going to help us get people out and be a little
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bit more deceptive with those things.
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So, you know, I think we have to have a change up and I think you
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have to throw a change up. And like Emma said to us, you
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know, a week ago was sometimes I'm I'm not throwing it for a
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swing and miss right, I'm throwing it.
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I'm throwing it for to mess up their timing so I can come back
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with something. People always complain all the
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change UPS in the dirt. It might be in the dirt, but did
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it? Did the, did the batter get
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their weight out front for that? So I think the, the biggest
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themes that I'm working on with the kids that I have, Ken, is
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really focusing on the spin rate on it and making sure the speed
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is off too. And, and I think like we've
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talked about before, you know, if you know how to throw it, it
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really, truly doesn't matter what grip you're using, right?
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You can use any grip you want or I, I've got to, you know, get
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into this a little bit with you more here too.
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The knuckles on the change up really drive me crazy.
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And, and, and I'm not saying it's good or bad, but for me,
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it's easy to pick right. And especially if you're not
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coming out of glove right, I think that's an important thing.
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So if you're using a knuckle, and I always ask kids, why were
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you taught to use a knuckle on your change up?
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And they'll say, well, cuz I had to slow it down.
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Well, the ball's still coming out fast.
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So what we're doing here, what we're doing here, the knuckles
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are not working. And that's just, you know, that
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is, I'm not trying to be mean, but that is not taking the time
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to actually see how the change up comes out of the hand or
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where the hand has to be at release of a change up.
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Again, you could put, you know, you can go 4 knuckles on that
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thing, Ken, if you want. But if your hand is still behind
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the ball when you're releasing, it's still going to come out
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pretty hot, right? And I, and I think that's one of
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the things that, you know, when people are, are doing
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instruction, are we videotaping what we're teaching, right?
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Are we looking at it right? I think that's a huge thing.
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Do you run into the same thing like that?
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You'll get a kid that comes in, she's got 2 knuckles on the ball
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right now. I'm always like, if you're going
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to put a knuckle on the ball, well, at least let's push the
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knuckles through the ball. Maybe we can get a pushing
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action to, to slow it down a little bit.
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Not just that the balls coming out.
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So what are your what are your experiences with that when you
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have a kid that comes in with a different grip or this grip or
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that grip? Yeah.
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Well, you know, obviously the first thing I'm going to do is
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I'm going to look at their change up.
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So they tell me, yes, I have a change up.
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I want to see what it does, if they're able to throw it, if
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they're able to maintain their body speed and their arm speed
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and throw it hard, you know, and then have it come out.
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I like 12 to 15 miles, an hour of difference.
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If they can do all of that, I'm going to leave it alone.
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Let's say, OK, well, you know, you've got this.
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It's not something I would teach, but it seems like it's
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working. But I agree with you, Jay, when
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you show the knuckles or the one that I can't stand, which is the
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circle change, it's so obvious coming out of the hand.
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If you're a third base coach and you're watching, you know,
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somebody with a backswing taking that circle grip out of there,
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you got to have an audible signal going to your hitters and
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they're just going to sit on that thing and pound it.
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I teach my kids, I mean really when I teach them the change up
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and it's the second pitch I teach, it's the same grip as a
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fastball. Might move the thumb over a
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little bit to the side to make it a little bit easier to stay
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on top of the ball so it doesn't go shooting up.
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But I want to, you know, I want to disguise that thing as best
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as possible because that's what's going to make it work.
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And doing some kind of crazy grip with knuckle sticking up
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or, you know, the hand wrapped around the ball or any of that
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kind of stuff is just not going to hide it very well.
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Yeah, I agree. You know, this is years ago and
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you know, I want to share a story with you, Edward Saint
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Xavier. And we're playing one of our
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top, top competitors in the in our conference.
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And sure enough, like I, you know, when I'm in the, I'm in
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the dugout, I try to line myself up with the pitcher so I could
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see if I could steal a grip, you know, and for sure she was still
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coming out of glove, but you could see she would spin the
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ball and then as soon as she would stop, you would see her
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knuckles grab onto the ball. Right now I would just be, I
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would just holler. I would just scream, sit, sit
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here comes right. And she was just by the end of
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that game, she was scowling at me.
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She was scowling at me because she knew that I was picking
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picking her her change up. So I think those are important
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things too. And then another thing is
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another thing is to people always say this can and I need
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to get your thoughts on this. How many times have you heard
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that? Oh, she's slowing down on her
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change up. Yeah, yeah.
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I mean, all the time. It's, you know, that's, again,
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very easy to pick up. It's very easy to see.
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You know, you might as well put up a big old neon sign behind
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you that says here comes the change up.
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Yep. And I, I think what people have
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to understand too, Ken, is that the reason, the reason that we
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don't want you to slow down on your change up is because of the
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timing, right? I say that all the time.
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If you're slowing down on your change up, your timing is off.
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And when your timing is off, that's when your change up is
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high, low, this and that. And not only that too is, you
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know, I think for me, Ken, another thing that I'm looking
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at when I, when I we're seeing other pictures is we're, you can
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kind of see when their feet slow down.
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Yeah, right. So if you can, if you can get
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the timing on that to see that what what they're doing is
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they're coming off the mound harder on the fastball and then
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all of a sudden those feet get real slow.
13:53
You can kind of almost predict when the change up is coming out
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of that too, without even having to look at the grip, right.
13:59
But the, the main thing is if you don't have the right timing
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on the change up, you are going to be behind the ball or you're
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going to short arm it and it's going to feel different to you.
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So I think that's an important thing when, when pitching
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coaches are telling you or coaches are telling you, yeah,
14:13
you're slowing down on your change up.
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You don't go slow to take the speed off the ball, right,
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right. Because if you do, your timing's
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messed up. It's more about making sure your
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hand is at the right position at the right time for you to have a
14:28
really good change up. And I'll tell kids all the time,
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I want you to throw that as hard as you can.
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And the second they do that can that thing floats, it moves,
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it's off speed, it's change, right?
14:38
As long as the mechanically they're they're where they need
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to be, you know, and I think that's one of the things I deal
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with is it's a theme I deal with all the time is no, you're
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slowing that down. Everybody knows it's coming and
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it's not doing it's. There's no deception to that
14:50
pitch. Yeah, so the way I like to
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explain it a lot is, you know, I talk about hitting off of a
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pitching machine, say, OK, what makes it so hard?
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Everybody's done it, everybody's struggled with it.
14:59
What makes it so hard to hit off a pitching machine?
15:02
All right, so you have the feeder whose arm is going about
15:05
two miles an hour, taking it around the circle, puts the ball
15:09
and maybe fumbles with it a little bit, puts the ball into
15:12
the chute and then boom, that ball comes out fifty 6065 miles
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an hour. So the arm speed, the body
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language doesn't match the speed of the pitch coming out and it's
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difficult for the hitter to time a change up is the reverse of a
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pitching machine. The body and the arm are going
15:32
fast, but the ball is going slow.
15:34
So the two things don't match up.
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By the time the hitter catches up, balls already by her if you
15:40
do it correctly. I also will tell them, and I
15:43
think you were kind of saying the same thing, I'd say if you
15:46
throw it properly, the harder you try to throw your change up,
15:49
the slower it's going to go because everything we're doing
15:53
is designed to take speed off the ball.
15:56
If you go slow with it and yeah, you're going to end up pushing
16:00
it because you don't feel like the ball is going to make it to
16:02
the plate. It's going to come in too fast
16:05
and now it's just a crappy fastball.
16:07
Yes, yes, and you know, and I think this is for me too.
16:13
Can I want to I want to touch base on another thing since
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we're we're digging into the change UPS here, knowing all of
16:18
the motor preference stuff now has really changed my mind on a
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lot of things, right and I and I feel this for a reason.
16:27
You ever notice how some kids are can throw a really good flip
16:29
change and other kids can't? Yeah, yeah.
16:32
You know. And that's my point, like I
16:34
don't think there's one set change up for everybody, right?
16:38
And I have kids that are really good flip change kids and I'm
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like, I'm not changing that. That thing is great.
16:43
It's got its backspin it it matches their rise ball.
16:46
The speed off of that is great. They sometimes they'll turn
16:49
their hand over on it a little bit and it'll, it'll move like a
16:52
curveball, you know, and I have other kids that couldn't throw a
16:55
flip change if their life depended on it, you know, and
16:58
they'll throw what we're talking about, you know what, get on top
17:00
of the ball there at release and whatnot.
17:02
And when I think that's been something that's been really eye
17:05
opening for me because forever I was like, Nope, I hate the flip
17:07
change. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.
17:09
And then I'm like, wait a minute, there's a reason why
17:11
this kid can throw this flip change, you know, and I've
17:14
actually had kids where I've like, OK, let's change it.
17:16
You know, we flip change, we're going to change it over this and
17:18
they can't throw the other one. And I'm like, you know, motor
17:21
preference has kind of really opened my eyes to a lot of that
17:23
to where I've been like, no, you know, I was anti flip change for
17:27
a while and now I'm like, I get it like this kid hat moves
17:30
better this way with this change up.
17:32
And I think that that's a a critical, critical thing that
17:35
there is no just one change up. It's kind of like working,
17:39
picking a change up that will work for you.
17:41
Now there is one. I oh, go ahead, you're going to
17:43
say something. I was going to say I'm still not
17:45
a fan of the flip change and for one simple reason, because a lot
17:48
of the kids will over pull that wrist up and then the ball goes
17:52
floating high. You know, you get a change up
17:55
that comes in about belt high, chest high, somewhere in there.
17:59
That thing's going to get crushed even if the hitter got
18:01
fooled to begin with. Too easy to spot.
18:04
So I will discourage the the flip change unless, again,
18:08
unless I have a kid that already throws it and can throw it well
18:11
and keep it low, then I'm not going to change it.
18:14
But otherwise, yeah, I'm not really a fan of that particular
18:17
one. Although the the change up that
18:20
I teach by default to most of my kids looks a lot like a flip
18:25
change up. It just doesn't have the flip.
18:27
Gotcha. Yeah, like I said, it's just
18:29
been for me trying to figure out like, you know, there is no just
18:33
right one agree one change up that works it's kind of working
18:36
on. But I will say this, this this
18:38
is 1 here that I think really makes me kind of give me against
18:44
my blood boiling a little bit, right.
18:46
We've all seen Lisa Fernandez throw her change up, right?
18:50
And it's fantastic, right? I'll have kids that will come in
18:55
from certain people that teach that change up, and I'll
18:59
videotape it. And they're not doing anything
19:02
of what she's doing, right? They've got them turning and
19:06
torquing their wrist completely around Ken.
19:10
And I'm like, OK, now let's videotape it and let's actually
19:13
see if that is actually happening when it comes out.
19:17
Every kid that I have had, I have videotaped and that change,
19:19
they're not doing that. They're doing what I want them
19:21
to do, which is to get the hand on top of there.
19:23
And I try to tell them that change up.
19:25
If you throw it the way you think you're throwing it, you're
19:28
going to throw it down the third baseline or first baseline,
19:31
depending on if you're right or lefty because your hand can't
19:33
get around the ball like this is not unless, Ken, you bend over
19:37
like Lisa Fernandez did on that change up.
19:39
And we've all seen it. She's kind of hunched over,
19:42
right? Her butt, her weight is forward,
19:43
her head is forward. And then gives the arm time for
19:46
her to get the arm around there because she because of her
19:49
posture. These kids don't have the same
19:51
posture. And they'll come in and they
19:53
swear. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:54
This is what he told me. This is what I'm doing.
19:56
And you, we videotape and I go, that is not anything of what
19:59
you're doing here. You tell me what you're doing.
20:01
Here's the video, right? And I think that one really kind
20:05
of bothers me because what they're doing is they're
20:08
teaching someone to do something with their wrist that is not
20:10
very healthy. It's just, it's not right.
20:13
Like I'm not saying you can't do it, but what I'm saying is
20:16
there's there's two red flags of that One that makes me say no
20:20
one is the posture. I don't want my kids in that
20:22
position throwing a throwing a change up.
20:24
I just feel like that's a lot of pressure on their lower backs
20:27
and shoulders, right? And the other one is what is
20:30
that wrist going to do? That wrist is going to torque.
20:32
You're going to have some serious wrist wrist issues as as
20:36
you're going forward, you know, and I think that's why when the
20:38
body just says, Nope, that doesn't feel right.
20:40
It just kind of does what it's supposed to do.
20:43
And but the problem that is, again, are we breaking things
20:45
down to take a look at that? So I try to tell him like,
20:47
listen, you can think you do that, but what I want you to
20:50
think about is when you're actually releasing the ball and
20:52
where your hand is with the ball.
20:54
So that's one that just kind of really gets to me a little bit
20:57
is like, we're not even taking time to not even taking time to
21:00
break the video down on these things.
21:02
And we, we need to do that so that everyone can see it so.
21:05
Well, yeah. And when you look at it, you
21:07
know, first of all, you have to keep in mind the Lisa Fernandez
21:10
was like a once in a generation athlete.
21:13
You look at how she's built. I mean, she's kind of built like
21:16
a Tasmanian devil, and I don't mean that in a negative way by
21:20
any means, but she's not the typical long, lean type of
21:24
pitcher with long levers. She was shorter, she was
21:27
stockier, and she was preternaturally strong.
21:32
So that pitch worked for her because she was her.
21:37
I think trying to imitate something because it worked for
21:39
somebody else without really thinking it through it just it's
21:45
a bad idea. If you have someone that can,
21:48
that has a kind of strength and athleticism of Lisa Fernandez,
21:51
it'll probably work. That's not the typical 12 year
21:55
old or even 18 year old in today's softball world.
21:59
So, you know, you have to look at what you're teaching doesn't
22:03
make sense. That goes back to your comment
22:05
about motor preferences and just, you know, capabilities
22:10
within there. I think that when I look at it
22:13
and you know, when we talk about motor preferences, a lot of
22:15
it'll be the cues that I give. It might be the same change up,
22:19
but it might be how IQ it. Like if someone's an aerial,
22:22
they tend to focus more on the hands, you know, in the feet,
22:26
whereas if it's a terrestrial, they focus more on the elbows
22:30
and the knees. So if I'm trying to tell a kid
22:32
to get a little bit of crook in their arm, get a little bit of
22:34
elbow bend coming into it, Well, if it's a terrestrial, I'll say
22:38
elbow, you know, lift your elbow a little bit.
22:40
If it's an aerial now I'll say lift your hand, bring your hand
22:44
up and try to go. And that seems to make more
22:46
sense to them. So learning how to just queue,
22:50
even if you're doing the same thing is important.
22:53
And then like you say, looking at who the pitcher is, what how
22:58
their body moves, what they're capable of doing will help a lot
23:02
of times lead you to what change up is going to work best for
23:05
them. Yeah, for sure that Yep, all of
23:08
that makes absolute sense. And I think again, like we
23:10
talked about, it's, it's trying to find the best one for each
23:13
kid that you're working with and you know, in their profiles,
23:16
which truly helps so. Yeah, hey, that's great.
23:19
Before we leave this topic, I did want to mention something.
23:21
So I have a girl, you know, she throws a pretty good change up
23:24
and she told me that her coach was telling her her team coach
23:27
was telling her that the change up should come in like head
23:30
high. I'm like tearing my hair
23:32
outgoing. Oh my gosh.
23:34
I mean, you would be tearing your hair out too if you had
23:36
hair but. Yeah, that's not going to
23:37
happen. Yeah, yeah.
23:38
I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. You got to keep that thing
23:41
between the knees and the waist. You know, that's really your
23:43
ideal zone for the change up. You look at what how they throw
23:46
it in college, it's going to be down there and you know,
23:49
sometimes below the knees when when you can throw 70 miles an
23:52
hour for your fastball and then throw a, you know, 50 mile an
23:56
hour or 55 mile an hour change up.
23:58
So you're getting that big difference in there.
24:00
You got to keep that ball down. But I don't know where people
24:03
get these things. Well, and that's the thing, Ken,
24:06
I don't know if you remember a few years ago, we got some some
24:09
data actually from yeah, I think it.
24:13
Was from Florida, wasn't it? Yeah.
24:17
OK. Florida State, Yeah.
24:18
Where they were, they were monitoring like all the swings
24:21
and misses for pitches. Yeah, right.
24:23
Like which ones were getting the most swings and misses?
24:25
Now again, change up isn't always for a swing and miss.
24:27
However, the two spots on a change up that we talked about
24:32
all the time is the 2 spots was the first one, the first swing
24:35
and miss was low and away. So for right hand batter that
24:39
low and away was #1 and then the second one, which, you know, all
24:42
of us were like, yeah, that's interesting.
24:44
Was dad read down the middle, right.
24:47
And I think that comes back to selling it.
24:48
So somebody who wants a change up at the at the eyes, I think
24:52
is that doesn't make sense. That's that's not setting
24:55
somebody up for success. You know, I think that's kind of
24:57
it. I mean, your your optimal,
24:59
optimal change up is going to, you know, be up, you know, like
25:03
you said, Bob belt high and then it's going to break, you know,
25:05
down. And I think I, we're talking
25:07
about this and what you're talking about with your kid is
25:09
great because for me, what I where I want in Saint Xavier is
25:12
I, I want change of speed, but I also want change of direction,
25:16
right? Like I don't want a change of
25:18
that just stays on the same plane the whole way through.
25:20
I need something needed to die. I needed to move.
25:22
I needed to not just be speed off, but I needed to move and,
25:26
and make that better, make some adjustments.
25:28
And again, I'm not asking for a, a, a swing and miss, but give me
25:31
that ground ball to second base or first base and and we can
25:34
live with that just about it all day, you know, in our games.
25:37
So, yeah, yeah, no, I couldn't agree more.
25:39
That's at that high does not make sense to me at all.
25:42
Yeah. And I also want to go back to
25:44
something you said toward the beginning about, you know,
25:47
setting up. You know how Emma Lumley
25:49
mentioned about it and that your change up is setting up your
25:52
next pitch too. I was talking to a girl last
25:55
night about the change up and I said, you know, I was asking if
25:58
she's a tenure, but she's, you know, a really talented kid is
26:01
throwing a good change up. And so we were talking, I said,
26:05
you know, what do you think is a great pitch to follow up change
26:09
up with on a big hitter? And she goes another change up
26:12
and I'm like, absolutely. So, you know, because now that
26:15
they've seen it, you know, they think, OK, that's out of the way
26:18
and they're coming back with speeds.
26:20
You throw that second change up. You can even throw a third one
26:23
depending on the hitter, and that will work as well.
26:27
But what I was also telling her was that, all right, so let's
26:29
say you threw a fastball to begin with or some, you know,
26:32
one of your faster pitches. You throw a change up and we'll
26:35
say you take 10 miles an hour off that pitch.
26:38
OK, so now there was a 10 mile an hour difference between the
26:41
fast pitch and the slow pitch. When you come back with speed,
26:46
there's also going to be a 10 mile an hour difference between
26:49
the last pitch and this one, only it's 10 miles an hour
26:52
faster. And that can be very upsetting
26:55
to a hitters timing too. And all you have to do to to see
26:58
that is watch some of the parents sometimes when they go
27:01
just grasping for air when the pitch is coming in or the kid
27:05
forgets she's supposed to throw a change up and she throws a,
27:08
you know, a fastball or a faster pitch.
27:11
And the look on their face when they ball all of a sudden comes
27:14
flying in. They're like, holy cow that look
27:16
awfully fast. I want to talk about a couple
27:19
other things too, Ken, since we've been kind of like on the,
27:21
on the, you know, change up in the off speed stuff is, you
27:24
know, I think off speed pitches do have a spot too.
27:28
You know, I, I think especially when you're getting to, at the
27:32
college level, everybody kind of knows everything you're doing.
27:35
So, you know, sometimes having a new weapon is, is a good thing.
27:39
And and so you know what, what are your thoughts about off
27:42
speed pitches and what kind of off speed pitches do you teach
27:46
to some of your kids? Well, I think some of the
27:48
pitches are naturally off speed. So let's say a curveball, all
27:52
right, but you're not going to get the same level of energy
27:55
into the ball, least you shouldn't be if you're throwing
27:57
it properly. So that curveball, you know, it
27:59
might be 3-4 miles an hour off of what the fastball is or the
28:03
fastest pitch. You know, if you're not throwing
28:06
a fastball, maybe throwing a drop ball, but that's going to
28:09
automatically, you know, take a little bit of speed off of
28:12
there. You can also do some other
28:14
things. You're going to have some
28:15
adjustment where that maybe you're getting 6 miles an hour
28:18
off. You have to be careful because
28:21
like I said, you know, if you take only so much speed off of
28:25
there and you don't get any movement, you've turned a good
28:27
fastball into a bad fastball. But if you are getting movement,
28:32
even we can talk about the screwball.
28:34
Even if there's, you know, the screwball, which what I teach, I
28:38
call it the faux screw because it doesn't have all that extra
28:43
torquing of the arm at the end once the ball is already gone,
28:46
like so many people teach, you know, it's basically just a
28:50
fastball with a little bit different release to it.
28:54
But any of those pitches, if they're you're getting some
28:56
movement and you're upsetting the timing a little bit, all
28:59
that stuff adds up in my opinion, to something that makes
29:04
it harder to hit. What do you think, Jay?
29:07
Yeah, I think you're right there.
29:08
I think one of the ones that I've I've, I really like
29:11
teaching and I, I can only, I only do it to certain kids is I
29:16
love the, the off speed rise, right?
29:19
I think that's a, that's a huge 1.
29:20
And I, and I think people have to understand for me, like my
29:24
reasoning behind that is because the spin axis on that ball is
29:28
almost pure, right? So it's going to move, it's
29:32
going to jump. And so I was saw a video that
29:35
was, I think on, on TikTok of somebody explaining the off
29:38
speed rise. I mean, they're talking about
29:40
burying it in your hand and this and and then, you know, you'll
29:45
watch them, you watch him try to teach it and all of a sudden the
29:48
hand, you know, pronates over this way.
29:50
And so the balls coming out as a bullet spin, right?
29:53
I mean, call it what you want, but if you're throwing a bullet
29:56
spin rise ball, I don't think that's going to stay in the
29:59
park, right? You know, however.
30:02
Unless you can throw it 75 miles an hour.
30:06
True, true. The one that I'm talking about
30:08
is I've seen it more around mid 50s right, which is a great
30:12
setup pitch, but the spin axis on that ball is pure.
30:15
I mean it's legit straight up and down.
30:17
You're getting backspin. It really messes with the
30:19
hitters, but you know, and so interesting to for me to see
30:24
that when they're trying to talk about, you know, their
30:27
instruction with it. And you watch the ball come out
30:29
of the person's hand and it's already turned and it's coming
30:32
at him like a bullet. And it's like, well, we need to
30:35
be getting the right spin on that ball for that ball as an
30:38
off speed ball to be effective or else the bullet is not going
30:41
to move, it's going to die, it's going to flatten and it's going
30:43
to get pounded. But I love the off speed rise,
30:46
but I think that's one that I only, and I can only teach it to
30:49
some kids who I feel are better. They like to stay more in
30:52
supination, right? And, and they'll throw it really
30:55
well. I've got a, a 15 year old that
30:58
can really throw it really well. And she's got also a really
31:01
good, she's got some pretty solid backspin on her, her
31:04
normal rise, which she can throw hard.
31:06
So mixing those two in is really good and her change up is solid.
31:09
So it gives her three different speeds, 3 different levels.
31:13
And, and I think that's, you know why she's a very successful
31:15
pitcher for her age. So what are your thoughts about
31:18
that one, Ken? Yeah, I mean, the rise ball, I
31:21
definitely agree. I think just the rise ball by
31:23
itself versus say a fastball or a drop ball, you know you're
31:30
going to again get 3 or 4 miles an hour off.
31:32
I think just organically, if you're trying to get pure
31:35
backspin on it, if you change the grip a little bit, like you
31:38
could use the fatty grip so you get more rotation on the ball,
31:42
you're going to get a faster spin rate, but it's going to go
31:44
a little bit slower. If you can manage that one as
31:47
well, I think it's great. I have a girl, she's going to be
31:51
a junior this year. So you know, 16, I think 1617
31:55
somewhere in there throws a great rise ball.
31:59
I mean, just really pure spin. She's not tremendously
32:03
overpowering, but she's been just killing it on the
32:06
strikeouts because she can throw that rise ball all day long.
32:09
And that's because Aaron, if you're listening, hello.
32:13
It's because her, her elbow is hyper lax.
32:17
She can stay in supination longer than a typical person
32:21
can. She can keep that arm out.
32:23
I mean, when she's has her arm like at the at her back hip and
32:27
she turns her hand out, I mean, it's almost her elbow joint is
32:31
almost facing second base and then she can stay in that
32:35
supination. So she really gets under that
32:37
ball and you know, if I'm her and I need a strike, I'm
32:41
throwing that rise ball because she can just throw that thing
32:43
all day long for somebody like that.
32:45
She doesn't need to be tremendously overpowering
32:48
because, you know, hitters just keep swinging at the thing.
32:51
So I think that, you know, and then she throws a great change
32:54
up and she actually throws a really good screwball too.
32:57
So moving, moving those balls around and being able to do that
33:00
and take advantage of what her capabilities are has made her
33:04
extremely effective. And then like they're having
33:07
that change up. So you have that change of
33:09
speed, you know, getting a little bit of inconsistency as
33:12
far as speed goes, change the grip a little bit to get a
33:16
little bit more off of the pitch.
33:18
So even if it doesn't, you know, rise as well, just the
33:21
difference in timing, the hitters don't get comfortable.
33:24
And I think that that's one of the really important things is
33:26
that a hitter who's comfortable is going to hit well when I work
33:30
with hitters. And I'm sure you do the same
33:32
thing, really talk to them about using their eyes and trying to,
33:35
you know, judge and trying to hold their hands back as long as
33:40
they can. So they're turning the body,
33:42
turning the hips, turning the shoulders, but not bringing
33:45
those hands until they absolutely have to.
33:46
So they get a good look at that ball.
33:48
A lot of hitters don't do that. A lot of hitters just get real
33:51
hand oriented and they started moving it and they're going to
33:54
be susceptible to any kind of speed change.
33:56
Yep, definitely those are all great tips too for hitters if
33:59
they're if they're listening about them hands so and keeping
34:02
staying back. So good stuff.
34:04
I want to switch gears if you're OK with it a little bit here.
34:06
We've talked to change ups and some off speed here pitching.
34:09
I want to talk about September 1st just happened last week
34:12
there. And I think it's, I think it's,
34:15
I don't know it maybe it's just me, but I feel like sometimes
34:18
social media, we have the fear of missing out, You know,
34:21
September 1st. I think for a lot of people,
34:24
they think that that's when offers are coming and there are
34:27
kids that do get offers absolutely right.
34:29
But that's just the start of the journey of you being able to
34:32
actually communicate with these coaches and for them to actually
34:36
get to know you as a player, you know, and that's regardless,
34:39
that's not just Division One, that's division Two and NAIA and
34:43
stuff like that too. Now, NAIA doesn't have rules
34:45
like that. Like they, we can talk to pretty
34:47
much anybody at any time, which is great, but you, you.
34:51
Cradle robbers. Right.
34:53
Yeah, but it just doesn't work that way because we know Ken,
34:56
like, you know, everybody's living the Division One dream,
34:59
you know, and and I think that's so most NAIA schools, unless the
35:03
kid knows they're already, they're going there, they're
35:05
going to commit anyway, right. But for most of them, you know,
35:09
NA is we're kind of just, we're waiting for things to kind of
35:11
unfold. And you'll see kids committing
35:14
to NAIA. Some will go early if they know
35:15
that's the school they want to be at.
35:17
Others will wait till their, you know, senior year and yeah, and
35:20
they'll see what offers they have, which is fine too.
35:22
It doesn't doesn't make a difference.
35:24
I think one thing you know is people have to understand is
35:27
like September 1st is important because these colleges,
35:30
especially when we're talking some of the mid majors, they
35:32
want to get to know you and your family.
35:35
People don't realize that that's just the start of this journey
35:38
for you in communication with these coaches.
35:40
And I think that's important because everybody thinks that
35:45
all these offers are coming on September 1st and it's, it's
35:48
just not the case. So there is contact, right?
35:50
That's the first time of contact.
35:52
And some people get that, some people won't.
35:55
I've had kids that have had zero contact on September 1st and end
35:59
up having three or four Division One offers, you know, going into
36:02
the summer, into their summer, summer season or at during their
36:06
summer season is what I should say.
36:07
So what are your thoughts on on September 1st, Ken?
36:11
Well, I think I'm going to go back to, you know, a couple of
36:13
podcasts ago where Katie McKay Phillips was talking about, you
36:17
know, her recruiting journey and she was talking about, you know,
36:20
you have the blue chippers. All right?
36:22
So, you know the one, the kids that everybody knows.
36:24
All right? They're getting all the
36:25
publicity. Everybody knows who they are.
36:27
Yeah. They're going to get offers on
36:28
September 1st. They're going to see that, but
36:31
then there's going to be a whole lot of other kids who are going
36:34
to end up playing Division One that are not going to get offers
36:38
right away because the schools are kind of saying, all right, I
36:41
put my offers out to my top prospects.
36:44
I'm going to see who wants to take it.
36:46
I mean, I've got my NIU shirt on today, my Raglan shirt.
36:51
And go Huskies. Go Huskies.
36:53
And I use them in major. So they're going to put an offer
36:56
out to a kid, but maybe that kid has Texas dreams or she has
37:00
Florida dreams or something. So she's not going to
37:03
necessarily take something right away.
37:06
But, you know, as time goes on and starts to realize that maybe
37:10
Texas and Florida are not in her future, starts looking at other
37:13
options. And you know, that's going to be
37:15
there. And then they're, like you said,
37:17
there's going to be kids who don't get any offers.
37:18
You know, they're going to maybe get a little bit of
37:20
communication or maybe they don't get anything.
37:22
It doesn't mean the door is closed.
37:24
It just means that you know, you maybe weren't the belle of the
37:27
ball. So you know, you got to get in
37:30
there, you got to put in the work, you got to contact these
37:32
coaches. Keep contacting them, include
37:35
them in your social media, post videos of what you're doing,
37:40
send them messages, go to their camps, keep working it.
37:43
It's when if you really want to be recruited, and I would say
37:47
this at any level, this isn't just Division One.
37:50
If you want to be recruited to a, you know, to play softball in
37:53
college, understand that that's your at least your part time job
37:57
now. You've got to do it and you got
37:59
to keep doing it. Kind of keep showing up like you
38:02
would if you had taken a job over at Starbucks to be a
38:05
barista. You got to be there pretty much
38:07
every day or every other day. Don't be annoying.
38:10
There's a fine line between persistent and pest, but you
38:14
know, try to judge it and you'll see what kind of responses
38:16
you're getting. See who's interested and keep in
38:19
mind that at the end of the day, yeah, it's nice to have this,
38:23
the softball dream, and it's nice for the ego boost of
38:26
playing at this big school or this well known school.
38:30
But judge it by what you want to do with the rest of your life
38:34
because even if you're in the AUSL, you know they're not set
38:38
for life. This isn't like getting an NFL
38:40
contract. You're going to make some money.
38:42
You're going to get to play softball.
38:43
It's going to be really fun. But then, you know, come Monday,
38:46
you're going to have to have a regular job.
38:49
So, you know, pick the schools that will take you to where you
38:53
want to go for the rest of your life.
38:55
Yeah, I, I agree with you. And I think part of that process
38:58
too is being open to all, all the offers you're going to get.
39:01
You know, I just recently had a kid who just committed and
39:05
believe, you know, believe it or not, she had, I think want to
39:07
say two or three Division One offers and she went on visits
39:11
and just didn't feel right and went to another.
39:14
She went to a division two school and it was just, she said
39:18
the facilities were better. She said that she just, it felt
39:22
really homey to her. And on top of it, they had her
39:25
major. And I'm like, you know what?
39:27
That's a kid who took the time to actually go through the
39:30
process and really thought about her future, not just about
39:33
playing softball. And so here's a kid who has, you
39:36
know, had three Division One offers and chose to go to
39:39
division two because it's going to benefit her later in life.
39:44
And I think, you know, that was something that was huge.
39:47
And, and I think, but I, I think we're at, in the climate of
39:50
things right now with all of the transfer portal stuff and all
39:53
that is like everybody's looking for the next step, right?
39:56
Like, you know, oh, I'm going to play at this school and I'm
39:59
going to do good there. And then there, then I'm going
40:02
to go to a bigger school now. And it's it's, it's kind of like
40:05
travel ball has trickled up a little.
40:06
Bit, if you will you. Know what I mean?
40:08
It's, it's a it's a thing. And I think one of the things
40:11
too that is interesting to me is you'll see some people posting
40:15
about, oh, thank you so much. They're taking pictures of them
40:17
on the phone with their the coaches on September 1st on
40:20
social media. And I'm like, you know what,
40:21
that good for you. You know what you've deserved
40:23
that you've worked hard. But at the same time, that
40:26
doesn't mean that any of that's going to come through.
40:28
I mean, there's colleges will will do that too.
40:31
You know, they have a lot of people they're contacting on
40:33
September 1st and either via e-mail or text messages or phone
40:37
calls. And it's like, you know, we've
40:40
gotten into that to where kids are actually posting.
40:42
They're getting offers from schools and stuff.
40:44
And it's, it's just, it's, it's a weird thing for me and I, and
40:48
I don't want it to discourage kids who did not get September
40:50
1st phone calls because just because that kid did, you know,
40:54
doesn't mean that you are not going to, you just got to stay
40:57
on the path, trust the process and you, and in the end, it's
41:01
going to end up to be what's best for you in the long run
41:04
anyway, right? And I'm, and I think that's an
41:06
important thing too. Don't let social media be the
41:09
thing that you feel you're missing out because you didn't
41:12
get offers. And that's an important thing.
41:15
It's just it's the start of communication.
41:17
I'm excited for my kids who who did get calls, but at the same
41:20
time, the ones that didn't, I said, hey, if you don't get a
41:21
call or, you know, it's fine. Like this is just the start of
41:24
it, like it's going to happen. We just got to give it time to
41:26
work through it. So I think that that's a a big
41:29
thing is, is more of that social media that like I think Rob Cruz
41:33
said, you know, the fear of missing out, right?
41:35
Like and social media does a a big part of that.
41:38
Yeah, You know, I think it was originally a Martin Luther King
41:42
quote, but I know it from Harold and Kumar.
41:44
Go to White Castle. That's a great kind of guy.
41:46
I am. But you know, the the statement
41:49
that the universe has a tendency to work out the way it should.
41:52
You may not have gotten what you wanted, but, you know, it could
41:57
turn out to be the best thing ever for you.
41:59
You, you could lead you to the path you're supposed to be on
42:03
rather than the path you thought you wanted to be on.
42:06
And I think that's important for a lot of people.
42:08
You know, you never know. I mean, one of the great things
42:10
about going to college is just the people you meet.
42:13
You may find a future employer there or a future employee or a
42:19
connection that's going to help you find your dream job someday.
42:24
You know that anybody who's playing college softball, no
42:28
matter what level they're at, is an extraordinary athlete.
42:32
You know, it's a very, very small percentage of all the
42:35
people whoever started playing softball or who even played high
42:38
school softball. I think it's like maybe 4%,
42:41
something like that. So wherever you end up playing
42:44
is going to be a good thing. And again, you may find that
42:48
it's the best, you know, it turns out to be the best thing
42:51
that could ever have been. Yeah.
42:54
You know, and I think one of the things that you mentioned about,
42:56
you know, doing the college visits and all that, I think
42:59
that that's an important thing too, because you have to get a
43:02
feel for what the school is like.
43:04
What do you, how do you react? What's your first reaction when
43:07
you step onto campus? Are you like, oh, wow, I really
43:10
love this. Or do you get a little feeling
43:12
in the pity of your stomach? Like, I'm a little uncomfortable
43:16
here. Yeah.
43:16
This isn't somewhere I'd want to go.
43:18
You'd be surprised. Sometimes people think, Oh yeah,
43:21
I want to go to this big school because it's a big name and
43:26
it'll show that I'm a great softball player.
43:28
But then you go there and you think, Oh my gosh, I'm
43:31
overwhelmed here. You go to a place like Saint
43:34
Xavier where it's, it's smaller and it's, you know, more, for
43:39
lack of a better word, homie. And you know, you sit there and
43:42
you say, Oh yeah, I love this atmosphere.
43:45
So where do you want to spend your next four years and
43:49
hopefully 4, you know, 456, whatever it is, 7 years of
43:53
college down the drain. Where do you want to spend that
43:55
time? Somewhere where you're going to
43:57
feel at home and with people that kind of think like you or
44:01
that you are comfortable with? Or do you want to spend it
44:05
somewhere where you feel like, oh gosh, I don't fit in here?
44:10
Yep, I agree and that that was a that was a great little AD in
44:14
there seven years of college. Most people won't know that
44:18
movie, but however I I do and that was that was way to slide
44:21
that one in there Ken, that was great.
44:23
That's my job. That was great.
44:24
That was great. It was absolutely great and what
44:26
a great movie. I see not going to watch that
44:28
this weekend just again so. For those who don't get the
44:31
reference, that was Animal House.
44:32
Great movie, great movie. Just laughing about it as soon
44:36
as I heard you say it. Now there's a couple things I
44:40
want to do. I want to give some advice to
44:42
some of the kids, hopefully that or parents, it is crucial that
44:47
not only your kid is sending emails to coaches, but it is
44:51
crucial that every kid on your team is sending emails to
44:55
coaches. And I'm going to explain to you
44:57
why, right? Long time, long time ago, can I?
45:02
I saw Carol Boogeman, who spoke at the Chicago Clinic up here.
45:06
She was the associate head coach at the University of Louisville.
45:09
It's probably 2013. 2014 is when I saw her and at the end of at
45:15
the end of her, she was doing outfield drills and at the end
45:18
of her presentation, she said, Hey, if you're ever, you know,
45:22
University of Louisville around and you want to come to a
45:24
practice, feel free to reach out with an e-mail and you know,
45:27
we'll invite you out there. So my wife and my, my wife is
45:30
from Louisville. My in laws still live down there
45:32
and they're just probably a little bit South of University
45:35
of Louisville. So my wife graduated from there
45:37
and I'm, you know, I'm like, you know what?
45:39
I'm doing it. We're going to go down, we're
45:40
going to go visit the in laws in the fall and we're going to go
45:43
and I'm going to reach out to to Carolyn.
45:45
Sure enough, I did. She's like, absolutely.
45:48
Meet me here, right by Homer Stadium.
45:50
I meet her there, go out. I'm in the circle, right?
45:53
And and so I'm talking her and there's this second baseman that
45:56
was playing there at the time and she was great.
45:59
Like you could just see she was in all, I think like a second
46:02
team all American or junior year.
46:04
And I'm like, man, I'm like that that kid can just go.
46:07
She's like, yeah, she goes. You know what the funny story
46:09
is? She goes, we were out recruiting
46:11
a pitcher and we ended up seeing her play and we're like, we've
46:16
got to get this kid. And so here's my point.
46:19
That pitcher sent an e-mail out. They ended up getting the
46:21
pitcher as well, too. However, here they are.
46:25
They come out to see the pitcher and they see this second baseman
46:27
who ended up being an All American, the University of
46:29
Louisville. And I think that's, that's huge,
46:33
huge. And the reason that is, again,
46:35
when you're sending emails out to coaches and the other team,
46:38
other players are sending emails out to coaches, you never know
46:41
where your kid might end up. So if your, your kid is sending
46:45
emails out to say, you know, some division ones, division
46:48
twos and they come and see your kid and they see somebody else
46:52
on that team, they're going to, you know, recruit both of you.
46:55
Or it could be vice versa. The pitcher who's on the team is
46:58
sending out all these emails to all these schools.
47:01
They may come out looking at that picture and recruit your
47:03
kid. So you need to make sure that
47:06
your entire team is sending emails and connecting with
47:09
coaches because it's, you know, I hate to say it's not just
47:12
about you. Hopefully it ends up for you
47:14
that that school come to see you.
47:15
They like you too. However, you know, there's other
47:18
people that we want to, to come out and see you to play as well
47:21
too. So having everybody on your team
47:24
send emails out to these coaches or connect with these coaches to
47:27
come out and watch them, it's important.
47:29
And you'll see, it's funny how some of these those teams will
47:31
have two kids going to the same school, right?
47:34
That just didn't magically happen.
47:35
They came to see one of them and like them both and they're both
47:38
going there now. And I think that's an important
47:40
thing. Remember to send emails and send
47:43
those text messages. If you're past September 1st,
47:46
updating your schedules, inviting the coach to come out
47:49
and see you. Those are important things, you
47:51
know, not just for you, but for your entire team.
47:53
So make sure that you guys are doing that.
47:56
What are your thoughts on that, Ken?
47:57
Yeah, no, I think because that's that's a good thing too, is
48:00
that, you know, talk to your teammates, find out where
48:02
they're trying to go, especially, you know, if it's
48:06
non competing. So, you know, if if all the
48:09
pitchers are trying to get to the same place, you know, maybe
48:12
maybe that helps the coach to or convince the coach to come out.
48:16
But it probably reduces your chances of being selected
48:19
because you'll be one of four instead of the one they came to
48:21
see. But if you're a pitcher in a
48:23
second baseman or a catcher in an outfielder kind of doing
48:27
those things, you know, hopefully you have friends on
48:29
the team. Talk to your friends, see what
48:31
they are doing, where they're going.
48:34
Maybe if the coach figures, hey, you know, these seem like, you
48:37
know, two or three players here that I might be interested in.
48:40
I, you know, can I've got limited time.
48:43
So if I can look at three players at once that sound like
48:46
they would be interesting here rather than just one, you know,
48:49
maybe that's a good idea. Same thing with going to camps.
48:53
You know, if you can show a little bit of a presence there,
48:55
you know, two or three kids there that they can be
48:57
interested in and maybe want to follow along, that's more
49:01
incentive for the coaches to do it because again, there's
49:05
recruiting restrictions. They only have so many days they
49:08
can be out on the road. They only have so much time they
49:10
can spend doing these things. So if you make it more efficient
49:14
for them, you probably increase your odds of getting seen.
49:18
Would you agree? Yeah, absolutely could not agree
49:21
more with you, Ken, could not agree more with you.
49:22
So I just think it's important for for people to understand how
49:25
how that works. Like a lot of times you're going
49:28
to look at one kid, which you like and you you're probably
49:30
going to recruit. However, you're still looking
49:32
for other kids. And I say this all the time.
49:35
This is what drives me crazy a little bit.
49:36
Ken is talking about recruiting here.
49:38
Just a little bit more is a lot of people say, oh, you know,
49:41
there's recruiting is not happening.
49:43
A lot of 18 you and I'm like, that is not true whatsoever.
49:46
Because let's talk about this for a second.
49:48
You have, you know, I'm going to use one of my my former players,
49:52
Lexi Johnson, who's out at Toledo.
49:54
Hopefully she's doing well out there.
49:55
I I I'll send a text message out to all my freshmen the first
49:59
couple weeks because it's a huge transition.
50:02
People don't really realize the transition and that's another
50:05
topic we can get into in a second or can.
50:07
But what I wanted to go back to his, you know, when Lexi was
50:10
going through her recruitment, she would have Toledo would come
50:13
see her. And while they're there, there's
50:16
other kids on that 18 U team that are not committed.
50:18
So they're looking at other kids on that team too.
50:20
Or same thing with, you know, like the University of Dayton
50:23
would come out and watch her and that's how they actually saw
50:25
hers. They had already had a catcher
50:28
on her team that was committed to Dayton.
50:30
So Dayton came out and they saw Lexi.
50:33
And so Lexi went on a visit to Dayton and you know, and that's
50:37
how it kind of works. And that's at 18 U.
50:39
So it just because your kids playing 18U doesn't mean that
50:42
they're not going to get recruited.
50:44
College coaches come out to see the kids that they recruited
50:47
because they want to see them play.
50:49
Then when they're doing that, then they're looking at other
50:51
kids on that team that could be a fit or then they'll go with
50:55
the whoever's on their list and and what not.
50:57
But so for people to say that kids don't get recruited when
51:00
they're in at 18 U is not correct whatsoever.
51:03
A lot of times that's how things happen is through there.
51:06
What really is there people are are need to say is there's there
51:09
are more kids playing at 16U, right?
51:12
So of course there's more kids to look at right at that age
51:16
because usually at 16 U kids are kind of making decisions about
51:21
life at that time. Am I going to continue to play
51:24
and try to do this? Or is this it for me and I'm
51:26
done and I'm just going to go to school?
51:28
That happens a lot. So the pool of talent at 16 U is
51:32
greater. Doesn't mean it's better.
51:34
It's greater, right? So you know, that's where you're
51:37
going to get more kids on the list.
51:38
That kind of things that you're looking at.
51:40
However, 18 you still has kids who are uncommitted and you have
51:44
these schools that are coming to watch the kids that they did
51:47
commit and they're still looking for others.
51:49
So don't give up. Even if you are not recruited at
51:53
16, you right, the pool is bigger, there's more kids, but
51:56
sometimes you can get lost in a big pool, right?
51:59
And sometimes it needs to be a smaller pool of you being there
52:03
in front of the coaches. At the 18 U level, you'll
52:05
always, if you look at the tournaments you'll go, you'll
52:07
see the 18 U always has less teams than the sixteens and the
52:10
fourteens, just because that's when kids are making decisions
52:13
at the end of that 16 U season for a lot of them.
52:16
So that's just something to take take into consideration too.
52:19
Don't give up even though you didn't get anything when you
52:22
were playing 16. Yeah.
52:24
Well, and the other thing, you know, at 18 U is that sometimes
52:27
these these schools come out, you know, things happen.
52:31
They committed a kid. All of a sudden the kid decides
52:33
they don't want to go that far away, or they decide that the
52:38
school doesn't have the major they want or their boyfriend or
52:42
girlfriend or whoever is going somewhere else and they want to
52:45
be with them. Or, you know, one of their
52:48
prospects, you know, somebody that they committed gets hurt
52:52
and they're not going to be able to play.
52:54
You know, I mean, there's all kinds of things that can happen.
52:57
So all of a sudden these colleges are scrambling.
52:59
They're saying, OK, I need a kid this year.
53:03
So, you know, I, I don't know, I know you're on field level.
53:07
And in fact, I sent you an invite to to hook up there just
53:11
for fun. But, you know, you look on field
53:13
level and you see what are they looking for?
53:15
A lot of them are looking for kids right now and somebody to
53:19
come in and step into a role for the spring season in 2026.
53:24
They had injuries, they had a kid, got homesick, you know, and
53:28
left. There's a lot of things that are
53:30
going on. So it's if you really are
53:32
determined to do it and you really want to play, you just
53:35
got to keep after it. Yep, Yep.
53:38
So last thing I want to talk about today, Ken, is I want to
53:40
talk about the transition from high school and travel ball into
53:45
the college level. So this is something I do every
53:49
year and I do it just with all of my kids, not just the
53:52
freshmen, but specifically the freshmen are the 1st that I, I
53:55
always try to contact. And I, it's a, it is a big
53:58
transition when you are, you have been living at home for
54:02
your entire life and now you're away.
54:05
And it is a big transition for kids.
54:08
And it is one where it's probably the most stressful.
54:11
They miss their family. So I just try to send text
54:13
messages to them asking how things are going, you know, how
54:16
the transition is going and those kinds of things.
54:19
So it's important to realize and I think, you know, if any kids
54:23
are listening to this, this is where you have to kind of make
54:25
sure that where you're going, you are going to be comfortable
54:28
being that far away from your parents, right?
54:31
Your parents and your family and your friends.
54:33
It's a it's a big thing. And I think, you know, it's
54:37
important to make sure you know, for all of us, even if, even if
54:41
your teammates right, like that you played travel ball with or
54:44
high school with, like reach out to each other, check in on each
54:48
other, because it is a big transition when you're a college
54:51
freshman. It, it's a whole different
54:53
thing. And especially at the, you know,
54:56
not to say Division One or division two, but like at any
54:58
level, the responsibilities are greater than you can imagine,
55:03
right? You got to be up at 5:30 every
55:04
morning for six O clock weights. You've got to go to practice for
55:07
a few hours. You've got to go do your, your
55:09
homework. Sometimes you got to help work
55:11
at camp, right? All those things that, that is a
55:14
big transition coming from high school ball.
55:17
After practice, you go home, lay in your bed and do your
55:19
homework, right? You get up and all your meals
55:21
are there and all. It's a big transition and just
55:24
make sure you guys are reaching out to your teammates, checking
55:27
in on all your kids. I just, I, I send them all a
55:30
text message, even my, even my sophomores, you know, and, and
55:34
I've even got seniors this year that are in college and it's, I
55:37
reach out to them too, just because you know, it's their
55:39
senior year. It's, it's, it's a very
55:42
emotional time for them because they're, they're called their
55:45
college and softball career is going to come to an end.
55:47
And I want to make sure that you know that they're, they're good
55:50
to go and, and all that too. And I reach out to the families
55:52
as well, too. And I think that's important.
55:54
Make sure you're checking in with your players and seeing how
55:57
they're doing. It's, it's a, it's a ginormous
55:59
transition from that, from that period.
56:01
And so make sure coaches, pitching coaches that, you know,
56:06
you're reaching out and hitting coaches, travel ball coaches,
56:09
you're reaching out to the kids. Don't make this whole thing
56:11
transactional. Make it more about the people.
56:15
And I, you know, I think that's a lot of people do that like,
56:17
oh, you know, they graduated. Oh, we're just done with them,
56:20
right? We just wash your hands and on
56:21
to the next group. And it's it's not, yeah, it's
56:24
not, it's not how it's supposed to be.
56:26
You know, you, you need to check in.
56:27
You need to go see him play if you can.
56:29
And, and those are important things.
56:30
So just just some advice there. Ken, what do you, what do you,
56:33
what do you think about that? Well, I was just going to say
56:37
that, you know, especially for the freshman, just making the
56:39
transition from high school to to college without sports is a
56:45
big thing. Like you say, you know, all of a
56:47
sudden you're, you're responsible for yourself.
56:50
Nobody's going to be after you to go to classes.
56:52
Nobody's going to be calling your parents saying you didn't
56:56
show up today. You know, you're just, you have
56:58
that option. You can go or not go, but it's
57:02
going to ultimately be reflected in your grades.
57:04
If you're not going, it'll become very obvious.
57:07
So, you know, things like that, like you said, you know, just
57:10
getting to meals, even if you're going, if you're living in a
57:12
dorm and they have a cafeteria, you have to go get that meal.
57:17
You have to make sure you're taking care of yourself, doing
57:20
all those things. Now you added in the
57:22
responsibilities of playing ball and you know you have all those
57:27
other things that you have to do.
57:28
And the coach is probably going to say, hey, I want you sitting
57:32
up in the front of the classroom.
57:34
And, you know, they're going to have people checking on that
57:36
kind of thing. They will be communicating with
57:38
the teachers to make sure that you're making grades, that
57:42
you're doing all the work you're supposed to be doing in the
57:44
classroom. Because if you're declared
57:46
ineligible, you're useless to them.
57:48
And if, you know, if they gave you money to come there on top
57:50
of it, that was money that was wasted.
57:52
So they really don't like to to waste the money they don't have,
57:56
you know, that kind of money to waste.
57:57
It's easy to become homesick. It's easy to miss your friends
58:01
from school. You haven't really made new
58:04
friends yet, or you've kind of made some friends, but you don't
58:07
really know them that well. There's a whole lot of stuff
58:10
that can go on. They can play into it.
58:12
So very important to keep those kind of those ties going in
58:15
there, help with that transition, get people
58:18
comfortable. I think for college coaches,
58:21
some realize it and I think some don't.
58:23
You know, make sure that your kids are doing OK.
58:26
You know, check in on them as people, not just as chess
58:29
pieces. You know, you can try to
58:32
recognize it. And, you know, a lot of times
58:34
the people who are most depressed are the ones who don't
58:36
show it, you know, at all. They put on this brave face when
58:40
they're out there, but then they have some problems.
58:42
So check in, have your upperclassmen work with them.
58:47
Build that whole team thing so that those kids that are coming
58:50
in know that they're being cared for, that people are interested
58:54
in them. And they can, you know, check in
58:57
at the same time to make sure they're doing all the things
58:59
that they should do so that it becomes an easier transition and
59:04
you, your investment in them, whatever it was, pays off in the
59:07
spring. Yep, great advice Ken.
59:10
I couldn't agree more. Well, I think that's a good,
59:14
good spot to stop here, Ken. We think we covered a lot of
59:16
good topics. They hopefully people taking
59:18
some notes excited and can't wait to see you next Saturday at
59:23
our games. Hopefully weather works out for
59:25
us and all that stuff. I'll make sure I introduce you
59:27
to Aaron, our head coach. She's amazing, so it'll be a
59:32
good time. Well, good, good.
59:33
I hope to be able to get down there.
59:35
That's that's my plan right now. Take a little bit of time and
59:39
enjoy, enjoy some of that and gets just get to hang out with
59:42
you a little bit again, Jay, That'll be awesome.
59:44
It's been a while, so we got to do it for sure.
59:46
Yep, all righty. Well, that's it for us this
59:49
week. Thanks to all of you for
59:51
listening and the kind words you've been sharing with us.
59:54
If you like what you're hearing, Please remember to give us a
59:56
like, leave a comment and share this podcast on your social
1:00:00
media channels. Make sure you never miss an
1:00:02
episode by following us on your favorite podcast platform too.
1:00:06
More followers we get, the better off we're going to be,
1:00:09
the more we're going to be able to be found.
1:00:12
If you're so inclined, you can also leave us a great review on
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Apple Podcasts to help more people find us.
1:00:17
On behalf of the From the Coaches Mouth podcast, have a
1:00:21
great rest of your week and weekend.