WEBVTT
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Hello and welcome to K Zone Baseball Development Podcast.
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Today we sit down with Coach Fresh off morning of Division III National Championship and receive the tag as the ABCA assistant coach of the year.
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I'm Hunter Wood and I'm here with the founder of K Zone Baseball Development, Jimmy Keating.
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I chased that D3 title for four years.
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I'm excited to hear from someone that actually went and won it.
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Before we get started, if you want to be able to chase this baseball dream without wasting time and resources all around the country, burning through your savings or your kids getting hurt, if you want Hunter and myself in your corner to answer any of the questions of this journey, we want you to step into the dugout and join our players and families.
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Head over to Kzone Baseball Development.com backslash dugout and use code work to get the first month free.
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We like to give you insight on specifics of what you can do to obtain this dream without ending up with significant debt or hurting your current family.
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All right.
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So here we are today with Coach Ryan Romick.
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He's entering his tenth season as assistant baseball coach at Denison University and his fifth season as associate head coach.
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He's helped build one of the most premiered programs in all of baseball.
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Coach Romick is coming off his historic 2026 season where he helped lead Denison to its first national championship in program history, and he was recognized as the assistant coach of the year.
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Under Coach Rome's leadership, Denison has established itself as a true national powerhouse.
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Over the last several seasons, the Big Red have sustained a level of excellence.
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Few programs in the country can match.
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Making multiple regional appearances, deep postseason runs, and building a culture centered around elite player development and winning baseball.
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Coach, we know your experience in building a championship is going to be highly valuable for our families and our players.
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So we're excited for your insight today.
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Thank you for coming once more, Coach Rome.
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How are you?
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I'm good, man.
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Thanks for having me, guys.
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Appreciate it.
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Absolutely.
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Of course, we're going to have you.
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You win a national championship, you probably get a lot of requests like this.
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Man, when we were building this show, Doc, looking at what you guys have laid down over the last couple of years, I'm like, this is unbelievable.
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There weren't even like Tuesday midweek slips.
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Like you guys just laid down some dominance that I I don't know that I've looked at at many levels of baseball.
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So before we dive in and hear about it, congratulations, man.
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Whatever y'all are doing, it's awesome.
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And I can't wait to hear about it.
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Thank you.
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Appreciate it.
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So, coach, simple question here.
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How does it feel to be a national champion?
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I don't know.
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It's crazy.
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I don't know.
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You know, you try to go into this um thing like striving for that.
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That's what you want.
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And I don't think I had any clue like how hard it was going to be.
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Um like the tournament.
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Um it's basically, you know, the way the format works is the same as Division I, right?
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It's it's you win a regional, you win a super, and then basically you got to win another regional and another super.
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Like, and it just never it feels like it never stops.
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And we happen to lose the first game of the World Series.
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So, um, and then lost one in the in the best of three.
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So we play as many games you could possibly play in whatever it is, seven days.
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Um, it just takes so many people.
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I think that's the thing I learned the most.
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It takes so many people, it takes so many players, it takes a ton of depth, it takes uh having a really good trainer, it had takes having a really good strength coach, it takes having really good parents.
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Like it just took everybody and really good coaching staff from the top to the bottom.
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Your first base coach has to be good, your bullpen guy has to be good.
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Um, if anybody falters and slips and messes up, it can hurt you.
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Um and that's how small the like um I guess the the parody is.
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It's just everybody's good and can beat you, so you have to be good on a bunch of different levels.
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I originally went to school to be an athletic trainer, and I think a lot of what goes on with our athletic trainers at the Division III level and other and other small school levels, those people are unsung heroes.
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Those many baseball games in that many days.
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I would imagine you had several dudes throw on short rest that weren't sure they were gonna be able to play catch and then can't came in to to pitch and win a championship and and do those things.
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I run all the pitching here at K Zone, and one of the big things is coaches have to know that you're gonna be consistent and come in and compete in zone.
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And you look at what you guys laid down this past year, consistency and being in zone.
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I mean, those are foundational things, and they're really hard to do day after day after day after day over the course of a whole season.
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So you guys just laid down one of the best Division III seasons in the history of Division III, and you spoke to it.
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You played as many games as possible.
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So it could have been really easy, especially from a staff perspective, to make an excuse on why it fizzled out there in the end, because oh man, we just we were burnt, like we were out of arms, and everybody would understand that and it would be great.
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But those are really hard things to actually grasp and and feel in your chest as a former pitcher that maybe I could have taken the ball, but I didn't do the recovery right and do all those things.
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So the the consistency and the obsession required with preparation and recovery, it's it's exemplified in what you guys were able to achieve there playing so many games in such a short window.
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So we often talk about how the physicality and the talent level in college baseball is skyrocketing.
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Uh, there is great baseball played at all levels.
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Uh and division three baseball is so misunderstood.
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I know nothing about it.
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Uh and Jimmy, once again, being at that level and sitting at that level, he always chimes in and is like, hey, you don't really understand this level.
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Tell us all about the talent uh on your roster at Denison this past year uh that took the title home.
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Um yeah, I think obviously it's a very talented team.
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Um I think I I'll start the year before because I think that tells more about the program than than just the team did because that's that's kind of where we've been um last, like as he said, it's been the last four or five years, uh six years.
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Um so last year we lost um arguably the best division three player of all time.
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Um he's got to be in the top like three conversation.
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Um Eric Colasso, um, he won Division III player of the year.
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He was on the Golden Spikes watch list, um, and that's a mainly a Division I award.
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Um, but he was on that.
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Um he was an animal.
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Um and if you go back and scroll through his numbers, you're like, holy moly, you know, 60 bags.
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Um he was hitting 20 doubles a year, he'd hit 12 home runs, he'd hit four something.
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Um his numbers are crazy, and he did it for four years.
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Um but we lost him, we lose a couple other good seniors, we lose uh a guy to the Padres, um, our number one starter.
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We lose a couple good bullpen pieces, and then we had three guys get in the portal.
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So we had two sophomores and a junior leave in the transfer portal.
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One went to Duke, one went to Tulane, and one went to Pitt.
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And they all had really good years at those three schools.
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Um, so we lost a ton of talent there.
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We lost, I think, 75, 80 percent of our innings last year.
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Um, so you come into this year going, people are like, How are you gonna be?
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And I'm like, I have no idea.
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I don't even know who's gonna throw.
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Um it was what so it was just kind of a um, it took a program effort, meaning you have to have a deep roster, you have to have pitchers that are in that seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve roles the year before.
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Now they got to step up and they got to pitch.
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I had two young guys come in that were all Americans, two freshmen.
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Um, so the talent was really good, but I think more more proud um from my side is the depth of the talent by losing that much.
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And then we walked in and had a really good year.
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Stats speak for themselves, but the the staff was really good and really tight, um, and guys wanted the ball.
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But that was a bunch of guys that were kind of waiting on an opportunity um a year before and weren't sure if they were ever going to get one because those guys were sophomores juniors and they transferred out.
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So it was like, here you go, big boy.
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It's your time.
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Take the ball and roll with it.
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So, and they did a great job.
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Waiting on an opportunity.
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That feels like a lost art a little bit.
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Just kind of putting your head down for a year while you got talented players in front of you and and not running from that and going somewhere else.
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That's really cool to hear that that we've actually got teenagers that want to do that.
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We work predominantly with high school athletes and we want to make sure that they understand hey man, year one is really important that you have opportunity to go somewhere and develop.
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We want to lay down numbers, but those numbers may be laid down over the course of 14 innings.
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And you need to be prepared for that because, you know, I was a division three ball player, and and we talked about some of this show doc being a little bit geared towards talking about the current state of division three and breaking some of those stereotypes and misconceptions.
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I myself, I went to Spaulding University, I hung up the phone the first time they called me.
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I will not go there.
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Why would I go there?
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And then the way things shook out for a variety of reasons, I ended up committing there.
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And I committed there with the mindset that I will go in and immediately be the best pitcher they've ever had.
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They should be grateful I'm coming here, and I'll bully my way into the top end of the draft by year three.
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And my first year, I had to grow up.
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I wasn't ready.
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I threw 27 innings, pitched to the tune of a 4-6-7.
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That ain't dominant.
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And it sounds like you probably had a lot of guys like like that story, really talented, probably think they're gonna have a lot of success, and then had to humble themselves and wait and keep working and be ready for the baseball.
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And not to not to spill the beans on your all's record this past year, but when you lose three games, it means that everybody that took the baseball was ready for the baseball.
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And you only get that when you have the mental maturity to understand your role and execute in moments.
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Speaking of dominance, Dennison is 170 and 28 over the last four seasons, and that is pure dominance.
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Uh so talk about this, Coach Rome, for us.
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What are you guys establishing in the fall to make sure that culture of winning is sustained year after year?
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Yeah, I that was a good question because the fall is definitely important, and division three's changed.
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So um division three uh two years ago used to be or three years ago now, maybe it used to be 16 days, is all you got.
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So I'm sure when he played division three baseball, it was probably a 16-day model.
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I think you got four weeks worth of four days of practice or whatever.
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Um now they've switched it and you get 24 days, and you can use them however you'd like.
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You don't have to keep it in a four-week window.
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So um some teams will stretch it a long time, some people will do six days a week for four weeks still, and and that's what they want to do.
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Um, you can also save the days and use them for like pitcher catcher days early in the spring.
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So we we usually keep two or three days for that.
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Um, but we try to stretch ours just so we can give pitchers time to recover.
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We put pitchers on a really strict schedule and we don't have to bounce guys back like you used to in fallball, which is like, hey, you're gonna throw on Tuesday and you're gonna throw on Saturday and you're gonna throw on Tuesday and Saturday, and it was a mess.
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But now that fall for us is a lot about playing.
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Um, so as you guys have probably experienced it with younger guys, uh, gameplay is not something that they are very familiar with.
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And what I mean by that is they're familiar with a cage, they're familiar with the bullpen format, they're familiar with tech now when we get them, which is crazy to me.
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Um, I didn't have a pitching coach, but now these guys know what IVB is and BAA is and they can tell you everything.
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Um, but they don't play, they don't go in the backyard and play very much.
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So, so the idea of competition and just trying to get this guy out and just trying to hit a home run off this guy is very different.
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So we play a ton um purposefully.
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So our pitchers will come in.
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Now the volume's not crazy high, but the frequency is high.
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So they're gonna go live and they're gonna get a bullpen, they're gonna have a recovery day with us every week.
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So we get three days a week for eight weeks.
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Um, and usually it ends up being like uh we get a fall break in there.
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So we go about 21 or 22 days.
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Um but that's that's for for a reason.
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One, because we're trying to set a standard of how we like to play, um, how we like to hustle, how we like to that backups are important for pitchers, that um the way you go onto the field as a pitcher is important, the way you come off and and how quickly you get your butt on the field is important.
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Um, that our shortstop doesn't need to throw nine balls across the infield, that we want your butt on the mound and be ready to pitch and those sorts of things.
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For hitters, it's the same thing.
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Like how we take leads is important, and all the little stuff that gets overlooked, the monotony of like uh how we take in-between inning ground balls and how we throw across.
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Like last year we did a we did a a day where you could lose points, lose runs, um, and gain runs by having really good in-between inning sessions because we are tired of throwing the ball away.
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So um, again, we just try to learn and and develop our team through play.
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Um, so our fall, I think, is extremely important.
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Pitchers are gonna throw 12 to 20 innings depending on what type of pitcher you are.
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Um, hitters are gonna get between 50 and 60 at bats.
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It's a really good, as you mentioned earlier, it's a really good way to put your name out there if you're a young guy.
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Um, you can put yourself on the board as being, hey, I'm a guy I got a thousand OPS and I got walk more and I strike out and things like that.
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Um and for a pitcher, it's the same thing.
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Can you dominate the white of the plate?
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Um, can you get people out over the white?
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And if you can do that, then you can pitch for us.
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If you can't dominate the 17 inches in front of you, then you can't pitch.
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Um, and that's how it goes.
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But our fall is massively important to us.
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Man, you're perking me up over here.
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You're saying so many things that that I'll talk about.
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You're talking about the white of the plate, I'll start there.
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I talk about disrespect the barrel.
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So half the time when these dudes hit the ball hard, it's ground ball short, and we got a guy over there and he's out.
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So to any pitcher out there, if you don't hear anything else, they just won a lot of baseball games, and he's talking about pitching over the white of the plate.
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When we're cute on the corners, we give up, we give away free bases, and when we give away free bases, we end up losing.
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And losing isn't fun.
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And other stuff he talked about there that I've taken a lot of my older high school guys through to try to prep for college.
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It does matter what it looks like in between pitches when you're on the mound.
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It does matter how you come off the field.
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I actually had my seniors this year practice their walk off the mound, okay?
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What that really looks like, and then understand when it is time.
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Your offense just gave you a big momentum shift.
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You need to be on that rubber immediately.
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So this isn't the walk to the rubber.
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This is go get the baseball, get on the rubber.
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I don't care about your warm-up pitches.
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Get hot.
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Hey, first baseman, get that ball back in the dugout.
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We're getting these boys back in the dugout quickly.
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When do we work quickly in the inning?
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And when do we slow it down for a minute?
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Understanding that even though there's a pitch clock, there's still ways to manipulate that tempo to compete within the baseball game itself that's being played that day.
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And that feel for the game is lost when we exclusively play the game in a travel ball culture that is that is you know played on a clock, and and maybe we're trying to go slow so that that team doesn't get to hit on the other side or something like that.
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Everyone that's ever played college baseball will tell you that that game sped up when they got there.
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It's the same game, it's just it's completely different.
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And every head coach that we've talked on here with, and every coach that coaches in a winning program really talks about some of the same things.
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We play a lot in the fall seems to be consistent with winning programs.
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Like we want our guys in game-like situations so that they know the way that we do it.
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And how are they going to know the way that you do it if there's not uniforms on both sides we're playing?
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Because they haven't seen it.
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They can guess, but how many how many commits are actually like watching that school play all their baseball games the year before and actually understand what they're walking into?
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And even if you're watching it on TV, you're not seeing that shortstop take the field at 16 miles an hour, leaving strides, and you and you hear them coming off the field to get back in there.
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And we don't see that at the high school level.
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So when when we have programs that win, saying they play a lot in the fall, it's super important how their guys come on and off the field.
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Their warm-up throws in between innings are super important to them and they value those things.
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And there was even consequences in the fall for bad warm-ups in between innings.
00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:08.880
Hey, to my high school coaches out there, listen up.
00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:10.480
Those things matter.
00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:11.599
They really care.
00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:18.000
At the college level, they do care, and they care enough that they might be transitioning into why they won in the spring.
00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:25.119
So the little things matter, and little things stacked over the course of 24 fall days turn into pretty big things.
00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:34.960
Coach Rome, I want you to speak more into that because uh I also got really excited when you started talking about um just coaching and and teaching these guys how to play the game.
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:56.640
One of the biggest things that we see as we train guys is you're right, they know what induced vertical break means and and they know uh what the iPad is telling them, and they know the metrics of this thing, but they don't watch baseball and they they couldn't tell you who the best player for the Phillies is, and all these things.
00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:07.200
So what over the course of your time uh there at Dennis Center, just as your coaching career, uh speak to a specific moment or speak to a moment in which you completely you go, I'm gonna sell out for this.
00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:12.559
We need to teach these guys at 18 to 23 years old how to play the game.
00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:16.880
Yeah, it's it's tough.
00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:19.200
I I don't know if there's ever like one moment.
00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:24.640
Um I think I think it's a whole pile of of these little experiences.
00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:41.759
If you look back and we we we go to to Millican, we lose to Wash U, two to one, um, and we're throwing we're throwing our uh a kid who who I'm still really close with today, ended up being an all-American the next year, but that year he was unusable.
00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.000
Okay, this is 2018.
00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:50.480
I'm I'll go on all the way back to, but this is where stuff matters, and you learn over time that little stuff matters.
00:18:50.559 --> 00:19:00.480
And most times you're trying to ingrain that message into 18-year-olds, but you and me as a 39-year-old, like I've lived it, and and you start to go, man, that burnt me, or whatever burnt me.
00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:09.680
Or that that that I paid for like six months ago, I paid for it in full, and now I'm getting the the I'm getting the love for me paying for it six months ago.
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:13.839
Um, and you learn that stuff as you get older, but you're trying to tell tell guys that.
00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:18.640
But that kid worked really hard and and it just never clicked for him.
00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:21.279
And we've been around that guy, just didn't click, it didn't click.
00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:24.559
He was had stuff, he was really good, didn't click, didn't click.
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:29.839
And we get to the last game we've we've we've used every arm twice or three times, right?
00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:34.960
In the regional, and it was a six-team regional, so it's long, and we're like, hey man, you got nine innings, it's all you.
00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:36.480
Have fun with it, do whatever.
00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:37.359
We got nobody left.
00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:37.920
It's all you.
00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:39.920
He ends up throwing nine innings next year.
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:41.039
He's an all-American.
00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.240
Uh, goes to Maryland for his COVID years, pitches really well there.
00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:58.480
But the long-term investment in humans, I think, is something that I've learned um to have a long-term view of human beings is something I learned four or five years ago, six years ago, and I'll never go away from it.
00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:04.880
And I think the big difference um from my time coaching in Division I baseball is probably that.
00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:10.000
Like I I probably had a short-term view of human beings because it was very transactional.
00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:11.119
Like, we paid them 50%.
00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:12.960
I better get 50% out of you.
00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:18.799
Not like you may still have to develop this guy for another two years before you ever get the payback.
00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:21.279
Um, and so I learned a lot from that.
00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:25.440
And I think now I just have this view like things are what they are.
00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:28.079
Like you pitch terrible, you pitch terrible.
00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:32.400
Like, I'm gonna be honest with you, and we're gonna talk about it, but it doesn't mean you stink.
00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:33.759
You just pitch terrible.
00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:35.599
Um, same thing goes for hitters.
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:38.960
So you have a bad week, you have a bad two weeks, you had a bad two weeks.
00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:40.720
Like, let's go back and let's just keep doing it.
00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:42.400
And if you have a good two weeks, guess what?
00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:43.920
I'm not gonna treat you any different.
00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:48.400
I'm still gonna tell you what you messed up and that you, you know, as we call them, coach, TOP.
00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:50.160
You'll hear a Doug going, TOP.
00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:58.960
Like, our offense got three runs, time possession, and guys are scurrying, grabbing gloves, sprinting on the field, like we're gonna try to, they give us two minutes, we're gonna be done in a minute 10.
00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:01.759
And I hope they get in the box in a hurry because we're coming.
00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:03.680
Um, so time possession.
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:20.480
Um, but for us, like little things like that matter, but I think investing in people um for some long-term payback, and maybe it isn't even in baseball, maybe it's just in life that they they start to become a better human when they're done because you invested in them um and treated them properly.
00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:21.920
But that's that's what I've learned.
00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:37.359
And through through all these little things, these experiences where you get where you get your butt kicked because you you didn't invest in you know, first and thirds, and you get killed sometime, and you didn't invest in a butt game or this extra pick play that we should have had in, and you get burnt by it.
00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:46.640
Um those things are the things that I've learned over the last seven, eight years of being in Supers World Series, um, because it's little things that end up burning you.
00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:49.920
First thing, I'm directly stealing the TOP.
00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:56.400
Um urgency was urgency was a big thing that that I played with, and it's really hard to teach to a high school player.
00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.680
Um I would I would have whole outings where I was trying to be single digit second.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.960
Back to the plate, and that's pretty easy when you've only got two real pitches, but I'll digress from there.
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:18.240
Um man, the long-term investment in human beings, that that one hits me in the heart and and is so huge because without this game, I have no idea what type of man I would be.
00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:26.960
And and I was far from Christ in my playing career, and anybody that I played with in college, like I'm sorry, I probably yelled at you in the dugout or something like that.
00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:33.119
But there was a lot of things that I learned through that journey that I I couldn't figure out otherwise.
00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:39.279
And I don't know that the top end of college baseball is including that anymore.
00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:47.839
I I don't think it ever really had it done at a consistent level across the top end of the sport, but I know it doesn't everywhere right now.
00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:55.599
There are exceptions, certainly, anywhere and everywhere, but the top end of the game right now is professional baseball.
00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:00.319
And if you aren't helping me win, I will get rid of you.
00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:07.440
And if you can help me win next year, that means that you can't help me win right now, so I'm still gonna get rid of you.
00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:18.799
And if I really like you and I believe in your long-term process, I will text a coach at a different school that I know and see if he will develop you because you're not helping me win right now, so I'm still getting rid of you.
00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:54.799
And I I saw I saw great things happen in my four years of college, not only in my own maturation, but in a lot of my buddies that maybe were a boy and and had some issues that they had to address, and the consistency of knowing that you're not gonna get kicked out of here just because you booted a ground ball in the third inning, or you came in out of the bullpen and you did go four-pitch walk, and man, we've been talking about that since August, how that's not competitive and walks are soft, and we still believe those things.
00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:56.240
The game doesn't change.
00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:01.519
I like that you said you don't stink, you just pitched bad.
00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:07.200
And locally, I think I'm seen as the guy that's a little bit too blunt and and too honest.
00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.680
I love these guys harder than anybody else that'll trade them, and I I'll say that one publicly.
00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:19.519
It's just when you when you went to throw that fastball, you grunted your 84 and it went ping over the wall.
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:26.880
Maybe we should have tried to actually settle down and just be athletic to the spot instead of doing this thing.
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:32.000
So you had a moment where you did a bad thing as a pitcher, that doesn't mean you're a bad person.
00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:38.079
And for the high school player, it just takes everything they've got to be good enough at this game to even get a chance anyway.
00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:45.680
So I think a lot of times they equate their own bad month of June pitching with like I'm bad as a person.
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:59.359
And we have to have those things separate because Hunter and I both uh chased this dream, and you know, I'm the I'm the washed up old D3 dude, and nobody even knows the school colors for where I played, and he was an indie baller that that fell out of it.
00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:04.160
So if it's only what you achieve at the end of it, then you are a failure.
00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:10.160
And that's something that this game really taught me is there's actually not a finished product.
00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:18.720
There are a lot of people out there that are big leaguers that have made half a billion dollars that are probably bad husbands and fathers, and I I'm not jealous of them.
00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:26.319
And I don't think that many 18-year-olds get the opportunity to go somewhere where they're like, hey, we're in this for the long haul.
00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:27.279
Sure you can play.
00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:28.880
You wouldn't be here if you couldn't play.
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:30.319
Okay, we're gonna win.
00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:32.480
We've got to have talented baseball players to do that.
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:35.039
But you're probably not gonna contribute that much this year.
00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:36.640
We do need you to be ready though.
00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:40.880
I know you've had seven at bats on the year, but you know, situations happen in baseball.
00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:50.240
When you're playing all those games in that week, okay, what if the everyday short stop goes down with a hammy, it's locked up, and he can't get that cramp to stop, and it just won't stop and he can't play.
00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:53.519
You may be putting a guy in there, and we see this every year.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:57.759
A guy that's got 11 at bats on the year, and it's like, all right, Bub, it is time.
00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:02.400
And if that guy has been in the dugout sulking for three months, your season's over.
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:14.720
And, you know, it's easier with pitchers because we see all the time in the College World Series at the Division I level, a lot of these guys starting games, haven't pitched in a month, and it's like fans of the team are like, I've never heard of this guy.
00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:18.960
And he's rolling out 94 to 96, and he's either going to compete or he's not.
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:25.440
And the programs that are willing to ride with these guys and build them, we're really partial to them.
00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:31.839
And hearing what you guys have going on, I'm really hoping we have some players make that trip up to you guys at some point.
00:26:32.720 --> 00:26:37.680
Coach Rome, I I will I will share this on air uh because I know I texted it to you.
00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:41.279
Um hearing you talk about not giving up on guys, I appreciate it.
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:48.960
So uh to know the history of Coach Rome and I, he was at Ohio University and he had just left Dayton, I believe.
00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:50.240
I think he was kind of in between.
00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:54.400
He was there for a full year, and I was the graduate assistant coach.
00:26:54.640 --> 00:27:00.720
And man, I was fresh off the best baseball season of my career, uh, receiving some accolades.
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:05.920
I was still such a player, 22 years old, immature, selfish, all those things.
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:07.920
And I I was basically just the ball boy.
00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:09.279
I stunk as a coach.
00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:16.960
So I actually texted Coach Rome before this and say, hey, by the way, uh thank you for not choking me.
00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:19.039
I probably was pretty chokable at times.
00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:23.359
Um, but that was before uh Christ, and and things are much better now.
00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:24.400
I've grown up a lot.
00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:26.960
So uh he he was a real life example.
00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:30.960
You're sitting here as someone um that you didn't give up on, hopefully.
00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:36.079
And uh, but you know, baseball, and that's our overall theme and message as we train guys.
00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:40.240
We work with middle school guys, we work with high school guys, and we we try to be honest with them.
00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:48.319
Most of you aren't big leaguers, um, but you will be husbands and you will be fathers, and we want you to be ready for those things.
00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:52.720
So, no, we're super excited to hear to hear that mindset there, Dennison.
00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:55.440
And uh so talk about this for us, Coach Rome.
00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.160
Um, and we want to dispel this, by the way.
00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:04.319
So we're bringing this up specifically because people are so just they don't know these things.
00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:14.079
Many people, by the way, that haven't received an offer at all or any actual interest, they still view Division III baseball as a fallback plan.
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:15.920
Um, and they take it for granted.
00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:18.960
Some people may leave you guys on red still.
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:23.039
Um, you guys have made it to Division III World Series each the last two seasons.
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:26.480
So I want you to talk about and dispel this for people.
00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:31.759
Uh what does this level of baseball look like at the Division III World Series?
00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:35.279
Yeah, it's a good question.
00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:39.839
I don't really know how to when I read it, I'm not really sure how to answer that question.
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:57.839
I think um, you know, in in watching baseball, the best I think the best way to describe it is to like explain where baseball is right now, and I know you guys know this, but basically minor leagues have been cut down uh and the draft's been cut down, so there's not as many minor league players.
00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:03.519
So basically your ACCs and SECs are basically the minor leagues now, and they're getting paid as such, right?
00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:08.000
And they're getting signing bonuses and they're getting millions of dollars, six-figure contracts.
00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:09.759
Um, so that's what that is.
00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:17.200
So in that world, if you go there and expect like they're gonna hang out with you while you really, really struggled, they're not because they wouldn't in the minor leagues either.
00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:19.200
They'd dump you and you go play indie ball.
00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:37.680
Um basically now the division uh threes of the world have turned into what indie ball used to be, which is now you go there and you play and you expect to stay there, but the top end of that talent is getting nipped off by somebody and they're taken to the minor leagues, right?
00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:40.400
Um and that's what's kind of happened in division three baseball.
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:44.400
So the top end of the talent in division three baseball is division one talent.
00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:45.200
There's no doubt about it.
00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:55.599
There's guys throwing, you know, low to mid-90s with good stuff, and there's hitters that are hitting the ball over 110 miles an hour, and there's guys that can run really well and play good defense and things like that.
00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:57.599
So um is the depth the same?
00:29:57.680 --> 00:29:58.160
Not at all.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:29:59.200
It's not close.
00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:02.000
Um, but is the top end talent there?
00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:10.160
Yeah, I mean, we might like I said, we had three guys that are gonna that went and played pretty much power four baseball, and Tulane's not really considered, but they uh they're really good.
00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:22.319
And um, you know, this year our um no, we didn't have anybody else that left this year, but um we had a senior um that had a extra year of eligibility because of an injury, so he's going to UVA next year um to throw there.
00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:24.160
So um the town's good.
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:27.200
I know the number one for Indicott is probably gonna go play power four baseball.
00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:29.680
The best guy for Marietta is going to WVU.
00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:37.519
Um the list goes on and on and on where the top two or three guys on each team they can go play the top end of Division I baseball.
00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:39.519
Now, are they gonna be an all-American there?
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:41.440
You know, sometimes they're really good.
00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:46.319
The guy from Enocott was at UConn last year, was really, really good, was their best arm.
00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:50.480
Um so sometimes they're really, really good, and sometimes they're just players on those teams.
00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:57.119
But um, yeah, that's that's probably where the talent lies if you're looking for like a sliding scale, basically.
00:30:57.279 --> 00:30:58.720
Um, is it really good baseball?
00:30:58.799 --> 00:30:59.680
Yeah, it's really good baseball.
00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:01.200
Is there still dumb stuff that happens?
00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:09.200
Just like if you watch the Division I College World Series and you see base running blunders and guys kick routine ground balls and pitchers have four pitch walks, as we talked about.
00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:14.240
Yeah, that stuff still happens because we're all human beings and guys get nervous and guys make mistakes.
00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:23.759
But um, but I'd say that the talent level, when you're looking at the top 50 division three schools, 50 to 75, it's really good baseball.
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:25.359
It's really good, clean baseball.
00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:28.640
If you go wide now, there's 400 division three baseball schools.
00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:33.759
So you go to 300 to 400, you may see some stuff that you've probably never seen before.
00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:39.759
Um, and some people that probably you know should should not be playing, but um that's that happens.
00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:46.319
Yeah, I've spoken to that before, I think on here, but I mean in division three in 2016.
00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:50.000
Uh I saw mid-mid 90s plus often.
00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:59.440
Um the the guy that I was battling with in the in the SLIAC conference there that took home national pitcher of the year, shout out Josh Fleming.
00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:00.559
He's still going.
00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:03.359
Like I turned 30 this month, he's still going.
00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:07.599
So there's and there's way more talent in Division III now than there is.
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:16.799
And you spoke to it a little bit, but I mean we're we're likely the current proposal by the MLB is for that next year the the high school player can't even be drafted anymore.
00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:18.559
Do I think that's going to roll through?
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:19.759
I don't think so.
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:22.480
But I mean, there's probably other things for them to fight.
00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:35.359
So if you remove the high school player going to Pro Bowl, that's probably a significant portion of your top end SCC, ACC, which these guys are getting up to$500,000 in the portal this this summer.
00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:37.279
I was talking to an agent earlier this week.
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:39.599
We're talking about half a million dollars to play college baseball.
00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:40.640
They won't develop you.
00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:50.799
If they just wasted$500,000 on you, they're going to stop speaking to you and you are gone immediately because that coach might get fired for giving you that much money and you didn't produce.
00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:57.279
And he's got to actually tell his wife, uh, we got to move now because I made the wrong decision on a 19-year-old I'd never met in person.
00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:00.400
So they're probably not going to want to do that much more.
00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:07.039
And the the proposal also has eight dra eight draft rounds being eliminated as well.
00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:11.839
So we talked about that with our our guys this past week in our prep prospect prep series.
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:23.599
If you've got about 400 more guys maybe next year that on top of all this are going to be in college baseball instead of professional baseball, that's about 12 teams worth of Division I talent.
00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:29.279
So it's going to trickle down to everything because we've got guys that are like fringe college baseball players.
00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:30.799
They're not sure if they're good enough.
00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:32.559
We're going to try to get them offers and things like that.
00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:37.039
And it's like, hey, this collective bargaining agreement actually impacts you as well.
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:47.519
Because if it squeezes everything down, that means that, you know, you talked about division three, and it's what I've always said with everybody is like you might see a guy that's a second rounder on Friday.
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:55.920
Like you may see a pitcher that would be the number one for half of the teams in the ACC, and he might just be doors all night.
00:33:56.079 --> 00:34:00.799
The guy coming out of the pin for that school, though, might be 76 to 79 behind him, though.
00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:16.960
And as we as we potentially add more professional players to the college game, I think the big change that's going to happen the next few years is that the depth is actually going to be there because there are going to be so many more guys in college baseball.
00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:26.800
And if everyone's way more talented, you know, your top end schools like a Denison or uh or a Webster, I was always competing against, like they have the depth.
00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:33.119
But maybe the fourth team in that conference like has a few dudes and then they don't have much after that.
00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:52.639
If we add pro guys to the college mix and it all trickles down, you may actually see bullpen arms in division three that end up you know in in high A the next year and and competing for this dream because it's all getting so much more professionalized and it's it's making everything so much more of a competitive environment.
00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:59.119
Yeah, that bottom end of that division three roster, anybody that's been in division three has a couple stories, I'm sure.
00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:06.000
Um I'm not gonna name any schools, but I do remember a game my freshman year where I go, I'm I'm actually playing it.
00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:07.280
I'm here today.
00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:19.280
And you'll you'll have that experience, and then maybe the next weekend you're you're seeing a three-hole who's hitting 500 and goes backside 400 feet, and you're like, why is that what what's going on with that?
00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:20.800
Like, how do you get that guy?
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:22.800
Um, so it's just a lot of fun.
00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:38.480
Division III baseball, if I had to, if I had to sum it up, I think it's a lot less stressful, a little bit less cutthroat than than some of what's going on at the top end of the game right now, but it's still really good baseball.
00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:41.760
I want to throw your curveball here, Coach Rome.
00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:50.480
So uh we haven't talked about this question previous, but as you guys were talking just about um a lot of fun, the stories, et cetera.
00:35:50.639 --> 00:36:04.480
Um, your path to Denison, um, we can maybe start even as a player, but as a coach, it it wasn't this this upward trending path uh where you were winning national championships at at 23 years old.
00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:07.760
Uh there was a path that you certainly had to take as a grinder.
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:13.519
And and to make it in college baseball as a coach, as a player, you have to have that about you.
00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:23.440
Uh you shared a story one time, and you could probably tell it better about driving a van on a golf outing and sleeping on turf or something like that.
00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:27.519
These are all parts of your maturation as a man and as a coach.
00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:42.880
Um if you could give us some insight about um the progression from uh you stopped playing college baseball to you decide you're gonna coach uh to where you are now at Denison, because we know there's probably a lot of of good stories along the way.
00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:45.840
Yeah, thanks for remembering that, by the way.
00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:47.679
It's supposed to be a forgotten story.
00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:52.639
No, I um yeah, I didn't want I didn't want anything to do with baseball when I was done.
00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:58.159
I I um finished up my senior year at at Akron um is where I played.
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:02.559
Um I was gonna go do an MBA, do it try to get a sales job.
00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:13.199
Um and um so I went to do an MBA and the the women's basketball coach, someone that I I had known my dad's a basketball coach, high school basketball coach for like 35 years.
00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:20.320
So I knew this basketball coach, and he just took the golf job at West Virginia Wesley and was like, hey, do you wanna do you wanna be my assistant golf coach?
00:37:20.400 --> 00:37:24.000
And I said, Hey man, I like the golf, but not any good at it, right?
00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:26.480
I just golf because I'm a pitcher and you're supposed to golf.
00:37:26.639 --> 00:37:29.199
Um, so I go, I'm the golf coach.
00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:32.000
Um that last a year I realized that I want to do baseball.
00:37:32.079 --> 00:37:36.559
So I take off um becoming the uh a GA at a D2 school.
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:38.000
That's where I drove vans.
00:37:38.159 --> 00:37:44.639
We slept in a hitting facility going to Florida one year at you know, really low money facility and or university.
00:37:44.800 --> 00:37:48.079
It's not a school anymore, if that goes to tell you where they were at.
00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:54.719
Um I I ended up hooking up with Coach Deegan because uh he was at Marietta, and that's pretty close to where I grew up.
00:37:54.800 --> 00:37:56.159
Um and I kept bothering him.
00:37:56.239 --> 00:37:57.519
Hey, have you heard about any jobs?
00:37:57.760 --> 00:37:58.800
Have you heard about any jobs?
00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:02.000
And finally he's like, Hey, do you want to you want to work for me?
00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:03.039
And I was like, I'm in.
00:38:03.199 --> 00:38:04.480
He's like, I didn't tell you where it was.
00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:05.519
I said, I don't care.
00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:06.320
I'm in.
00:38:06.559 --> 00:38:10.480
And I just knew I I just knew I liked him as a human being and I wanted to be around him.
00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:12.400
Um ended up being at Denison.
00:38:12.719 --> 00:38:15.679
So um I go up there uh for two years.
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:16.559
We did really well.
00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:20.320
Basically, I think the team was 12 and 25 or something when he took over.
00:38:20.480 --> 00:38:26.719
We won our division, our side of the conference, uh west side of the NCAC twice, two times in a row.
00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:28.559
And then I got offered the Dayton job.
00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:29.679
So I went there.
00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:32.239
Um it was a great experience for me.
00:38:32.320 --> 00:38:34.800
Um, not because it was good, it was bad.
00:38:34.960 --> 00:38:38.559
And I was ill prepared, as you said, uh fresh out of player.
00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:45.360
I was a 20, whatever, four-year-old recruiting coordinator and pitching coach in an A10 school.
00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:46.960
Had no idea what I was doing.
00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:49.599
I didn't know how to balance a scholarship spreadsheet.
00:38:49.679 --> 00:38:50.800
I didn't know nothing.
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:56.559
So um I took that thing and and um scuffled through it, and we scuffled through it.
00:38:56.639 --> 00:39:03.519
And um, you know, the program was uh the team wasn't winning when I got there, and I didn't really help that any in any way myself.
00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:11.360
So we continued to not win, and then uh they non-renewed the guy's contract, so I was out of a job, and then I ended up at Ohio because I knew Rob Smith.
00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:13.599
So um and Rob is awesome for me.
00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:17.440
He's a great pitching coach, um, he's a super smart guy.
00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:24.239
Um, I don't want to say that out loud so he hears it and then he'll start bragging about how smart he is, but he's a great pitching coach.
00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:28.960
I learned a ton from him, um, and that kind of helped kind of write my ship, basically.
00:39:29.119 --> 00:39:33.840
And I was like, okay, I I do want to do this, and there is a different way to do it, there is a different way to treat people.
00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:40.800
And and um, and then Dekes called and said, I was getting ready to get married, and he was like, Hey, you know of anybody for this job?
00:39:41.039 --> 00:39:46.639
He's like, Link's leaving and going to Davidson, and I said, Me, I'll take it back right now.
00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:48.559
So um he's like, Really?
00:39:48.639 --> 00:39:50.880
So I was like, yes, I'll take it back right now.
00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:52.639
I'll I'll be good at it, and blah, blah, blah.
00:39:52.800 --> 00:39:53.679
So I went back.
00:39:53.840 --> 00:39:59.360
Um, and then that was the first year with the then my first year back is the first year we won the conference ever.
00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:03.360
That was in 2018, and we haven't lost it since.
00:40:03.599 --> 00:40:09.840
Um and then I think two years after that, we hosted our first regional, have hosted every year since.
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:12.079
Um, and it's just kind of been that.
00:40:12.239 --> 00:40:24.480
But I think those it's it's why I like I am the way I am of players now, to be honest with you, because those like getting your teeth kicked in for a little while and and going and and not being the guy at all.
00:40:24.559 --> 00:40:27.280
You're at like I'm at at Ohio, I'm like the second pitching code.
00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:32.320
I'm like running, I'm running the 15th arms bullpen's on the side, like, hey, get out of the way.
00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:33.840
The number one's gotta go.
00:40:33.920 --> 00:40:34.559
Okay, cool.
00:40:34.719 --> 00:40:37.920
Like, um, but those experiences, you get humbled by the game.
00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:40.880
If you're not humble already, it'll humble you at some point.
00:40:41.039 --> 00:40:47.760
Um, but those experiences of getting kicked in the teeth, they're all just um it's why I tell people, like, you don't you don't stink.
00:40:47.840 --> 00:40:50.000
Um, but right now this stinks, like for sure.
00:40:50.079 --> 00:40:52.079
And I understand it, but you have to learn from it.
00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:59.760
You gotta pick up little pieces that carry with you from those experiences where how you treat people and how people treated you, how it made you feel.
00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:06.320
Um, and just knowing that the whole time I'm trying to get better, I'm trying to be a better coach, I'm trying to learn the game as as best I can.
00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:08.960
Um, but it doesn't mean you're not gonna mess stuff up.
00:41:09.039 --> 00:41:13.119
And and so um those experiences I think have helped shape kind of who I am now.
00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:20.480
Those young assistants getting started in college baseball, man, that is that is certainly one way you can choose to live life.
00:41:20.639 --> 00:41:23.039
Those have to be a tougher type of human.
00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:28.480
And I'm I'm gonna be honest, I I never thought about coaching in the college ranks.
00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:34.559
Um I I just like the the weight room side of things too much, so the developmental side of things.
00:41:34.639 --> 00:41:35.679
That was my jam.
00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:37.360
I look up to you guys, man.
00:41:37.440 --> 00:42:00.639
You all have to be some of the toughest people alive, like fresh off of playing, and okay, I'm gonna drive this van, and I've actually got typed in the GPS that we are headed to a hitting shack halfway to our spring break destination, and I know that I'm gonna lead these boys in here to some turf at a quarter inch thick on top of concrete, and then we're gonna roll down there.
00:42:00.719 --> 00:42:05.199
And hey, by the way, probably play some really good baseball in in the next couple days.
00:42:05.440 --> 00:42:07.039
It is so humbling.
00:42:07.119 --> 00:42:11.440
And I joke on the D1 baby wood over here that he don't know about it.
00:42:11.679 --> 00:42:22.400
Like, there are so many stories that that I collected watching these guys who are living in a locker room as an assistant coach.
00:42:22.480 --> 00:42:31.440
And uh, I think one of ours got the cops called on him in August one time because we thought there was a homeless guy who had broken in, and it's like, hey, that's the new pitching coach.
00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:38.800
So uh man, that that journey, you guys seriously have to be some of the most humble people ever.
00:42:38.960 --> 00:43:12.079
And then by the way, you're leading guys, and something you spoke to as well is the relationships and and how this game has a way of teaching you to be a pretty extroverted person and and maintain those relationships because we we've seen with what we're building here at K Zone in the last few years that like conversations we had with people in you know 2015 are having an impact for other people's stories, and we didn't know that that was going to be the impact, and we certainly weren't thinking about that when those things are going on.
00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:34.480
We are now cognizant of that, and we're picking up a lot of different things to coach our guys with each time we sit down with a coach, and almost every coach that comes on talks about how connections or or relationships with someone somewhere else, like if I didn't meet this one guy, maybe not I'm not a coach anymore, or I'm not in this position, or we didn't win this thing, or I didn't get this player.
00:43:34.719 --> 00:43:47.920
All those things are huge, and I don't know that they're being taught to the young player coming up and like, hey man, the way that you handle your relationships is probably more important than how you hit with a two strike approach.
00:43:48.159 --> 00:43:56.079
And all those things go into building a man, and they've they've certainly helped to shape your story and and ours as well.
00:43:58.320 --> 00:43:59.840
Coach Rome, throwing this one at you.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:00.400
You.
00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:02.239
We help players with recruiting a lot.
00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:04.400
We want to be super realistic with them.
00:44:04.639 --> 00:44:13.679
With the current climate of baseball, one of the first questions coaches normally ask us when we are trying to help a player land there is who else is on them?
00:44:13.920 --> 00:44:19.199
And that question normally means like maybe I didn't see what I saw that day in Lake Point.
00:44:19.360 --> 00:44:22.880
If no one else is recruiting them, then I'm going to maybe rethink this thing.
00:44:23.199 --> 00:44:33.360
But a lot of guys that will be getting interest likely from a Division III powerhouse are also maybe getting some mid-major interest and maybe a JUCO offer in there.
00:44:33.599 --> 00:44:35.840
So uh make your case, Coach Rome.
00:44:36.159 --> 00:44:50.320
Uh why would uh a player of good talent um maybe choose a place like Denison over uh betting on themselves in the JUCO life or being the 34th guy on a roster um at a Division I school?
00:44:50.480 --> 00:44:54.320
Uh what would Dennison bring them that maybe those other locations would not?
00:44:55.760 --> 00:45:03.440
Yeah, so uh for us, honestly, we we typically just and Dennison's like a top 30 liberal arts school, so it's it's very hard to get into.
00:45:03.519 --> 00:45:06.559
I think the accept rate rate is like 12% or something.
00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:11.360
Um it's a 30 ACT and uh 4.0 gets you in the door.
00:45:11.519 --> 00:45:14.480
So it's it's not easy to find those types of players.
00:45:14.559 --> 00:45:26.559
So typically we're going up against like this is a fringy Ivy League guy, or this is a Patriot League, uh, this is a high academic guy at Richmond or Dayton or St.
00:45:26.719 --> 00:45:28.880
Bonabet, Lehigh, Lafayette.
00:45:28.960 --> 00:45:30.320
Um, so one of those.
00:45:30.400 --> 00:45:33.360
Um, so that's the fringy like D1 guys that we'll see.
00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:38.719
Uh, we we rarely go up against a JUCO just because it doesn't make much sense for those guys.
00:45:38.880 --> 00:45:43.440
Um I have a couple times, um, but uh it's rare.
00:45:43.679 --> 00:45:47.360
So for us, it's it's more or less those fringy D1 guys.
00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:55.760
And then we go up against your Emery's, Case Western, Washiu, um, your Middleberries, Bowdens, those uh, you know, Nescaq schools.
00:45:55.840 --> 00:45:59.199
So um, that's kind of the people that you fight against in the recruiting process.
00:45:59.360 --> 00:46:04.000
But for us, um we we've always said like the sell is there's no sell.
00:46:04.239 --> 00:46:16.400
So I think the strange thing for us, if you came on a recruiting visit at Denison, what you would get is a really front-loaded um experience where you're not, it's not gonna feel like a sales job.
00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:19.280
It's gonna feel like someone's telling you, don't come where you're at.
00:46:19.440 --> 00:46:23.599
Like, don't you like this place, don't come here because it's gonna get a lot more difficult.
00:46:23.760 --> 00:46:30.000
It looks great right now, but you're gonna spend a lot of time at the field and it's division three, so there's not always gonna be a coach with you.
00:46:30.079 --> 00:46:32.719
You got to get yourself out of bed and you gotta go down to the park and hit.
00:46:32.880 --> 00:46:37.840
Um, we're gonna lift really hard, you're gonna get a lot bigger, or you know, you're gonna have to eat more.
00:46:37.920 --> 00:46:40.400
Um, your parents aren't gonna be here, it's gonna be tough.
00:46:40.480 --> 00:46:43.760
Um, you're gonna call home and you're gonna say, I gotta get out of here.
00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:44.639
This is not the right fit.
00:46:44.719 --> 00:46:47.280
They're gonna do that at some point because it's gonna be tough.
00:46:47.519 --> 00:46:54.159
Um, and so that's kind of what our recruiting pitch feels like, not like this overarching sale job.
00:46:54.320 --> 00:47:05.679
Um, and that I think that's strange to some people because what we want is people who want the experience that they're about to get, not that they're gonna have some really cool experience and then it's all of a sudden it's tough.
00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:08.000
That stinks because then people run out the door.
00:47:08.159 --> 00:47:10.639
Um, so for us, it's like this is gonna be tough.
00:47:10.800 --> 00:47:12.480
We're gonna try to win a national championship.
00:47:12.559 --> 00:47:13.679
And do you understand what that means?
00:47:13.840 --> 00:47:20.639
That means we are gonna work really hard, you're gonna be held to a really high standard, um, and it's gonna be unforgiving.
00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:27.840
And so, um, and also, by the way, like academics is gonna be way more challenging than you've ever had to deal with in high school.
00:47:27.920 --> 00:47:39.760
So you're probably gonna get a C on a test, which you've never done, and you're probably gonna flunk an exam or homework, which you've never done, and you're also gonna hit 100 for a week out there and you're gonna boot two balls at shortstop.
00:47:39.840 --> 00:47:41.920
That's gonna be a really fun week for you.
00:47:42.079 --> 00:47:44.480
Um, so you just try to front load it.
00:47:44.559 --> 00:47:47.280
And um, you know, is this the experience that you want?
00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:48.079
Do you want to be challenged?
00:47:48.159 --> 00:47:49.199
Do you want to be coached really hard?
00:47:49.280 --> 00:47:50.880
Do you want to be challenged in the classroom?
00:47:51.039 --> 00:47:52.000
Yes, cool.
00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:53.119
That's the people we like.
00:47:53.199 --> 00:47:54.079
We'll take it.
00:47:54.239 --> 00:48:06.559
Um, and if that doesn't sound like fun to you, then go play somewhere else where they're gonna tell you you can show up late to practice and you can miss a lift and you can, you know, uh you're not gonna be challenged in the classroom and things like that.
00:48:06.719 --> 00:48:09.679
So um that's that's how we try to do it anyway.
00:48:09.760 --> 00:48:12.000
So it sounds tough and mean, but it's not.
00:48:12.079 --> 00:48:14.800
We're a bunch of nice guys, and Dekes is a super nice human being.
00:48:14.960 --> 00:48:23.840
But I think that's our way of getting out of the whole like cushy, this is gonna be so much fun, and I'm gonna come here and I'm a sweet, I'm a I'm a denison, and then it's really this is tough.
00:48:23.920 --> 00:48:24.960
It's all my goodness.
00:48:25.039 --> 00:48:26.159
So we try to avoid that.
00:48:26.320 --> 00:48:28.079
So we just front load it really hard.
00:48:28.320 --> 00:48:34.480
I can't imagine being a teenager and hearing, like, hey, we're gonna make you work really, really hard and find out how good of a human being you can be.
00:48:34.800 --> 00:48:37.599
And then the kid being like, Ah, I don't want to do that.
00:48:37.760 --> 00:48:40.079
Like, I don't I don't understand that type of human.
00:48:40.239 --> 00:48:49.119
Hunter has seen me really struggle with that type of human a few times that that maybe we're we're training in the facility, and I'm like, how do you not get it?
00:48:49.280 --> 00:48:51.519
Like, I I don't understand what you don't understand.
00:48:51.679 --> 00:48:59.199
Like you have you're not good enough, like you have a lot of talent, your family has a lot of resources that they're pouring into you.
00:48:59.360 --> 00:49:00.320
You have every opportunity.
00:49:00.480 --> 00:49:02.559
What do you mean you forgot to work out for five days?
00:49:02.719 --> 00:49:04.639
Like, what are you actually talking about?
00:49:04.960 --> 00:49:20.239
And uh I think that the way you guys do it is how I would do it if I was if I was right there, and and certainly it's different for you because it does take a specific type of kid to have a a 30 or higher on the ACT.
00:49:20.400 --> 00:49:29.360
We we have two that we're currently training that are at a 34, and one of them I believe could probably run our business for us if we needed to.
00:49:29.760 --> 00:49:41.440
And the other one is just like one of those guys that is so smart and has such a big personality that like life seems too boring for him, and he's just so much fun to be around.
00:49:41.519 --> 00:49:48.719
So if you told that guy, like, hey, we're gonna do sled pushes till we vomit, he would be like, What an awesome experience! Like, I'm fired up for that.
00:49:48.960 --> 00:49:53.920
It just takes a different type of kid to to be that academic and that athletic.
00:49:54.159 --> 00:49:59.760
So I think you all are already pulling from a pretty high-level character kid.
00:49:59.920 --> 00:50:10.559
We're we're more than likely coming from families that have operated with structure and and have had a high expectation in and of their selves as a family unit.
00:50:10.719 --> 00:50:26.400
And I think you guys are are obviously choosing right as you're as you're producing such a high-level winning output each season, and and a lot of that is what that you are bringing in that's already been done by families.
00:50:26.719 --> 00:50:32.639
So for our families out there, we have a lot of middle school and high school families that listen to this.
00:50:32.960 --> 00:50:37.599
Like it it's not gonna benefit your son as a man if he's got a six sliding met.
00:50:38.159 --> 00:50:45.760
These coaches actually want to know, like, like you talked to the limited practice that that you guys have, NCAA restricted practice time.
00:50:45.920 --> 00:50:50.800
Like, if your son forgets to hit for two weeks, he's not a college baseball player.
00:50:51.360 --> 00:50:55.599
Like, it should be about thought number two after he wakes up.
00:50:56.000 --> 00:51:05.280
And if you're not that way, I I want to be clear, I've actually never seen anybody have real success at the collegiate level that that wasn't that way.
00:51:05.599 --> 00:51:23.840
So if your son doesn't want to go to the ballpark and watch that game, or he doesn't want to sit down and watch it on TV, or he's not got a YouTube suggestion page that has all sorts of baseball stuff on it, you probably should stop spending$25,000 a year on travel ball because he's not made out of it.
00:51:25.039 --> 00:51:28.639
Let's talk about a buzzword, Coach Rome, development.
00:51:28.880 --> 00:51:31.039
Development in college baseball.
00:51:31.199 --> 00:51:33.519
It's like an arms race, it seems like.
00:51:33.760 --> 00:51:44.719
But a lot of these uh places where development they have the this lab and that lab and all this technology, it seems like it's pretty cutthroat, and they're they're not over the interest in actually developing guys.
00:51:44.880 --> 00:51:48.000
So, what does development look like at Denison?
00:51:49.760 --> 00:52:02.559
Yeah, I I think kind of tying all this in together, um, what you know, what we've talked about, I think at the at the highest levels, again, I think some of that development, the ability to develop guys is crazy.
00:52:02.719 --> 00:52:04.239
And they're they're really good at what they do.
00:52:04.320 --> 00:52:09.360
They they tie in a bunch of tech, they have basically teams, analytics teams working for them.
00:52:09.519 --> 00:52:11.280
Um, so I think it's incredible.
00:52:11.440 --> 00:52:19.280
But again, if you want to bring in the whole like, let's pay guys$500,000, then they have the right to get rid of you too if you didn't if you're not very good.
00:52:19.440 --> 00:52:27.519
Um at our level, you know, we're with guys for four years, so it's this really holistic view of who you can be, right?
00:52:27.679 --> 00:52:33.039
Like, you know, I hate I hate the word ceiling, like when guys are like, oh, this guy's got a ceiling of like 91.
00:52:33.119 --> 00:52:34.239
I'm like, how do you know?
00:52:34.400 --> 00:52:40.639
I've worked with guys and I've thought this guy was like born to throw 77 and he's now throwing 92.
00:52:40.800 --> 00:52:43.280
Like, I have no idea how hard this guy can throw.
00:52:43.440 --> 00:52:48.079
Um, so for us, it's just like put in the time, give them a good blueprint and a plan to move forward.
00:52:48.239 --> 00:52:50.639
Like, how are they gonna be the best mover they can be?
00:52:50.719 --> 00:52:55.280
Um, how can they gain weight and and not just like we need you to put on 30 pounds right now?
00:52:55.360 --> 00:53:00.159
It's like, no, like let's put on weight the right way, let's move forward, let's get you moving the bar faster.
00:53:00.320 --> 00:53:06.320
Um, so we you know, we try to really use our strength conditioning program as best we can.
00:53:06.480 --> 00:53:08.400
We do a lot of velocity-based testing in there.
00:53:08.480 --> 00:53:14.000
We do we jump on force plates twice a week um to monitor recovery and how guys are moving.
00:53:14.079 --> 00:53:19.440
And are they are they moving fast or are they are they really strong with the way they apply force in the ground?
00:53:19.519 --> 00:53:21.039
And which direction do we need to go?
00:53:21.199 --> 00:53:23.840
We need to get this guy moving faster, we need to get this guy a lot stronger.
00:53:23.920 --> 00:53:27.920
He's quick as all get out, but he's but he he has no force.
00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:30.559
Um, so we got to get him faster or we gotta get him stronger.
00:53:30.719 --> 00:53:38.960
But we're using the strength conditioning program to then offset kind of what we're seeing, you know, through track man and through data on the field, pitching wise.
00:53:39.119 --> 00:53:41.519
And and then again, it's long-term growth.
00:53:41.679 --> 00:53:48.880
Like we had the we had a young kid, uh freshman, I thought his arm was really good, Nashville kid, um, but he was super skinny.
00:53:49.119 --> 00:53:56.159
And so it'd be like 86, 88 one week, and then like 84, 86 the next time out, and it was kind of scattered.
00:53:56.239 --> 00:54:05.119
And I'm like, hey man, like when you watch video, your body's in such different positions because you're so weak, you can't you can't put your feet in the ground and know where you're at.
00:54:05.280 --> 00:54:07.360
Like it's just like a tornado happened.
00:54:07.440 --> 00:54:12.400
So it's like really good, bad, something in the middle, really good, bad, something in the middle.
00:54:12.559 --> 00:54:18.639
So for him, it's like, I know this isn't gonna get fixed with like some mechanical cue I can give him in like a week.
00:54:18.800 --> 00:54:25.199
This is gonna take him putting a different body on and putting that suit on, and that may take him three, four, five months or whatever.
00:54:25.360 --> 00:54:27.360
So again, I'm just realistic with him.
00:54:27.440 --> 00:54:38.159
You talk him through the process, you go meet with the strength conditioning coach, we put a plan together, and now the sophomore, he threw a complete game against ETBU, and he's still in that process of trying to get a better body.
00:54:38.239 --> 00:54:40.079
But he was that guy you talked about earlier.
00:54:40.159 --> 00:54:41.199
He didn't throw for a month.
00:54:41.360 --> 00:54:43.039
He made a start, was really good.
00:54:43.199 --> 00:54:47.599
He was like our number five starter, six starter, and was really good.
00:54:47.760 --> 00:54:51.119
And he kept throwing live to our own team, he kept throwing bullpens.
00:54:51.199 --> 00:54:53.920
I'm like, man, you're getting better, like it's getting good, it's getting good.
00:54:54.000 --> 00:54:54.960
But no one sees that.
00:54:55.039 --> 00:54:58.719
They just see like this guy's in thrown since April 26th or whatever it was.
00:54:58.960 --> 00:55:08.559
It's like, no, he's been throwing all the time against our guys, but um, but that development is a really holistic look um about like how you become a better mover.
00:55:08.639 --> 00:55:10.239
But again, we have time to do that.
00:55:10.320 --> 00:55:14.000
I think sometimes you get that guy in, and that guy, and you're going, let's get rid of him.
00:55:14.079 --> 00:55:18.239
It's gonna take him six months to figure this out, and we gotta we got a game in four, right?
00:55:18.400 --> 00:55:21.039
So um I think that's real too.
00:55:21.440 --> 00:55:30.639
The development has to be done the right way, and I think a lot of what my takeaway from what you just said there was it's kind of a slow heartbeat thing.
00:55:30.800 --> 00:55:36.960
Like it we can't rush this because if we do rush it, there's just some things that that come from that.
00:55:37.119 --> 00:55:49.039
And I think on the developmental side of things, especially running pitching development, I would probably make more money if I would market things like gain nine miles an hour in a month because this kid did.
00:55:49.440 --> 00:55:49.760
Okay.
00:55:50.320 --> 00:55:57.679
Maybe we actually had a significant sequence unlocked with that guy, and he was just mistiming himself and something just broke.
00:55:58.000 --> 00:55:59.440
But that is possible.
00:55:59.920 --> 00:56:04.880
But all of that, man, I I really struggle with it.
00:56:05.039 --> 00:56:12.239
Like, I I don't like the social media side of our game right now that is like I am the only one that can fix you.
00:56:12.400 --> 00:56:19.360
Well, there's a thousand colleges out there, and I think there's probably a lot of places doing things pretty good here.
00:56:19.599 --> 00:56:24.000
You're probably not the only human being that can get a person at 95 miles an hour.
00:56:24.239 --> 00:56:29.119
And I'm not the only person in in the state of Kentucky that can teach you to command the baseball.
00:56:30.320 --> 00:56:35.760
It's actually just not true, and it's it's egotistical and I struggle with it quite a bit.
00:56:36.320 --> 00:56:45.760
And what you're talking about is a lot of the gains that happen for a pitcher, they aren't like, hey, put your elbow here.
00:56:46.079 --> 00:56:58.159
And I think that's sometimes what our our younger high school athletes and our middle school people are like who is the person that I drive to that can tell my son how to organize his skeleton so it'll go 97.
00:56:58.639 --> 00:57:00.800
But it's like it it actually doesn't work that way.
00:57:00.960 --> 00:57:02.960
There's a lot that goes into this.
00:57:03.119 --> 00:57:16.079
There's a mental side of this, there's actually like a brain connecting to the body portion of this, there's a physicality portion of this, there's a mindset portion of this, there's a grip portion of this, there's environmental factors, there's all these different things.
00:57:16.239 --> 00:57:19.119
It's never just going to be like one thing, and that's the answer.
00:57:19.199 --> 00:57:20.639
And now I'm a Hall of Famer.
00:57:20.880 --> 00:57:24.800
We have to create a person that is ready to pursue this thing.
00:57:24.880 --> 00:57:30.880
And and over the last year or so, I I have had a couple guys put on 10 miles an hour plus.
00:57:30.960 --> 00:57:32.159
I that has happened.
00:57:32.320 --> 00:57:35.440
I've had other guys that were right beside him heard exactly the same thing.
00:57:35.519 --> 00:57:38.079
I told him exactly what to do, exactly the same way.
00:57:38.239 --> 00:57:46.880
One guy gained 25 pounds and is plus 11, the other one's up, you know, three and a half ounces, and and he throws a mile an hour harder.
00:57:47.199 --> 00:57:54.000
There there is just a physicality portion of this where, especially in a force production game, you have to have a body that produces force.
00:57:54.239 --> 00:57:59.679
So you guys and tying in the strength and conditioning portion is just required.
00:57:59.760 --> 00:58:01.599
It it has to be required.
00:58:01.760 --> 00:58:09.119
And we have so many people on the internet right now that are like, hey, you spend six and six hundred ninety-nine dollars here and your son will gain eight miles an hour.
00:58:09.280 --> 00:58:13.360
And yeah, and you're probably gonna gain a trip to the orthopedic surgeon.
00:58:14.000 --> 00:58:21.920
And we we can just blast guys with volume and see what happens, and yes, the survivors will throw hard.
00:58:22.159 --> 00:58:23.840
But what about the other kids?
00:58:24.000 --> 00:58:30.800
You know, the ones that that didn't handle the 400 max intent throws a week well, and now they can't play anymore.
00:58:30.960 --> 00:58:32.320
What about that kid?
00:58:32.559 --> 00:58:40.000
And the whole person has to be all in on getting better at this thing, or we actually end up on an operating table.
00:58:40.239 --> 00:58:41.599
And these are children.
00:58:42.079 --> 00:58:56.320
Like I know you guys are bringing in a little bit of an older kid, but still somebody's 18-year-old moving away from home, and we want them to be trusted with coaches that are going to take care of them as a person for for that time because it is a crucial time.
00:58:56.480 --> 00:59:01.440
That is that is your first taste of independence and and really finding out how good at the game you can be.
00:59:01.679 --> 00:59:04.159
So, coach, we always tie it together with this one.
00:59:04.400 --> 00:59:11.440
If you could give one piece of advice to a family of a middle school or early high school age baseball player, what would it be?
00:59:13.280 --> 00:59:15.519
Yeah, it's it's a great question.
00:59:15.679 --> 00:59:19.840
Um I think number one, I would say I probably have two things.
00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.159
Number one, um, go try to watch games.
00:59:24.480 --> 00:59:30.559
I think the massive amount of people that I ask, like, have you ever seen a really good Division III baseball game?
00:59:30.719 --> 00:59:31.599
They're like, No.
00:59:32.880 --> 00:59:33.840
Then what are you talking about?
00:59:33.920 --> 00:59:35.039
You think you can play here?
00:59:35.280 --> 00:59:37.519
Like, yeah, have you ever seen us play?
00:59:37.840 --> 00:59:38.159
No.
00:59:38.480 --> 00:59:41.840
Um so I I high school coaches will say that to me all the time.
00:59:42.000 --> 00:59:43.360
I think this guy can really play for you.
00:59:43.519 --> 00:59:45.599
I was like, have you ever seen us play?
00:59:45.920 --> 00:59:46.960
He's like, no.
00:59:51.119 --> 00:59:52.960
So go watch games.
00:59:53.119 --> 01:00:03.599
I think probably within, you know, even even in Kentucky, you have you guys, you got center, um, you have some some good Division III uh Spaulding in center, you have some good Division III schools down there.
01:00:03.760 --> 01:00:09.360
Um, you know, you can get into um Indiana and watch a couple teams, you can come up to Ohio and watch a couple teams.
01:00:09.440 --> 01:00:13.039
Um, but go try to watch a Division III baseball game.
01:00:13.119 --> 01:00:14.960
Uh go try to watch a JUCO game.
01:00:15.119 --> 01:00:19.280
Like pick four different levels out and try to pick some decent teams and just go watch.
01:00:19.360 --> 01:00:24.559
I think it's well worth the investment of your time to know what the levels look like and know what the teams look like.
01:00:24.719 --> 01:00:33.920
So when you're looking to try to make your list of schools, one, at least you're not so far off that you're like, I think I can play it uh North Carolina.
01:00:34.159 --> 01:00:35.039
No, you can't.
01:00:35.199 --> 01:00:39.199
Um you know, and you're not gonna be so far off, at least to start the conversation.
01:00:39.280 --> 01:00:40.559
It's like, okay, I understand.
01:00:40.639 --> 01:00:49.840
Like these guys are throwing 86 to 88, and you know, I I gotta tone down my my language when I start talking to these guys because I'm not I'm not there yet.
01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:53.039
And everybody you recruit's not there yet, anyway, so it doesn't matter.
01:00:53.119 --> 01:00:57.519
But but um at least know you're so you're not ignorant to the to the level that you're talking about.
01:00:57.679 --> 01:01:08.079
So I'd say watch games, and then two, I would say um figure out what the priority is and don't start with playing time because you don't control that anyways.
01:01:08.239 --> 01:01:10.960
You have nothing to do with whether you play or not.
01:01:11.119 --> 01:01:14.239
Um, it could be a difference in the roster.
01:01:14.400 --> 01:01:23.519
Um, say you're a center fielder and now our shortstop is not fielding the ball well, and we kick him into center and now you're behind one of our best hitters, you have nothing to do with that, but it happened.
01:01:23.679 --> 01:01:24.960
Like, so now you're behind a guy.
01:01:25.039 --> 01:01:27.119
Is that gonna ruin your whole experience?
01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:29.519
If it is, you chose the wrong school.
01:01:29.760 --> 01:01:31.519
You chose the wrong experience.
01:01:31.920 --> 01:01:40.480
If this if the social is not good, if financially it's not the right fit, if academically it's not the right fit, and then culturally as a team, it's not the right fit.
01:01:40.719 --> 01:01:44.719
Playing time can't be the one thing that's like the cog in the wheel that's saving you.
01:01:44.880 --> 01:01:47.280
Otherwise, you're having a miserable college experience.
01:01:47.440 --> 01:01:50.639
So don't let playing time be that everybody wants to play.
01:01:50.800 --> 01:01:51.440
I'd hope so.
01:01:51.599 --> 01:01:55.519
Like I've every guy I recruit, I want to want to be our Friday night guy.
01:01:55.760 --> 01:01:57.039
But it's not realistic, right?
01:01:57.119 --> 01:01:58.559
You have just one guy pitching at a time.
01:01:58.639 --> 01:02:01.119
There's nine guys on the field, so not everybody's gonna play.
01:02:01.280 --> 01:02:05.840
So you're telling me that the other 36 guys on our roster are unhappy?
01:02:06.000 --> 01:02:13.519
No, they're not unhappy because they understand it's a team and there's depth and and you know the the star rotates on a really good program, a really good team.
01:02:13.599 --> 01:02:15.519
So don't let that be the one thing.
01:02:15.760 --> 01:02:16.639
Can it be a thing?
01:02:16.719 --> 01:02:17.280
Absolutely.
01:02:17.440 --> 01:02:18.239
Everybody wants to play.
01:02:18.320 --> 01:02:19.519
You don't want to go and sit.
01:02:19.760 --> 01:02:27.360
Um, but if it's the one thing that's the only reason why you're out of place, one, they're probably you went to a lesser place to play.
01:02:27.679 --> 01:02:28.400
Let's be honest.
01:02:28.480 --> 01:02:34.159
You went to a worse program to play because you knew you could play there instead of going to a better program that you could have gone to.
01:02:34.320 --> 01:02:41.119
Uh, two, um, it's it's a very light, um, a light reason to make that the reason for your experience.
01:02:41.199 --> 01:02:43.920
So go someplace where you can be holistically happy.
01:02:44.079 --> 01:02:48.079
That's why we have a ton of transfer portal issues more than anything.
01:02:48.239 --> 01:02:51.360
Um, one, because it's a little bit more transactional at the top level.
01:02:51.440 --> 01:02:55.519
But number two, guys make decisions based on playing time rather than like a really good fit.
01:02:55.599 --> 01:02:56.800
Um, and they'd be happier.
01:02:56.880 --> 01:02:59.679
They'd work while they waited if they were in a place where they're happy.
01:02:59.840 --> 01:03:03.280
No one wants to work while they wait when they're unhappy about the place that they're sitting in.
01:03:03.360 --> 01:03:06.079
So that's my two things.
01:03:06.400 --> 01:03:07.519
That is awesome advice.
01:03:07.599 --> 01:03:10.239
I've actually heard no coach take that approach yet.
01:03:10.400 --> 01:03:15.360
Um, and I mean that's gonna help me as I as I try to advise some of these guys as they make these decisions.
01:03:15.519 --> 01:03:18.000
So, Coach Rome, this has been wonderful.
01:03:18.159 --> 01:03:19.760
Thank you so much for your time.
01:03:19.920 --> 01:03:26.800
Um, I think a lot of folks will get tons of insight, parents, players, coaches, uh, from all the the value that you brought.
01:03:26.960 --> 01:03:29.599
So, thank you once again for your time, coach.
01:03:30.559 --> 01:03:31.599
Thanks for having me, guys.
01:03:31.679 --> 01:03:32.320
Appreciate you.
01:03:32.480 --> 01:03:33.039
Absolutely.
01:03:33.199 --> 01:03:36.800
So, until next time, this is the K Zone Baseball Development Podcast.
01:03:36.880 --> 01:03:52.320
Remember that Christ is king, baseball is just a game, and work work four, three, four,
00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:15.599
Hello and welcome to K Zone Baseball Development Podcast.
00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:25.120
Today we sit down with Coach Fresh off morning of Division III National Championship and receive the tag as the ABCA assistant coach of the year.
00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:29.440
I'm Hunter Wood and I'm here with the founder of K Zone Baseball Development, Jimmy Keating.
00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:31.760
I chased that D3 title for four years.
00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.479
I'm excited to hear from someone that actually went and won it.
00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:52.240
Before we get started, if you want to be able to chase this baseball dream without wasting time and resources all around the country, burning through your savings or your kids getting hurt, if you want Hunter and myself in your corner to answer any of the questions of this journey, we want you to step into the dugout and join our players and families.
00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:58.479
Head over to Kzone Baseball Development.com backslash dugout and use code work to get the first month free.
00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:08.000
We like to give you insight on specifics of what you can do to obtain this dream without ending up with significant debt or hurting your current family.
00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:10.000
All right.
00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:13.439
So here we are today with Coach Ryan Romick.
00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:20.000
He's entering his tenth season as assistant baseball coach at Denison University and his fifth season as associate head coach.
00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:24.079
He's helped build one of the most premiered programs in all of baseball.
00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:35.599
Coach Romick is coming off his historic 2026 season where he helped lead Denison to its first national championship in program history, and he was recognized as the assistant coach of the year.
00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:41.040
Under Coach Rome's leadership, Denison has established itself as a true national powerhouse.
00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:45.359
Over the last several seasons, the Big Red have sustained a level of excellence.
00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:48.319
Few programs in the country can match.
00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:55.840
Making multiple regional appearances, deep postseason runs, and building a culture centered around elite player development and winning baseball.
00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:02.959
Coach, we know your experience in building a championship is going to be highly valuable for our families and our players.
00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.439
So we're excited for your insight today.
00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:07.680
Thank you for coming once more, Coach Rome.
00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:08.800
How are you?
00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:10.000
I'm good, man.
00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:11.120
Thanks for having me, guys.
00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:11.759
Appreciate it.
00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:12.400
Absolutely.
00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:13.360
Of course, we're going to have you.
00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:16.479
You win a national championship, you probably get a lot of requests like this.
00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:23.599
Man, when we were building this show, Doc, looking at what you guys have laid down over the last couple of years, I'm like, this is unbelievable.
00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:26.159
There weren't even like Tuesday midweek slips.
00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:33.039
Like you guys just laid down some dominance that I I don't know that I've looked at at many levels of baseball.
00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:36.879
So before we dive in and hear about it, congratulations, man.
00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:39.039
Whatever y'all are doing, it's awesome.
00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:40.879
And I can't wait to hear about it.
00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:42.800
Thank you.
00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:43.599
Appreciate it.
00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:46.080
So, coach, simple question here.
00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:48.719
How does it feel to be a national champion?
00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:50.400
I don't know.
00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:54.080
It's crazy.
00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:54.719
I don't know.
00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:59.439
You know, you try to go into this um thing like striving for that.
00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:00.319
That's what you want.
00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:05.520
And I don't think I had any clue like how hard it was going to be.
00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:07.439
Um like the tournament.
00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:11.120
Um it's basically, you know, the way the format works is the same as Division I, right?
00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:16.080
It's it's you win a regional, you win a super, and then basically you got to win another regional and another super.
00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:18.560
Like, and it just never it feels like it never stops.
00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:20.879
And we happen to lose the first game of the World Series.
00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:23.919
So, um, and then lost one in the in the best of three.
00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.639
So we play as many games you could possibly play in whatever it is, seven days.
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:30.719
Um, it just takes so many people.
00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:32.400
I think that's the thing I learned the most.
00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:43.120
It takes so many people, it takes so many players, it takes a ton of depth, it takes uh having a really good trainer, it had takes having a really good strength coach, it takes having really good parents.
00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:47.599
Like it just took everybody and really good coaching staff from the top to the bottom.
00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:51.520
Your first base coach has to be good, your bullpen guy has to be good.
00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:55.840
Um, if anybody falters and slips and messes up, it can hurt you.
00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:00.240
Um and that's how small the like um I guess the the parody is.
00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:06.639
It's just everybody's good and can beat you, so you have to be good on a bunch of different levels.
00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:19.279
I originally went to school to be an athletic trainer, and I think a lot of what goes on with our athletic trainers at the Division III level and other and other small school levels, those people are unsung heroes.
00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:21.759
Those many baseball games in that many days.
00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:32.079
I would imagine you had several dudes throw on short rest that weren't sure they were gonna be able to play catch and then can't came in to to pitch and win a championship and and do those things.
00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:40.639
I run all the pitching here at K Zone, and one of the big things is coaches have to know that you're gonna be consistent and come in and compete in zone.
00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:45.920
And you look at what you guys laid down this past year, consistency and being in zone.
00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:53.120
I mean, those are foundational things, and they're really hard to do day after day after day after day over the course of a whole season.
00:04:53.439 --> 00:05:00.560
So you guys just laid down one of the best Division III seasons in the history of Division III, and you spoke to it.
00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:02.399
You played as many games as possible.
00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:16.480
So it could have been really easy, especially from a staff perspective, to make an excuse on why it fizzled out there in the end, because oh man, we just we were burnt, like we were out of arms, and everybody would understand that and it would be great.
00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:30.079
But those are really hard things to actually grasp and and feel in your chest as a former pitcher that maybe I could have taken the ball, but I didn't do the recovery right and do all those things.
00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:43.120
So the the consistency and the obsession required with preparation and recovery, it's it's exemplified in what you guys were able to achieve there playing so many games in such a short window.
00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:49.600
So we often talk about how the physicality and the talent level in college baseball is skyrocketing.
00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:52.800
Uh, there is great baseball played at all levels.
00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:55.839
Uh and division three baseball is so misunderstood.
00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:57.360
I know nothing about it.
00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:05.279
Uh and Jimmy, once again, being at that level and sitting at that level, he always chimes in and is like, hey, you don't really understand this level.
00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:12.160
Tell us all about the talent uh on your roster at Denison this past year uh that took the title home.
00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:17.680
Um yeah, I think obviously it's a very talented team.
00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:30.399
Um I think I I'll start the year before because I think that tells more about the program than than just the team did because that's that's kind of where we've been um last, like as he said, it's been the last four or five years, uh six years.
00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:36.480
Um so last year we lost um arguably the best division three player of all time.
00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:39.920
Um he's got to be in the top like three conversation.
00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:43.759
Um Eric Colasso, um, he won Division III player of the year.
00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:48.560
He was on the Golden Spikes watch list, um, and that's a mainly a Division I award.
00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:50.079
Um, but he was on that.
00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:51.519
Um he was an animal.
00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:57.199
Um and if you go back and scroll through his numbers, you're like, holy moly, you know, 60 bags.
00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:02.959
Um he was hitting 20 doubles a year, he'd hit 12 home runs, he'd hit four something.
00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.160
Um his numbers are crazy, and he did it for four years.
00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:14.560
Um but we lost him, we lose a couple other good seniors, we lose uh a guy to the Padres, um, our number one starter.
00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:18.160
We lose a couple good bullpen pieces, and then we had three guys get in the portal.
00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:21.519
So we had two sophomores and a junior leave in the transfer portal.
00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:24.879
One went to Duke, one went to Tulane, and one went to Pitt.
00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:27.839
And they all had really good years at those three schools.
00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.160
Um, so we lost a ton of talent there.
00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:33.519
We lost, I think, 75, 80 percent of our innings last year.
00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:37.199
Um, so you come into this year going, people are like, How are you gonna be?
00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:38.560
And I'm like, I have no idea.
00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:40.160
I don't even know who's gonna throw.
00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:52.879
Um it was what so it was just kind of a um, it took a program effort, meaning you have to have a deep roster, you have to have pitchers that are in that seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve roles the year before.
00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:54.959
Now they got to step up and they got to pitch.
00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:58.720
I had two young guys come in that were all Americans, two freshmen.
00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:08.240
Um, so the talent was really good, but I think more more proud um from my side is the depth of the talent by losing that much.
00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:10.639
And then we walked in and had a really good year.
00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:16.800
Stats speak for themselves, but the the staff was really good and really tight, um, and guys wanted the ball.
00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:25.839
But that was a bunch of guys that were kind of waiting on an opportunity um a year before and weren't sure if they were ever going to get one because those guys were sophomores juniors and they transferred out.
00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:27.759
So it was like, here you go, big boy.
00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:28.399
It's your time.
00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:29.839
Take the ball and roll with it.
00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:31.600
So, and they did a great job.
00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:33.440
Waiting on an opportunity.
00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:35.600
That feels like a lost art a little bit.
00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:43.279
Just kind of putting your head down for a year while you got talented players in front of you and and not running from that and going somewhere else.
00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:48.639
That's really cool to hear that that we've actually got teenagers that want to do that.
00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:59.039
We work predominantly with high school athletes and we want to make sure that they understand hey man, year one is really important that you have opportunity to go somewhere and develop.
00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:03.840
We want to lay down numbers, but those numbers may be laid down over the course of 14 innings.
00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:18.480
And you need to be prepared for that because, you know, I was a division three ball player, and and we talked about some of this show doc being a little bit geared towards talking about the current state of division three and breaking some of those stereotypes and misconceptions.
00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:24.720
I myself, I went to Spaulding University, I hung up the phone the first time they called me.
00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:25.759
I will not go there.
00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:27.200
Why would I go there?
00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:31.519
And then the way things shook out for a variety of reasons, I ended up committing there.
00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:36.000
And I committed there with the mindset that I will go in and immediately be the best pitcher they've ever had.
00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:41.759
They should be grateful I'm coming here, and I'll bully my way into the top end of the draft by year three.
00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:44.480
And my first year, I had to grow up.
00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:45.600
I wasn't ready.
00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:49.200
I threw 27 innings, pitched to the tune of a 4-6-7.
00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:51.120
That ain't dominant.
00:09:51.360 --> 00:10:04.000
And it sounds like you probably had a lot of guys like like that story, really talented, probably think they're gonna have a lot of success, and then had to humble themselves and wait and keep working and be ready for the baseball.
00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:13.679
And not to not to spill the beans on your all's record this past year, but when you lose three games, it means that everybody that took the baseball was ready for the baseball.
00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:21.279
And you only get that when you have the mental maturity to understand your role and execute in moments.
00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:33.840
Speaking of dominance, Dennison is 170 and 28 over the last four seasons, and that is pure dominance.
00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:36.240
Uh so talk about this, Coach Rome, for us.
00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:43.120
What are you guys establishing in the fall to make sure that culture of winning is sustained year after year?
00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:49.360
Yeah, I that was a good question because the fall is definitely important, and division three's changed.
00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:58.240
So um division three uh two years ago used to be or three years ago now, maybe it used to be 16 days, is all you got.
00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:01.679
So I'm sure when he played division three baseball, it was probably a 16-day model.
00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:05.600
I think you got four weeks worth of four days of practice or whatever.
00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:11.519
Um now they've switched it and you get 24 days, and you can use them however you'd like.
00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:13.919
You don't have to keep it in a four-week window.
00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:21.279
So um some teams will stretch it a long time, some people will do six days a week for four weeks still, and and that's what they want to do.
00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:25.759
Um, you can also save the days and use them for like pitcher catcher days early in the spring.
00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:28.960
So we we usually keep two or three days for that.
00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:33.679
Um, but we try to stretch ours just so we can give pitchers time to recover.
00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:44.080
We put pitchers on a really strict schedule and we don't have to bounce guys back like you used to in fallball, which is like, hey, you're gonna throw on Tuesday and you're gonna throw on Saturday and you're gonna throw on Tuesday and Saturday, and it was a mess.
00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:47.679
But now that fall for us is a lot about playing.
00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:55.919
Um, so as you guys have probably experienced it with younger guys, uh, gameplay is not something that they are very familiar with.
00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:04.080
And what I mean by that is they're familiar with a cage, they're familiar with the bullpen format, they're familiar with tech now when we get them, which is crazy to me.
00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:10.960
Um, I didn't have a pitching coach, but now these guys know what IVB is and BAA is and they can tell you everything.
00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:14.159
Um, but they don't play, they don't go in the backyard and play very much.
00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:21.039
So, so the idea of competition and just trying to get this guy out and just trying to hit a home run off this guy is very different.
00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:24.639
So we play a ton um purposefully.
00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:26.240
So our pitchers will come in.
00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:29.360
Now the volume's not crazy high, but the frequency is high.
00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:33.039
So they're gonna go live and they're gonna get a bullpen, they're gonna have a recovery day with us every week.
00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:35.200
So we get three days a week for eight weeks.
00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:38.960
Um, and usually it ends up being like uh we get a fall break in there.
00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:41.279
So we go about 21 or 22 days.
00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:44.240
Um but that's that's for for a reason.
00:12:44.399 --> 00:13:02.480
One, because we're trying to set a standard of how we like to play, um, how we like to hustle, how we like to that backups are important for pitchers, that um the way you go onto the field as a pitcher is important, the way you come off and and how quickly you get your butt on the field is important.
00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:08.960
Um, that our shortstop doesn't need to throw nine balls across the infield, that we want your butt on the mound and be ready to pitch and those sorts of things.
00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:10.320
For hitters, it's the same thing.
00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:22.080
Like how we take leads is important, and all the little stuff that gets overlooked, the monotony of like uh how we take in-between inning ground balls and how we throw across.
00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:34.399
Like last year we did a we did a a day where you could lose points, lose runs, um, and gain runs by having really good in-between inning sessions because we are tired of throwing the ball away.
00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:39.039
So um, again, we just try to learn and and develop our team through play.
00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:41.919
Um, so our fall, I think, is extremely important.
00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:46.960
Pitchers are gonna throw 12 to 20 innings depending on what type of pitcher you are.
00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:50.000
Um, hitters are gonna get between 50 and 60 at bats.
00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:55.200
It's a really good, as you mentioned earlier, it's a really good way to put your name out there if you're a young guy.
00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:03.120
Um, you can put yourself on the board as being, hey, I'm a guy I got a thousand OPS and I got walk more and I strike out and things like that.
00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:04.960
Um and for a pitcher, it's the same thing.
00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:06.720
Can you dominate the white of the plate?
00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:08.960
Um, can you get people out over the white?
00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:10.960
And if you can do that, then you can pitch for us.
00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:14.720
If you can't dominate the 17 inches in front of you, then you can't pitch.
00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:16.000
Um, and that's how it goes.
00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:18.320
But our fall is massively important to us.
00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:20.159
Man, you're perking me up over here.
00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.399
You're saying so many things that that I'll talk about.
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:24.320
You're talking about the white of the plate, I'll start there.
00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:26.240
I talk about disrespect the barrel.
00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:30.799
So half the time when these dudes hit the ball hard, it's ground ball short, and we got a guy over there and he's out.
00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:39.279
So to any pitcher out there, if you don't hear anything else, they just won a lot of baseball games, and he's talking about pitching over the white of the plate.
00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:46.080
When we're cute on the corners, we give up, we give away free bases, and when we give away free bases, we end up losing.
00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.320
And losing isn't fun.
00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:55.200
And other stuff he talked about there that I've taken a lot of my older high school guys through to try to prep for college.
00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:59.440
It does matter what it looks like in between pitches when you're on the mound.
00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:01.919
It does matter how you come off the field.
00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:07.200
I actually had my seniors this year practice their walk off the mound, okay?
00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:11.360
What that really looks like, and then understand when it is time.
00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:13.679
Your offense just gave you a big momentum shift.
00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:15.440
You need to be on that rubber immediately.
00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:17.200
So this isn't the walk to the rubber.
00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:19.360
This is go get the baseball, get on the rubber.
00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:21.440
I don't care about your warm-up pitches.
00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:22.159
Get hot.
00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:24.639
Hey, first baseman, get that ball back in the dugout.
00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:26.960
We're getting these boys back in the dugout quickly.
00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.279
When do we work quickly in the inning?
00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:31.360
And when do we slow it down for a minute?
00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:40.399
Understanding that even though there's a pitch clock, there's still ways to manipulate that tempo to compete within the baseball game itself that's being played that day.
00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:54.960
And that feel for the game is lost when we exclusively play the game in a travel ball culture that is that is you know played on a clock, and and maybe we're trying to go slow so that that team doesn't get to hit on the other side or something like that.
00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:59.679
Everyone that's ever played college baseball will tell you that that game sped up when they got there.
00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:02.639
It's the same game, it's just it's completely different.
00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:10.559
And every head coach that we've talked on here with, and every coach that coaches in a winning program really talks about some of the same things.
00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:15.519
We play a lot in the fall seems to be consistent with winning programs.
00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:19.360
Like we want our guys in game-like situations so that they know the way that we do it.
00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:24.080
And how are they going to know the way that you do it if there's not uniforms on both sides we're playing?
00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:25.279
Because they haven't seen it.
00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:34.480
They can guess, but how many how many commits are actually like watching that school play all their baseball games the year before and actually understand what they're walking into?
00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:45.519
And even if you're watching it on TV, you're not seeing that shortstop take the field at 16 miles an hour, leaving strides, and you and you hear them coming off the field to get back in there.
00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:47.600
And we don't see that at the high school level.
00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:54.960
So when when we have programs that win, saying they play a lot in the fall, it's super important how their guys come on and off the field.
00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:59.360
Their warm-up throws in between innings are super important to them and they value those things.
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:05.200
And there was even consequences in the fall for bad warm-ups in between innings.
00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:08.880
Hey, to my high school coaches out there, listen up.
00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:10.480
Those things matter.
00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:11.599
They really care.
00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:18.000
At the college level, they do care, and they care enough that they might be transitioning into why they won in the spring.
00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:25.119
So the little things matter, and little things stacked over the course of 24 fall days turn into pretty big things.
00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:34.960
Coach Rome, I want you to speak more into that because uh I also got really excited when you started talking about um just coaching and and teaching these guys how to play the game.
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:56.640
One of the biggest things that we see as we train guys is you're right, they know what induced vertical break means and and they know uh what the iPad is telling them, and they know the metrics of this thing, but they don't watch baseball and they they couldn't tell you who the best player for the Phillies is, and all these things.
00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:07.200
So what over the course of your time uh there at Dennis Center, just as your coaching career, uh speak to a specific moment or speak to a moment in which you completely you go, I'm gonna sell out for this.
00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:12.559
We need to teach these guys at 18 to 23 years old how to play the game.
00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:16.880
Yeah, it's it's tough.
00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:19.200
I I don't know if there's ever like one moment.
00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:24.640
Um I think I think it's a whole pile of of these little experiences.
00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:41.759
If you look back and we we we go to to Millican, we lose to Wash U, two to one, um, and we're throwing we're throwing our uh a kid who who I'm still really close with today, ended up being an all-American the next year, but that year he was unusable.
00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.000
Okay, this is 2018.
00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:50.480
I'm I'll go on all the way back to, but this is where stuff matters, and you learn over time that little stuff matters.
00:18:50.559 --> 00:19:00.480
And most times you're trying to ingrain that message into 18-year-olds, but you and me as a 39-year-old, like I've lived it, and and you start to go, man, that burnt me, or whatever burnt me.
00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:09.680
Or that that that I paid for like six months ago, I paid for it in full, and now I'm getting the the I'm getting the love for me paying for it six months ago.
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:13.839
Um, and you learn that stuff as you get older, but you're trying to tell tell guys that.
00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:18.640
But that kid worked really hard and and it just never clicked for him.
00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:21.279
And we've been around that guy, just didn't click, it didn't click.
00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:24.559
He was had stuff, he was really good, didn't click, didn't click.
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:29.839
And we get to the last game we've we've we've used every arm twice or three times, right?
00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:34.960
In the regional, and it was a six-team regional, so it's long, and we're like, hey man, you got nine innings, it's all you.
00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:36.480
Have fun with it, do whatever.
00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:37.359
We got nobody left.
00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:37.920
It's all you.
00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:39.920
He ends up throwing nine innings next year.
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:41.039
He's an all-American.
00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.240
Uh, goes to Maryland for his COVID years, pitches really well there.
00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:58.480
But the long-term investment in humans, I think, is something that I've learned um to have a long-term view of human beings is something I learned four or five years ago, six years ago, and I'll never go away from it.
00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:04.880
And I think the big difference um from my time coaching in Division I baseball is probably that.
00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:10.000
Like I I probably had a short-term view of human beings because it was very transactional.
00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:11.119
Like, we paid them 50%.
00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:12.960
I better get 50% out of you.
00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:18.799
Not like you may still have to develop this guy for another two years before you ever get the payback.
00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:21.279
Um, and so I learned a lot from that.
00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:25.440
And I think now I just have this view like things are what they are.
00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:28.079
Like you pitch terrible, you pitch terrible.
00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:32.400
Like, I'm gonna be honest with you, and we're gonna talk about it, but it doesn't mean you stink.
00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:33.759
You just pitch terrible.
00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:35.599
Um, same thing goes for hitters.
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:38.960
So you have a bad week, you have a bad two weeks, you had a bad two weeks.
00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:40.720
Like, let's go back and let's just keep doing it.
00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:42.400
And if you have a good two weeks, guess what?
00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:43.920
I'm not gonna treat you any different.
00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:48.400
I'm still gonna tell you what you messed up and that you, you know, as we call them, coach, TOP.
00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:50.160
You'll hear a Doug going, TOP.
00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:58.960
Like, our offense got three runs, time possession, and guys are scurrying, grabbing gloves, sprinting on the field, like we're gonna try to, they give us two minutes, we're gonna be done in a minute 10.
00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:01.759
And I hope they get in the box in a hurry because we're coming.
00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:03.680
Um, so time possession.
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:20.480
Um, but for us, like little things like that matter, but I think investing in people um for some long-term payback, and maybe it isn't even in baseball, maybe it's just in life that they they start to become a better human when they're done because you invested in them um and treated them properly.
00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:21.920
But that's that's what I've learned.
00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:37.359
And through through all these little things, these experiences where you get where you get your butt kicked because you you didn't invest in you know, first and thirds, and you get killed sometime, and you didn't invest in a butt game or this extra pick play that we should have had in, and you get burnt by it.
00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:46.640
Um those things are the things that I've learned over the last seven, eight years of being in Supers World Series, um, because it's little things that end up burning you.
00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:49.920
First thing, I'm directly stealing the TOP.
00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:56.400
Um urgency was urgency was a big thing that that I played with, and it's really hard to teach to a high school player.
00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.680
Um I would I would have whole outings where I was trying to be single digit second.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.960
Back to the plate, and that's pretty easy when you've only got two real pitches, but I'll digress from there.
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:18.240
Um man, the long-term investment in human beings, that that one hits me in the heart and and is so huge because without this game, I have no idea what type of man I would be.
00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:26.960
And and I was far from Christ in my playing career, and anybody that I played with in college, like I'm sorry, I probably yelled at you in the dugout or something like that.
00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:33.119
But there was a lot of things that I learned through that journey that I I couldn't figure out otherwise.
00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:39.279
And I don't know that the top end of college baseball is including that anymore.
00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:47.839
I I don't think it ever really had it done at a consistent level across the top end of the sport, but I know it doesn't everywhere right now.
00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:55.599
There are exceptions, certainly, anywhere and everywhere, but the top end of the game right now is professional baseball.
00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:00.319
And if you aren't helping me win, I will get rid of you.
00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:07.440
And if you can help me win next year, that means that you can't help me win right now, so I'm still gonna get rid of you.
00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:18.799
And if I really like you and I believe in your long-term process, I will text a coach at a different school that I know and see if he will develop you because you're not helping me win right now, so I'm still getting rid of you.
00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:54.799
And I I saw I saw great things happen in my four years of college, not only in my own maturation, but in a lot of my buddies that maybe were a boy and and had some issues that they had to address, and the consistency of knowing that you're not gonna get kicked out of here just because you booted a ground ball in the third inning, or you came in out of the bullpen and you did go four-pitch walk, and man, we've been talking about that since August, how that's not competitive and walks are soft, and we still believe those things.
00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:56.240
The game doesn't change.
00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:01.519
I like that you said you don't stink, you just pitched bad.
00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:07.200
And locally, I think I'm seen as the guy that's a little bit too blunt and and too honest.
00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.680
I love these guys harder than anybody else that'll trade them, and I I'll say that one publicly.
00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:19.519
It's just when you when you went to throw that fastball, you grunted your 84 and it went ping over the wall.
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:26.880
Maybe we should have tried to actually settle down and just be athletic to the spot instead of doing this thing.
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:32.000
So you had a moment where you did a bad thing as a pitcher, that doesn't mean you're a bad person.
00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:38.079
And for the high school player, it just takes everything they've got to be good enough at this game to even get a chance anyway.
00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:45.680
So I think a lot of times they equate their own bad month of June pitching with like I'm bad as a person.
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:59.359
And we have to have those things separate because Hunter and I both uh chased this dream, and you know, I'm the I'm the washed up old D3 dude, and nobody even knows the school colors for where I played, and he was an indie baller that that fell out of it.
00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:04.160
So if it's only what you achieve at the end of it, then you are a failure.
00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:10.160
And that's something that this game really taught me is there's actually not a finished product.
00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:18.720
There are a lot of people out there that are big leaguers that have made half a billion dollars that are probably bad husbands and fathers, and I I'm not jealous of them.
00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:26.319
And I don't think that many 18-year-olds get the opportunity to go somewhere where they're like, hey, we're in this for the long haul.
00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:27.279
Sure you can play.
00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:28.880
You wouldn't be here if you couldn't play.
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:30.319
Okay, we're gonna win.
00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:32.480
We've got to have talented baseball players to do that.
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:35.039
But you're probably not gonna contribute that much this year.
00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:36.640
We do need you to be ready though.
00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:40.880
I know you've had seven at bats on the year, but you know, situations happen in baseball.
00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:50.240
When you're playing all those games in that week, okay, what if the everyday short stop goes down with a hammy, it's locked up, and he can't get that cramp to stop, and it just won't stop and he can't play.
00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:53.519
You may be putting a guy in there, and we see this every year.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:57.759
A guy that's got 11 at bats on the year, and it's like, all right, Bub, it is time.
00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:02.400
And if that guy has been in the dugout sulking for three months, your season's over.
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:14.720
And, you know, it's easier with pitchers because we see all the time in the College World Series at the Division I level, a lot of these guys starting games, haven't pitched in a month, and it's like fans of the team are like, I've never heard of this guy.
00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:18.960
And he's rolling out 94 to 96, and he's either going to compete or he's not.
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:25.440
And the programs that are willing to ride with these guys and build them, we're really partial to them.
00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:31.839
And hearing what you guys have going on, I'm really hoping we have some players make that trip up to you guys at some point.
00:26:32.720 --> 00:26:37.680
Coach Rome, I I will I will share this on air uh because I know I texted it to you.
00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:41.279
Um hearing you talk about not giving up on guys, I appreciate it.
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:48.960
So uh to know the history of Coach Rome and I, he was at Ohio University and he had just left Dayton, I believe.
00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:50.240
I think he was kind of in between.
00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:54.400
He was there for a full year, and I was the graduate assistant coach.
00:26:54.640 --> 00:27:00.720
And man, I was fresh off the best baseball season of my career, uh, receiving some accolades.
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:05.920
I was still such a player, 22 years old, immature, selfish, all those things.
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:07.920
And I I was basically just the ball boy.
00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:09.279
I stunk as a coach.
00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:16.960
So I actually texted Coach Rome before this and say, hey, by the way, uh thank you for not choking me.
00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:19.039
I probably was pretty chokable at times.
00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:23.359
Um, but that was before uh Christ, and and things are much better now.
00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:24.400
I've grown up a lot.
00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:26.960
So uh he he was a real life example.
00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:30.960
You're sitting here as someone um that you didn't give up on, hopefully.
00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:36.079
And uh, but you know, baseball, and that's our overall theme and message as we train guys.
00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:40.240
We work with middle school guys, we work with high school guys, and we we try to be honest with them.
00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:48.319
Most of you aren't big leaguers, um, but you will be husbands and you will be fathers, and we want you to be ready for those things.
00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:52.720
So, no, we're super excited to hear to hear that mindset there, Dennison.
00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:55.440
And uh so talk about this for us, Coach Rome.
00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.160
Um, and we want to dispel this, by the way.
00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:04.319
So we're bringing this up specifically because people are so just they don't know these things.
00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:14.079
Many people, by the way, that haven't received an offer at all or any actual interest, they still view Division III baseball as a fallback plan.
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:15.920
Um, and they take it for granted.
00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:18.960
Some people may leave you guys on red still.
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:23.039
Um, you guys have made it to Division III World Series each the last two seasons.
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:26.480
So I want you to talk about and dispel this for people.
00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:31.759
Uh what does this level of baseball look like at the Division III World Series?
00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:35.279
Yeah, it's a good question.
00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:39.839
I don't really know how to when I read it, I'm not really sure how to answer that question.
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:57.839
I think um, you know, in in watching baseball, the best I think the best way to describe it is to like explain where baseball is right now, and I know you guys know this, but basically minor leagues have been cut down uh and the draft's been cut down, so there's not as many minor league players.
00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:03.519
So basically your ACCs and SECs are basically the minor leagues now, and they're getting paid as such, right?
00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:08.000
And they're getting signing bonuses and they're getting millions of dollars, six-figure contracts.
00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:09.759
Um, so that's what that is.
00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:17.200
So in that world, if you go there and expect like they're gonna hang out with you while you really, really struggled, they're not because they wouldn't in the minor leagues either.
00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:19.200
They'd dump you and you go play indie ball.
00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:37.680
Um basically now the division uh threes of the world have turned into what indie ball used to be, which is now you go there and you play and you expect to stay there, but the top end of that talent is getting nipped off by somebody and they're taken to the minor leagues, right?
00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:40.400
Um and that's what's kind of happened in division three baseball.
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:44.400
So the top end of the talent in division three baseball is division one talent.
00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:45.200
There's no doubt about it.
00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:55.599
There's guys throwing, you know, low to mid-90s with good stuff, and there's hitters that are hitting the ball over 110 miles an hour, and there's guys that can run really well and play good defense and things like that.
00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:57.599
So um is the depth the same?
00:29:57.680 --> 00:29:58.160
Not at all.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:29:59.200
It's not close.
00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:02.000
Um, but is the top end talent there?
00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:10.160
Yeah, I mean, we might like I said, we had three guys that are gonna that went and played pretty much power four baseball, and Tulane's not really considered, but they uh they're really good.
00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:22.319
And um, you know, this year our um no, we didn't have anybody else that left this year, but um we had a senior um that had a extra year of eligibility because of an injury, so he's going to UVA next year um to throw there.
00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:24.160
So um the town's good.
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:27.200
I know the number one for Indicott is probably gonna go play power four baseball.
00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:29.680
The best guy for Marietta is going to WVU.
00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:37.519
Um the list goes on and on and on where the top two or three guys on each team they can go play the top end of Division I baseball.
00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:39.519
Now, are they gonna be an all-American there?
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:41.440
You know, sometimes they're really good.
00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:46.319
The guy from Enocott was at UConn last year, was really, really good, was their best arm.
00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:50.480
Um so sometimes they're really, really good, and sometimes they're just players on those teams.
00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:57.119
But um, yeah, that's that's probably where the talent lies if you're looking for like a sliding scale, basically.
00:30:57.279 --> 00:30:58.720
Um, is it really good baseball?
00:30:58.799 --> 00:30:59.680
Yeah, it's really good baseball.
00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:01.200
Is there still dumb stuff that happens?
00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:09.200
Just like if you watch the Division I College World Series and you see base running blunders and guys kick routine ground balls and pitchers have four pitch walks, as we talked about.
00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:14.240
Yeah, that stuff still happens because we're all human beings and guys get nervous and guys make mistakes.
00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:23.759
But um, but I'd say that the talent level, when you're looking at the top 50 division three schools, 50 to 75, it's really good baseball.
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:25.359
It's really good, clean baseball.
00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:28.640
If you go wide now, there's 400 division three baseball schools.
00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:33.759
So you go to 300 to 400, you may see some stuff that you've probably never seen before.
00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:39.759
Um, and some people that probably you know should should not be playing, but um that's that happens.
00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:46.319
Yeah, I've spoken to that before, I think on here, but I mean in division three in 2016.
00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:50.000
Uh I saw mid-mid 90s plus often.
00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:59.440
Um the the guy that I was battling with in the in the SLIAC conference there that took home national pitcher of the year, shout out Josh Fleming.
00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:00.559
He's still going.
00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:03.359
Like I turned 30 this month, he's still going.
00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:07.599
So there's and there's way more talent in Division III now than there is.
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:16.799
And you spoke to it a little bit, but I mean we're we're likely the current proposal by the MLB is for that next year the the high school player can't even be drafted anymore.
00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:18.559
Do I think that's going to roll through?
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:19.759
I don't think so.
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:22.480
But I mean, there's probably other things for them to fight.
00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:35.359
So if you remove the high school player going to Pro Bowl, that's probably a significant portion of your top end SCC, ACC, which these guys are getting up to$500,000 in the portal this this summer.
00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:37.279
I was talking to an agent earlier this week.
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:39.599
We're talking about half a million dollars to play college baseball.
00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:40.640
They won't develop you.
00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:50.799
If they just wasted$500,000 on you, they're going to stop speaking to you and you are gone immediately because that coach might get fired for giving you that much money and you didn't produce.
00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:57.279
And he's got to actually tell his wife, uh, we got to move now because I made the wrong decision on a 19-year-old I'd never met in person.
00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:00.400
So they're probably not going to want to do that much more.
00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:07.039
And the the proposal also has eight dra eight draft rounds being eliminated as well.
00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:11.839
So we talked about that with our our guys this past week in our prep prospect prep series.
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:23.599
If you've got about 400 more guys maybe next year that on top of all this are going to be in college baseball instead of professional baseball, that's about 12 teams worth of Division I talent.
00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:29.279
So it's going to trickle down to everything because we've got guys that are like fringe college baseball players.
00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:30.799
They're not sure if they're good enough.
00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:32.559
We're going to try to get them offers and things like that.
00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:37.039
And it's like, hey, this collective bargaining agreement actually impacts you as well.
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:47.519
Because if it squeezes everything down, that means that, you know, you talked about division three, and it's what I've always said with everybody is like you might see a guy that's a second rounder on Friday.
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:55.920
Like you may see a pitcher that would be the number one for half of the teams in the ACC, and he might just be doors all night.
00:33:56.079 --> 00:34:00.799
The guy coming out of the pin for that school, though, might be 76 to 79 behind him, though.
00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:16.960
And as we as we potentially add more professional players to the college game, I think the big change that's going to happen the next few years is that the depth is actually going to be there because there are going to be so many more guys in college baseball.
00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:26.800
And if everyone's way more talented, you know, your top end schools like a Denison or uh or a Webster, I was always competing against, like they have the depth.
00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:33.119
But maybe the fourth team in that conference like has a few dudes and then they don't have much after that.
00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:52.639
If we add pro guys to the college mix and it all trickles down, you may actually see bullpen arms in division three that end up you know in in high A the next year and and competing for this dream because it's all getting so much more professionalized and it's it's making everything so much more of a competitive environment.
00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:59.119
Yeah, that bottom end of that division three roster, anybody that's been in division three has a couple stories, I'm sure.
00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:06.000
Um I'm not gonna name any schools, but I do remember a game my freshman year where I go, I'm I'm actually playing it.
00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:07.280
I'm here today.
00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:19.280
And you'll you'll have that experience, and then maybe the next weekend you're you're seeing a three-hole who's hitting 500 and goes backside 400 feet, and you're like, why is that what what's going on with that?
00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:20.800
Like, how do you get that guy?
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:22.800
Um, so it's just a lot of fun.
00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:38.480
Division III baseball, if I had to, if I had to sum it up, I think it's a lot less stressful, a little bit less cutthroat than than some of what's going on at the top end of the game right now, but it's still really good baseball.
00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:41.760
I want to throw your curveball here, Coach Rome.
00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:50.480
So uh we haven't talked about this question previous, but as you guys were talking just about um a lot of fun, the stories, et cetera.
00:35:50.639 --> 00:36:04.480
Um, your path to Denison, um, we can maybe start even as a player, but as a coach, it it wasn't this this upward trending path uh where you were winning national championships at at 23 years old.
00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:07.760
Uh there was a path that you certainly had to take as a grinder.
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:13.519
And and to make it in college baseball as a coach, as a player, you have to have that about you.
00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:23.440
Uh you shared a story one time, and you could probably tell it better about driving a van on a golf outing and sleeping on turf or something like that.
00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:27.519
These are all parts of your maturation as a man and as a coach.
00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:42.880
Um if you could give us some insight about um the progression from uh you stopped playing college baseball to you decide you're gonna coach uh to where you are now at Denison, because we know there's probably a lot of of good stories along the way.
00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:45.840
Yeah, thanks for remembering that, by the way.
00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:47.679
It's supposed to be a forgotten story.
00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:52.639
No, I um yeah, I didn't want I didn't want anything to do with baseball when I was done.
00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:58.159
I I um finished up my senior year at at Akron um is where I played.
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:02.559
Um I was gonna go do an MBA, do it try to get a sales job.
00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:13.199
Um and um so I went to do an MBA and the the women's basketball coach, someone that I I had known my dad's a basketball coach, high school basketball coach for like 35 years.
00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:20.320
So I knew this basketball coach, and he just took the golf job at West Virginia Wesley and was like, hey, do you wanna do you wanna be my assistant golf coach?
00:37:20.400 --> 00:37:24.000
And I said, Hey man, I like the golf, but not any good at it, right?
00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:26.480
I just golf because I'm a pitcher and you're supposed to golf.
00:37:26.639 --> 00:37:29.199
Um, so I go, I'm the golf coach.
00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:32.000
Um that last a year I realized that I want to do baseball.
00:37:32.079 --> 00:37:36.559
So I take off um becoming the uh a GA at a D2 school.
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:38.000
That's where I drove vans.
00:37:38.159 --> 00:37:44.639
We slept in a hitting facility going to Florida one year at you know, really low money facility and or university.
00:37:44.800 --> 00:37:48.079
It's not a school anymore, if that goes to tell you where they were at.
00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:54.719
Um I I ended up hooking up with Coach Deegan because uh he was at Marietta, and that's pretty close to where I grew up.
00:37:54.800 --> 00:37:56.159
Um and I kept bothering him.
00:37:56.239 --> 00:37:57.519
Hey, have you heard about any jobs?
00:37:57.760 --> 00:37:58.800
Have you heard about any jobs?
00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:02.000
And finally he's like, Hey, do you want to you want to work for me?
00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:03.039
And I was like, I'm in.
00:38:03.199 --> 00:38:04.480
He's like, I didn't tell you where it was.
00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:05.519
I said, I don't care.
00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:06.320
I'm in.
00:38:06.559 --> 00:38:10.480
And I just knew I I just knew I liked him as a human being and I wanted to be around him.
00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:12.400
Um ended up being at Denison.
00:38:12.719 --> 00:38:15.679
So um I go up there uh for two years.
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:16.559
We did really well.
00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:20.320
Basically, I think the team was 12 and 25 or something when he took over.
00:38:20.480 --> 00:38:26.719
We won our division, our side of the conference, uh west side of the NCAC twice, two times in a row.
00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:28.559
And then I got offered the Dayton job.
00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:29.679
So I went there.
00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:32.239
Um it was a great experience for me.
00:38:32.320 --> 00:38:34.800
Um, not because it was good, it was bad.
00:38:34.960 --> 00:38:38.559
And I was ill prepared, as you said, uh fresh out of player.
00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:45.360
I was a 20, whatever, four-year-old recruiting coordinator and pitching coach in an A10 school.
00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:46.960
Had no idea what I was doing.
00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:49.599
I didn't know how to balance a scholarship spreadsheet.
00:38:49.679 --> 00:38:50.800
I didn't know nothing.
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:56.559
So um I took that thing and and um scuffled through it, and we scuffled through it.
00:38:56.639 --> 00:39:03.519
And um, you know, the program was uh the team wasn't winning when I got there, and I didn't really help that any in any way myself.
00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:11.360
So we continued to not win, and then uh they non-renewed the guy's contract, so I was out of a job, and then I ended up at Ohio because I knew Rob Smith.
00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:13.599
So um and Rob is awesome for me.
00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:17.440
He's a great pitching coach, um, he's a super smart guy.
00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:24.239
Um, I don't want to say that out loud so he hears it and then he'll start bragging about how smart he is, but he's a great pitching coach.
00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:28.960
I learned a ton from him, um, and that kind of helped kind of write my ship, basically.
00:39:29.119 --> 00:39:33.840
And I was like, okay, I I do want to do this, and there is a different way to do it, there is a different way to treat people.
00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:40.800
And and um, and then Dekes called and said, I was getting ready to get married, and he was like, Hey, you know of anybody for this job?
00:39:41.039 --> 00:39:46.639
He's like, Link's leaving and going to Davidson, and I said, Me, I'll take it back right now.
00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:48.559
So um he's like, Really?
00:39:48.639 --> 00:39:50.880
So I was like, yes, I'll take it back right now.
00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:52.639
I'll I'll be good at it, and blah, blah, blah.
00:39:52.800 --> 00:39:53.679
So I went back.
00:39:53.840 --> 00:39:59.360
Um, and then that was the first year with the then my first year back is the first year we won the conference ever.
00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:03.360
That was in 2018, and we haven't lost it since.
00:40:03.599 --> 00:40:09.840
Um and then I think two years after that, we hosted our first regional, have hosted every year since.
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:12.079
Um, and it's just kind of been that.
00:40:12.239 --> 00:40:24.480
But I think those it's it's why I like I am the way I am of players now, to be honest with you, because those like getting your teeth kicked in for a little while and and going and and not being the guy at all.
00:40:24.559 --> 00:40:27.280
You're at like I'm at at Ohio, I'm like the second pitching code.
00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:32.320
I'm like running, I'm running the 15th arms bullpen's on the side, like, hey, get out of the way.
00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:33.840
The number one's gotta go.
00:40:33.920 --> 00:40:34.559
Okay, cool.
00:40:34.719 --> 00:40:37.920
Like, um, but those experiences, you get humbled by the game.
00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:40.880
If you're not humble already, it'll humble you at some point.
00:40:41.039 --> 00:40:47.760
Um, but those experiences of getting kicked in the teeth, they're all just um it's why I tell people, like, you don't you don't stink.
00:40:47.840 --> 00:40:50.000
Um, but right now this stinks, like for sure.
00:40:50.079 --> 00:40:52.079
And I understand it, but you have to learn from it.
00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:59.760
You gotta pick up little pieces that carry with you from those experiences where how you treat people and how people treated you, how it made you feel.
00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:06.320
Um, and just knowing that the whole time I'm trying to get better, I'm trying to be a better coach, I'm trying to learn the game as as best I can.
00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:08.960
Um, but it doesn't mean you're not gonna mess stuff up.
00:41:09.039 --> 00:41:13.119
And and so um those experiences I think have helped shape kind of who I am now.
00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:20.480
Those young assistants getting started in college baseball, man, that is that is certainly one way you can choose to live life.
00:41:20.639 --> 00:41:23.039
Those have to be a tougher type of human.
00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:28.480
And I'm I'm gonna be honest, I I never thought about coaching in the college ranks.
00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:34.559
Um I I just like the the weight room side of things too much, so the developmental side of things.
00:41:34.639 --> 00:41:35.679
That was my jam.
00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:37.360
I look up to you guys, man.
00:41:37.440 --> 00:42:00.639
You all have to be some of the toughest people alive, like fresh off of playing, and okay, I'm gonna drive this van, and I've actually got typed in the GPS that we are headed to a hitting shack halfway to our spring break destination, and I know that I'm gonna lead these boys in here to some turf at a quarter inch thick on top of concrete, and then we're gonna roll down there.
00:42:00.719 --> 00:42:05.199
And hey, by the way, probably play some really good baseball in in the next couple days.
00:42:05.440 --> 00:42:07.039
It is so humbling.
00:42:07.119 --> 00:42:11.440
And I joke on the D1 baby wood over here that he don't know about it.
00:42:11.679 --> 00:42:22.400
Like, there are so many stories that that I collected watching these guys who are living in a locker room as an assistant coach.
00:42:22.480 --> 00:42:31.440
And uh, I think one of ours got the cops called on him in August one time because we thought there was a homeless guy who had broken in, and it's like, hey, that's the new pitching coach.
00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:38.800
So uh man, that that journey, you guys seriously have to be some of the most humble people ever.
00:42:38.960 --> 00:43:12.079
And then by the way, you're leading guys, and something you spoke to as well is the relationships and and how this game has a way of teaching you to be a pretty extroverted person and and maintain those relationships because we we've seen with what we're building here at K Zone in the last few years that like conversations we had with people in you know 2015 are having an impact for other people's stories, and we didn't know that that was going to be the impact, and we certainly weren't thinking about that when those things are going on.
00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:34.480
We are now cognizant of that, and we're picking up a lot of different things to coach our guys with each time we sit down with a coach, and almost every coach that comes on talks about how connections or or relationships with someone somewhere else, like if I didn't meet this one guy, maybe not I'm not a coach anymore, or I'm not in this position, or we didn't win this thing, or I didn't get this player.
00:43:34.719 --> 00:43:47.920
All those things are huge, and I don't know that they're being taught to the young player coming up and like, hey man, the way that you handle your relationships is probably more important than how you hit with a two strike approach.
00:43:48.159 --> 00:43:56.079
And all those things go into building a man, and they've they've certainly helped to shape your story and and ours as well.
00:43:58.320 --> 00:43:59.840
Coach Rome, throwing this one at you.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:00.400
You.
00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:02.239
We help players with recruiting a lot.
00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:04.400
We want to be super realistic with them.
00:44:04.639 --> 00:44:13.679
With the current climate of baseball, one of the first questions coaches normally ask us when we are trying to help a player land there is who else is on them?
00:44:13.920 --> 00:44:19.199
And that question normally means like maybe I didn't see what I saw that day in Lake Point.
00:44:19.360 --> 00:44:22.880
If no one else is recruiting them, then I'm going to maybe rethink this thing.
00:44:23.199 --> 00:44:33.360
But a lot of guys that will be getting interest likely from a Division III powerhouse are also maybe getting some mid-major interest and maybe a JUCO offer in there.
00:44:33.599 --> 00:44:35.840
So uh make your case, Coach Rome.
00:44:36.159 --> 00:44:50.320
Uh why would uh a player of good talent um maybe choose a place like Denison over uh betting on themselves in the JUCO life or being the 34th guy on a roster um at a Division I school?
00:44:50.480 --> 00:44:54.320
Uh what would Dennison bring them that maybe those other locations would not?
00:44:55.760 --> 00:45:03.440
Yeah, so uh for us, honestly, we we typically just and Dennison's like a top 30 liberal arts school, so it's it's very hard to get into.
00:45:03.519 --> 00:45:06.559
I think the accept rate rate is like 12% or something.
00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:11.360
Um it's a 30 ACT and uh 4.0 gets you in the door.
00:45:11.519 --> 00:45:14.480
So it's it's not easy to find those types of players.
00:45:14.559 --> 00:45:26.559
So typically we're going up against like this is a fringy Ivy League guy, or this is a Patriot League, uh, this is a high academic guy at Richmond or Dayton or St.
00:45:26.719 --> 00:45:28.880
Bonabet, Lehigh, Lafayette.
00:45:28.960 --> 00:45:30.320
Um, so one of those.
00:45:30.400 --> 00:45:33.360
Um, so that's the fringy like D1 guys that we'll see.
00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:38.719
Uh, we we rarely go up against a JUCO just because it doesn't make much sense for those guys.
00:45:38.880 --> 00:45:43.440
Um I have a couple times, um, but uh it's rare.
00:45:43.679 --> 00:45:47.360
So for us, it's it's more or less those fringy D1 guys.
00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:55.760
And then we go up against your Emery's, Case Western, Washiu, um, your Middleberries, Bowdens, those uh, you know, Nescaq schools.
00:45:55.840 --> 00:45:59.199
So um, that's kind of the people that you fight against in the recruiting process.
00:45:59.360 --> 00:46:04.000
But for us, um we we've always said like the sell is there's no sell.
00:46:04.239 --> 00:46:16.400
So I think the strange thing for us, if you came on a recruiting visit at Denison, what you would get is a really front-loaded um experience where you're not, it's not gonna feel like a sales job.
00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:19.280
It's gonna feel like someone's telling you, don't come where you're at.
00:46:19.440 --> 00:46:23.599
Like, don't you like this place, don't come here because it's gonna get a lot more difficult.
00:46:23.760 --> 00:46:30.000
It looks great right now, but you're gonna spend a lot of time at the field and it's division three, so there's not always gonna be a coach with you.
00:46:30.079 --> 00:46:32.719
You got to get yourself out of bed and you gotta go down to the park and hit.
00:46:32.880 --> 00:46:37.840
Um, we're gonna lift really hard, you're gonna get a lot bigger, or you know, you're gonna have to eat more.
00:46:37.920 --> 00:46:40.400
Um, your parents aren't gonna be here, it's gonna be tough.
00:46:40.480 --> 00:46:43.760
Um, you're gonna call home and you're gonna say, I gotta get out of here.
00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:44.639
This is not the right fit.
00:46:44.719 --> 00:46:47.280
They're gonna do that at some point because it's gonna be tough.
00:46:47.519 --> 00:46:54.159
Um, and so that's kind of what our recruiting pitch feels like, not like this overarching sale job.
00:46:54.320 --> 00:47:05.679
Um, and that I think that's strange to some people because what we want is people who want the experience that they're about to get, not that they're gonna have some really cool experience and then it's all of a sudden it's tough.
00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:08.000
That stinks because then people run out the door.
00:47:08.159 --> 00:47:10.639
Um, so for us, it's like this is gonna be tough.
00:47:10.800 --> 00:47:12.480
We're gonna try to win a national championship.
00:47:12.559 --> 00:47:13.679
And do you understand what that means?
00:47:13.840 --> 00:47:20.639
That means we are gonna work really hard, you're gonna be held to a really high standard, um, and it's gonna be unforgiving.
00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:27.840
And so, um, and also, by the way, like academics is gonna be way more challenging than you've ever had to deal with in high school.
00:47:27.920 --> 00:47:39.760
So you're probably gonna get a C on a test, which you've never done, and you're probably gonna flunk an exam or homework, which you've never done, and you're also gonna hit 100 for a week out there and you're gonna boot two balls at shortstop.
00:47:39.840 --> 00:47:41.920
That's gonna be a really fun week for you.
00:47:42.079 --> 00:47:44.480
Um, so you just try to front load it.
00:47:44.559 --> 00:47:47.280
And um, you know, is this the experience that you want?
00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:48.079
Do you want to be challenged?
00:47:48.159 --> 00:47:49.199
Do you want to be coached really hard?
00:47:49.280 --> 00:47:50.880
Do you want to be challenged in the classroom?
00:47:51.039 --> 00:47:52.000
Yes, cool.
00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:53.119
That's the people we like.
00:47:53.199 --> 00:47:54.079
We'll take it.
00:47:54.239 --> 00:48:06.559
Um, and if that doesn't sound like fun to you, then go play somewhere else where they're gonna tell you you can show up late to practice and you can miss a lift and you can, you know, uh you're not gonna be challenged in the classroom and things like that.
00:48:06.719 --> 00:48:09.679
So um that's that's how we try to do it anyway.
00:48:09.760 --> 00:48:12.000
So it sounds tough and mean, but it's not.
00:48:12.079 --> 00:48:14.800
We're a bunch of nice guys, and Dekes is a super nice human being.
00:48:14.960 --> 00:48:23.840
But I think that's our way of getting out of the whole like cushy, this is gonna be so much fun, and I'm gonna come here and I'm a sweet, I'm a I'm a denison, and then it's really this is tough.
00:48:23.920 --> 00:48:24.960
It's all my goodness.
00:48:25.039 --> 00:48:26.159
So we try to avoid that.
00:48:26.320 --> 00:48:28.079
So we just front load it really hard.
00:48:28.320 --> 00:48:34.480
I can't imagine being a teenager and hearing, like, hey, we're gonna make you work really, really hard and find out how good of a human being you can be.
00:48:34.800 --> 00:48:37.599
And then the kid being like, Ah, I don't want to do that.
00:48:37.760 --> 00:48:40.079
Like, I don't I don't understand that type of human.
00:48:40.239 --> 00:48:49.119
Hunter has seen me really struggle with that type of human a few times that that maybe we're we're training in the facility, and I'm like, how do you not get it?
00:48:49.280 --> 00:48:51.519
Like, I I don't understand what you don't understand.
00:48:51.679 --> 00:48:59.199
Like you have you're not good enough, like you have a lot of talent, your family has a lot of resources that they're pouring into you.
00:48:59.360 --> 00:49:00.320
You have every opportunity.
00:49:00.480 --> 00:49:02.559
What do you mean you forgot to work out for five days?
00:49:02.719 --> 00:49:04.639
Like, what are you actually talking about?
00:49:04.960 --> 00:49:20.239
And uh I think that the way you guys do it is how I would do it if I was if I was right there, and and certainly it's different for you because it does take a specific type of kid to have a a 30 or higher on the ACT.
00:49:20.400 --> 00:49:29.360
We we have two that we're currently training that are at a 34, and one of them I believe could probably run our business for us if we needed to.
00:49:29.760 --> 00:49:41.440
And the other one is just like one of those guys that is so smart and has such a big personality that like life seems too boring for him, and he's just so much fun to be around.
00:49:41.519 --> 00:49:48.719
So if you told that guy, like, hey, we're gonna do sled pushes till we vomit, he would be like, What an awesome experience! Like, I'm fired up for that.
00:49:48.960 --> 00:49:53.920
It just takes a different type of kid to to be that academic and that athletic.
00:49:54.159 --> 00:49:59.760
So I think you all are already pulling from a pretty high-level character kid.
00:49:59.920 --> 00:50:10.559
We're we're more than likely coming from families that have operated with structure and and have had a high expectation in and of their selves as a family unit.
00:50:10.719 --> 00:50:26.400
And I think you guys are are obviously choosing right as you're as you're producing such a high-level winning output each season, and and a lot of that is what that you are bringing in that's already been done by families.
00:50:26.719 --> 00:50:32.639
So for our families out there, we have a lot of middle school and high school families that listen to this.
00:50:32.960 --> 00:50:37.599
Like it it's not gonna benefit your son as a man if he's got a six sliding met.
00:50:38.159 --> 00:50:45.760
These coaches actually want to know, like, like you talked to the limited practice that that you guys have, NCAA restricted practice time.
00:50:45.920 --> 00:50:50.800
Like, if your son forgets to hit for two weeks, he's not a college baseball player.
00:50:51.360 --> 00:50:55.599
Like, it should be about thought number two after he wakes up.
00:50:56.000 --> 00:51:05.280
And if you're not that way, I I want to be clear, I've actually never seen anybody have real success at the collegiate level that that wasn't that way.
00:51:05.599 --> 00:51:23.840
So if your son doesn't want to go to the ballpark and watch that game, or he doesn't want to sit down and watch it on TV, or he's not got a YouTube suggestion page that has all sorts of baseball stuff on it, you probably should stop spending$25,000 a year on travel ball because he's not made out of it.
00:51:25.039 --> 00:51:28.639
Let's talk about a buzzword, Coach Rome, development.
00:51:28.880 --> 00:51:31.039
Development in college baseball.
00:51:31.199 --> 00:51:33.519
It's like an arms race, it seems like.
00:51:33.760 --> 00:51:44.719
But a lot of these uh places where development they have the this lab and that lab and all this technology, it seems like it's pretty cutthroat, and they're they're not over the interest in actually developing guys.
00:51:44.880 --> 00:51:48.000
So, what does development look like at Denison?
00:51:49.760 --> 00:52:02.559
Yeah, I I think kind of tying all this in together, um, what you know, what we've talked about, I think at the at the highest levels, again, I think some of that development, the ability to develop guys is crazy.
00:52:02.719 --> 00:52:04.239
And they're they're really good at what they do.
00:52:04.320 --> 00:52:09.360
They they tie in a bunch of tech, they have basically teams, analytics teams working for them.
00:52:09.519 --> 00:52:11.280
Um, so I think it's incredible.
00:52:11.440 --> 00:52:19.280
But again, if you want to bring in the whole like, let's pay guys$500,000, then they have the right to get rid of you too if you didn't if you're not very good.
00:52:19.440 --> 00:52:27.519
Um at our level, you know, we're with guys for four years, so it's this really holistic view of who you can be, right?
00:52:27.679 --> 00:52:33.039
Like, you know, I hate I hate the word ceiling, like when guys are like, oh, this guy's got a ceiling of like 91.
00:52:33.119 --> 00:52:34.239
I'm like, how do you know?
00:52:34.400 --> 00:52:40.639
I've worked with guys and I've thought this guy was like born to throw 77 and he's now throwing 92.
00:52:40.800 --> 00:52:43.280
Like, I have no idea how hard this guy can throw.
00:52:43.440 --> 00:52:48.079
Um, so for us, it's just like put in the time, give them a good blueprint and a plan to move forward.
00:52:48.239 --> 00:52:50.639
Like, how are they gonna be the best mover they can be?
00:52:50.719 --> 00:52:55.280
Um, how can they gain weight and and not just like we need you to put on 30 pounds right now?
00:52:55.360 --> 00:53:00.159
It's like, no, like let's put on weight the right way, let's move forward, let's get you moving the bar faster.
00:53:00.320 --> 00:53:06.320
Um, so we you know, we try to really use our strength conditioning program as best we can.
00:53:06.480 --> 00:53:08.400
We do a lot of velocity-based testing in there.
00:53:08.480 --> 00:53:14.000
We do we jump on force plates twice a week um to monitor recovery and how guys are moving.
00:53:14.079 --> 00:53:19.440
And are they are they moving fast or are they are they really strong with the way they apply force in the ground?
00:53:19.519 --> 00:53:21.039
And which direction do we need to go?
00:53:21.199 --> 00:53:23.840
We need to get this guy moving faster, we need to get this guy a lot stronger.
00:53:23.920 --> 00:53:27.920
He's quick as all get out, but he's but he he has no force.
00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:30.559
Um, so we got to get him faster or we gotta get him stronger.
00:53:30.719 --> 00:53:38.960
But we're using the strength conditioning program to then offset kind of what we're seeing, you know, through track man and through data on the field, pitching wise.
00:53:39.119 --> 00:53:41.519
And and then again, it's long-term growth.
00:53:41.679 --> 00:53:48.880
Like we had the we had a young kid, uh freshman, I thought his arm was really good, Nashville kid, um, but he was super skinny.
00:53:49.119 --> 00:53:56.159
And so it'd be like 86, 88 one week, and then like 84, 86 the next time out, and it was kind of scattered.
00:53:56.239 --> 00:54:05.119
And I'm like, hey man, like when you watch video, your body's in such different positions because you're so weak, you can't you can't put your feet in the ground and know where you're at.
00:54:05.280 --> 00:54:07.360
Like it's just like a tornado happened.
00:54:07.440 --> 00:54:12.400
So it's like really good, bad, something in the middle, really good, bad, something in the middle.
00:54:12.559 --> 00:54:18.639
So for him, it's like, I know this isn't gonna get fixed with like some mechanical cue I can give him in like a week.
00:54:18.800 --> 00:54:25.199
This is gonna take him putting a different body on and putting that suit on, and that may take him three, four, five months or whatever.
00:54:25.360 --> 00:54:27.360
So again, I'm just realistic with him.
00:54:27.440 --> 00:54:38.159
You talk him through the process, you go meet with the strength conditioning coach, we put a plan together, and now the sophomore, he threw a complete game against ETBU, and he's still in that process of trying to get a better body.
00:54:38.239 --> 00:54:40.079
But he was that guy you talked about earlier.
00:54:40.159 --> 00:54:41.199
He didn't throw for a month.
00:54:41.360 --> 00:54:43.039
He made a start, was really good.
00:54:43.199 --> 00:54:47.599
He was like our number five starter, six starter, and was really good.
00:54:47.760 --> 00:54:51.119
And he kept throwing live to our own team, he kept throwing bullpens.
00:54:51.199 --> 00:54:53.920
I'm like, man, you're getting better, like it's getting good, it's getting good.
00:54:54.000 --> 00:54:54.960
But no one sees that.
00:54:55.039 --> 00:54:58.719
They just see like this guy's in thrown since April 26th or whatever it was.
00:54:58.960 --> 00:55:08.559
It's like, no, he's been throwing all the time against our guys, but um, but that development is a really holistic look um about like how you become a better mover.
00:55:08.639 --> 00:55:10.239
But again, we have time to do that.
00:55:10.320 --> 00:55:14.000
I think sometimes you get that guy in, and that guy, and you're going, let's get rid of him.
00:55:14.079 --> 00:55:18.239
It's gonna take him six months to figure this out, and we gotta we got a game in four, right?
00:55:18.400 --> 00:55:21.039
So um I think that's real too.
00:55:21.440 --> 00:55:30.639
The development has to be done the right way, and I think a lot of what my takeaway from what you just said there was it's kind of a slow heartbeat thing.
00:55:30.800 --> 00:55:36.960
Like it we can't rush this because if we do rush it, there's just some things that that come from that.
00:55:37.119 --> 00:55:49.039
And I think on the developmental side of things, especially running pitching development, I would probably make more money if I would market things like gain nine miles an hour in a month because this kid did.
00:55:49.440 --> 00:55:49.760
Okay.
00:55:50.320 --> 00:55:57.679
Maybe we actually had a significant sequence unlocked with that guy, and he was just mistiming himself and something just broke.
00:55:58.000 --> 00:55:59.440
But that is possible.
00:55:59.920 --> 00:56:04.880
But all of that, man, I I really struggle with it.
00:56:05.039 --> 00:56:12.239
Like, I I don't like the social media side of our game right now that is like I am the only one that can fix you.
00:56:12.400 --> 00:56:19.360
Well, there's a thousand colleges out there, and I think there's probably a lot of places doing things pretty good here.
00:56:19.599 --> 00:56:24.000
You're probably not the only human being that can get a person at 95 miles an hour.
00:56:24.239 --> 00:56:29.119
And I'm not the only person in in the state of Kentucky that can teach you to command the baseball.
00:56:30.320 --> 00:56:35.760
It's actually just not true, and it's it's egotistical and I struggle with it quite a bit.
00:56:36.320 --> 00:56:45.760
And what you're talking about is a lot of the gains that happen for a pitcher, they aren't like, hey, put your elbow here.
00:56:46.079 --> 00:56:58.159
And I think that's sometimes what our our younger high school athletes and our middle school people are like who is the person that I drive to that can tell my son how to organize his skeleton so it'll go 97.
00:56:58.639 --> 00:57:00.800
But it's like it it actually doesn't work that way.
00:57:00.960 --> 00:57:02.960
There's a lot that goes into this.
00:57:03.119 --> 00:57:16.079
There's a mental side of this, there's actually like a brain connecting to the body portion of this, there's a physicality portion of this, there's a mindset portion of this, there's a grip portion of this, there's environmental factors, there's all these different things.
00:57:16.239 --> 00:57:19.119
It's never just going to be like one thing, and that's the answer.
00:57:19.199 --> 00:57:20.639
And now I'm a Hall of Famer.
00:57:20.880 --> 00:57:24.800
We have to create a person that is ready to pursue this thing.
00:57:24.880 --> 00:57:30.880
And and over the last year or so, I I have had a couple guys put on 10 miles an hour plus.
00:57:30.960 --> 00:57:32.159
I that has happened.
00:57:32.320 --> 00:57:35.440
I've had other guys that were right beside him heard exactly the same thing.
00:57:35.519 --> 00:57:38.079
I told him exactly what to do, exactly the same way.
00:57:38.239 --> 00:57:46.880
One guy gained 25 pounds and is plus 11, the other one's up, you know, three and a half ounces, and and he throws a mile an hour harder.
00:57:47.199 --> 00:57:54.000
There there is just a physicality portion of this where, especially in a force production game, you have to have a body that produces force.
00:57:54.239 --> 00:57:59.679
So you guys and tying in the strength and conditioning portion is just required.
00:57:59.760 --> 00:58:01.599
It it has to be required.
00:58:01.760 --> 00:58:09.119
And we have so many people on the internet right now that are like, hey, you spend six and six hundred ninety-nine dollars here and your son will gain eight miles an hour.
00:58:09.280 --> 00:58:13.360
And yeah, and you're probably gonna gain a trip to the orthopedic surgeon.
00:58:14.000 --> 00:58:21.920
And we we can just blast guys with volume and see what happens, and yes, the survivors will throw hard.
00:58:22.159 --> 00:58:23.840
But what about the other kids?
00:58:24.000 --> 00:58:30.800
You know, the ones that that didn't handle the 400 max intent throws a week well, and now they can't play anymore.
00:58:30.960 --> 00:58:32.320
What about that kid?
00:58:32.559 --> 00:58:40.000
And the whole person has to be all in on getting better at this thing, or we actually end up on an operating table.
00:58:40.239 --> 00:58:41.599
And these are children.
00:58:42.079 --> 00:58:56.320
Like I know you guys are bringing in a little bit of an older kid, but still somebody's 18-year-old moving away from home, and we want them to be trusted with coaches that are going to take care of them as a person for for that time because it is a crucial time.
00:58:56.480 --> 00:59:01.440
That is that is your first taste of independence and and really finding out how good at the game you can be.
00:59:01.679 --> 00:59:04.159
So, coach, we always tie it together with this one.
00:59:04.400 --> 00:59:11.440
If you could give one piece of advice to a family of a middle school or early high school age baseball player, what would it be?
00:59:13.280 --> 00:59:15.519
Yeah, it's it's a great question.
00:59:15.679 --> 00:59:19.840
Um I think number one, I would say I probably have two things.
00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.159
Number one, um, go try to watch games.
00:59:24.480 --> 00:59:30.559
I think the massive amount of people that I ask, like, have you ever seen a really good Division III baseball game?
00:59:30.719 --> 00:59:31.599
They're like, No.
00:59:32.880 --> 00:59:33.840
Then what are you talking about?
00:59:33.920 --> 00:59:35.039
You think you can play here?
00:59:35.280 --> 00:59:37.519
Like, yeah, have you ever seen us play?
00:59:37.840 --> 00:59:38.159
No.
00:59:38.480 --> 00:59:41.840
Um so I I high school coaches will say that to me all the time.
00:59:42.000 --> 00:59:43.360
I think this guy can really play for you.
00:59:43.519 --> 00:59:45.599
I was like, have you ever seen us play?
00:59:45.920 --> 00:59:46.960
He's like, no.
00:59:51.119 --> 00:59:52.960
So go watch games.
00:59:53.119 --> 01:00:03.599
I think probably within, you know, even even in Kentucky, you have you guys, you got center, um, you have some some good Division III uh Spaulding in center, you have some good Division III schools down there.
01:00:03.760 --> 01:00:09.360
Um, you know, you can get into um Indiana and watch a couple teams, you can come up to Ohio and watch a couple teams.
01:00:09.440 --> 01:00:13.039
Um, but go try to watch a Division III baseball game.
01:00:13.119 --> 01:00:14.960
Uh go try to watch a JUCO game.
01:00:15.119 --> 01:00:19.280
Like pick four different levels out and try to pick some decent teams and just go watch.
01:00:19.360 --> 01:00:24.559
I think it's well worth the investment of your time to know what the levels look like and know what the teams look like.
01:00:24.719 --> 01:00:33.920
So when you're looking to try to make your list of schools, one, at least you're not so far off that you're like, I think I can play it uh North Carolina.
01:00:34.159 --> 01:00:35.039
No, you can't.
01:00:35.199 --> 01:00:39.199
Um you know, and you're not gonna be so far off, at least to start the conversation.
01:00:39.280 --> 01:00:40.559
It's like, okay, I understand.
01:00:40.639 --> 01:00:49.840
Like these guys are throwing 86 to 88, and you know, I I gotta tone down my my language when I start talking to these guys because I'm not I'm not there yet.
01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:53.039
And everybody you recruit's not there yet, anyway, so it doesn't matter.
01:00:53.119 --> 01:00:57.519
But but um at least know you're so you're not ignorant to the to the level that you're talking about.
01:00:57.679 --> 01:01:08.079
So I'd say watch games, and then two, I would say um figure out what the priority is and don't start with playing time because you don't control that anyways.
01:01:08.239 --> 01:01:10.960
You have nothing to do with whether you play or not.
01:01:11.119 --> 01:01:14.239
Um, it could be a difference in the roster.
01:01:14.400 --> 01:01:23.519
Um, say you're a center fielder and now our shortstop is not fielding the ball well, and we kick him into center and now you're behind one of our best hitters, you have nothing to do with that, but it happened.
01:01:23.679 --> 01:01:24.960
Like, so now you're behind a guy.
01:01:25.039 --> 01:01:27.119
Is that gonna ruin your whole experience?
01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:29.519
If it is, you chose the wrong school.
01:01:29.760 --> 01:01:31.519
You chose the wrong experience.
01:01:31.920 --> 01:01:40.480
If this if the social is not good, if financially it's not the right fit, if academically it's not the right fit, and then culturally as a team, it's not the right fit.
01:01:40.719 --> 01:01:44.719
Playing time can't be the one thing that's like the cog in the wheel that's saving you.
01:01:44.880 --> 01:01:47.280
Otherwise, you're having a miserable college experience.
01:01:47.440 --> 01:01:50.639
So don't let playing time be that everybody wants to play.
01:01:50.800 --> 01:01:51.440
I'd hope so.
01:01:51.599 --> 01:01:55.519
Like I've every guy I recruit, I want to want to be our Friday night guy.
01:01:55.760 --> 01:01:57.039
But it's not realistic, right?
01:01:57.119 --> 01:01:58.559
You have just one guy pitching at a time.
01:01:58.639 --> 01:02:01.119
There's nine guys on the field, so not everybody's gonna play.
01:02:01.280 --> 01:02:05.840
So you're telling me that the other 36 guys on our roster are unhappy?
01:02:06.000 --> 01:02:13.519
No, they're not unhappy because they understand it's a team and there's depth and and you know the the star rotates on a really good program, a really good team.
01:02:13.599 --> 01:02:15.519
So don't let that be the one thing.
01:02:15.760 --> 01:02:16.639
Can it be a thing?
01:02:16.719 --> 01:02:17.280
Absolutely.
01:02:17.440 --> 01:02:18.239
Everybody wants to play.
01:02:18.320 --> 01:02:19.519
You don't want to go and sit.
01:02:19.760 --> 01:02:27.360
Um, but if it's the one thing that's the only reason why you're out of place, one, they're probably you went to a lesser place to play.
01:02:27.679 --> 01:02:28.400
Let's be honest.
01:02:28.480 --> 01:02:34.159
You went to a worse program to play because you knew you could play there instead of going to a better program that you could have gone to.
01:02:34.320 --> 01:02:41.119
Uh, two, um, it's it's a very light, um, a light reason to make that the reason for your experience.
01:02:41.199 --> 01:02:43.920
So go someplace where you can be holistically happy.
01:02:44.079 --> 01:02:48.079
That's why we have a ton of transfer portal issues more than anything.
01:02:48.239 --> 01:02:51.360
Um, one, because it's a little bit more transactional at the top level.
01:02:51.440 --> 01:02:55.519
But number two, guys make decisions based on playing time rather than like a really good fit.
01:02:55.599 --> 01:02:56.800
Um, and they'd be happier.
01:02:56.880 --> 01:02:59.679
They'd work while they waited if they were in a place where they're happy.
01:02:59.840 --> 01:03:03.280
No one wants to work while they wait when they're unhappy about the place that they're sitting in.
01:03:03.360 --> 01:03:06.079
So that's my two things.
01:03:06.400 --> 01:03:07.519
That is awesome advice.
01:03:07.599 --> 01:03:10.239
I've actually heard no coach take that approach yet.
01:03:10.400 --> 01:03:15.360
Um, and I mean that's gonna help me as I as I try to advise some of these guys as they make these decisions.
01:03:15.519 --> 01:03:18.000
So, Coach Rome, this has been wonderful.
01:03:18.159 --> 01:03:19.760
Thank you so much for your time.
01:03:19.920 --> 01:03:26.800
Um, I think a lot of folks will get tons of insight, parents, players, coaches, uh, from all the the value that you brought.
01:03:26.960 --> 01:03:29.599
So, thank you once again for your time, coach.
01:03:30.559 --> 01:03:31.599
Thanks for having me, guys.
01:03:31.679 --> 01:03:32.320
Appreciate you.
01:03:32.480 --> 01:03:33.039
Absolutely.
01:03:33.199 --> 01:03:36.800
So, until next time, this is the K Zone Baseball Development Podcast.
01:03:36.880 --> 01:03:52.320
Remember that Christ is king, baseball is just a game, and work work four, three, four,
