Marty Smith

Player Development. It’s not just practice.

@JWonCATCHING Great advice, as always, JW.

SEMI RANT I have been reading INSIDE THE BOX by David Epstein. It’s about how constraints are not obstacles to creativity and performance—they are often the very conditions that produce them. In today’s game of baseball we have all kinds of data to help us develop players or at least to evaluate our processes because we are able to quantify the outcomes. Take pitchers & pitching coaches for example. Some become overly reliant on the data. If they don’t have their Trackman data, their Edgertronic videos & KineTrac graphs they are often at a loss in the development process. My suggestion is restrict( constrain) the use of all those aids during a % of the development process in order to force the coaches & players to become more creative. As a coach, be able to evaluate ball flight/shape by using your eyes. Same for the pitcher’s movement pattern(s). Same for pitchers but also more in touch with FEEL(Kinesthetic Awareness). You MIGHT come up with some training methodologies that you would not have when you just lean on the data. This is not a revolutionary concept & I think many of the best players & coaches follow this path. Obviously this applies to hitters as well. I’m not suggesting that all the tools we have are not valuable because I truly think they are. They reinforce what our eyes tell us & often tell us what we think we are seeing is not really accurate. In the strength field measurable data is invaluable. IMO there is a need for both to maximize the development process & provide for maximum transfer into the game. In the game you are making pitch by pitch adjustments without access to any data so why not make that a part of your preparation plan. Just a thought worthy of considering. The bottom line is to find the sweet spot/balance point in the process to produce the best version of the athlete most consistently.

@martinnwf I think it was two. Our guy and an SCF guy.

I’m hearing Only 1 player from Florida JUCO Baseball drafted this year? Wow have times changed.

@Rusty_Kellum Man, that is so awesome.

Couldn’t knock the smile off my face if you tried!

Bove

@BobFrank35 @JMikeMLB He's trying to correct a guy, who, most catching experts would agree, is the absolute best catching coach in the world.

@JMikeMLB Why would you not do this to grab strikes. Your way sucks.

Stop moving your glove to the middle of zone! Looks like an 8U catcher. Stick the catch. The umpire is calling the pitch at front of plate. Eyewash glove movement.

Florida Juco Showcase August 16. Catcher position is full. 5 Florida Juco coaches running the showcase. Positions fill as they close. Info and registration is at FloridaJucoShowcase.com. Limited to 35 players.

Portal Showcase hosted by College of Central Florida for players looking for fall 2026 Juco baseball opportunities. Showcase Limited to 26 players and positions will close as they fill. DM for info.

Intent precedes content!

Just fyi there is not even an MOU with Iran, much less a “deal.” Tell me how we’ve won again?

Below is the perfect example of the tremendously low-IQ complaints about baseball today. It shares the common theme that (a) the quality of the game peaked precisely when they played, completely oblivious to changes throughout all of history, and (b) blaming and name calling (i.e. “nerds”) out of insecurity and frustration that people who are significantly more intelligent have the front office jobs that they want. Does this unserious person think the standards for the Hall of Fame have never changed? Pull up the pitchers in the very first class. Walter Johnson had 417 wins and threw 300+ innings 9 times … and had 34 saves. Christy Mathewson 373 wins, with 300+ IP 11 times and 30 saves. Then look up pitchers who made it later … guys like Bob Feller, Whitey Ford, Warren Spahn … take Robin Roberts, who threw 300+ innings six years in a row. Or Bob Gibson who completed 255 of his 482 starts (53%). Or even a lesser known guy like Bob Lemon who had 188 CGs in 350 starts. (54%) Now consider: Greg Maddux Max IP in season: 268 109 CGs in 740 starts (15%) Tom Glavine Max IP in season: 246 56 CGs in 682 starts (8%) Randy Johnson Max IP in season 271 100 CGs in 603 starts (16%) Now would he conclude that Maddux, Glavine, Johnson etc. were “lesser” than the other HOF guys who came before? Because the “standards were lowered”? Of course not. Because they aren’t lesser, and the standards were not lowered. The standards only make sense when they are put in context of the times and the way the game is played. But these smooth-brained fools want to pretend that the standards never changed … not until the day they hung up their cleats after which everything suddenly went south. And then of course there’s the parting shots at the “nerds” as if their insecurity and frustration wasn’t already obvious. Really, really dumb stuff … @20Hojo

Incredible....absolutely incredible.

Meet Dylan, who has gone viral today. He can recite the entire season schedule/results of any @nfl team since 2009. I witnessed him in action today at @playbyplaycamps. One of the most amazing things I’ve even seen!

Patrick Bailey just made the best throw/time I’ve ever seen. What do you get on this throw? Checking Savant in a bit. Wow.

@ByronHutson @BaseballDudes48 Good BP is great….but, believe it or not , there is value when someone who throws it all over the zone forces hitters to be more disciplined and make decisions on a lot of BP pitches.

It’s immeasurably valuable.

This is how America works

If you are in the portal/Juco eligible & looking for a Juco this fall we are hosting a portal showcase July 20. For College of Central Florida only. Looking for hitters and pitchers. Have four roster spots available in the fall. Info at FloridaJucoShowcase.com Max 26 players.

In the portal and looking for a Juco this fall? We have 4 spots left for the fall. Looking for hitters and arms. Portal workout/showcase here at CF. July 20. Info and reg. at FloridaJucoShowcase.com only taking a couple at each position so we can play a game. 26 players max.