Brent Patterson

Busy week for the Cats starts tomorrow in Tennessee!

Home Opener tomorrow 2/28 at 11:00 and 4:00 @MAMustangsBB at 11:00 @AHSBASEBALL_1 at 4:00

👀 The at-large selections and seeding will be revealed soon Check out the bracket for the 2025 #NJCAAVB DI Championship presented by @USAFRecruiting on Wednesday 11/12 at 2pm ET. Watch the selection show presented by @DScoreboards on the @NJCAANetwork

👊🎟️The Warhawks punch their ticket! Calhoun wins the Gulf South District to earn a spot in the 2025 #NJCAAVB DII National Championship in Cedar Rapids, IA! njcaachampionship.prestosports.com/sports/wvball/…

@NickJFreitas Thank you.

I am told that as a state representative this is the moment where I'm supposed to express my heartfelt condolences and then stand in solidarity with those on the other side of the aisle as we condemn political violence and stand unified as one people. But we aren't "one people" are we? The truth is we haven't been for some time now, and there is really no point in pretending anymore, if there ever was. We are two very different peoples. We may occupy the same piece of geography, but that is where the similarities seem to abruptly end. I convinced myself for a long time that whenever the left called me a racist, a bigot, a sexist, a fascist, a "threat to democracy" for even the most innocent of disagreements, that it was simply hyperbolic rhetoric done for effect. And now the "effect" is a widow and two orphaned children, because the left couldn’t bear the thought of a peaceful man debating them and winning. I don’t think they realize it yet, but murdering Charlie is going to be remembered as the day where we finally woke up to what this fight really is. It’s not a civil dispute among fellow countrymen. It’s a war between diametrically opposed worldviews which cannot peacefully coexist with one another. One side will win, and one side will lose. Charlie tried to win that fight through argumentation, through discussion, through peaceful resolution of differences. And the other side murdered him. Not because he was “extreme” or “inciting violence” or any other hyperbolic slur they hurled at him. They murdered him because he was effective. Because he was unafraid. Because he inspired others and made them feel like they had a voice, that they were not alone. And he did it at the very institutions which have fomented so much hatred toward conservatives. I don’t want to “stand in solidarity” with the other side of the aisle. I want to defeat you. I want to defeat the godless ideology that kills babies in the womb, sterilizes confused children, turns our cities into cesspools of degeneracy and lawlessness…and that murdered Charlie Kirk. Social media is aflame right now with leftist celebration of Charlie’s death. I wonder if any among them understand what has just happened. If there is a Yamamoto somewhere in their midst warning, that all they have done is awoken a sleeping giant. I doubt it. I think they gave up such introspection and self-awareness long ago. I don’t know exactly what will happen next. I just know that it won’t be the same as what has happened in the past. There will be thoughts and prayers…Charlie would have wanted prayers. Not for himself but for those left behind and for the country that he loved. But then there will be a reckoning. My Christian faith requires me to love my enemies and pray for those who curse me. It does not require me to stand idly by in the midst of savagery and barbarism...quite the opposite. So every time I feel tired, every time I feel discouraged or overwhelmed, I am going to watch the video of a good man being murdered in Utah…I will force myself to watch it…and then I will return to the work of destroying the evil ideology responsible for that and so much more. Rest with God Charlie, your fight is over. Ours is just beginning.

After a conversation I had tonight…I need to say this. I despise progressive leftism with my entire soul. I despise progressive leftism because it is a parasite that feeds on freedom while pretending to defend it. It dresses itself up in compassion and justice, but underneath, it is a machine that breeds weakness, division, and dependency. Progressives reading this far are already melting down. Continue. Progressive leftism is not about lifting people up. It is about dragging everyone down. It tells you that you are not responsible for your life, that someone else is always to blame, and that the government can be your savior. But the truth is this: when government becomes your provider, it also becomes your master. And I was not born to be ruled. I despise progressive leftism because it cannot survive without lies. It denies biology, rewrites history, and pretends morality is just a matter of personal preference. It silences truth under the excuse of “safety” and “inclusion,” but what it really wants is control. A nation built on lies will collapse, and progressivism is laying the dynamite at America’s foundation. I despise progressive leftism because it thrives on division. It does not see Americans as individuals; it sees us as categories: black or white, rich or poor, male or female, oppressor or victim. It does not unite; it fragments. It does not heal; it infects. It cannot build a future, so it manufactures grievances and keeps people chained to bitterness. I despise progressive leftism because it destroys prosperity. It punishes success, rewards dependency, and strangles innovation. It takes from the builders and gives to the bureaucrats. It teaches people to envy rather than to earn, to demand rather than to create. The result is always the same: decline, stagnation, and despair. I despise progressive leftism because it corrupts culture. It mocks faith, it dismantles family, it ridicules patriotism. It replaces virtue with vice, courage with cowardice, conviction with conformity. It promises liberation but delivers emptiness. A society without truth, without family, and without God. That is not freedom, it is slavery of the soul. Progressive leftism is not just another political view. It is an acid that eats away at the bones of a free nation. To despise it is not hatred; it is survival. To oppose it is not extremism; it is duty. I choose freedom over control. Truth over lies. Responsibility over victimhood. Prosperity over dependency. Faith over nihilism. That is why I despise progressive leftism. And that is why I will fight it. Always.

@WatchChad One of the most logical and well-written posts I’ve seen. So true.

OUR FAVORITE CUBAN HORSE. @cubancaballo I #RollTide

back-to-back jacks 🎙️: @Roger_Hoover #RollTide | @AlabamaBSB

A tip of the cap to you, sir. @cubancaballo I #RollTide

No longer a baseball dad. Those were fun years. I'll leave you with this thought heading into the weekend. If you love baseball, maybe recalibrate your goals for your kid, from, "I hope he can play in college" to something like "I hope he loves baseball as much at 61 as I do."

Due to the threat of severe weather tomorrow game with Vestavia has been cancelled.

@CoachGuy7 Congrats coach. One of the best feelings in the world.

SPANKED!! @cubancaballo hit that ball a TON. Solo no doubter doubles Alabama’s lead to 2-0 B4.

Cats will host @FloFalBaseball and @hewitt_baseball on Saturday!

This one is a must read. I hope the takeaway is, at minimum, eye opening. To any player/parent trying to navigate the recruiting process right now - here is some perspective for you. I came across this video recently on Twitter - It’s a video of Juan Soto when he was 16 years old in the Dominican Republic. (Credit to @HagemanParker for digging it up and posting it.) I decided to do an informal case study. I sent the Soto video to 13 high-level baseball evaluators - 4 current MLB scouts, 7 current and former D1 recruiting coordinators & head coaches, 1 former pro manager/ college head coach, and 1 current JC head coach. All guys that I know and trust to give honest feedback. I told them that I had just started working with this 16 year old international player and that I was hoping to get their feedback from an evaluation perspective. 3 of the 13 knew it was Soto from the video. Of the other 10, here were the results: - 1 current D1 coach said “He looks like he’s gonna get paid. I have money for a ’26 if he doesn’t want to sign with an MLB team. Somebody will pay that swing.” - 2 of them liked his physical upside and bat speed and said once he puts on some weight they think he’s got a chance. - 7 of them said something along the lines of… “He needs to go to a JC”, “he has too much effort in his swing”, “looks like he has some timing issues”, etc... The video was taken shortly before he signed for $1.5m with the Washington Nationals. He is a future Hall of Famer. Let that sink in for a moment. The question is, why were the majority of these college coaches and scouts flawed in their initial evaluation of the short video I sent them of a guy who signed for $1.5m with the Washington Nationals a few months later? - Are they bad evaluators? - Was the video not a good enough representation of Soto’s ability? - Was there not enough context as to his track record and other tools to make an informed evaluation? - Is it just difficult to evaluate a player off of 1 minute of video? - Did the fact that he is an international guy change things? - If he had hit 3 homers in this video reel would they have a different opinion? In all honesty, I wasn’t surprised by any of these responses. I might’ve said the same thing if I didn’t know it was Soto. It is likely a combination of multiple of the reasons I listed above… but the point I am trying to make here is this: I hear all the time from high school and JC players/parents about how frustrated, disappointed, or defeated they feel because they aren’t getting interest from college coaches, and because coaches don’t respond to their emails & DM’s. So here is the perspective that you need to understand: even Juan Soto’s video from a few months before signing a $1.5m contract didn’t garner the type of interest that you would expect. Are you better than Juan Soto was at 16 years old? Are you a future hall of fame caliber player? There are so many factors that go into the recruiting process. It is a multi-sided marketplace where each stakeholder (college coach and player) has to have a mutual need and interest in one another. Baseball is the hardest sport to evaluate and it’s not even close, IMO. Coaches and scouts are wrong all the time. Players can get exponentially better in a short period of time. It’s not always a pretty process, but all it takes is one coach to see something in you and want to invest in you. Dial in the things you can control. Make sure coaches to have the full picture of who you are as a player and why you can help them win. And don’t be upset when you get limited responses/feedback. It happened to Soto too - and he is much better than you.

6’3 195 LHP Sophomore at @SneadBaseball 84-86 top 88. Looking for any opportunity to play at the next level. 25 1/3 innings pitched, 3-0 , 15 walks, 17ks in my freshman year my phone number is 256-200-4305

Top arm from one of the Top HS programs in the State. Go Pats⚾️🇺🇸

94 year old Auschwitz camp Holocaust survivor — and Trump voter — calls out Kamala for comparing Trump to Hitler. This is powerful, share it:

Great way to spend other people’s money.