Latest / Let's Talk with Carl Lee / A Chat with WVSU Baseball Coach Sean Lloyd

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A Chat with WVSU Baseball Coach Sean Lloyd · Let's Talk with Carl Lee

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you gotta work. You gotta work, right sign, It's
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: mine gotta show.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Everybody is my time. Can't you gotta work?
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Cry Sin another mind Talking Dogs day Line, Don't talk,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: you gotta Burt.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Welcome to Let's Talk with Carl Lee. Let's Talk is
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: probably presented by Attorney Frank Walker. Real Talk, Real experience,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Real results, Frank Walker Law dot Com. Let that conversation
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: begin on Let's Talk.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: Hello, ladies and gentlemen. This is Carl Lee with Let's Talk.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: And uh, today is one of those kind of shows
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: that I'm gonna own. I'm gonna own up to it
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: right off the bat that you know this is gonna be.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: A baseball show.
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  Speaker 5: Yes, absolutely, And I basically know all things.
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  Speaker 4: I know very little about baseball, but at least we
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: have a guest that that that does. So I have
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: list Ode in the in the studio with me today
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  Speaker 4: and Hollis Lewis is on the line. Hello, Hello, and
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: we'll have Sean will have Sean Lloyd also on the line.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: And let me give a quick bio from him.
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  Speaker 2: He's been a head coach for twelve years.
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  Speaker 4: Actually has the most wins in in the M E C.
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  Speaker 4: Baseball of baseball coaches, two Emmy C Championships, two n
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  Speaker 4: C Double A appearances, twenty years as an assistant coach
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  Speaker 4: under Cal Bailey, the Great Cal Bailey.
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  Speaker 6: Sean, are you there, buddy, I'm here.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: You doing, I'm doing, good man. It's nice talking to you.
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  Speaker 6: Yep.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely, And I know you know probably how little I
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  Speaker 4: know about baseball.
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  Speaker 2: I think, I think, but I work my way in
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  Speaker 2: I I.
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  Speaker 4: Uh and and I'll get my justification for why I
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: know very little about it. A buddy of mine, I've
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: said this probably before on the show. A buddy of
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: mine got hit in the back by by a dude
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: named Jack mctheeney, and he showed me his back. And literally,
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: to this day, Sean, I would never want to back in.
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  Speaker 6: Baseball comfortable trying to tackle Roger Craig.
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  Speaker 2: I absolutely would.
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  Speaker 7: That was your baseball guy.
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  Speaker 2: That nold white ball. I can't do anything with it.
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  Speaker 4: Oh boy, So Sean, we're you know here we are.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: We're looking at her at baseball season championships, taking on.
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  Speaker 2: We got you got w you going.
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  Speaker 7: We got the regional line.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we got the regional.
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  Speaker 4: So when you watch this is my question, like when
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: you watch baseball like what do you do you dissect
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  Speaker 4: it like most coaches or do you can you watch
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  Speaker 4: it and just enjoy it?
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  Speaker 6: No, I have a hard time watching and just enjoying it.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 6: My family we normally go to we're all Mets fans, okay,
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: which which is rough, but we normally try to go
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  Speaker 6: to like Cincinnati or Pittsburgh or Cleveland when they play
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  Speaker 6: them to watch. And I have a hard time just
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  Speaker 6: relaxing and watching them because I'm watching everything else. Uh,
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  Speaker 6: being at the ballpark, Like that's actually a really big
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  Speaker 6: distraction for me. Just too much, too much going on
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  Speaker 6: that I'm not interested in. But uh, yeah, it's it's
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  Speaker 6: hard to watch for me, Like just as a casual fan,
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  Speaker 6: I have a hard time watching it like that.
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  Speaker 5: I could definitely see that coach, thank you so much
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  Speaker 5: for being on the podcast tonight with us.
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  Speaker 7: We appreciate it absolutely.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: So I'm going to go back to your your twenty
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  Speaker 5: years as as an assistant coach to caw Bailey at State.
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  Speaker 5: You know, you played a major role in the ascent
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  Speaker 5: of West Virginia State University baseball into the to the
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  Speaker 5: ranks of the of the country's you know, elite NCAA
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  Speaker 5: Vision two programs while you were a hitting coach for them,
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  Speaker 5: And sometimes my research is wrong, so please correct me
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  Speaker 5: if I'm wrong. You were a hitting coach for the
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  Speaker 5: Yellow Jackets, and at some point during that tenure you
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  Speaker 5: led the nation imbatting average, home runs, slugging percentage, and
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  Speaker 5: scoring scoring and that was at the conclusion of like
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  Speaker 5: three separate seasons.
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  Speaker 7: Is that correct?
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  Speaker 6: It sounds right.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, you don't have too Yeah, please please do not.
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  Speaker 7: You know it's singor praises. We will, we definitely will.
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  Speaker 5: So so what kind of coaching strategies did you use
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  Speaker 5: to help those players reach, you know, those levels of success?
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  Speaker 2: And I got a follow up question that you're going
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  Speaker 2: to enjoy after.
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  Speaker 8: You Okay, yes, I mean, first of all, it was
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  Speaker 8: it was a lot easier than probably other coaches had
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  Speaker 8: with other programs because we had good players.
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  Speaker 6: We had really good players. We had guys that were
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  Speaker 6: uh and carl through coaching. You know, when you've got
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  Speaker 6: guys that that are talented but work extremely hard and
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  Speaker 6: take take a craft very very seriously. I mean the
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  Speaker 6: teaching parts really easy and uh, but you know, we
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  Speaker 6: worked at it. I mean we we did a ton
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  Speaker 6: of batting practice and a ton of extra work and
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  Speaker 6: all that. So, you know, I'm a firm believer in
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  Speaker 6: time on task equals learning. So the more time you
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  Speaker 6: spend it something, the better at it you should be.
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  Speaker 6: So our thing was to just try to grind as
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  Speaker 6: much as we can every day and show progress. I mean,
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  Speaker 6: our motto was kind of after every day, we have
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  Speaker 6: to show progress. And you know, when you get three
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  Speaker 6: or four guys that are hungry and want to do that,
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  Speaker 6: it just kind of spills into everybody else. And we
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  Speaker 6: were always lucky that our best player was typically our
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  Speaker 6: hardest worker. And when you have that, that's that you know,
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  Speaker 6: that permeates within the rest of the team. When you're
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  Speaker 6: best guy, the obviously you know, most talented guy on
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  Speaker 6: the team works harder than anybody else, everybody else picks
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  Speaker 6: up the pace a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 4: I was going to ask a crazy question, but I'm
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  Speaker 4: going to actually come back because as I listened to you,
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  Speaker 4: I'm thinking about cal Bailey and his role there with you, Like,
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  Speaker 4: what was that actually like for you to you know,
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  Speaker 4: coaching with him.
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  Speaker 6: Well, in the beginning, it was really rough.
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  Speaker 2: I can imagine.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, because you know, I was I just had
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  Speaker 6: student teaching left, and you know, I was out of eligibility.
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  Speaker 6: So he asked me to help him, and I said,
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  Speaker 6: you know, great, I'll help. And he said, okay, you're
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  Speaker 6: going to coach the hitters, you're going to coach the catchers,
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  Speaker 6: and you're going to coach third base in the games.
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  Speaker 6: And I said, well, I've literally never done any of
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  Speaker 6: those things. He said, well, I'd get the work if
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  Speaker 6: I were you. So, I mean, he was. He was
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  Speaker 6: tough in the beginning, but you know, with him and Carl,
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  Speaker 6: you knew him well. With him, you had to have
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  Speaker 6: credibility with him and he had to trust you, and
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  Speaker 6: it took a while to get that. I mean, I
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  Speaker 6: think it was probably my sixth year coaching with him
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  Speaker 6: before he was like, okay, I think you're squared away now.
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  Speaker 6: So but no, it was a lot of fun, and
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  Speaker 6: you know, he was a fun guy to be around.
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  Speaker 6: But he was also just yeah, he was very intelligent,
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  Speaker 6: but he had so much common sense, uh, which I
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  Speaker 6: think the world's lacking right now. But he you know,
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  Speaker 6: he was a great mentor. He always took time, you know,
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  Speaker 6: if I didn't understand something or needed help with something,
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  Speaker 6: you know, I just had to ask and he would
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  Speaker 6: take time and he was just, uh, you know, just
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  Speaker 6: a great coach, great guy. I missing him every day,
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  Speaker 6: and you know, it was it was a lot of fun.
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  Speaker 6: We won a lot of games together, and it was
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  Speaker 6: it was a lot of fun.
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  Speaker 9: Hey, coach, this is this is Hollis. It's always good
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  Speaker 9: to talk, always good to talk to you. So I
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  Speaker 9: also want to ask a question about the state of
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  Speaker 9: baseball when we look and I think baseball as a whole,
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  Speaker 9: particularly at the major league level, it's suffered from the
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  Speaker 9: same thing I say basketball suffering, but it's got internationalized,
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  Speaker 9: which is is good on one hand, but it's it
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  Speaker 9: could be a negative one one on the other hand
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  Speaker 9: when it comes to the American audience. And when we
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  Speaker 9: talked about, you know, baseball particularly is thriving at the
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  Speaker 9: college level, but when we look at sort of the
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  Speaker 9: youth level, and what I didn't realize is to do
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  Speaker 9: on a little research, is how expensive baseball got. And
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  Speaker 9: it used to be a recreational game where you go
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  Speaker 9: in your neighborhood and you play for your local like
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  Speaker 9: red team, and it was maybe one of the least
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  Speaker 9: expensive sports to play. So my question is, and it's
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  Speaker 9: a little bit long winded, but how can we get
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  Speaker 9: American kids back to being baseball players?
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  Speaker 6: That's a great question. You know, if I were coming
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  Speaker 6: up today, I wouldn't be able to play in the
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  Speaker 6: summer because my parents wouldn't have been able to afford
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  Speaker 6: for me to play on some of these travel here.
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  Speaker 6: And you know, I had three daughters that all play
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  Speaker 6: travel softball, and my wife and I still can't figure
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  Speaker 6: out how we pulled it off financially. So I think
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  Speaker 6: the big thing is is making baseball available and affordable,
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  Speaker 6: you know, for kids to be able to participate. I mean,
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  Speaker 6: you know now it's in a lot of cases it's
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  Speaker 6: an upper middle class sport, and uh, you know softball
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  Speaker 6: is the same way, and it's just expensive. You know,
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  Speaker 6: we were paying I think at one time, six hundred
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  Speaker 6: dollars per kid, you know, wow, girls who played softball,
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  Speaker 6: and you know we hadn't even bought a meal, put
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  Speaker 6: a tank of gas in a car, or stayed in
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  Speaker 6: a hotel yet. So I think the biggest thing is
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  Speaker 6: just making it more available. And you touched on how
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  Speaker 6: it's we've lost in the baseball sense. I don't know
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  Speaker 6: how it is with like au basketball or anything like that,
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  Speaker 6: but in a baseball sense, we've lost a feel of community. Yeah,
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  Speaker 6: because it used to be you know, Saint Alban's kids
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  Speaker 6: played with Saint Alban's kids, Nitro kids played with Nitro kids,
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  Speaker 6: GW kids played with GW kids. And now they you
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  Speaker 6: know a lot of the kids, you know, play on
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  Speaker 6: travel teams that aren't even in this state. Uh so,
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  Speaker 6: you know, and if enough of them do that, then
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  Speaker 6: a lot of times those those communities don't have teams
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  Speaker 6: in the summertime. I think high school ball, you know,
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  Speaker 6: buy and large is pretty much the same, but the
• 11:15
  Speaker 6: summer playing opportunities I think are a lot a lot
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  Speaker 6: less now for kids than they were when I was
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  Speaker 6: growing up. Of course, when you know, when I was
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: growing up, you know, we had a local team and
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: you know, the you've got a sponsored to buy, you know,
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  Speaker 6: one set of uniforms, and you know, the coach brought
• 11:34
  Speaker 6: the water jug and you know, the coach had to
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: development three bats and four helmets. I remember asking my coach,
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  Speaker 6: why do we only have four helmets? He said, well,
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: that's the bases loaded and a guy bat and that's
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: all we need. That's the most you need, you know,
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  Speaker 6: you just don't. You don't have that now, and you
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  Speaker 6: know it's uh, you know, I've seen kids rolling the
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: travel ball tournaments and they've got four bats and that there. Yeah, yeah,
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: and yeah, that's two grand right.
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  Speaker 9: You know that was the most surprising part because what
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  Speaker 9: I didn't because you know, when I was playing baseball,
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  Speaker 9: you know, the team had the bat, they had pretty
• 12:16
  Speaker 9: much all the equipment, and I didn't realize now with
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  Speaker 9: these travel teams and organizations, like everybody has to buy
• 12:21
  Speaker 9: their own bad and they buy basically everything. And I
• 12:25
  Speaker 9: guess my point in wanting to ask that question is
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  Speaker 9: like when we look at at show hal Tani, which
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  Speaker 9: I had the pleasure of seeing last year. He's a
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  Speaker 9: phenomenal athlete and probably maybe one of the best athletes
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  Speaker 9: in his country, but we're not getting our absolute top
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  Speaker 9: athletes to play baseball. When you think back in the day,
• 12:43
  Speaker 9: when you're looking at like Danny James or Dave Winfield
• 12:47
  Speaker 9: or Deon Sanders, you're talking about guys who could play
• 12:50
  Speaker 9: professionally at multiple sports, just really really good athletes that
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  Speaker 9: still play baseball. So to your point, I think we
• 12:57
  Speaker 9: definitely have to figure out a way, And like I said,
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  Speaker 9: I think this goes for basketball as well, just to
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  Speaker 9: bring it back more localized so everybody has the opportunity
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  Speaker 9: to play well.
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  Speaker 6: And in high schools too. You know a lot of
• 13:10
  Speaker 6: times the coaches are asking kids to specialize. Sure, you
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: know they're they're asking kids to you know, I need
• 13:16
  Speaker 6: you doing the you know, in the summer, I need
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: you lifting, and I need you running, and we're going
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: to be in seven and seven and seven tournaments and
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: you know, I need you playing AAU basketball and things
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  Speaker 6: like that. So kids aren't playing multiple sports anymore, which
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  Speaker 6: I think, uh, you know, multiple sport athletes are. I
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  Speaker 6: mean I love them. I mean I've had kids that
• 13:37
  Speaker 6: were excellent football players, basketball players, wrestlers, soccer players, because
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: you know, I think in whatever sport you play, there's
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  Speaker 6: going to be an advantage that you get in that
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  Speaker 6: sport that's going to help you in another sport, whether
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: it be footwork or strength or uh. You know, I
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: love kids that wrestle because those kids, you know, when
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: you wrestle, there's no one to blame if you don't
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  Speaker 6: do well. So those kids mentally are a little bit
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: tougher sometimes because you know, they've had their behinds on
• 14:09
  Speaker 6: the line a lot more. But I wish kids would
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: play more sports.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: You know, and I have son, I've said the same thing.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: I think wrestling is really the premier sport of today
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: because kids take the responsibility when they lose because it's
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: all them. And today, whether it's the parent, whether it's
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: the kid, if you're on a team sport, no matter
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: what the sport is, it's somebody else. It's never my
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: child is never going to be the one who who
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: calls us to lose. And and and I think teams
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: lose all the time. I don't think individuals lose. Even
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: if you're the last batter up and you need one
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  Speaker 4: more run and you don't make the hit, you didn't
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: have to be in that situation, you know, So I
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: don't think that you can blame that kid for striking out.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: It's still becomes a team a team sport. But I
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: think today parents, hand or kids think it is just
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: one thing, one one one spot, one thing. You didn't
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: hit it, you didn't you threw a bad pitch, you
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: didn't catch the ball.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Whatever the case may be. And I don't even know
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: how we get.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: Back to it being a team ownership of winning and losing.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know how we get that.
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: Well I don't either, And I think too that in
• 15:39
  Speaker 6: most cases, I don't think people realize whether you're playing football, basketball, baseball, soccer,
• 15:46
  Speaker 6: you know, whatever you're playing. Uh, it's really hard, and
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: you know, it's hard to have success, and it's even
• 15:54
  Speaker 6: harder to have consistent success. And I think, especially like
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: at the college, well, I know, you know, people will
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: look at I don't know if you guys saw the
• 16:05
  Speaker 6: situation the other night with the University of Georgia. The
• 16:08
  Speaker 6: young man hit the home run and then got ejected,
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: and so you know, I think people look at these
• 16:17
  Speaker 6: these kids and they look like men. I mean, they
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: look like grown men, and I think that we forget
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: sometimes they're kids. And the thing that happens, the kid
• 16:28
  Speaker 6: normally shows up at the worst possible time, and you know,
• 16:33
  Speaker 6: in this young man's case for all the world to see.
• 16:36
  Speaker 6: But you know, I think that these expectations they put
• 16:40
  Speaker 6: on eighteen nineteen year old kids that they're always going
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: to make the right choice and do the right thing.
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: I mean, I don't know how you guys were when
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: you were eighteen or nineteen, but I know, I didn't
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: do the right thing on a lot of a case.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: So I don't even want to say, you got to
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: speak for yourselves.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: I don't even want to talk about that job.
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  Speaker 6: But you know, I think the expectations they put on
• 17:08
  Speaker 6: them are just insane. That they've got to have this
• 17:11
  Speaker 6: perfect behavior and then when they do make a mistake,
• 17:15
  Speaker 6: you always your way as a bad kid. Well, let
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: me tell you, I've seen plenty of good kids make
• 17:20
  Speaker 6: a lot of mistakes. And not just on the field,
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: you know, with making plays and stuff like that, but
• 17:25
  Speaker 6: just you know, get caught up in the wrong situation
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  Speaker 6: and mess up. I mean, it happens. And you know,
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: I think that's why, you know, with parents and with
• 17:36
  Speaker 6: you know, coaches, especially at the youth level. I mean,
• 17:39
  Speaker 6: we've got to allow kids to be able to fail,
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: and we've got to allow for explanations and help when
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: they do fail for the coaches, you know, to to
• 17:52
  Speaker 6: help them along. And you know, the most dangerous time
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: for a youth athlete is the car ride home with
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: their parents. That's where they hear how stupid the coach is,
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: or how the coach plays favorites, or how the coach
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: didn't do this, or how the coach didn't do that,
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: and you know, it's like anything else. The more you
• 18:12
  Speaker 6: hear that, you know, the more you kind of think
• 18:16
  Speaker 6: it that you know that it's so, and you know,
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: so I think that you know, I don't ever blame
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: or disparage parents for you know, having an interest in
• 18:28
  Speaker 6: their their son or daughter and want them to do well.
• 18:32
  Speaker 6: But just allow them to make mistakes, allow them to
• 18:36
  Speaker 6: not have success, and let's see how they bounce back,
• 18:40
  Speaker 6: you know, and the resilient if you let them right.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: And to that point, I would like to think that.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: When kids make mistakes, that the conversation isn't so much
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: about you made the mistake. Are you even aware of
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: the mistake that you made? Are you aware of what
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: you did wrong? Those types of things, to me, are
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: are are better for the athlete to try to figure
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: out what did I do wrong? What didn't I do
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: that I should have done that I've been coached to do.
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: But just yelling and screaming at a kid because he's wrong,
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: you know again, and I and I'm gonna go to
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: football at what I know. Most when you get beat
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: for a touchdown, nobody's trying to get beat for a touchdown.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: That's the that's the last thing that we want to do.
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: And it's the And then everybody's like blaming you because
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: you got beat Jerry Rice beats you in the end zone.
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: Well it's not just like Joe blow beat you. And
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: and and I don't understand why that why you can't
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: think that through and realize that those things are going
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: to have those are just part of the game.
• 20:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, And I think go ahead. I'm sorry, no, no, no,
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: I was just going to say I think that a
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: lot of times. You know, we've got to be able
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: to let kids be kids. We've got to just let
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: them play, especially at the youth level, you know, give
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: them a chance to discover things for themselves a little
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: bit and let them figure it out for themselves a
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: little bit.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: And I've always and I'm not saying I was the
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: perfect parent, but you know, I had three girls that
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: were really good softball players, and the only thing I
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: ever asked them after a game was that you have fun?
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: Where do you want to eat? And you know, I never,
• 20:46
  Speaker 6: I never. If they asked me, I would give them
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: my opinion. If they didn't ask me, then I took
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: that because they didn't want my opinion. And you know,
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: they would always ask me when they played well, right,
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: so when they didn't play well, they didn't ask me.
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: And I just figured that the reason they didn't ask
• 21:03
  Speaker 6: me is they already knew they didn't play well and
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: you didn't need to. They didn't need me to reinforce that.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:11
  Speaker 7: Yeah, So go ahead, Hollis. I'm sorry.
• 21:15
  Speaker 9: No, I was just just bringing it back to baseball.
• 21:17
  Speaker 9: Like we've seen kind of the excitement of what happened
• 21:20
  Speaker 9: yesterday with w v U and uh, you know those
• 21:23
  Speaker 9: college games, and you mentioned the Georgia game, which was
• 21:26
  Speaker 9: also a very exciting game. And I just want to
• 21:29
  Speaker 9: ask just from a you know, a technical standpoint, you know,
• 21:32
  Speaker 9: Like I said, I've had a chance to watch a
• 21:35
  Speaker 9: lot of baseball the last couple of years. And like
• 21:38
  Speaker 9: I said, and if anybody listening, if you have not
• 21:41
  Speaker 9: been to a Major League baseball game, go It's the
• 21:44
  Speaker 9: most affordable professional sport that you're going to go to.
• 21:47
  Speaker 9: And they are just super fun to go to professional
• 21:50
  Speaker 9: baseball games. So just from you, you coach, you played,
• 21:55
  Speaker 9: what what has been the evolution in pitching? I've seen
• 21:59
  Speaker 9: some of the now nastiest pitches. I don't know what
• 22:02
  Speaker 9: they're called. If it's a curve, it's a thinker slider.
• 22:06
  Speaker 9: But I've seen some stuff just at the college Leublin
• 22:09
  Speaker 9: and at the professional level that is just like, how
• 22:12
  Speaker 9: do you even hit this thing? It's going one hundred
• 22:15
  Speaker 9: and two miles an hour. We moveing like is there
• 22:19
  Speaker 9: been like an evolution? Are the pitches getting better or
• 22:23
  Speaker 9: is this kind of stuff that's kind of always been
• 22:25
  Speaker 9: out there we just maybe haven't paying attention.
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: Well, I think it's a culmination of things. I think
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: pitching kids definitely throw on average harder now than they
• 22:35
  Speaker 6: did five years ago, ten years ago, and certainly fifteen
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: years ago. I mean, kids are bigger, there's a lot
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: more specialized training to help kids build velocity to where
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: they're throwing really hard. And the harder you throw, the
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: better it makes. You're all speed stuff. And now they're
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: throwing they're all speed stuff even harder. Yes, I mean
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: there's guys I watched Oregon Oregon State last night, and
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: there's guys were throwing ninety ninety one but the ball
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: is just moving all over the place. Ye, So you know,
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: pitching has become a lot better in that sense now,
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: I think the reason, especially at the big league level,
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: and it's starting to change back now a little bit.
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: But at the big league level, the hitting had turned
• 23:23
  Speaker 6: into kind of like a three outcome event. It was
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: either a walk, a strikeout, or a home run. So
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: that's made pitching, you know, obviously a lot better. But
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: you know, you're seeing now that teams are starting to,
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: you know, value putting the ball in play more and
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: you know, value putting the bat on the ball, and
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: strikeouts aren't acceptable. That sort of thing. I can remember,
• 23:51
  Speaker 6: and it was probably Mike Trout's second or third year
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: in the big leagues. His strikeouts jumped way up, like
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: at an alarming rate, and Mike's Soshia was the manager,
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: and they ask him, you know, what's the deal with
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: with Trout's strikeouts, and he said, well, we used to
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: have him to strike hit more. And I'm paraphrasing, we
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: used to have him to strike hit more. But you know,
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: I would rather him take three rips and try to
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: drive one than him take a two strike swing and
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: hit a ground ball to short and pull a hamstring
• 24:26
  Speaker 6: running down the first baseline. So you know, you weigh
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: your options. The pitching is good, but you know, I
• 24:36
  Speaker 6: don't think the hitting is as consistent. But if you
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: watch you know, I'm watching WV right now. I mean,
• 24:43
  Speaker 6: they put the bat on the ball. They don't strike
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: out very much at all, and that's why they you know,
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: they have these rallies late, and that's why, because you know,
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: they're just trying to, you know, put the bat on
• 24:55
  Speaker 6: the ball somehow, and the ball fins holes or the
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: other team kicks it around, and the next thing you know,
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: they hit a double and there's two runs and they're
• 25:02
  Speaker 6: back in the game. So I really like how they play.
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: It's a refreshing brand of baseball to me.
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: And I'm glad you said you're watching. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: I'm glad you said you're watching the game. Like we
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: said earlier, were watching it as well. Obviously you have,
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: at least Carl and I are novices when it comes
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: to baseball, so.
• 25:21
  Speaker 7: We thought we would have a little baseball one on
• 25:23
  Speaker 7: one with you. Did you.
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: I'm sure you watched the game last night and an
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: exciting ending the way it ended, right.
• 25:30
  Speaker 6: Well, I got to watch DIDs and pieces because my
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: daughters were really enthralled with the Texas tech. Okay, U
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: c l a game. So we're back and forth.
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: Okay, okay, Well we have a clip of like the
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: what what ESPN is calling the clip is the sequence,
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: and we just wanted to play it because, uh kind
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: of what wanted you to explain to us exactly what happened.
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: You know that the play before with the fake to
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: first base and.
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: Then the ensuing home run. So Matt, could you play
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: that clip real quick?
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: That's a book.
• 26:11
  Speaker 6: A fake to first base and I'll bring a runner
• 26:14
  Speaker 6: home from third and we are tied on a book.
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: High job deep right, thank please. Madness in Margantown a
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: two run, go ahead home run for Paul Show and foul.
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: So obviously it was madness in Morgantown. But but coach,
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: since you have you ever experienced that with the fake
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: to first base they scored their run on that.
• 26:52
  Speaker 6: Well, I've seen Guy's balk that way, and I'll tell you, you know,
• 26:56
  Speaker 6: the home run that happened afterwards, probably just a lapse
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: in concentration by the picture, you know, I know that
• 27:06
  Speaker 6: that was actually one of the things that we used
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: to do. We used to have a checklist of moments
• 27:11
  Speaker 6: in a game when a pitcher becomes vulnerable, and one
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: of them is right after a ball because you know
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: they're they're aggravated. That was it's on them. Balks aren't
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: called very often, so anytime a pitcher gets called for
• 27:27
  Speaker 6: a ball, they sure as heck think they didn't do it.
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: You know, in that case, a run scores rather than
• 27:34
  Speaker 6: just somebody advanced first a second. So you know, I
• 27:38
  Speaker 6: would say that that young man's concentration level was probably
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: not as sharp after that, and you know, the pitch
• 27:47
  Speaker 6: was elevated a little bit, which means he probably didn't finish.
• 27:50
  Speaker 6: And you know a lot of times when guys elevate
• 27:52
  Speaker 6: fastballs like that, and I'm assuming it was a fastball.
• 27:55
  Speaker 6: I didn't get to see it, but you know, they
• 27:58
  Speaker 6: gripped the bat, the ball little bit tighter. They're trying
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: to throw a little bit harder. They don't have the
• 28:02
  Speaker 6: elasticity in their arm, and the ball goes a little
• 28:05
  Speaker 6: bit slower and it's elevated and easier to hit. So, uh,
• 28:10
  Speaker 6: probably a pure concentration play. And I bet if they
• 28:13
  Speaker 6: asked Kentucky's coach or the pitcher about it, they would
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: probably have said that nice.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: Isn't it to me? And every time that they they
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: give a height and weight of a picture, it amazes
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: me how.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: It's amazing to me that they're that tall and they're
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: throwing the ball like one thousand miles an hour.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: To me, when did that transition two pictures?
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: Gross that all of a sudden, that's the guy you're
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: looking for, Because it seems to me now like if
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: you're looking for a picture, you're looking for a picture
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: who's that size? Now you're not looking for that short guy,
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: or you're not recruiting that guy, or you know, you're
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: really looking for that a specific type.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Am I right on that?
• 29:04
  Speaker 6: Yeah? And you know it's always been a situation where
• 29:07
  Speaker 6: you always want tall pitchers because you know they're they're
• 29:10
  Speaker 6: throwing off a mound and you know if they're six
• 29:13
  Speaker 6: three or above and they're throwing it, you know, minimum
• 29:16
  Speaker 6: high three quarters over the top, that's the that's the
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: tilt that the ball has coming in. Plus you know
• 29:25
  Speaker 6: their stride link is going to be longer, so they're
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: closer to the plate when they let go of the ball,
• 29:30
  Speaker 6: and with that tilt, it's just it's harder to hit
• 29:32
  Speaker 6: when a guy is short. You know, the ball's kind
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: of maintaining the level, you don't get as much tilt,
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: so it's a little bit easier to hit. I know,
• 29:43
  Speaker 6: when I first started coaching, I talked to a I
• 29:48
  Speaker 6: think he was a Milwaukee Brewers scout and he said
• 29:51
  Speaker 6: that they wouldn't draft or sign any pitcher under six
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: foot three. So, and that's been years ago, so it's
• 29:59
  Speaker 6: always kind of been a thing, But I think now
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: the thing that makes it more stark is the fact
• 30:05
  Speaker 6: that they're just.
• 30:05
  Speaker 9: So big too.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:07
  Speaker 6: Instead of being a six three one ninety five, they're
• 30:10
  Speaker 6: six three two thirty.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that's what the guy that's pitching down.
• 30:16
  Speaker 6: Yeah, they're they're not small. Hey. Coach Hollis was talking
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: about Tani. He's huge. Huge.
• 30:23
  Speaker 9: You got to see it in person.
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: He is huge, like his squads and calves. I mean,
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: he's huge.
• 30:30
  Speaker 9: Yeah, he is an athlete too. I got to watch him.
• 30:33
  Speaker 9: I was in California and they played the Angels. He
• 30:35
  Speaker 9: hit the leadoff home run and he also pitched a
• 30:38
  Speaker 9: little bit here. It was kind of amazing to watch.
• 30:40
  Speaker 9: That's why I would encourage anybody if you haven't been
• 30:42
  Speaker 9: to a baseball game. It's the most affordable pro sport
• 30:45
  Speaker 9: you're gonna find, so I would go coach, and I
• 30:48
  Speaker 9: want to ask you a question. You mentioned softball, and uh,
• 30:51
  Speaker 9: you know Texas Tech has the West Virginia connection with
• 30:54
  Speaker 9: Jason Williams's daughter playing that she's transferred from Florida. I
• 30:59
  Speaker 9: believe you again. I think softball is probably the next
• 31:05
  Speaker 9: like sport because it's not only is exciting, it's very watchable.
• 31:11
  Speaker 9: From like the TV perspective, I would argue it's probably
• 31:14
  Speaker 9: more watchable than baseball, just as far as just watching
• 31:17
  Speaker 9: it on TV?
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Is that?
• 31:19
  Speaker 9: Am I far off? Do you see that? Like where
• 31:22
  Speaker 9: women's basketball is now, do you see a women's softball
• 31:27
  Speaker 9: being propelled to that level in the next few years
• 31:30
  Speaker 9: or so?
• 31:31
  Speaker 6: One hundred percent? And I think the biggest thing is
• 31:34
  Speaker 6: the training for softball now has gotten so much better,
• 31:38
  Speaker 6: so the kids are very athletic. I think that it
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: appeals to folks in person and on TV because it's quicker,
• 31:50
  Speaker 6: it's a faster paced game. It doesn't last as long.
• 31:55
  Speaker 6: You know, you watch a big LEAG game, I mean
• 31:57
  Speaker 6: you're locked in for a minimum two hours and forty
• 31:59
  Speaker 6: five minutes it's and you're there fifteen I mean you're
• 32:03
  Speaker 6: locked in. But you know, with softball, you know a
• 32:07
  Speaker 6: lot of times our hour and a half hour forty five.
• 32:12
  Speaker 6: And I really enjoy the Softball World Series because it's
• 32:16
  Speaker 6: I mean, there's some kids that I mean, they can
• 32:19
  Speaker 6: really play, uh a short I know, my middle daughter
• 32:25
  Speaker 6: and I were watching the game last night and Texas
• 32:27
  Speaker 6: text shortstop made a play where she came in and
• 32:30
  Speaker 6: threw side and on the run and threw a dart
• 32:32
  Speaker 6: and threw the girl out and uh my daughter said,
• 32:36
  Speaker 6: you know, anybody that thinks that they can be a
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: Division one softball player, that's what you're up against. Is
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: that right there? And I said, you know what, You're right,
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: it's great.
• 32:47
  Speaker 9: It's similar to baseball where they have their throwing it underhanded,
• 32:51
  Speaker 9: but it's so much movement on the ball, which if
• 32:56
  Speaker 9: like you're just paying attention, is so good. And I
• 32:58
  Speaker 9: also think again from a television a castle viewers perspective,
• 33:03
  Speaker 9: it's stylistically the way in which you're you're hitting the ball.
• 33:07
  Speaker 9: You have obviously your power hitters, but you also have
• 33:10
  Speaker 9: those hitters for contact, sort of the flat hitters. So
• 33:13
  Speaker 9: I think it's funner in that perspective as well.
• 33:17
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and it's uh, you know, to watch the teams
• 33:22
  Speaker 6: at the highest level. Like my oldest daughter works in
• 33:25
  Speaker 6: the athletic department at the University of Texas, so we
• 33:29
  Speaker 6: all kind of follow Texas and my house in softball.
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: And they won today, right, yeah, they won twice today.
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah, watch it so you know they just the the
• 33:42
  Speaker 6: speed that they play at. You know, it's you know,
• 33:46
  Speaker 6: it's forty six feet from the mound to home plate
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: and they're throwing seventy seventy five miles per hour. I
• 33:53
  Speaker 6: think the young lady for Tennessee throws seventy eight miles
• 33:56
  Speaker 6: per hour. That's over one hundred miles per hour from
• 33:59
  Speaker 6: if you were doing the math. And I'm not a
• 34:02
  Speaker 6: math guy, but if you're doing the math, throwing from
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: you know, the mound to home plate in baseball, that equivalent,
• 34:08
  Speaker 6: that's equivalcy of over one hundred miles per hour. And
• 34:11
  Speaker 6: these girls are hitting them like it's nothing. Yes, And
• 34:15
  Speaker 6: you know the bases are closer, so you know, if
• 34:17
  Speaker 6: they bobble the ball in the infield, the runner is
• 34:19
  Speaker 6: going to be safe no matter what. In baseball, you
• 34:22
  Speaker 6: have a chance if you bobble the ball, but in softball,
• 34:25
  Speaker 6: if you bobble it, you have no chance. So it's
• 34:28
  Speaker 6: just I think with softball you have to play. You
• 34:32
  Speaker 6: can't make a lot of mistakes in softball. Baseball you
• 34:36
  Speaker 6: can kind of overcome them in a lot of in
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: a lot of cases. But in softball, I mean, you
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: you make a couple of errors, chances are you're going
• 34:43
  Speaker 6: to lose. Although Texas one today after making four errors. Wow.
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: And I but I've seen like when when you think
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: about softball, like to me, I enjoy softball actually over baseball.
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: And again my whole fear in baseball, I don't draws
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: no interest whatsoever, But I do like, I do like softball,
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: and I do like all of the metrics around it
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: because it just seems to I don't know, it seems
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: faster to me. Is yeah, And I think that piece
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: of it helps me be able to sit and watch it.
• 35:25
  Speaker 6: Yeah, one hundred percent. What you think? What do they
• 35:27
  Speaker 6: call baseball America's pastime is what they used to call
• 35:30
  Speaker 6: that's how they pass the time.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: I'm not looking at that much time.
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: I'm not sure I have that much time.
• 35:41
  Speaker 7: That's so funny.
• 35:43
  Speaker 6: Yeah, but you know, softballs it's a great sport. It's
• 35:46
  Speaker 6: fun to watch. You know, I love watching college baseball,
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: especially this time of the year, because it's exciting and
• 35:53
  Speaker 6: you know, in a lot of cases in these regionals
• 35:55
  Speaker 6: right now, you know you're seeing teams that have played
• 35:57
  Speaker 6: each other multiple times already because they're in the same conference,
• 36:01
  Speaker 6: and you know, they're familiar with one another, and you know,
• 36:04
  Speaker 6: it comes down to execution, and uh, you know, I
• 36:08
  Speaker 6: enjoy It's a good time to be a you know,
• 36:10
  Speaker 6: a college sports fan.
• 36:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so, coach, I'm glad you just mentioned that about
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: the college game being on right now. You know, obviously
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: you know this the postseason. You know, West Virginia and
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: Kentucky are playing like what the third time in two
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: days or three days.
• 36:24
  Speaker 7: Or something like that.
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: You know, they play multiple high state games, you know,
• 36:27
  Speaker 5: short windows of time. How do these coaches like manage
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: their pitching staff and their bullpen depth during these like
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: regionals and super regionals?
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: How do how do they manage it?
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: Well? The I mean the first thing is you have
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: to know your pitchers really really well, and you have
• 36:44
  Speaker 6: to you have to know how much resiliency a guy
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: has in his arm, how quickly he can bounce back.
• 36:52
  Speaker 6: You know, if you throw a guy on back to
• 36:54
  Speaker 6: back days. You know, with the the technology is stuff
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: they have now, they they can tell, you know, if
• 37:02
  Speaker 6: the velocity is dropped, or if the spin rate on
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: their breaking ball is not what it was the day before.
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: You know, their stuff's not going to be quite as good.
• 37:11
  Speaker 6: So you have to be mindful of the individual kid
• 37:14
  Speaker 6: because most of the time, you know, the kid's going
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: to tell you no, I'm good to go, I'm ready
• 37:18
  Speaker 6: to go, I'm good. And then they go out there
• 37:21
  Speaker 6: and you know, the day before they're throwing you know,
• 37:23
  Speaker 6: ninety and today it's you know eighty four. Uh, you know,
• 37:26
  Speaker 6: you're not the same guy, right, so you know, I
• 37:29
  Speaker 6: think you know, John Wooden used to say it was
• 37:31
  Speaker 6: more important to know your team than it is to
• 37:34
  Speaker 6: know anything about the other team. And I think this
• 37:37
  Speaker 6: time of the year that's that really rings true because
• 37:40
  Speaker 6: you've got to understand your pitchers and you've got to understand,
• 37:44
  Speaker 6: you know, how many stress pitches they threw the day before,
• 37:47
  Speaker 6: and you know, the mental makeup has a lot to
• 37:50
  Speaker 6: do with it. You know, are they are they able
• 37:52
  Speaker 6: to you know, get refocused, especially if they may not
• 37:56
  Speaker 6: have pitched quite as well the day before, or if
• 38:00
  Speaker 6: you're bringing you know, a guy in to face a
• 38:02
  Speaker 6: specific hitter, and you may have brought him in to
• 38:05
  Speaker 6: face that specific hitter the day before and it didn't
• 38:08
  Speaker 6: work out well. Now you're asking you know, you're bringing
• 38:10
  Speaker 6: him back out there and asking them to you know,
• 38:13
  Speaker 6: bounce back. So there's there's a lot of drama within
• 38:17
  Speaker 6: the game that you know. I think the you know,
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: the novice fan doesn't doesn't see all the time. But
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: it's uh, I think it's fascinating and you you kind
• 38:27
  Speaker 6: of you kind of are able to get a snapshot
• 38:30
  Speaker 6: into what a kid's made of.
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: What what is some you.
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: Know, I think about football and I think about basketball,
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: and you look at the coaches and you see them
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: yelling and screaming and all that. You you know, in baseball,
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: you really don't. You don't really see that a lot.
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: When and how does the coach, the head coach or
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: even let's say you as a batting coach, if you're
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: what do you what is your conversation as the game
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: is going, as it's progressing, Like when when do you
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: come to say something to me and you know, I
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: don't know I'm an outfielder or whatever, Like when is
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: it like relevant to say, to talk about maybe batting
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: or fielding or or whatever like that. And that's and
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: again that's just proving how little I know about the
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: game because I don't even understand that piece of it
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: of like when is that?
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: Does it?
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: Does it happen or do you wait until after the
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: game to actually have that conversation.
• 39:28
  Speaker 6: No, it, it does happen, But it's not you know
• 39:32
  Speaker 6: typically you know, for me, it's not in a demonstrative way.
• 39:36
  Speaker 6: You know, typically I'll have specific information that's pertinent for them,
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: you know, based on who they're batting against, or you know,
• 39:46
  Speaker 6: what we're trying to accomplish that inning, you know, or
• 39:48
  Speaker 6: we taken that we get a strike, or we looking
• 39:51
  Speaker 6: off speed because he's throwing more off speed pitches now,
• 39:54
  Speaker 6: or you know, are we trying to attack fastballs early
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: in account and things like that. So you know, those
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: conversations go on. You know, I try really really really
• 40:07
  Speaker 6: hard not to get upset and yell and all that
• 40:12
  Speaker 6: during the games, because with baseball, you know, that doesn't
• 40:15
  Speaker 6: work so well unless it's just a particular type of
• 40:19
  Speaker 6: kid that that's the only way he gets you know,
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: gets himself moving. But you know, those conversations go on.
• 40:25
  Speaker 6: But you know, it kind of harkens back to what
• 40:28
  Speaker 6: we were talking about before. When they're not doing well,
• 40:30
  Speaker 6: they know they're not doing well, So give me some
• 40:34
  Speaker 6: information and give me, you know, give me some tactics
• 40:37
  Speaker 6: that you know, we're going to help me have success
• 40:39
  Speaker 6: the next time. And particularly, you know, if you're working
• 40:44
  Speaker 6: with a guy and you've narrowed it down to like
• 40:46
  Speaker 6: this is the thing that he's got to be able
• 40:48
  Speaker 6: to do to have success, you know, I make sure
• 40:51
  Speaker 6: I remind him, you know, before they go up there, Hey,
• 40:53
  Speaker 6: don't forget let's go this is this is what you're
• 40:56
  Speaker 6: doing here right or after the bat. You know. One
• 41:00
  Speaker 6: of the things the common flaws that hitters have nowadays,
• 41:03
  Speaker 6: a lot of times they just don't look at the ball.
• 41:04
  Speaker 6: They don't watch the ball. Uh, So you know, I
• 41:08
  Speaker 6: might tell them and it came in. I was like,
• 41:09
  Speaker 6: I was watching your eyes the whole time, and your
• 41:11
  Speaker 6: eyes were looking way out there when the ball's in here. So,
• 41:15
  Speaker 6: you know, I think it's you know, knowing your kids
• 41:17
  Speaker 6: and understanding your kids and understanding what you know, what
• 41:21
  Speaker 6: they may or may not need. Uh during the game.
• 41:24
  Speaker 6: You know, the really good ones they just need you
• 41:26
  Speaker 6: to get their name in the lineup and that's it
• 41:28
  Speaker 6: and leave them alone. But the you know, some of
• 41:32
  Speaker 6: the other guys that you know, they may need, you know,
• 41:36
  Speaker 6: coaching during the game, and you've got to be available
• 41:38
  Speaker 6: and willing and have the information you know on hand now, uh,
• 41:44
  Speaker 6: you know, to help them along, and then after the
• 41:46
  Speaker 6: game you talk about the other stuff. Normally I wait
• 41:51
  Speaker 6: until the next practice.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, okay.
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: So, like I said, we've we've got the WU game
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: on and I'm just sitting here and I'm and I'm
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: watching it and I'm and I'm looking at whether it
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: be the batter, the picture, an outfielder infielder, and it
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: almost looks like everybody's almost like the same size.
• 42:14
  Speaker 6: You know, I can't tell on TV. I don't think
• 42:17
  Speaker 6: that I can't tell. Uh. West Virginia is really athletic,
• 42:23
  Speaker 6: and they've got guys that have versatility, so they've got
• 42:26
  Speaker 6: guys that bounce around the field all over the place
• 42:28
  Speaker 6: and play different positions. So you know, their guys may
• 42:31
  Speaker 6: be all similar in size because I've seen the one
• 42:35
  Speaker 6: guy plays outfield in first base and he can run.
• 42:39
  Speaker 6: So I can't tell. And I've not seen what I'll
• 42:42
  Speaker 6: never have an opportunity to see West Virginia play in person.
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, if you if, if you're looking for you specifically,
• 42:52
  Speaker 4: are looking for a picture, and you're you know, you've
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: gone around different places and you're looking what would make
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: you decide on what is the key component that's going
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: to make you decide on that particular coach, I mean,
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: on that particular picture. What would make you say, Okay,
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: that's the one I want.
• 43:13
  Speaker 6: We're just talking about on field.
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, you want to recruit him because you think
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: he's a good he's a good picture.
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: But you've seen a ton of them. You've gone around
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: to different.
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: Schools, different schools, and you look at this guy, you
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: watch him and you say, that's the guy that I want.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: Is it just his throwing?
• 43:32
  Speaker 9: Is it?
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: What is all the components that you're looking for? So
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: if I'm a picture and I'm listening to the show,
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: I know exactly what a coach a coach might be
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: looking for. And I know that some change, some people
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: have different ideas, But just what is your recruiting perfect picture?
• 43:53
  Speaker 6: Well, I think, I mean, we all like to have
• 43:55
  Speaker 6: guys that throw hard and have velocity because typically they're
• 43:59
  Speaker 6: guys that you know they're going to miss bats, and
• 44:01
  Speaker 6: you know, if you can record outs without the other
• 44:03
  Speaker 6: team hit that that's a plus. You know, if they
• 44:07
  Speaker 6: have some type of off speed pitch that they you know,
• 44:10
  Speaker 6: they have the potensity defer for a strike a lot,
• 44:12
  Speaker 6: and if one of those pitches can be like a
• 44:15
  Speaker 6: wipeout pitch, a strikeout pitch, then you know that now
• 44:19
  Speaker 6: you're cooking, uh, you know, make up. You know, I've
• 44:23
  Speaker 6: always watched, uh, you know, I watch how they react
• 44:27
  Speaker 6: when someone makes an error behind them, or how they
• 44:29
  Speaker 6: react when somebody hits a ball hard or hits a
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: home run.
• 44:33
  Speaker 9: Uh.
• 44:34
  Speaker 6: You know, I want to see, you know, how resilient
• 44:36
  Speaker 6: they are mentally, you know, or they're not fretting over
• 44:40
  Speaker 6: what just happened. They're ready for what's about to happen.
• 44:44
  Speaker 6: You know, I look at all those things. I mean,
• 44:46
  Speaker 6: it's uh, but you have to be careful because you know,
• 44:50
  Speaker 6: at the division two level, we're not always going to
• 44:52
  Speaker 6: get finished products right, right, so you know we're we
• 44:56
  Speaker 6: we have to allow for Okay, well, maybe the reason
• 45:00
  Speaker 6: he gets bent out of shape when someone makes an
• 45:02
  Speaker 6: error behind him is you know, maybe just mentally he's
• 45:04
  Speaker 6: not real mature yet. You know, maybe he needs to
• 45:09
  Speaker 6: to have somebody to explain to him that, you know,
• 45:12
  Speaker 6: like you're talking, colonel, the kid didn't miss the ball
• 45:14
  Speaker 6: on purpose, right. But you know, I look at makeup,
• 45:19
  Speaker 6: I look at you know, will they grow? You know,
• 45:23
  Speaker 6: what are they going to get bigger? I always ask kids,
• 45:25
  Speaker 6: you know, you know how big your dad? I asked
• 45:29
  Speaker 6: the moms, you know you have any brothers that are big? Yeah?
• 45:34
  Speaker 6: I asked them what their shoes? You know, they're if
• 45:40
  Speaker 6: they're five ft eleven, but they've got a size thirteen shoe,
• 45:44
  Speaker 6: they're probably going to grow right, right. So I look
• 45:48
  Speaker 6: at all those things. But you know, I do a
• 45:52
  Speaker 6: lot of it with feel, you know, I kind of
• 45:55
  Speaker 6: I like what I like, but a lot of times
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: I can't articulate it. But you know, I don't get
• 46:01
  Speaker 6: caught up in the radar gun because I don't think.
• 46:05
  Speaker 6: I don't think velocity necessarily is the one recipe where
• 46:10
  Speaker 6: you can have success. I think that, you know, having
• 46:14
  Speaker 6: somebody that can has a complete repertoire and can throw
• 46:17
  Speaker 6: multiple pitches for strikes, and you know, has poise and
• 46:21
  Speaker 6: those kind of things. Those are the things I like
• 46:24
  Speaker 6: I signed a kid two years ago just because I
• 46:28
  Speaker 6: watched him pitch in the in the regional tournament and
• 46:33
  Speaker 6: the other team from the dugout was just dogging him.
• 46:38
  Speaker 6: I mean every pitch. They dogged him, every single pitch,
• 46:43
  Speaker 6: and that kid, that kid acted like they weren't even there.
• 46:47
  Speaker 6: And I was like, Okay, you know he's he has
• 46:50
  Speaker 6: the maturity and that kind of stuff doesn't bother him.
• 46:52
  Speaker 6: And you know he's uh, he's tuned into what he's
• 46:56
  Speaker 6: doing and not worried about what the other team's saying.
• 46:58
  Speaker 6: So there's a lot of things that go into it.
• 47:01
  Speaker 6: But you know, Carl, and you know this. You know,
• 47:03
  Speaker 6: coaching at our level, you're not going to get the
• 47:06
  Speaker 6: perfect guy all the time. No, you know, we got
• 47:09
  Speaker 6: to coach him. We've got to teach him, and you
• 47:11
  Speaker 6: know we got to We've got to show them why
• 47:14
  Speaker 6: it's important and get them to believe why it's important
• 47:17
  Speaker 6: and then start on the corrections.
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 47:19
  Speaker 5: So, so, coach, I want to go back to your career.
• 47:22
  Speaker 5: In one of your awards that you were actually given,
• 47:27
  Speaker 5: I think it was in twenty twenty three, you and
• 47:30
  Speaker 5: some of your I think it was some of the
• 47:32
  Speaker 5: teammates at West Virginia State University, you played baseball with,
• 47:36
  Speaker 5: you were enshrined in the Arty Museum, the West West
• 47:39
  Speaker 5: Virginia Sports Legends. Yeah, in RILEYGH County. How did that
• 47:45
  Speaker 5: make you feel? Having like all your your former teammates.
• 47:49
  Speaker 5: I think they awarded post how do you say it,
• 47:54
  Speaker 5: post av Yes, thank you, but tied there for cal Bailey.
• 48:00
  Speaker 5: So how how did that make you feel that day?
• 48:03
  Speaker 5: Being being there and awarded that.
• 48:06
  Speaker 6: Uh, it was awesome, it really was. And And for
• 48:09
  Speaker 6: people that have not been to that event, you should
• 48:11
  Speaker 6: go because it's just a bunch of people that love
• 48:18
  Speaker 6: West Virginia sports, you know, high school, college, whatever, and
• 48:23
  Speaker 6: they just love West Virginia sports and it's just it's
• 48:26
  Speaker 6: so much fun. It was a great honor and Texts
• 48:29
  Speaker 6: Williams is just an unbelievable man yea. And the work
• 48:34
  Speaker 6: and the effort he puts in and you know, I
• 48:36
  Speaker 6: know Steve Krozer helps him now and they just put
• 48:39
  Speaker 6: a ton of work into that. And it's just the
• 48:42
  Speaker 6: personal touch, you know, it's kind of it's kind of folksy, uh,
• 48:47
  Speaker 6: you know, it's out in the middle of nowhere and
• 48:49
  Speaker 6: then you have this just unbelievable museum, and it was
• 48:54
  Speaker 6: so much fun. And I've gone, you know, a couple
• 48:57
  Speaker 6: other times, you know, since then, just because the experience.
• 49:02
  Speaker 6: I just think it's a lot of fun. And you know,
• 49:04
  Speaker 6: it's never bad to spend time and talk to texts
• 49:08
  Speaker 6: and listen to his stories, and you know, he always
• 49:12
  Speaker 6: has good speakers, and you know, there's just some some
• 49:16
  Speaker 6: really cool people there and you get to learn about,
• 49:21
  Speaker 6: you know, people that coached at a small high school
• 49:24
  Speaker 6: in the fifties. Yeah, I've never even heard their name.
• 49:27
  Speaker 6: And then you start looking and you're like, my gosh,
• 49:29
  Speaker 6: this this person could coach. Yeah, you know, you know,
• 49:32
  Speaker 6: they had good teams, and they're tied to this guy
• 49:34
  Speaker 6: and connected to this guy. And I know, I can't
• 49:38
  Speaker 6: remember the guy's name, Carl. You may know him, but
• 49:40
  Speaker 6: it's he's a West Virginia guy. He played for the
• 49:43
  Speaker 6: Vikings I think in the sixties, maybe early seventies to
• 49:48
  Speaker 6: mid seventies, but he's a West Virginia native. And his
• 49:51
  Speaker 6: name I can't remember.
• 49:53
  Speaker 4: And I know who you're talking about, and I cannot
• 49:56
  Speaker 4: call his name. That's my brain where it's not working.
• 50:00
  Speaker 6: But I do know the name, yes, yeah, I had
• 50:03
  Speaker 6: a conversation with him, but when he was there and
• 50:06
  Speaker 6: it was just it was so neat, you know, because
• 50:09
  Speaker 6: there's been a lot of people in West Virginia, and
• 50:11
  Speaker 6: Carl you're one of them that you know, have gone
• 50:14
  Speaker 6: on and played professionally and just have had unbelievable experiences
• 50:19
  Speaker 6: and and traveled to places and and done things that
• 50:23
  Speaker 6: you know, some of us would wouldn't even be able
• 50:25
  Speaker 6: to imagine. And you know, it's just fun to be
• 50:28
  Speaker 6: able to get a lot of those people together and
• 50:31
  Speaker 6: and you know, see how they interact and and listen
• 50:35
  Speaker 6: to stories and stuff. So if, like I said, if
• 50:37
  Speaker 6: anyone has never gone to that, uh, if you want
• 50:40
  Speaker 6: to spend a really cool saturday in the fall, I
• 50:43
  Speaker 6: would go there.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: You're speaking of you were speaking of Blnnie Warwick.
• 50:47
  Speaker 6: That's it.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, yeah, I'd love to take I'd love to
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: take the credit.
• 50:52
  Speaker 7: But we have a great producer here.
• 50:57
  Speaker 6: And had it right on the tip of my.
• 51:02
  Speaker 4: You know what, I really really, really really wish that
• 51:05
  Speaker 4: you know, here in West Virginia, I think we just
• 51:09
  Speaker 4: have not and I say this all the time, I
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: say it literally everywhere.
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: We just have not done a great job.
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: In securing names and individuals who have been successful so
• 51:24
  Speaker 4: that other players can know who they are and dream
• 51:29
  Speaker 4: to be or work to be that at that level.
• 51:34
  Speaker 4: You know, whether it's I don't care if it's just
• 51:37
  Speaker 4: the best player at West Virginia State in baseball, do
• 51:41
  Speaker 4: we know that name? Are we advertising that name? Are
• 51:43
  Speaker 4: we putting that name somewhere where the players can get it?
• 51:47
  Speaker 4: Same with football, same with basketball. I just I just
• 51:51
  Speaker 4: it just drives me crazy that we just don't. I
• 51:56
  Speaker 4: don't think we recognize our top athlete in sports so
• 52:02
  Speaker 4: that our kids know a name that they might want a.
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: Dream to be.
• 52:08
  Speaker 6: Yeah, Legacy, Yeah, and I think that I think they're
• 52:12
  Speaker 6: spot on. And you know, there's been plenty of people,
• 52:15
  Speaker 6: and you know, you don't have to be a former
• 52:18
  Speaker 6: NFL like you were, Carl. It could just be someone
• 52:21
  Speaker 6: that they went and played at, you know, a really
• 52:24
  Speaker 6: big Division one school and they were great here, And
• 52:28
  Speaker 6: you know whatever, I agree, I wish we would. I
• 52:32
  Speaker 6: wish we would revel in some of the accomplishments that
• 52:35
  Speaker 6: some of the athletes have had, even if they didn't
• 52:38
  Speaker 6: go to w or Marshall or right, you know, one
• 52:41
  Speaker 6: of the schools in the NBC. But I agree with you,
• 52:45
  Speaker 6: and that's why I do like Texas event at the
• 52:50
  Speaker 6: Art of Museum because you know, he he recognizes a
• 52:53
  Speaker 6: lot of Yeah.
• 52:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, Well Sean, Man, I appreciate you coming on
• 52:59
  Speaker 4: and I wish you the best of luck going forward
• 53:02
  Speaker 4: in any and everything that you do.
• 53:03
  Speaker 6: Man, well, I appreciate you, guys, and I listen anytime
• 53:08
  Speaker 6: I can. But you know, it's we need more people
• 53:13
  Speaker 6: talking about sports, and particularly talking about the sports in
• 53:16
  Speaker 6: West Virginia. And there are athletes that we have in
• 53:18
  Speaker 6: West Virginia and our coaches and all that. And you know,
• 53:23
  Speaker 6: I was happy that you called me today. I was
• 53:26
  Speaker 6: afraid you called me to, you know, taunt me. You
• 53:31
  Speaker 6: guys don't understand. Carl talks me a lot.
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: No, he would.
• 53:40
  Speaker 5: Team He fires me every week, So don't feel bad
• 53:43
  Speaker 5: at all.
• 53:44
  Speaker 6: About three years ago we ought to go play golf together.
• 53:47
  Speaker 6: Sometimes he goes, this is the first thing out of
• 53:50
  Speaker 6: his mouth, there's no way you're good at golf, and
• 53:56
  Speaker 6: like he.
• 53:56
  Speaker 7: Is, oh wow, so funny.
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just you know, it just happens to come
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: out of my mouth. I don't know how.
• 54:07
  Speaker 7: Train wreck, but we still need to do that.
• 54:11
  Speaker 8: All right, man, I'm so much to talk.
• 54:15
  Speaker 7: Thank you, thank you.
• 54:16
  Speaker 6: I appreciate you, guys, I'll appreciate you.
• 54:18
  Speaker 4: All right, ladies and gentlemen, We're gonna get out of here.
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: And uh, Lisa, I thought that was pretty good.
• 54:24
  Speaker 7: Pretty good.
• 54:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah, despite despite your comments and trying to mess things up,
• 54:29
  Speaker 5: but I still love you.
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: All right, ladies and gentlemen. We will be back again
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: next week. Let's Talk with Carl Lee is presented by
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: Attorney Frank Walker.
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: Come in on episodes, ask the crew questions, or suggest
• 54:41
  Speaker 3: topics on our Facebook page.
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: Search forward Let's Talk with Carl Lee, and remember to
• 54:46
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• 54:49
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• 54:51
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• 54:54
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• 55:10
  Speaker 2: at