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What happens when American Legion baseball meets small-town Montana culture? Paul Mrazik, Director of the Montana Baseball Coaches Association and Head Coach for Cranbrook Post 24 Legion, takes us into a world where baseball thrives despite vast distances between communities and limited resources.
Montana's baseball landscape is evolving rapidly. After being one of just five states without high school baseball, Montana now boasts 35 high school programs in just three years. Rather than seeing this as competition, Legion baseball has adapted, creating a seamless transition from high school to Legion seasons that gives players more opportunities to develop and compete for championships.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Paul shares the remarkable story of Allie Schroeder, a female pitcher who joined his Legion team and dominated male competition. Hitting 82 mph on the radar gun and striking out 13 batters in six innings, Allie went on to become the first female in the Canadian College Baseball League before playing professionally in Australia and representing Team Canada. When not playing baseball, she fights forest fires, sometimes throwing baseballs against school fences in remote towns during her downtime.
Paul's development philosophy stands in stark contrast to today's velocity-obsessed culture. "I would rather they play for a long time than a short time," he explains, criticizing the push for young pitchers to throw harder before their bodies are ready. His approach has produced remarkable results – 43.75% of his players advance to college baseball, compared to the national average of just 7%.
The magic of Canada/Montana baseball lies in its community connections and multi-sport athletes. In towns where populations barely reach 5,000, Friday night games fill wooden grandstands reminiscent of "Bull Durham," and athletes must play multiple sports for teams to exist at all. This natural cross-training seems to benefit players' development and reduce injuries compared to year-round specialization.
Subscribe now to hear more stories of baseball innovation from unexpected places. How is your program developing players for long-term success rather than short-term velocity gains?
Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on high school baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, youth and travel baseball, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.
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Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:07.854
Over 130 episodes of talking to some of the best high school, college and professional coaches around the country.
00:00:07.854 --> 00:00:12.672
And I was asked the other day have you ever had someone on from Canada?
00:00:12.672 --> 00:00:16.564
Simple answer is no, but that comes to an end.
00:00:16.564 --> 00:00:37.649
Today he runs the Montana Baseball Coaches Association head coach for Cranbrook Post 24 Legion and you'll want to hear the incredible story of a pitcher he coached, who fought wildfires and is one of the best in the world Paul Mrazik next on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
00:00:40.161 --> 00:00:44.845
Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken Carpenter, presented by AthleteOne.
00:00:44.845 --> 00:00:46.871
Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken Carpenter, presented by Athlete One.
00:00:46.871 --> 00:00:51.609
Baseball Coaches Unplugged is a podcast for baseball coaches, with 27 years of high school baseball coaching under his belt.
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Here to bring you the inside scoop on all things baseball, from game-winning strategies and pitching secrets to hitting drills and defensive drills.
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We're covering it all.
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Whether you're a high school coach, college coach or just a baseball enthusiast, we'll dive into the tactics and techniques that make the difference on and off the field.
00:01:08.748 --> 00:01:16.021
Discover how to build a winning mentality, inspire your players and get them truly bought into your game philosophy Plus.
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Get the latest insights on recruiting, coaching, leadership and crafting a team culture that champions productivity and success.
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Join Coach every week as he breaks down the game and shares incredible behind-the-scenes stories.
00:01:26.831 --> 00:01:32.534
Your competitive edge starts here, so check out the show weekly and hear from the best coaches in the game.
00:01:32.534 --> 00:01:34.441
On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
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Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
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I'm your host, coach Ken Carpenter.
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Now to my sit-down with Paul Mrazik, director of Montana Baseball Coaches Association, legion Baseball, which Coach?
00:02:57.385 --> 00:03:03.528
One thanks for being on the show, and you're my first Legion guy, so I'm excited for that.
00:03:04.711 --> 00:03:10.224
Okay, no, I appreciate you having me on.
00:03:10.224 --> 00:03:10.425
Yeah, the.
00:03:10.425 --> 00:03:15.788
Uh, it's the the Montana baseball coaches conference, myself and um the head coach in Libby, montana.
00:03:15.788 --> 00:03:31.656
We started the Montana baseball coaches conference, um, open to all coaches from all associations and um that, and we just finished our 10th year of that.
00:03:33.260 --> 00:03:40.669
Well, there are currently, from my latest research, 35 high school baseball programs in the state of Montana.
00:03:40.669 --> 00:03:46.611
How excited are you about the growth of high school baseball in Montana?
00:03:47.180 --> 00:03:47.562
Correct.
00:03:47.562 --> 00:03:48.465
Yeah, there was.
00:03:48.465 --> 00:03:56.645
So Montana has typically been very strong American Legion baseball right, and I'm very proud of it and we still are.
00:03:56.645 --> 00:04:03.784
So this is year three of high school, high school baseball in Montana.
00:04:03.784 --> 00:04:08.006
There was five states that didn't have high school baseball and Montana was one of them.
00:04:08.006 --> 00:04:10.929
And now Montana has it and they're going into year three.
00:04:10.929 --> 00:04:16.552
Not every school but it's growing and I think it's fine.
00:04:16.552 --> 00:04:20.369
You know Ohio, where you are, has had it for years.
00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:33.132
Tim Saunders has spoke at the Montana Coaches Conference twice and the first year when high school was coming, he talked about it and you know, legion just starts a little bit later.
00:04:33.132 --> 00:04:43.062
So now the high school starts kind of similar time as normal and then it finishes and then Legion will take off.
00:04:43.062 --> 00:04:49.574
So you can play your high school and I think it's good that the players get to play for a high school championship.
00:04:49.574 --> 00:05:10.728
You know they have an opportunity to go for like their other sports, because in baseball they never had an opportunity to win a high school state championship and now they do and I think that's good and then just roll into your Legion and once again play for a district championship and then move on to state and then regionals.
00:05:10.728 --> 00:05:19.672
So I think it's just both organizations working together and making it work and try and get more kids playing baseball.
00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:27.213
When does Legion season start and does it kind of coincide with the Montana high school baseball?
00:05:27.980 --> 00:05:28.922
It's Cranbrook.
00:05:28.922 --> 00:05:36.875
Montana has five or six Canadian border cities, border towns that play American Legion baseball.
00:05:36.875 --> 00:05:40.790
So we were just in Kalispell yesterday for a doubleheader.
00:05:40.790 --> 00:05:47.245
A team from Calgary was there, so we've got a three-way Calgary, kalispell and us.
00:05:47.245 --> 00:06:02.689
So typically we would get outside before high school started, we would get outside in early April and then, you know, we'd get our first Legion games early May.
00:06:02.689 --> 00:06:05.540
So now we're starting our games a little bit earlier.
00:06:05.540 --> 00:06:17.386
We're starting in April, um, but down, uh, depending where you are in Montana, they are looking at their first practices um beginning of March, getting outside.
00:06:17.386 --> 00:06:22.624
So if there's, if the snow's not on the ground and it's, you know, warm enough that they can get outside.
00:06:22.624 --> 00:06:27.173
Every year is different, but they're looking to get outside early March.
00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:29.043
Now with Montana.
00:06:29.043 --> 00:06:40.730
I mean, I personally have never been there and you know it's a good-sized state and not only having 35 teams that are playing high school baseball.
00:06:40.730 --> 00:06:54.913
I imagine the challenges are pretty daunting when it comes to high schools wanting to start it up because the field probably trying to find umpires and things like that.
00:06:54.913 --> 00:06:55.915
Is that the case?
00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:05.353
Montana has lots of little towns, lots of populations of 4,000, 5,000, 8,000.
00:07:05.353 --> 00:07:14.773
Uh, missoula is the second biggest city after Billings and it's got a population of uh roughly 70,000, 69,000, 70,000 people.
00:07:14.773 --> 00:07:16.968
That's the second second biggest city.
00:07:16.968 --> 00:07:20.591
I think Billings is up around 130, 140,000.
00:07:20.591 --> 00:07:23.149
So there's lots of travel.
00:07:23.149 --> 00:07:36.576
Um, you know they, and yes, there's only so many people and so probably the same umpires are doing multiple schools and a little bit of driving multiple cities.
00:07:37.838 --> 00:07:38.100
Definitely.
00:07:38.100 --> 00:07:58.190
Well, I grew up playing Legion baseball so I didn't have the travel baseball experience and you know, with you coaching with Post 24, in that part of the country, what makes Legion baseball so special.
00:08:00.822 --> 00:08:01.946
One is it's good baseball.
00:08:01.946 --> 00:08:05.807
Okay, you don't need to go anywhere else.
00:08:05.807 --> 00:08:25.704
Now I know that travel baseball is growing and in some states it's very big and I go to the Colorado Clinic every year and a lot of those coaches that I talk to they're like you play Legion in Montana and I'm like, yeah, and they're like I loved playing Legion, I loved coaching Legion.
00:08:25.704 --> 00:08:29.161
However, it's, it's gone the other way in some States.
00:08:29.161 --> 00:08:35.447
You know, you're playing in a league, your games mean something.
00:08:35.447 --> 00:09:11.777
Sure, we go into some tournaments, but we have our conferenceals, um, and if, uh, there's, there's a handful um of cities that have double a legion which goes to the world series, our single a division that we play in that stops at after regionals, um, so it's, yeah, it's good baseball.
00:09:12.097 --> 00:09:14.066
The towns come out and support it.
00:09:14.066 --> 00:09:20.139
You go to a friday night, saturday game in Libby and the grandstand's packed.
00:09:20.139 --> 00:09:22.245
They've done.
00:09:22.245 --> 00:09:27.618
You know it's a great old school grandstand wood frame.
00:09:27.618 --> 00:09:30.394
It's like Bull Durham right when we go there.
00:09:30.394 --> 00:09:38.700
And, yeah, it's the small towns good baseball.
00:09:38.700 --> 00:09:41.212
I think the players are coached well.
00:09:41.212 --> 00:09:48.572
We've got a lot of great coaches in Montana and, yeah, it's competitive and we're moving our players along.
00:09:48.572 --> 00:09:52.914
A lot of our players are moving along to college if they want to.
00:09:52.914 --> 00:10:01.456
And there's still because these towns are small, there's still a lot of two and three sport athletes, and that's me.
00:10:01.585 --> 00:10:10.256
I think that makes baseball players better when they're playing multiple sports, and I'm sure that's probably the case when you're in a state like Montana.
00:10:11.447 --> 00:10:27.892
Yeah, I agree, and so you know that player might be playing baseball, might be his sport, but he's playing basketball because that town of 3,000, 4,000 people, if he doesn't play basketball, his friends don't have basketball that year and there's no basketball at the school.
00:10:27.892 --> 00:10:36.150
So you know they're spending their time on their primary sport that they love, but they're also playing other sports there.
00:10:36.150 --> 00:10:50.395
I think you know they're becoming more better athletes and overall athletes and it's the injury rate on multi sport athletes is less than single sport athletes.
00:10:50.395 --> 00:10:54.490
They're not doing the same thing for 12 months of the year, right?
00:10:54.490 --> 00:10:57.556
So if you, if you take, take a look at other sports too.
00:10:57.996 --> 00:11:03.034
So where I am in Cranbrook, it's a, it's a big hockey town, um, small town, canada.
00:11:03.034 --> 00:11:10.596
We're 20,000 people and we have a lot of players that um, um, have gone on to the NHL.
00:11:10.596 --> 00:11:37.273
For a town this size, right, um, in Canada, per capita, um, and yeah, the, you, the, you know um, and I've coached and trained some of the higher end um hockey players here, uh, male and female that have that have gone on um, because I also do strength and conditioning and um, but just if you take a look at basketball, if you take a look at hockey, these high ankle injuries that are very common now.
00:11:37.273 --> 00:11:41.759
They weren't happening 20, 30 years ago, right when we had multi-sport players.
00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:51.820
So I think doing the same sport, the same repetitive motion, is hard on the body and you definitely have to control the volume and the intensity.
00:11:53.505 --> 00:11:57.196
And in Montana in small towns they don't have a choice.
00:11:57.196 --> 00:12:00.289
They hate to play all three sports, otherwise they don't have a team.
00:12:00.289 --> 00:12:08.833
But with my kids in Cranbrook we've got some basketball, volleyball, hockey and when it's hockey season they play hockey.
00:12:08.833 --> 00:12:13.731
And you know my center fielder, vinny Ferdino.
00:12:13.731 --> 00:12:16.658
He comes out and he hits on Friday nights when he doesn't have hockey.
00:12:17.499 --> 00:12:22.413
Right, maybe he's got a whole game, I would guess the coaches, in all those different sports.
00:12:22.413 --> 00:12:25.914
They have to get along because they need each.
00:12:25.914 --> 00:12:42.432
Each team needs those players to because, like you have in some of the big schools that you run across, maybe here in Ohio you have coaches who are like, hey, you're lifting weights when you're not playing football or whatever it may be.
00:12:42.432 --> 00:12:44.932
So imagine that up there.
00:12:48.490 --> 00:12:53.852
Yeah, if you play baseball, you're not playing basketball next year, right, because you need to be training all year for that.
00:12:53.852 --> 00:13:06.178
Yeah, there's less of it, for sure In Montana and and where I am there's, you know, there's still a little bit because some of these sports are starting to go year round.
00:13:06.178 --> 00:13:13.234
But in the small, small towns in Montana it's.
00:13:13.234 --> 00:13:17.000
It's hard to do because otherwise that school won't have a team.
00:13:18.285 --> 00:13:23.514
I think on the western part of Montana travel baseball is starting to pick up a little bit.
00:13:23.514 --> 00:13:26.475
Is it having any effect on Legion baseball?
00:13:28.787 --> 00:13:32.096
Yeah, there's a few travel programs out there.
00:13:32.096 --> 00:13:39.486
Now, when I started, we started in the Montana Legion, we used to be in idaho.
00:13:39.486 --> 00:14:05.177
We moved into montana um, in about 2013 it was and there wasn't any, and now now there is, um, yeah, it's, uh, I guess, yeah, there's, there's an effect there, you know, looking for players and to be a part of their program, and so that means that player isn't playing with the local Legion program.
00:14:05.177 --> 00:14:27.417
So, you know, definitely, and yeah, we think that and we play them, you know they'll be in some of the tournaments that we play and stuff, and it's not like they're be in some of the tournaments that we play and stuff and, um, it's not like they're all better than all the Legion teams and, uh, the the Legion players, the travel ball players, they're going to the same colleges, they're going to the same universities.
00:14:27.417 --> 00:14:31.594
Um, you know, we are moving just as many players along.
00:14:31.594 --> 00:14:35.491
Um, it's not like the opportunities.
00:14:35.491 --> 00:14:36.414
I don't think.
00:14:36.414 --> 00:14:38.426
I don't think.
00:14:38.446 --> 00:15:01.030
I don't think the opportunities are better if you look at my program, because in in British Columbia, here, you know, some of my guys get noticed and we've got some academies here in Alberta, which is close by, there's quite a few now and there's some really good, well-run academies for sure, and you know they're interested in some of my guys, but my senior team.
00:15:01.030 --> 00:15:03.317
We have two Legion teams, a and B.
00:15:03.317 --> 00:15:07.035
So B goes to 17, a goes to 19.
00:15:07.035 --> 00:15:21.331
So if when you play with 11 players and that travel team or that academy wants you know my player, that gets me down to 10.
00:15:21.331 --> 00:15:23.456
I lose two players when I got 11.
00:15:29.524 --> 00:15:38.700
We may not have senior boys competitive baseball in this region of the province and we want to give our athletes that opportunity to keep playing baseball at a higher level and move them along.
00:15:38.700 --> 00:15:53.235
So since 2013 to today, well and the last year, the players that have stuck with my program and aged out 43.75% have moved on to play college baseball.
00:15:53.235 --> 00:16:09.535
So in America, 7% of high school players move on to play college baseball is the numbers that they were saying at the ABCA this year, and so we're pretty happy with that and we think we're developing our players and giving them the opportunity to move on.
00:16:09.535 --> 00:16:16.534
And so are all the other Montana Legion teams, in my opinion, are all the other Montana.
00:16:16.575 --> 00:16:17.996
Legion teams.
00:16:17.996 --> 00:16:29.533
In my opinion, you've developed a lot of good pitchers, and talk about what you do with your off-season program to get baseball players to reach their potential.
00:16:31.416 --> 00:16:45.565
Sure, basically, our calendar year, basically our calendar year, we are running like a college program or like an academy, basically.
00:16:45.565 --> 00:16:49.908
But our kids don't have to leave home and they don't have to spend whatever.
00:16:49.908 --> 00:17:05.171
It is $17,000, $20,000, $25,000 and they get to lay at home and they're playing with their high school friends and we want to develop them and give them the opportunity to move on to play college baseball if they wish.
00:17:05.171 --> 00:17:14.936
If they don't, they finish their years with our program and they're hardworking individuals, they know how to work hard, they listen and they're respectful.
00:17:14.936 --> 00:17:21.969
But for those that want to move on, we want to make sure we develop everyone so that they've got an opportunity to go somewhere.
00:17:22.048 --> 00:17:25.276
So we've got our regular spring summer season.
00:17:25.276 --> 00:17:27.928
Then we take August off.
00:17:27.928 --> 00:17:34.385
Some will go to some baseball camps but we rest the arms and then we start up in the fall.
00:17:34.385 --> 00:17:49.387
So we start after Labor Day and we'll uh, we get into games pretty fast there and we will play about 18 to 20 games in the fall, um, and that takes us through to about October 20th.
00:17:49.387 --> 00:18:00.239
Then it starts getting a little bit too cold, um, then we take a couple of weeks off, then we start indoor and we are indoor fall season is.
00:18:00.239 --> 00:18:05.092
We hit on Friday nights and we do speed, agility and quickness.
00:18:05.092 --> 00:18:08.644
So we're working a lot of cone work ladders.
00:18:08.644 --> 00:18:18.866
We're working on running form, um, our bounding, um, we're sprinting hurdles, so we're just we're working on that and they start lifting there too.
00:18:18.866 --> 00:18:28.193
So that's our bigger, stronger, faster phase, um, but we, we do make sure that they get their rest and then their active recovery before we start moving weights.
00:18:28.193 --> 00:18:33.070
Then after that, um mid January, we'll start throwing.
00:18:33.070 --> 00:18:36.116
Um, that's a traditional program.
00:18:36.116 --> 00:18:44.388
There's programs they're throwing throughout the whole year now and then they're just controlling the volume and the intensity, making sure it's light.
00:18:44.388 --> 00:18:49.358
But this also gives our other kids playing other sports right.
00:18:49.358 --> 00:18:51.990
You know the hockey, basketball, volleyball.
00:18:51.990 --> 00:18:54.136
So we started throwing in January.
00:18:54.136 --> 00:19:00.530
Volleyball, so we started throwing in January and, uh, we, we slowly start ramping it up.
00:19:00.530 --> 00:19:04.637
Penn started in February, um, and they have a pre-season, uh, lifting program.
00:19:04.637 --> 00:19:11.916
So we go from an off season to pre-season so that we're getting more functional sports, specific lifts going.
00:19:11.916 --> 00:19:23.174
And, um, really, you making sure that we're doing the right things for the shoulders and the back and the throwing motion Because we want to keep them healthy.
00:19:23.234 --> 00:19:31.248
And I tell my players, because they're all interested in chasing velo and that, and I would rather they play for a long time than a short time.
00:19:31.248 --> 00:19:36.415
So these players that you know, they'll show me a video or something.
00:19:36.415 --> 00:19:38.680
And here's this kid he's 15, he's throwing 92.
00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:46.834
Generally speaking, most of the players that I've seen 15, and you know, throwing that kind of velo.
00:19:46.834 --> 00:19:49.291
I don't see them when they're 21 or 22.
00:19:49.291 --> 00:19:50.154
So where have they gone?
00:19:50.154 --> 00:19:53.173
And I don't think the body can keep up to it.
00:19:53.173 --> 00:19:59.952
So I like to try and develop them slow and steady, good mechanics and then get them to college.
00:19:59.952 --> 00:20:01.656
And then I turn it over to the college guy.
00:20:02.786 --> 00:20:14.194
You know, I've had an opportunity, depending where they've gone, and work with some of my pitchers a little bit longer, working with one right now, and but the coach has always said you can continue to work with with your coach.
00:20:14.194 --> 00:20:15.821
But I don't like that.
00:20:15.821 --> 00:20:19.454
You know, I don't want another hitting coach, I don't want another pitching coach.
00:20:19.454 --> 00:20:32.048
My kid going another guy, um, while we're in season and we're, we know what we're doing, we've moved enough players along, but um, yeah, just, uh, um, it's, it's very sports specific.
00:20:32.068 --> 00:20:36.054
And then in season is the kids are going to school.
00:20:36.054 --> 00:20:42.000
You know, maybe when they get out of school, june 20th-ish they can start lifting a little bit.
00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.391
But we're on the field.
00:20:43.391 --> 00:20:45.371
They're on the field six days a week.
00:20:45.371 --> 00:20:53.433
I'm there seven, because Mondays is just footwork and ground balls and we call it Motown Monday.
00:20:53.433 --> 00:20:59.208
We play the music and it's relaxed, relaxed and it's glove work and footwork, no throwing um.
00:20:59.208 --> 00:21:11.057
But uh, they really don't lift much when we get in season because, you know, some of them have jobs, their work, they've got that, they've got school, they've got baseball and I don't know.
00:21:11.057 --> 00:21:12.867
It's it's tough for them to fit in.
00:21:12.867 --> 00:21:21.380
So we do some body weight strength, you know, do some pushups at home, we'll do some bounding and plyometrics on field.
00:21:21.380 --> 00:21:25.536
We work that into the week and our and our sprints of practice.
00:21:26.424 --> 00:21:27.969
What do you, what do you say to?
00:21:27.969 --> 00:21:46.588
You know the parent that's listening right now, who you know, they want, you know they want their kid to play at the next level, college level, and they need their kid to be hitting 90 and above or they're not going to be recruited by college coaches.
00:21:46.588 --> 00:21:48.573
And what, what?
00:21:48.573 --> 00:21:50.998
What do you say to those, those parents?
00:21:52.505 --> 00:22:00.201
Um, I'm lucky where I am, cause most of my my parents know more about hockey, right when I am.
00:22:00.201 --> 00:22:04.976
But no, we talk about the and we'll play video.
00:22:04.976 --> 00:22:09.369
One is let us coach your kid, let us develop your kid.
00:22:09.369 --> 00:22:10.997
We will move your kid along.
00:22:10.997 --> 00:22:15.675
Okay, your kid might not hit 90 until his second year of college.
00:22:15.675 --> 00:22:20.630
It might be his third year of college, right, billy Wagner started D3.
00:22:20.630 --> 00:22:22.375
He's had a great career.
00:22:24.224 --> 00:22:28.060
Everyone's going to develop at a different time as an athlete.
00:22:28.060 --> 00:22:40.333
So the athlete development at the early ages and as you move through and then also depending on their birth date and their size and their strength, everyone's different.
00:22:40.333 --> 00:22:53.169
So if we push this kid and try to get that velo and his body can't handle it, then I'm saying to the parent you know, we can try that, but your kid might not be throwing baseballs when he's 20 years old.
00:22:53.169 --> 00:23:00.099
So you need to decide, um, but our model and what we do.
00:23:00.099 --> 00:23:04.694
We have healthy arms and and our players generally play for a long time.
00:23:04.694 --> 00:23:20.020
Um, so just kind of saying this is what we do, this is how we get them there, and you know a lot of these players, um, that they're watching, are continuing to play because the body breaks down.
00:23:20.020 --> 00:23:28.654
Or there's a lot of stuff on social media and you see a lot of 92, 93 and radar guns and a lot of them aren't strikes.
00:23:28.654 --> 00:23:36.141
Or you saw two pitches, okay, and if it's really that good, then how come they're not in the SEC?
00:23:36.141 --> 00:23:42.692
How come we're not watching them in the SEC and we're seeing three pitches with a pocket radar, right.
00:23:42.692 --> 00:23:53.597
Or you know, I don't see guys run and throw on the mound Okay, 95 running and throwing into a net 15 feet away, right, you know what I'm talking about.
00:23:53.597 --> 00:24:07.057
So there's, and now we, we, we run and gun we've done that in the past and turn and burn and all this stuff and get into it and loading up and I think a lot of it too.
00:24:07.176 --> 00:24:08.761
Velo depends on the athlete.
00:24:08.761 --> 00:24:11.796
Not everyone is going to be able to throw 95.
00:24:11.796 --> 00:24:14.321
There's no way.
00:24:14.321 --> 00:24:41.827
So we just want them healthy and move them on and then let the college person take a look at that and if they think they got to throw 90, to play college baseball, to pitch at the college level, maybe in the SEC, but there's a lot of other places that most of the players are going, because not all of the players are going to the SEC right are going to the SEC right.
00:24:42.529 --> 00:24:46.086
So and we're trying to move our players to where they will play and be picky right.
00:24:46.086 --> 00:24:53.938
You know we'd go to different prospect camps at colleges and stuff, and Desi's story at Central Washington.
00:24:53.938 --> 00:25:07.442
He does a good talk with the players and it's like you need to first make sure that you have the classes right that you want to take and what you want to do, and then take a look at the roster and you know, do they have seven catchers right?
00:25:07.442 --> 00:25:10.159
And you know how many are moving along?
00:25:10.159 --> 00:25:11.849
And you know they have no seniors.
00:25:11.849 --> 00:25:14.980
That might not be a good place for you because no one's moving on.
00:25:14.980 --> 00:25:17.896
So take a look at that.
00:25:17.896 --> 00:25:19.411
And you know, are you going to play?
00:25:19.411 --> 00:25:19.971
So take a look at that.
00:25:19.971 --> 00:25:20.792
And are you going to play?
00:25:20.792 --> 00:25:27.904
So you could go to some university and put the sticker on your car and never play and pay $40,000 if that makes you happy.
00:25:27.904 --> 00:25:37.470
But I think we've got to get the kids to the right place and the right fit and if they don't get innings, they're not going to develop.
00:25:37.650 --> 00:25:39.758
Well, I've been doing this podcast since 2020.
00:25:39.758 --> 00:25:48.798
I've got, I believe, over 130 episodes out and I came across this Ali Schroeder.
00:25:48.798 --> 00:25:53.005
Yes, Tell me about Ali Schroeder.
00:25:54.109 --> 00:25:55.531
Okay, ali Schroeder.
00:25:55.531 --> 00:25:59.836
Ali Schroeder played for us in 2019.
00:25:59.836 --> 00:26:06.526
Um, allie Schroeder never played softball, played baseball.
00:26:06.526 --> 00:26:10.779
She was from, uh, trail, british Columbia, where Jason Bay was from.
00:26:10.779 --> 00:26:16.020
Okay, so, very strong hockey baseball community.
00:26:16.020 --> 00:26:19.094
Um, very competitive, very competitive.
00:26:19.094 --> 00:26:26.184
And that year there was no team in her age for her to play.
00:26:26.184 --> 00:26:35.320
They were, I guess, rebuilding a little bit and stuff at that age and so they reached out and said, can I play with you guys?
00:26:35.320 --> 00:26:40.040
So she came out and met us in Libby.
00:26:40.040 --> 00:26:45.820
So Trail signed the release because they were playing American Legion 2.
00:26:47.911 --> 00:26:55.214
So all the coaches in Montana, right, and all the areas that had to sign a release, right in the closest towns, oh yeah, we'll release.
00:26:55.214 --> 00:26:56.077
You want this girl?
00:26:56.077 --> 00:26:58.309
Yeah, no problem, right?
00:26:58.309 --> 00:26:58.611
Well, they didn't know how good she was.
00:26:58.611 --> 00:26:58.660
Yeah, no problem, right.
00:26:58.660 --> 00:27:02.374
Well, they didn't know how good she was.
00:27:02.394 --> 00:27:17.329
So she's been pitching for Team Canada since she was 15 for women's baseball, okay, and I took her down to Central Washington for the prospects camp in December of 2019, and she hit 82 on the gun.
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