Catching Up With UConn Baseball
A weekly blog from
the University of Connecticut Baseball team
Entry #9: Wednesday, April 9, 2008 To-Do List
This past winter I
told Coach Penders I thought writing a weekly blog would be a great idea to help
keep alumni, recruits and donors more involved with our program. I even
mentioned to him that perhaps I would write a couple. So far, coach has run
with the idea and submitted very good pieces. This past weekend we were swept
by Cincinnati at home by a grand total of five runs. We didn’t play our best in
the field and it could be argued that we handed them all three games. So, after
our worst conference weekend of the year Coach P asked me this morning if I
would like to do the blog this week. So, like I would hope one of our players
would do for another, I’ll wear this one for the team. I do not write nearly as
well as Jim but here we go.
As I was trying to figure out
what to write for this blog I have a dozen or so different thoughts on my mind.
These load-bearing thoughts are this week’s “To-Do List” and they have nothing
to do with baseball. In the past two years I have gotten married, got a dog,
bought a house and I’m WEEKS away from becoming a father. I have taxes,
mortgage, finishing the nursery, water in the basement, trips to the DMV, cars
that need servicing, birthing class and a bunch of other “grown-up stuff” that I
have to check off the list. Why have I done this to myself? Times like this
make me think back to when I was sitting in the clubhouse with a whole team full
of guys trying to avoid the dreaded to-do list. Minor League Baseball keeps you
safe from all of those nasty grown- up problems. Professional baseball is like
the witness protection program for guys avoiding real life. So why did I give
it up? Because I realized that even though I don’t always love a to-do list, I
respect what it stands for. I love the fact that I have a family that’s about
to get bigger, a house that I can call my own and a number of projects that I’ve
already checked off the list.
We’ve reached and passed the
midway point of the season. We spend so much time preparing for something that
seems to go by in an instant. At this point we still have questions about
certain roles and positions. At this critical juncture in our season we need to
be very aware of our team’s current to-do list. What are the tasks that we have
to accomplish to make this season end the way we want it to? Right now we’re
16-15 overall with a 5-7 record in the BIG EAST. We have five BIG EAST series
left to go. Four out the five are against teams that are currently ahead of us
in the standings. If we’re going to make the tournament this year we’ll have
earned our berth and should be well prepared for the postseason.
On top of our eternal to-do
list is to help our players get better as the season progresses. The way they
approach the game is our number one point of interest. Coach Penders always
speaks with our team about A.C.E. (Attitude, Concentration and Effort). He also
talks about respecting the process and approaching the game pitch by pitch. I
often tell the pitchers how important their daily routines are. Most college
players love the “adjustment of the week” and will try anything to make a quick
fix. Hitters and pitchers alike are guilty of this. We need to make sure as
coaches that we help our players build a consistent approach instead of allowing
constant tweaking. True confidence for a baseball player comes from their
belief that everything they’re doing, routine/process, is going to make them
successful.
A number of our freshmen
hitters have started their first campaign off with a bang. It’s amusing to see
how they have responded when they finally have some failure.
“Coach, do
you think my swings getting a little long?”
“Do you
think I should back off the plate?”
“Are my hands too
high?”
One rarely hears questions like
this come from our upperclassmen. Pete Fatse comes to mind when thinking about
the evolution of a college hitter. As a freshman last year, Pete would come
into the dugout and ask Coach Dez about his swing after almost every at-bat.
Pete has a great swing but, at that time, didn’t completely trust his approach.
This led to Pete having very hot and very cold streaks. This year he has been
much more consistent and has asked very few questions about his stroke.
Pitchers are no different.
When you’re in high school and you have great stuff you don’t have to worry
about a routine or mental preparation, you just throw the ball and guys swing
and miss. But, when you get to college the strike zone shrinks a little, the
hitters’ plate discipline is better and they’re not swinging and missing like
they used to. That’s when a little bit of fear and doubt comes into the
equation. I would bet that almost every good pitcher out there at some point
has had this fear and/or doubt. I know I went through it. John Folino is our
Friday night starter. The junior from Quincy, Mass. had thrown a grand total of
20.1 innings in his first two years here. He looked as though he could never
get comfortable on the mound. On his own this summer, John figured out how he
needed to approach the game. Now the doubt and the fear are gone and John
trusts his stuff and his routine. Opposing hitters are swinging and missing
again.
If I remember from my writing
courses correctly, I’m supposed to try and sum everything up here toward the
end. My point is simple I guess. College baseball really does get you prepared
for your everyday life of the future. I have a number of things to accomplish
on any given day and if I “let the game speed up on me” I’m sure to mishandle
the ball, swing and miss or throw four straight balls. But if I have a good
routine that I trust I can knock out one task at a time and be successful. If
our players can do this for the rest of the season we will be fun to watch and
will win a lot games. Now please excuse me, I’m off to birthing class. Remember
to breathe, hee-hee-hee-hoo, hee-hee-hee-hoo.
Justin Blood
Assistant Baseball Coach
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