Eric Schmidt

And because of this, these dudes know I have their backs forever. Lotta coaches around here will never get that respect.

This was likely from last season since Illini won, but so true on why the “good” coaches coach. My guys are getting to college-aged now and I love getting texts from them to share how they’re living life. It’s an honor to get unsolicited notes like that.

@mikeclarkpreps I think it’s intentional at this point. I see so many posts calling it out that I think people are doing it backwards to keep stoking the flames, lol.

Just saw a baseball score reported as a school losing 1-2. What are we doing?

I'm finding the small handful of interviews that I must have said something funny. Thanks for being polite and laughing, Coach @Triple_31!

Digitizing some old tapes this week and came across this one. Clearly I said something very witty and funny while talking to @BenBrust.

@wischlist Related…how many minutes have the two of them been on the floor together? Again, two floor-spacers who can pass and stretch (at least Tomi). And Z is an elite defender. No clue why we don’t use that (plus…they have to have some chemistry?).

@wischlist Yeah, I’ve been thinking this all season. And they’re both good passers…didn’t we run some O through Tomi last season? Even if you still want three’s, at least put the option there for opponent to defend.

Question: Has Illinois run high-low at all this season with the Ivisic brothers?

@nextlevelbb If they did that, then they’d owe the schools for use of THEIR marks. I don’t know the correct answer here but this new college athlete world is crazy.

Schools should not be involved with NIL. They should not be paying players. They should not have collectives. They should not be charging non athlete students more because of athletics. They should not be raising ticket prices and concession prices to pay players. They should not be begging for donations to pay players. But. Players should be allowed to use their name image and likeness to broker any deals they so choose on their own.

@nextlevelbb I don’t disagree with anything you said. Adding that the cost to play these days, at least at competitive levels, is out of control and not easily-affordable. That’s also adding to it.

Baseball is trying to become a white collar friendly corporate video game driven by computers and people that never played sitting in offices. Baseball is supposed to have a competitive blue collar tough mentality. Players are supposed to take it personally. The toughest most competitive competitors are usually the best of the best.

@nextlevelbb He's a guy folks should be paying for his teaching. As a former catcher, I love some of the detail he shares. I have things to give to some of our players, but with his level and experience, I get a TON of additional info for our guys. He'd make a great speaker at @IHSBCA1. :)

The people arguing with Jonathan Lucroy are advertising they're dumb dumbs. Lucroy had to do everything right to play in the big leagues, and he did everything right good enough to become an all star and one of the most respected players in the league. He wasn't overflowing with tools as an amateur and scratched and clawed for everything he earned. Simply stated, he had to be smarter and tougher than the competition. He's the guy players should be listening to.

Catchers, pitchers, coaches and hitters should be locked into Jonathan Lucroy's information. He's giving away gold.

@CoachSwit Any different than most of the people in MLB analytics who dictate usage and on-field decisions? 😬

@BaseballDudes48 Not sure if others posted, but @ScoringChanges posted this photo earlier today. Too close to take, and looks a lot tighter here than the original broadcast K-Zone, for sure.

If we want a definitive answer on whether or not the last pitch of the game last night was a ball or strike, we need to see the side angle and where the pitch was when it crossed the plate.

@JLucroy20 Good stuff, thank you! Always wondered how much guys at your level would look at the analytics that other teams were likely using against you. So much info out there in this era!

The answer is simpler than you would think. In general, bad hitters you pitch away, occasionally show in off or up in to keep honest. Good hitters you have to pitch in. Have to. My last post I showed 2 charts on Beltre and Miggy. Go look at their numbers on FBs in the 9box illustration. To your point, great hitters have all the same general approach and don’t adjust their path or approach according to the pitcher. Several years ago I ran some numbers, from lefties and righties, on pitch location percentages across the league. These numbers are rough and could be slightly different now, but it makes sense from my experience behind the plate. These numbers were for RHHs only. 68% of pitches thrown in a MLB game are located middle of plate to away. So, almost 3/4 pitches thrown to RHH’s are located middle to away. As a catcher, I knew how hard it was for pitchers to locate in. 3/4 results of the pitch call are negative, UNLESS you are pitching in to show for away. Ball, HBP, you yank it back over middle in(no bueno), or you paint it for a strike(bueno). My hitting coordinator my first year in the minor leagues was Mike Lum. Go look him up. He played with Hank Aaron. Anyway, I asked him what Hank’s hitting approach was. He said Hank didn’t care about location of pitch, he just tried to hit the ball hard back up the middle. Stay back on off speed and drive it up the middle. @RealCJ10 same thing. Back spin the ball through the CF wall. I never cared about other team’s reports on me. I looked for a pitch I could hit hard back up the middle. Little late? Drive it oppo, little early, I’d pull it. Stay back on offspeed. Simple, but I always wanted to drive it back up the middle hard.

@getcomeuppance @TrustTrost Northwestern. 😬

@TrustTrost which school?

A high school along the North Shore is exploring adding a bubble dome next school year, as it’s currently building out plans to add additional turf fields to its athletic complex. #MoreThanJUSTGames #IHSA

@martymaciaszek @notgaetti Mitch Williams heads to center-field and Mitch Webster in to save the game.

@notgaetti Sammie Sosos would have been perfect for Harry Caray’s penchant of spelling names backward. Or is that Harry Carey?

Would it kill you to spell check their names?

@JLucroy20 Semi-related question…how much does this become a cat and mouse game at your level? Guessing you got to see reports like these on yourself. How much could you take advantage of that info, and for how long, before teams continued to adjust?

I guarantee you that Will Smith and Cal Raleigh have prepared. Some, if not all of the pitchers have done so as well. Also, Andy isn't calling pitches. It's more important that the players are prepared. These guys are pro's. They aren't winging it out there. How do I know this? Because, I did it in 2017. I called every pitch when I caught, and pitching coach let me do my thing. Here is an example. Both these catchers are smart and talented. World Series champ and amongst the best catchers in the game. Don't believe any media piece that says they aren't prepared. You would be greatly mistaken to believe that these two guys aren't ready in every way.

@DOB23 @IHSA_IL Another point is hoops at every level is, and has been, about casual fans wanting to see superstars. Elite 8’s seemed to bring more of those players, especially with AA. Now those players get bumped before State (Warren, for example) or those players aren’t in Illinois now.

I hate to harp on the @IHSA_IL. But, the state boys basketball finals used to be so good. As a child, I would watch the state tourney on TV. Glued to it all weekend. The Do-or-Die Friday. Packed gyms each weekend. It was a spectacle. It’s never coming back.

@Nylon09 @CoachSwit We're in a cold weather state and kind of the same. Varsity coaches haven't seen guys in game situations since camp in June. But will tell everyone how they want pitchers who get outs and hitters who get on base. And of course then just look at pitch speed and exit velo for team.

@CoachSwit March “tryouts” for players cut in Sept: 20 bullpen pitches for POs, rest was arm care/PFPs, no live ABs, NO ONE was taken! Is that even a real tryout or token gesture? A jr PO who’s at 85 mph and was at 78 in Sept. Huge progress made, Make it make sense. Not fun 4 kids anymore.

People think it’s great when 100 kids try out for high school baseball. And it is. But what they don’t see is the hardest part of the job… sitting across from half of the kids who worked hard and telling them they didn’t make a team. No coach enjoys those conversations.

@RobertSansone51 @MontiniBBall @Montini_AD So awesome…good things, good people, and such. 😀

Beyond blessed to receive an all state mention for the second year in a row!