Break time

Well, with Christmas just around the corner, our players have finished their finals and headed home for the break between semesters. I really should not use the word "break" because for our players this is the time of year they begin to up the intensity and volume of their workouts in order to be ready when we begin practice on January 10th. This requires a lot of self discipline and motivation because there are generally no teammates around and the coaches are not their to encourage the players to get their work in. This in my mind is such an important part of being a great team because it shows just how badly a player and team is willing to work in order to achieve their goals. I am very confident that each of our team members will follow their workout schedules and return ready to go for the spring.

Also today the first of the pre-season All American Teams came out. We had six players on it (the most of any program in the country). The link to the article is:http://thecollegebaseballblog.com/2009/12/15/2010-ncbwa-division-2-preseason-all-american-team-announced/

Top sports movies

Since not much going on with our Rams baseball team until January, I have had a little more time to spend with my family and to watch a lot of basketball which I love to do. Recently our family went and saw "The Blind Side," which was very good and got me to thinking about the best baseball movies of all time. It was really hard to pick but here is my opinion.

10. Mickey- A little known film written by John Grisham and starring Harry Connick Jr. The movie was made just before the Danny Almonte age scandal at the Little League World Series and is very close to the real events that actually occurred later. The story revolves around a 13-year old who playing as a 12-year old and leads his team to the Little League World Series.

9. The Sandlot III "Stealing Home"-Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez is all grown up and now manages the Dodgers and his star player Tommy Santerrelli is a guy from the same neighborhood who has unfortunately let and his stardom go to his head and lose his values.

8. The Rookie- The true life story of former Angelo State Ram, Jim Morris, and his improbable journey from high school baseball coach to major league baseball player.

7. 61*- The HBO movie about the epic battle between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris and their pursuit of Babe Ruth's home record and the effect that the chase had on each man.

6.The Sandlot-Still one of the best movies ever. Although the story is set in the 1950's it reminds me so much of my childhood growing up where we would all meet up and play baseball from daylight to dark everyday during the summer, where their were no coaches, parents or umpires around to screw things up. We made the teams, rules and calls and learned a lot about life, baseball and how to deal with people that unfortunately kids don't get a chance to do today.

5. For Love of the Game- The first of several Kevin Costner movies in my list. I was lucky enough to witness the World Premiere of this movie at the 1999 College World Series in Omaha while I was coaching at Texas A&M. Costner premiered the movie to all the participating teams at a theatre in Omaha the day before the Series started and stuck around afterward to sign every autograph and take every picture. A great story about a perfect game thrown by aging pitcher Billy Chapel and his final game at Yankee Stadium.

4. Field Of Dreams- The classic about the crazy farmer who plowed up his land and built a baseball field.

3. Bull Durham- This movie came out the summer after I graduated high school and I think we went and saw this at the $1 theater at least four days a week when we didn't have anything to do. I would have it higher but the last 20 minutes with the love story between Crash and Annie takes away from all the great baseball.

2.The Natural- Roy Hobbs and the battle between good and evil and Hobbs choices he has to make. Still one of the funniest moments in movie history when Bump Bailey crashes through the outfield wall and dies and the team scatters his ashes before the next days game.

1. Pride of the Yankees- A very old movie starring Gary Cooper in the story of Lou Gehrig. Even Cooper's lack of baseball skills can not take away from this unbelievable account of Gehrig's life and his battle against his disease that ultimately took his life.

I'm sure everybody has their opinions but this is mine. Have a great Christmas season and only about two months til opening day.

"Down Time"

Since we have finished our fall playing season it would seem to reason that it would allow some time to catch our breath and relax a little bit before embarking upon our spring season. Unfortunately this is not the case. As you may have noticed it's been awhile since my last blog and I apologize for that, but we have been very busy. Most people think that this time of the year is "down time" for baseball coaches, but in fact it is probably the busiest time of the year.

After fall ends we begin our off season weight and conditioning program as well as individual instruction with our players. The NCAA allows voluntary work with coaches on specific baseball skills for up to two hours per week in small groups. We work our guys in very small groups generally no more than three at a time. So actually for us our days get a lot longer, instead of practicing everyone at once we generally have 5-6 different individual sessions per day plus weights. It is very difficult on our coaching staff but we feel this is the time of year we see the most improvement in our players and so it is a great benefit to our team. For the players it is a time to rest a little bit, since they can not work out more than eight hours per week including weights and conditioning.

Along with doing individuals we have been hitting the recruiting trail very hard. During the early signing portion we were able to secure three committments of players we are confident will have a significant impact upon our program for the next several years. We also are busy placing our players for the summer. Thus far we have Adam Miller and Philip Clinard going to play in the Coastal Plains League in Edenton. Zac Leonhardt and Nick Cobler are going to the Jayhawk League to play for the Hays Larks and Chase Barrera is going to play for Kansas City in the Mink League. We still have a couple of more guys to place for the summer and are continuing to work on that.

Unfortunately for us our work ends tomorrow due to new NCAA legislation that began last year that forbids any work with our players the last two weeks of school. This means it will be about two months before we are allowed to have contact with our players in an organized setting. I am confident that our players will continue to work hard on their own and be ready to go when we report back to practice on January 10th. I can't wait!!!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and remembers how blessed we all are.

Fall is over !!!!

Sorry I have not posted in the last week or so but things have been pretty hectic with recruiting winding down for the fall and trying to get our team prepared for the spring.

We completed our fall team practice last Tuesday with a scrimmage vs. Midland College. Now our team begins individual skill instruction and a lifting and conditioning program. This area is key for our players development and ultimately our team's success. For the next few weeks we will be winding up our fall recruiting and hopefully we will be able to announce several signings in the next few weeks.

Bearcats take World Series game #1

The Fall World Series began yesterday as the Bulldogs and Bearcats battled in Game #1 of the 2009 ASU Fall World Series. The Bearcats earned a 5-0 victory behind the strong pitching of Chase Barrera and Jerris Springfield as the two hurlers combined on a five-hit shutout.

The Bearcats got on the board in the bottom of the first inning as Issac Garcia launched an opposite field two-run homer over the rightfield fence after Greg Towne had reached first on an error by the Bulldogs. That proved to be enough for the Bearcats as starting pitcher Chase Barrera cruised through 3 2/3 innings before leaving with a knee injury. Barrera gave up two hits while striking out five and walking none in a dominating performance. Jerris Springfield came on and went the rest of the way for the Bearcats picking up a save. Along with Garcia, Zac Leonhardt had a good day at the plate for the Bearcats going 2-for-3 with a double. The Bearcats take a 1-0 lead in the series with Game 2 set for October 9th at 2 p.m.

Fall World Series

It's that time of the year to begin winding down the fall playing schedule and as is tradition we end our fall season with a five-game World Series. Our student assistant coaches draft the players onto two teams and make all the decisions regarding playing time and game management while our other coaches sit in the stands and observe. It is always a very exciting week and allows us to see our players perform in a setting with more pressure than a normal intersquad. The players always enjoy the Series and it is always interesting to see which players rise to the occasion with a little more on the line. Barring rain the schedule for the Series is:

Thursday, October 8th 3:30 PM (7)

Friday, October 9th 2 PM (9)

Monday, October 12th 2:30 PM (9)

Thursday, October 15th 3:30 PM (7)

Friday October 16th 2 PM (9)

Hope to see ya at the ballpark!

Alumni Weekend

This weekend we were lucky enough to have our alumni return for an alumni baseball game. Although we still don't have a ton of alumni yet due to the fact we've only been around for years years, we had a great turn out and had a lot of fun.

Ryan Mulle, one of our former coaches and players, did most of the work coordinating and organizing the event and did an outstanding job. Saturday began with a Home Run Derby in which Clay Calfee just edged out Drew Caraway. Then the game began. The game pitted the alumni vs. alumni. One thing that struck me as I watched the two teams play was how good these guys still were and while some of their bodies may have changed slightly, several still had not lost their ability to play the game. Derek Bockhorn did his usual as he rolled out of bed and hit a home run and a couple of doubles.

I don't think anybody remembers the final score or even knew it in the first place. The main point was that it was great to get those guys together again and I really enjoyed watching them play. Following the game the players proceeded to the golf course and got in 18 holes. I hope it says something positive about our program and Angelo State that so many of our players returned for this, but I know all of our players are very thankful for all that Angelo State did for them while they were here and want great things for the future of the school and the baseball program. It was a great weekend and I can't wait until next year.

Scout Day

Yesterday, we had our annual Professional Scout Day. We have been lucky enough to have many players go on and have the chance to play professionally with MLB organizations. I thought I would share with you a little about what we do on Scout Day and a little about the whole process of getting drafted.

We had roughly 20 scouts at our Scout Day who represent various MLB organizations. Each scout is responsible for a specific geographic region of the country and is responsible for evaluating all the players that are draft eligible in that area discerning the ones that have a chance to play professional baseball from the ones that do not. The scouts are looking for players that have the necessary tools to play pro baseball. Some of the tools they are evaluating are running speed, arm strength, hitting ability, power and makeup.

For scouts just evaluating at games can sometimes be a frustrating experience due to the fact that sometimes when evaluating a particular player you may not be able to evaluate much about him due to uncontrollable factors. For example when evaluating an everyday player at a game only, the team might decide to not take batting practice or a pregame infield/outfield and during the game the hitter walks everytime and doesn't get a ball hit to them on defense. This is why the Scout Day is helpful. It is a combination tryout/intersquad.

We begin by having all of our position players run a 60-yard dash. Then we have the hitters take batting practice on the field. That is followed by the everyday players taking a pregame infield/outfield. After that we play an intersquad game to allow the scouts see our players in a game setting and allow all of our pitchers to throw one inning.

We had several of our players perform very well and hopefully they generated enough interest from the scouts to continue to be evaluated during the spring and ultimately hear their name called in June during the MLB Draft. We are continuing practices this week and have our first outside competition next Tuesday at 3 p.m. when we take on the defending NJCAA National Champion Howard College at Foster Field. This should give us a very good indication of where we are and also give us some areas we will need to improve in as the fall continues.

Wild Kingdom

I have not posted in a little longer than I intended to, but things have been very hectic. We are heavily involved in recruiting for next year, have just finished our first week of Fall practice and I have been busy at home trying to capture one of the most elusive creatures of the animal kingdom, the raccoon.

It seems that the friendly creature has decided that it enjoys spending time at the Brooks household. Our furry little friend comes into our house every night about 1 a.m. and makes itself at home while enjoying our pet's food. Last Friday, during a huge rainstorm, he decided that things would be drier inside and, unbeknownst to me, came on in and set up camp inside our utility closet in our bathroom. As I was getting ready to go to bed and had just finished brushing my teeth, I turned to exit the bathroom and turned toward the utility closet and looked eye to eye with the raccoon. I was a little startled. He didn't seem fazed in the least. I tried to trap him in so I could finally catch him. I blocked all the exits and thought I had him. I came back a few minutes later to finally catch him and he had moved all the stuff I had stacked to keep him inside and escaped back to the outside. I finally got a trap to catch him on Monday. I set up the trap Monday night. Tuesday morning I woke up and checked the trap and saw something in it. When I got a little closer I noticed it was a possum.

This continued on for the rest of the week and each day I was successful in catching something. Unfortunately, no raccoon. Thus far I have caught three possums and a skunk. Hope this week leads to a raccoon, but am pretty doubtful because everyone tells me how intelligent the raccoon is, and I believe them.

We have had our share of animal adventures at Foster Field as well. Our first year of play we arrived at practice and arrived to see a sheep grazing near the pitcher's mound. Clay Calfee went over to it picked it up over his shoulders and carried it to the bullpen where it watched practice until our people from the ASU Ranch came and got him. Last year we had another possum scare as we were unrolling the tarp when a crazed possum tried to attack one of our players and sent the team scurring as we came under attack from the savage beast. We eventually escorted him out of the stadium through an open gate.

Then finally just as we were preparing to leave for regionals last season we arrived at practice and noticed we had a spectator sitting in the seats behind our dugout. Upon closer examination we noticed it was an owl. I'm disapointed to say he defeated me in a staring contest. We called animal control and they came and got him and took him to an owl sanctuary we have near here. The owl was a baby and its talons were huge. I hate to see how big a full grown one is. We have a family of owls that live in our light poles by the scoreboard and evidently it had flown down but was too tired to make the return flight.

As for our first week of practice there was some good and bad. We have a long way to go to achieve our goals but hopefully we'll continue to work hard and get better as week two begins. We have our Alumni Game on Saturday, September 26th at noon. I'm really looking forward to seeing all of our former players and it should be a lot of fun.

The foundation

We finally got to begin our team practice. It is a day I know I have been looking forward to since our last game last year.

As I stepped into Foster Field before practice began a bit of sadness came over me as I realized it was going to be the first practice I had ever had without Joe Key and Christopher Odom. Both of these guys had been with us since the first year of the program and had graduated last May. That got me to thinking about our past players and just what an incredible foundation they have set for our baseball program to build upon and achieve even more.

When we first began the baseball program I remember having several very specific goals that I thought would be essential for our program to have long-term success. They were to have an unsurpassed work ethic, be a blue collar team and to control the things we could control and not worry about the things we couldn't. All of our teams during the past five years have done a tremendous job in having all of these attributes and have done a great job of passing down to the new players each year just what it means to be a part of the Ram Baseball Program.

While we still have not accomplished our ultimate goal, which is to be National Champions, that day I know is coming and when it does arrive the players from our past are going to be just as responsible for the achievement as the players on the team that gets it done. Who knows maybe this is the year, after one day of practice I know we're a long way from getting there, but also know I'm really looking forward to the journey this team is going to take this season.

What a Summer

It seems like just yesterday that I was in Warrensburg, Missouri, at the NCAA South Central Regional semifinal game vs. Emporia State in the ninth inning. We were trailing by two runs, but had the bases loaded with one out and the heart of our lineup coming to bat. In a split second our season ended as Tony Kostelnik hit a line drive that appeared would tie the game, turned into a double play as the Emporia State shortstop made a great play to snag the ball and force our runner at third base to end the game and our season.

As a coach you have very little time to dwell on the past and must continually look to the future and how your team can get better. As soon as we got back home our coaches met and began trying to come up with ways we could improve this year. We also met with our players and challenged everyone to come back better than they were when they left. As usual many of our players scattered across the country to participate in some of the nation's top Summer Collegiate Baseball Leagues.

Keith Towne and Travis Lites headed north to Laramie, Wyoming, to play for the Laramie Colts in the Mountain Collegiate Baseball League. Both had great summers as they were both named to the MCBL All-Star Team and helped lead the Colts to the league title. The only negative with regards to their summer experience is that Lites was forced into action as a pitcher during the All-Star game and got the win for his team. Unfortunately, Lites now thinks he is a pitcher and I have to hear about his exploits on the mound daily. The weather was also a little bit of a culture shock as neither of these Texas boys were used to getting snow in June. Overall, they had a great experience and loved the people of Laramie and had a great time.

We also sent a couple of players to Hays, Kansas, to play for the Hays Larks in the Jayhawk League. Jason Morriss, Issac Garcia, and newcomer Chase Barrera all played for the Larks. All three put up great numbers and helped lead Hays to a 3rd place finish nationally in the NBC World Series.

Hays is a very special place to me because that is where I began my coaching career, while still in college at Baylor. Frank Leo, who is still the manager of the Larks was nice enough to give me the opportunity to get into coaching. I spent two summers in Hays and was lucky enough to meet a lot of great people and coach some great teams and players. The 1995 team which included current Houston Astro, Lance Berkman, lost in the finals of the NBC to the 1996 USA Olympic Team and finished second. Many of the things I do today I learned from being around Frank Leo and I am forever grateful for that opportunity. Due to my time with Hays I do have a rooting interest with the Larks and try to help any way I can. All three of our players did a great job for the Larks and Jason Morriss was named to the NBC All-American Team.

We also had two players head to the Carolinas to participate in the Coastal Plains League. Pitcher, Jerris Springfield played for the Wilson Tobs and Austin Lasprilla played for the Fayetteville Swampdogs. Both helped lead their teams to the playoffs and improved greatly as the summer went along.

As our players summer schedules were winding down and we were preparing to get ready for this season we got some news that was unexpected. Marty Smith, our assistant coach since we began the program had been offered a job and was leaving our program. Marty was more than just an assistant coach to me, he was a former player of mine and a great friend as well. Not only that, he is a great coach. Marty had done just about everything at one time or another in our program and always excelled at whatever he was asked to do. Our players and coaches will miss he and his family and wish nothing but the best in his new position.

This now put us in the position of having to hire a new coach. After an exhaustive and extensive search we found another great coach to take Marty's place. We hired Jerod Goodale from Wichita State University. Jerod has been an assistant at one of the most storied baseball programs in the country for the past 3 years and knows how to win. He brings a ton of enthusiasm and energy to our program and has done an outstanding job in developing pitchers and catchers in his past coaching stops. He also is an outstanding evaluator of talent and a talented recruiter. We are so excited to have him on board and are excited to begin Fall practice in a couple of weeks and begin work on achieving our goals for 2010.