Craig Castello

The hitter’s swings, foul balls, and takes give you a good idea of his approach. What do I mean? Fastballs: Is he late on the FB? Where are his foul balls? Pulled foul? Or over the opposite dugout? Or, is he taking them? So, if late, this means that we pitch FB in, up, and expand down. If he’s taking them, he might be sitting strike offspeed. Also, if he’s late on FB, be careful throwing a get me over strike offspeed pitch. You will be doing him a favor. A good question to ask is, where can we go where his barrel can’t square the ball up? Offspeed: is he pulling them foul? Are his takes good or bad? Does his swing look comfortable on the offspeed? Where does he chase? A good tidbit to follow is that we should chase bad swings. The best hitters in the world can make the adjustment pitch to pitch. Most players, especially at the HS and below level, can’t do that. So if he takes a bad swing on a pitch, throw it again. If he takes it, throw a different pitch, then go back to bad swing pitch. Another tidbit is that if the hitter fouls a ball straight back to the backstop, be very careful repeating that, because he just missed it. Many more nuances to this but this is basic food for thought.

Perhaps the most successful freshman pitcher in college baseball so far this season, Sawyer Pruitt (@SawyerPruitt) has been dealing for @RaginCajunsBSB 💪 19.2 IP 1 R 0 ER 25 K (31.6 K%) 6 BB (7.6 BB%) 🔗 d1ba.se/4b9s8KC

Every parent, coach and player should listen to this. Maybe listen twice just to let it sink in.

.@RaginCajunsBSB freshman pitcher Sawyer Pruitt is feeling it #GeauxCajuns

@JesseCassard @SawyerPruitt that guy ain’t too shabby!

M6 | MoState 2, UL 7 Sawyer Pruitt with 3Ks in his first collegiate appearance; 14 pitches with 12 for strikes 📻 ragncaj.co/BSBRadio21426 📊 ragncaj.co/BSBStat21426 #GeauxCajuns | #WaterHoseBoys

Check out the 2025 All-Metro baseball team for the Baton Rouge area theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sp…

LSWA CLASS AAAAA ALL-STATE BASEBALL ⚾️ TEAM P Will Andrade - Holy Cross P Bradyn Cupit - West Monroe P Drew Ferguson - West Monroe P Jarius Miller - Barbe C Andrew Clapinski - Catholic BR IF Ryan Darrah - Brother Martin IF Casey McCoy - Dutchtown IF Dom Pellegrin - Holy Cross IF Jack Ruckert - Catholic BR OF Jackson Lee - Ruston OF Cole Snell - Benton OF Christian Turner - Haughton UT Brayden Calamari - Slidell UT Cole Flanagan - Sam Houston UT Cole Navarro - Brother Martin UT Sawyer Pruitt - Live Oak UT Cooper Smith - Live Oak OUTSTANDING PLAYER: SAWYER PRUITT - LIVE OAK COACH OF THE YEAR: CHAD HEBERT - SAM HOUSTON Honorable Mention: Nate Alario, John Curtis Thomas Allen, Benton Lytton Arledge, West Monroe Lenny Cline, Rummel Tanner Conley, Fontainebleau Trey Davis, Higgins Tristan Dehart, Terrebonne Connor Donnelly, Jesuit Davis Emonet, Catholic BR Parker Franks, Neville Troy Green, Slidell Owen Galley, Sam Houston Kanyon Griffin, Acadiana Hunter Guillot, Thibodaux Mason Hickman, Mandeville David Griep, Ruston Brock Laird, Natchitoches Central Lucas Lawrence, Catholic BR Noah Lewis, Catholic BR Lawton Littleton, Barbe Carson Malasovich, Northshore Chase Marcotte, Destrehan JP Moak, Ruston Wes Oats, Pineville Gavin Panks, Covington Brayden Rachal, Alexandria Tyler Roark, West Monroe Tyler Roach, Ruston Logan Rogers, H.L. Bourgeois Koa Romero, Hahnville Aidan Ryan, Covington Andrew Sharp, Captain Shreve Slade Shove-Knox, Sulphur Connor Smith, Northshore Austyn Taylor, Pineville Abel Thetford, Parkway Brody Trosclair, Thibodaux Bryce Wilson, Chalmette Zach Wilburn, Byrd

2025 Louisiana Baseball Coaches Association All-State Baseball ⚾️ Teams

💎 𝕎𝕖𝕓 𝔾𝕖𝕞 𝔸𝕝𝕖𝕣𝕥 Check out this play by 2026 LHP Zant Gurney (Live Oak HS) The @PB_Uncommitted junior southpaw fields this bunt down the first base line barehanded and makes an accurate off-balanced throw for the 1-3 putout. Live Oak and Benton remain tied at 1-1 heading to the 4th inning. #BeSeen @AlexArmandPBR | @davisj_9

@PrepBaseballLA @PB_Uncommitted @LiveOakBsB1 LBCA talk about making athletic throws comes in handy.

I want to thank all the coaches that reached out to me in the past two weeks. I’m staying home. 🌶️🤟🏽@RaginCajuns @RaginCajunsBSB @RaginReview @CoachDeggs28 @GunnerLeger @Coach_Thib @JesseCassard @CoachCaryMyers @AlexArmandPBR @2D_sports

🚨Every coach should listen to Nick Saban talk about transformational coaching. ⁉️Do you care about your players for your benefit or their benefit?

@CordlessCole @CoachCaryMyers @JesseCassard Seems like a good idea to me. Especially when you hit like the A’s

@CoachCaryMyers Tell me you been around @JesseCassard for too long without telling me 😂

Beautiful 😍

I’m grateful to be able to announce that I have committed to play baseball at Bossier Parish CC. I want to thank God, my coaches, and my teammates for supporting me through this journey to the next level. @LiveOakBsB1 @BPCC_BASEBALL @knightknation4L

🔒 Cal Cassard 🔒 2025 | OF | Live Oak Bossier Parish Community College Congrats to 2025 OF @CalCassard8 on his commitment to @BPCC_BASEBALL Cassard was 1st Team @lbcaupdates All State this past Spring and looks to have a big senior year for the Eagles.

Trevor Bauer talking about how the eyes set up your direction. I have this conversation all the time with hitters. So many hitters over close off their shoulders causing them to pull off.

'Earn the right to do more.' "People work to do less. This is the big fight we have with success. Failure is easy. Success is way harder than managing failure. People believe when you do good, you have earned the right to do less. With success, you earn the right to do more."

@JesseCassard @cary_myers5 @lbcaupdates It would be nice if we started next week and had 2/3 all the way through in 2024!

Looking at next week’s weather.. I wish we could start the season next week! A week early like 2025 @cary_myers5 @CraigCastello @lbcaupdates

A simple advantage every pitcher can have: When facing same sided hitters, stand on arm side of the rubber. When facing opposite handed hitters, stand on glove side of the rubber. The horizontal approach angle plays up for every single pitch.