Buckmaster
Senior Member
Good stuff Jesse....
Ah, now that football is done it begins training for baseball season.
I already have our Hot Stove President's blessings to handle the "coach pitch" next year.
My son and I will be practicing all winter long (following deer season of course). On the good days we can go to the park down the road. On the bad days we can practice in my basement and also a nearby sports center. They have an indoor baseball field and batting cages for $10 per hour. The boy should be crisp by the time April rolls around.
Ah, now that football is done it begins training for baseball season.
I already have our Hot Stove President's blessings to handle the "coach pitch" next year.
My son and I will be practicing all winter long (following deer season of course). On the good days we can go to the park down the road. On the bad days we can practice in my basement and also a nearby sports center. They have an indoor baseball field and batting cages for $10 per hour. The boy should be crisp by the time April rolls around.
The Price is Right Bitches!!!!
Dusty is gone is an awesome feeling, but I hope that Price is the answer.
Dusty is gone is an awesome feeling, but I hope that Price is the answer.
ajupsman
*Supporting Member*
I was looking through the website today when I came across this forum. I think I've spent the last two hours reading these posts. The only thing I like more than beer and deer is baseball. Well there's one other thing I like more than all that but I'll try and keep it clean. I've been around the game just about my whole life. Played all levels up through high school and then a little college at a D-3 school. After college, life got in the way for a while but in 2005 I started coaching with my older son's Rookie League team. Since then I've coached both my son's teams from T- Ball to Rookie to Minors to Majors and Babe Ruth. I was also the VP of our local Cal Ripken league and coached or assisted with 6 All Star teams. Last year I took over as league president of our regional 13-15 Babe Ruth league and helped coach 2 teams to district championships and state tournament births. In 2011 I got the Jr. High coaching job and held that job for two years. I expected to hold that position for a couple of more years but our varsity coach (who is a friend of mine) decided to get done as coach and athletic director after the 2012 season. Local school politics and two young sons of his own at home led to his resignation. I ended up taking over the varsity team for 2013. Thanks to the great senior class I inherited and the quality coaching they received before me we had an unbelievable season. We ended the year 13-3 and in a four way tie atop the division. We ended up winning the tiebreaker and entered the playoffs as the top seed. We cruised through the prelims and quarters before meeting the defending D4 state champs in the semis. We scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st and held on to win 8-3. We went on to play for the state championship for the first time since 1979. Unfortunately our run ended there. We met up against a stud lefty who had a decent fastball and was able to get that back door curve over and we lost 5-1. Still it was a great year and an awesome way to start my varsity coaching career. I had 5 players selected to all state with two being first teamers and one also being named co-player of the year. Oh yeah I almost forgot, my co-player of the year pitched a perfect game in our last regular season game. In all my years of baseball it's the only time I witnessed one of those. Today my oldest son Nick is a Junior in high school and he will play for me again this year. Last year as a sophomore he was my first base coach (I only had one assistant and he coached third) and my best pinch runner . This year he has a shot to be our full time DH but he knows Dad won't give him any preferential treatment. Due to an eye ailment he can't play the field anymore but somehow he still hits. He really understands the game and knows the situational part of the game well so I will always have a spot for him even if he doesn't win the DH job. My younger son Luke is in 8th grade and he's got potential. He's a pitcher mostly but plays OF and some 1B when he's not on the mound. He's a strike thrower on the hill and a pretty decent stick at the dish. He can run like a deer so when he finds a gap he can usually stretch it in to a double or triple. He just turned 13 in August so this will be a big development year for him. I expect his velocity to increase and the pop in his bat as well. Our deer season ends in NH on 12/15. Once the holidays are over I'll be in baseball mode. Oh and I also play in an adult over 28 league. My team is well over 28 (I'm 41 and most of the other guys are older than me) but we still do well every year. I'm a lefty pitcher who throws nothing but junk now. Probably can't break glass from 50 feet anymore but I don't walk many. Some times I get ripped but there is nothing more enjoyable than striking out a slugger with a 55 mph curveball. Or even better getting him to pop up with the bases loaded. Anyways I'm thinking this year that I may post my high school and Babe Ruth teams updates on this site and maybe even some stuff from my adult league. Gives me a place to vent where my high school players and their families won't see. I hope you guys don't mind. Deer and Baseball. This site is awesome!
Always loved hitting off lefties and I'm a long ball guy. We need to hook up one of these days! lmao
ajupsman
*Supporting Member*
Absolutely! All I need is my 3 fleet footed outfielders and a deep fence. Fly balls are my specialty.:smiley_bril:
Hey, me TOO! :smiley_blackeye:
I always hit lefties better as I see the ball better coming out of your hand. Hitting junk on the other hand, that kills me. From the time we started kid pitch, to the last game I played last year, the faster the better. If you throw me a first pitch fastball, I'm going to grip and rip. Junk just ate my lunch and was a big reason I wasn't recruited for my offense! Defense was definitely my saving grace and being a catcher, I'd have killed for a junk throwing lefty!!!
Welcome to the baseball fanatics club from a fellow varsity baseball coach. The 2014 season will be my 14th as the head coach. No state berths yet though 
Lol
Lol
ajupsman
*Supporting Member*
Welcome to the baseball fanatics club from a fellow varsity baseball coach. The 2014 season will be my 14th as the head coach. No state berths yet though
Lol
Our state championship birth is probably the same as you making the regional final. Here in NH we have 4 divisions and its based on school size. My school is in the division for the smallest schools in the state. We can play schools outside our division during the regular season but not the playoffs. Each division has it's own playoffs and the winner is declared state champion. So in our state there are actually four state champs crowned. How do the playoffs work in Ohio?
Essentially the same way with the divisions set based on total boys enrollment. We also have 4 divisions with a state champ in each division. Big difference being the 11 million people and 32,000 square miles between the two states! lmao
Yeah, every team gets a shot at the post season. It's a single elimination system that starts with sectional play, then districts, regionals, and states. Sectional seedings are based on records and voted on by the coaches at a meeting.
Personally, I wish we set up like West Virginia in regard to the sectionals. They do a best of three. That way you test a teams depth and a team can't ride one pitcher through the post season. Once they get beyond sectionals I believe they go to single elimination. I'd love for Ohio to adopt a system like that.
Personally, I wish we set up like West Virginia in regard to the sectionals. They do a best of three. That way you test a teams depth and a team can't ride one pitcher through the post season. Once they get beyond sectionals I believe they go to single elimination. I'd love for Ohio to adopt a system like that.
ajupsman
*Supporting Member*
Here they take the top 16 teams and play a single elimination tournament. Seedings are based on regular season standings. I think it's too many teams. Especially when our division has only 20 schools in it. The bottom 4 - 6 teams are usually pretty bad. In our first round game last year we played the 16th seed and they had only won 2 games all year. I agree with you Cotty that a 2 out of 3 system would be much better. I think we were better overall than the team we lost to in the finals but they just had the best pitcher. We have pitching limitations that prevent us from using the same pitcher for every inning of the playoffs. If a guy throws more than 5 innings in a game he needs 3 full days before he can pitch again. There is never more than 3 days between playoff games (unless there is rain) so you know going in that if you pitch a guy in to the 6th you won't have him for the next round. I had to make that decision in the semis this year. My stud was mowing them down and all I had was a sophomore off speed pitcher to use in relief. I lost my other senior pitcher to grades just before the playoffs so I couldn't go to him. I decided to leave my stud in to finish the game but then I had to pitch my sophomore in the championship game. He threw well (2 earned runs in 7 IP) but just couldn't match their ace. If it were 2 out of 3 I could have came back with my stud in game 2. Oh well it is what it is.
ajupsman
*Supporting Member*
You are 100% right. I have too many parents who don't realize just how small of a pond we are playing in here. Now that's not to say good players don't come out of this area. Jeff Locke of the Pirates came from North Conway which is close to where I live. Hell Carlton Fisk, Mike Flannagan and Chris Carpenter are NH natives just to name a few more. I just wish people would realize that overall the competition in states like Ohio is much stiffer than it is here. Just more teams and more good players. Of course every parent thinks their kid is going to a D1 school on a full boat and if he doesn't get it it's the coach's fault. Just one of the joys of coaching I guess.
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I had a little league dad come up to me the other day at a flag football game and say, "well, this will be the last year Alex plays football. We don't need any knew injuries since he will get a division 1 scholarship when he's older."
I just looked at him with raised eyebrows and walked away. Yep, that's a dad I'll be dealing with later.
Jeff Locke had a great first half of the season and then tanked! I think he just wore down. I'm hoping he will bounce back for my Buccos next year.
I just looked at him with raised eyebrows and walked away. Yep, that's a dad I'll be dealing with later.
Jeff Locke had a great first half of the season and then tanked! I think he just wore down. I'm hoping he will bounce back for my Buccos next year.
ajupsman
*Supporting Member*
So I got a big scare the other day. One of my assistant coaches put up a cage up indoors at our town 's Rec Dept building. He cleared out a storage area upstairs and we have about 24 x14 of room to work with. Not enough to throw normal BP but enough room to do drill work. I had my 17 year old son Nick up there and I was throwing short toss to him from about 20 ft. I was sitting on a chair behind an L screen and he hit a screamer that buzzed by my ear. I never even moved. An inch or two to the right and it would have been lights out. I thought I was safe behind the screen but I think it nicked the edge of the screen and deflected slightly towards me. I've pitched for years and have had my fair share of shots hit back at me but this one was different. I never even flinched until a second after the ball was by me. Scared the shit out of me. If it hit me it would have done some serious damage. From now on I'm going to wear a catchers mask when I throw short toss and I think I'm going to make my other coaches wear one as well this season.
That'll pucker your ass more than anything out there! My problem is I spent my entire career behind the plate, so I don't flinch or move on purpose! lmao
I've had way too many close calls over the years. We do a lot of short toss like you mentioned and you better chuck and duck. Lol
Got hit in the right ass cheek one year and couldn't hardly walk for three days after. LOL
My JV assistant, about 10 years ago, got a broken arm from a screamer hit back at him. He left his arm exposed just enough from the L screen and SMACK!
Some bad news on my end, last year's starting third baseman is out for the year, He tore his labrum in his throwing shoulder during football.
My DH from last year is questionable with a tendon issue in a finger that needs surgery after a basketball injury.
My firstbaseman, and leading hitter that is returning, has decided he's a football star (going to play at West Liberty College in WV) and is hanging up his baseball cleats. Season hasn't even started and I may have lost 3 starters. The firstbaseman just flat out pisses me off. I've done a lot of shit for him to get him involved in travel ball over the summers since he was younger and other things. Now he stuck it in my ass.
Got hit in the right ass cheek one year and couldn't hardly walk for three days after. LOL
My JV assistant, about 10 years ago, got a broken arm from a screamer hit back at him. He left his arm exposed just enough from the L screen and SMACK!
Some bad news on my end, last year's starting third baseman is out for the year, He tore his labrum in his throwing shoulder during football.
My DH from last year is questionable with a tendon issue in a finger that needs surgery after a basketball injury.
My firstbaseman, and leading hitter that is returning, has decided he's a football star (going to play at West Liberty College in WV) and is hanging up his baseball cleats. Season hasn't even started and I may have lost 3 starters. The firstbaseman just flat out pisses me off. I've done a lot of shit for him to get him involved in travel ball over the summers since he was younger and other things. Now he stuck it in my ass.
Dang Mike. Hopefully you have some young kids who are ready to step up!
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I've been through a bunch of BS on my end with baseball in the past few months. I applied to be the varsity head coach back at the end of September and it took until two weeks ago to name the new coach. I'll spare you all the BS that went down, but it was the typical political shit that plagues a lot of small town schools. I'll be the assistant head coach this year and am looking forward to our first conditioning of the year tomorrow morning. This might be my last year as I see myself tiring of the BS and looking to simplify my life so I can enjoy my daughter. Then again, baseball is an addition and a love just like bowhunting. When the season is in, I'm happy, happy, happy!
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I've been through a bunch of BS on my end with baseball in the past few months. I applied to be the varsity head coach back at the end of September and it took until two weeks ago to name the new coach. I'll spare you all the BS that went down, but it was the typical political shit that plagues a lot of small town schools. I'll be the assistant head coach this year and am looking forward to our first conditioning of the year tomorrow morning. This might be my last year as I see myself tiring of the BS and looking to simplify my life so I can enjoy my daughter. Then again, baseball is an addition and a love just like bowhunting. When the season is in, I'm happy, happy, happy!
ajupsman
*Supporting Member*
That sucks Cotty to lose key players like that. I lost 5 seniors to graduation, one of which was co-player of the year in our division. Those 5 all hit in the top 6 of my lineup and drove in almost 80% of our runs. It will be tough enough to replace those 5 and now I'm hearing my only two seniors coming back this year may not play. My leftfielder is talking about skipping this season to "enjoy" his last semester of high school. The other one is my rightfielder and his grades suck and he's been getting into trouble with drinking so he may not even be eligible. I could be looking at having to replace 7 starters from last years team.
ajupsman
*Supporting Member*
Sorry to hear you didn't get the job Jesse. I was actually wondering about that when I pulled up this thread today. It sounds like you're a guy who loves the game so try and stick with it. You'll get your chance. I was away from the game after college for almost 15 years. Didn't realize how much I missed it until I got back in to it.