Eric Schmidt

@QUALITYREPSBSBL @3leftsbaseball Truth. If you’re a D1 commit you’d better be playing immediately. If not, you’ll keep getting over-recruited by lower-level guys getting their game rep’s. Your D1 coach no longer cares if his staff developed you. They’ll find someone that ANYBODY could have developed.

I’m a volunteer assistant coach in very competitive high school baseball .. since 2020 we have had absolute dawgs (pitchers & position players) that knew how to win - would rather die than lose .. competing for State Championships every year — most with barely a look from any division except local community colleges .. we always told them that if you’re talented - colleges will find you .. BULL SHIT .. since these kids were unwanted but brainiacs .. they went ahead and started their academic opportunities. The kids that were getting oversold by Academies, got commitments all washed out in 18 months. 6 years later - colleges now taking path of least resistance and poaching NAIA, D3 & D2 talent someone else developed #BROKEN

The Death of Baseball IQ The game is over and we need to talk about why we took an L and why half of you are going to go home open your phones and completely miss the point. We have an absolute epidemic in amateur baseball right now. Players who are chasing metrics but losing ballgames. You’ve been trained to believe that if your exit velocity is up, your launch angle is perfect, and your radar gun numbers look good on a screen. You’re an elite prospect. Let me tell you the truth. You are training for a spreadsheet while the team is trying to win a game on the dirt. Data builds a great engine but tools don't mean a thing if you have zero Baseball IQ. The 3 Lefts Metrics Audit The Situational Deficit: In the cage a 95 mph exit velo is a perfect rep. In a live game with a runner on second, zero outs, and a tie score in the 6th. The definition of success changes. If you take a massive, heavy-pull hero swing to juice your personal data profile and roll over into a weak groundout. You failed. You chose to chase a metric instead of executing the backside approach the scoreboard demanded. The Invisible Play Deficit: You can’t put a radar gun on a perfectly executed cutoff throw. There is no viral metric for an outfielder running 60 feet just to back up first base or an infielder communicating who has the bag on a steal before the pitch is thrown. Because those high IQ defensive plays don't generate a flashy stat line for social media. You treat them like afterthoughts. That is exactly why we give up runs. The Scout Card Reality: You’re on the bus right now refreshing apps looking at a padded batting average. Let’s be real high level college recruiters and pro scouts don't care about your digital box score or what a local app says you're batting. They see right through it. They are watching how you handle a 95-mph fastball inside, your pitch recognition on a 3-2 slider, and your in game instincts. The screen might lie to protect your feelings but the radar gun and the scout's notebook won't. Data can build the engine but it cannot steer the car. The college game moves way too fast for slow thinkers. If your energy, your hustle, and your focus change depending on your personal metrics instead of the team's record. You aren't a competitor. You're just a data collector wearing our jersey. Turn off the screens. Learn the game. Own the standard. #3LeftsBaseball #CoachBigMike

@QUALITYREPSBSBL @3leftsbaseball Yep. I agree with the OP, but until colleges (and high schools) get on that ship, this is how guys are going to keep chasing making teams.

The baseball community has had over 10 years of colleges committing kids ONLY on metrics and not on if the player actually knows how to play baseball and knows how to win (with a few exceptions) … I’ve seen so many kids get an opportunity just because they ran a 6.7 or threw it across at upper 80’s at a young age but could not get a hit let alone come through in the clutch in an actual game. Same thing with pitchers built in a a warehouse and not on a mound actually competing against kids. The baseball community is worse for it.

@TheConnorPils Well, 19 year-olds rarely get to shotgun the beer they co-own, so let’s acknowledge the marketing aspect here! 😀

Every professional athlete that has attended a game as a fan in the history of sports does this and suddenly it’s a problem?

@Quags57 And start with a corner or two since those don’t count in how many slices one eats. 😬

Always an end

@GowagsKyle Agreed! The off-field stuff was just as important to our family as what happened between the lines. This was my favorite one. IYKYK.

The one thing that is often ignored in “travel baseball” is the idea of “travel.” You’ll experience all kinds of unique!

@mr_graba @Quags57 Holy crap…the frisbees. Haven’t thought of that in decades!

@ESchmidtChicago @Quags57 Yes! I was 5 or 6 when my parents brought me. I loved “The Gambler.” I remember frisbees being thrown into the audience and terrible traffic trying to leave!

DePaul hoops, NCAA tourney, Springsteen. Just to name a few

@Quags57 DePaul beats Georgia Tech, Dallas Comegys career high scoring game, Rod Strickland nearly 30…INXS and Soup Dragons, Depeche Mode, NIN, Wolves hockey, Globetrotters, Illini in Old Style Classic in 1989.

@mr_graba @Quags57 Oh man, my “first” concert when I was probably 10. He toured with Crystal Gayle and my mom wanted to go, and she brought me.

@Quags57 Kenny Rogers

@Seth_3773 Some comments here. Yeesh. What are we doing??

Texas Tech softball taunting the fans after a big win. I was surprised it was girls, but I guess I’m not. Totally the coaching staff and these kids parents fault for this kind of behavior. Apparently these teams didn’t shake hands after.

@notgaetti Clint spoke at Illinois HS Baseball Coaches convention this past winter. He and Jim Thome did a Q&A together. Couldn’t have put two better people together who happen to have a little baseball knowledge, too. 😀 Was an amazing session!

Clint Hurdle has so many great stories, man. He’s at the intersection of baseball lifer and genuinely great dude. Lot of stories, lot of wisdom to be gleaned from them. Beloved everywhere he coached.

@CoachOates94956 @Matt_from_earth I will, thanks for the recommendation!

@ESchmidtChicago @Matt_from_earth David Epstein’s “Range” is a good counterpoint to Gladwell in that regard. In a nutshell, he contrasts the “Tiger Woods model” against the “Roger Federer model”. Worth a look if you’re curious.

Thread: Youth sports is built around kids who are better than their peers. These kids play triple the amount of games compared to kids that don’t make these teams. Making it even harder for the kids who don’t make these teams to make them in the future. 1/1

@bruce_lambert @BBGreatMoments PS, my favorite might be Harry saying Hector Villanueva’s name under normal circumstances!!

@BBGreatMoments Any name Haray Caray tried to pronounce backwards when he was drunk.

What baseball player's name might be the most fun to say?

@bruce_lambert @BBGreatMoments “Nen spelled backwards is…huh huh hee…Nen. Would ya look at that. Hey Arnie, get a shot of the guy in the floppy hat!”. 🤣

@JohnnyVanBee @BaseballDudes48 I will die on this hill. Can’t agree more. Talk between innings on choices the PLAYERS made. As a coach, did you win today’s game, or did you lay the groundwork for these kids to love playing and win more games for themselves in future? Build YOUR castle, or the KINGDOM?

@BaseballDudes48 Too many coaches coach to win, they don’t coach to coach. The dead give away is not letting catchers call pitches. I played baseball till I was 32 and a coach NEVER called any of my pitches. Ever. It’s wild to see in every single game I watch in PG.

One of my favorite people to talk to and pick his brain was Marcel Lachemann. Asked him one day what one of the biggest mistakes coaches make and his answer was… “Trying to attach their name to a players name.” In other words, try to claim some responsibility for a players success.

@CoachBeede Not one game, but every game…my son showing mudita when things go well for his teammates whether he’s playing in the game or not. Not measurable, but huge if you have some of those guys. And I’m so proud of him for being that way.

Parents — what did you see at the field today that made you proud of your son? Not the stat line. The moment. Tell me one.

@Matt_from_earth …Those kids made teams, kept getting more experience and better resources, and kept getting so much better than the kids who didn’t make those teams at young ages, meaning the kids left behind early were never able to catch up. Fascinating book.

@Matt_from_earth Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” touches on something similar. At a youth hockey tournament he noticed most of the players were born in three specific months. Was the age cutoff months when teams formed and nine months difference was a huge advantage…

@johnsonj42 Baseball’s original oven mitt…err…sliding gloves. 🤣🤣

@ESchmidtChicago Wore those gloves for the hand padding. Safety first. Haha

Hot Sports Opinion: As I watch more college/high school baseball there’s a trend I’d love to see disappear. Get rid of the head band under the hat. Wear your hat like a ball player. Understand some types of hair need it for a hat to stay on, but most it’s a bad fashion statement

@DISW219 @garofgrady So well-deserved. Congrats Grady!

Congratulations to the DISW Award Winner from @Lemont_Baseball Grady Garofalo @garofgrady #theresonly1way #DISW