Stupid is as Stupid Does

Youth baseball coach
&
Moron of the Year, Ron Santos

“Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.” ―Robert A. Heinlein

I have seen a lot of ignorant coaches, parents and fans but this guy gets the stupid award for the year.  It is moron's like this that give old school coaches a bad name.  This is the kind of stupidity people associate with hard nosed coaching but it is far from it.  

Sure, we should teach kids how to properly avoid getting hit and how to take a hit by pitch but to purposely bean a kid and then do it over and over is as stupid as it gets.

Angels Finish in 2nd Place

The Morgantown Angels finished in 2nd place in the 2013 Tri-County Tournament.  We are really proud of what they accomplished in the face of some adversity this year.  They played their best baseball in the tournament after some disappointments during the season.

The last few weeks have been busy with church, baseball, and moving into our new house.  I have not had the time to keep up with this blog but we will have a full report of the season and playoffs in the coming weeks.  We will also continue our training and posting information to help young ballplayers develop spiritually, physically and mentally.

While we are proud of all of Reb's accomplishments and improvements this year, we are most proud of the recognition he received in the championship ceremony he received for his attitude on and off the field. 

During the last couple of regular season games he had the opportunity to pitch 2 shutout innings and had two strikeouts.  The first game his control was excellent and while he was not as sharp the second game he was able to pitch his way out of trouble without allowing any runs.We will continue to work on his pitching during the off season.  Since he was in a higher league in respect to his age, we are hopeful this years experience will payoff next year.  He really wants to pitch and so our focus will be on mechanics, location, four and two seam fastball, and two changeups, a straight change and the circle change.

We should also acknowledge the winners of the 2013 Tri-County Tournament, the Brown County Eagles.  They are an excellent team and well coached.  We have a lot of respect for this team and enjoyed our competition with them throughout the year.

After we take a break he will also be working on the fundamentals of the game, fielding, batting and conditioning.  We enjoy the physical exercise baseball provides.  Some people like to exercise in many different forms and we like to play baseball.  It is fun for the whole family.

If you are a homeschooler in South Central Indiana and interested in a getting involved in a baseball program please contact us at james@covenantcommission.org 

More information to come but we would like to start forming friendships that can develop into opportunities for homeschoolers.

Hectic Update

Times have been really hectic of late with church, buying a house, moving, end of school and baseball.  Not much time to blog about baseball. 

The Angels are now 3-1 after four games and this week we are scheduled to play 4 games.  Tonight we take on the Brown County Eagles here in Morgantown at 6 pm.  Wednesday we play a double header in Edinburgh and Saturday we are back home to play Trafalgar.

Our biggest hurdle is to play consistent baseball.  In our last game we played the best all around game of the year.  Reb played his best game of the season and what we are looking for is the ability to put two good games back to back.  While we are 3-1 we have not played two good games in a row.  We have struggled to make contact and some of our pitchers have struggled to throw strikes.  Eliminating mistakes and playing more consistent is our goal.  It does no good to make a great play if it is followed up by two errors.

Reb is leading the team in steals and tied for second in runs and walks.  We have been working on making more consistent contact at the plate.  Reb is also tied for the team lead in strikeouts.

The extra work paid off last game as Reb went 1-2 with a double.  However, he struck out in his other at bat.  Since then we have put a lot of time in the box and tonight we get to see if we are still making progress.

Until next time, play hard.  Go Angels!

Angels Win 10-4 over White Sox

The Morgantown Angels defeated the Brown County White Sox 10-4 in last night’s contest.  The Angels are now 1-0 on the season and have to finish a previous rained out game against Edinburgh this Friday and then take on the Edinburgh Giants in a Saturday contest.

Despite striking out 13 times in 5 innings, the Angels were able to manufacture 10 runs.  This was due to a great first inning rally in which 10 batters came to the plate.  The Angels started the game with 5 hits, 2 walks and another batter reaching on an error despite 2 strikeouts.

Finally...Opening Game Tonight

After two games postponed by rain the Morgantown Angels open the season tonight against the Nashville White Sox.  The weatherman is forecasting 61 degrees and partly sunny for the scheduled 6:00 pm first pitch.

We are looking for a strong start to the season as the Angels need some momentum to get going.  Exhibition games showed a tendency for mental lapses at times.  These lapses proved costly and for the Angels to be successful they must be avoided.

Mental Toughness

Reb’s baseball season was scheduled to start last Monday but was postponed due to rain.  The game was been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 8, 2013 but was rained out again after only 2 complete innings.  The game will be rescheduled.

This will be the first major test for Reb and the Morgantown Angels.  We expect to be strong this year in our pitching and defense.  Still remains to be seen if we can score runs.  However, we can have our share of defensive difficulties.  We go through periods of mental lapses that result in errors and to make matters worse it is contagious. 

The Towel Drill

For all you boys wanting to be pitchers or fathers looking for help to improve their son’s pitching, there are some very good instructional videos on the internet.

Baseball is built around basic fundamentals that impact every position and situation.  However, these basic fundamentals are broke down into complex mechanics and situational knowledge.  So, baseball is simple but complex.  This can be a difficult gap for many players, fathers and Little League coaches.

One Week Until Opening Day!

This year has been very busy fitting baseball into an already hectic schedule.  However, the progress and fun has been very rewarding.  Not only are we enjoying the game but instilling character traits into young boys that will eventually make them men.

We have entered our last week of practice, getting individual and team pictures, and a couple final exhibition games.  The best practice game came last week as the coaches and fathers beat the Morgantown Angels 5-2.  It was a lot of fun and hopefully helped them improve by playing some tougher competition.

The Art of Bunting

Little League should be all about the fundamentals of baseball.  However, too many times there is a lack of instruction on the fundamentals of the game.  The game must be respected and the time to instill these things is in Little League.

There is a right way to play the game and there is a right way to live the game.  Baseball is a culture and comes with its own code of conduct and play.  When we ignore or disrespect the game dreadful results are sure to follow.  Success will only be found in the game and in life by following and doing the right things.

Throwing a Baseball

Practice is continuing at a hectic pace and Reb is continuing to make dramatic progress with his fielding and arm strength.  His workouts consist of fielding drills in the outfield and second base.  He is still learning all the situational responsibilities of a second baseman but is making great progress.  We are also concentrating on batting drills.

Pitching drills have taken a backseat until he is ready to play competitively this year at second base.  However, we are still conducting pitching workouts on a limited basis.

Exhibition Game Against Tomahawks

On April 13th, 2013 the Morgantown Angles played the Trafalgar Tomahawks in the second exhibition game of the year.  The Angels fell to the Tomahawks 11-4 after they took an early 4-0 lead in the first inning.  The Angles held the lead for four innings before a fifth inning pitching and defensive lapse allowed the Tomahawks to get the lead by scoring 7 runs in the top of the fifth inning.

Reb center field and second base.  He had two walks and a strikeout.  He also made a nice defensive play at second.

Spring Training and Coach Bob Knight

MLB is in full swing into their regular season but for Reb's Little League it is Spring Training!  With a little less than a month away from their first game, the Morgantown Angels have been training for over a month.