BASEBALL COACHES UNPLUGGED
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BASEBALL COACHES UNPLUGGED
The One Coaching Adjustment That Can Win You a Title
When the rain washes out a week of games and the state tournament looms on the horizon, how do you keep your pitching staff ready? For Coach Jason Brandt, the answer might surprise you.
Coach Brandt of Wapakoneta High School has crafted one of Ohio's most consistent baseball programs through a philosophy that seems counterintuitive at first glance. "The later we get into the season, the less we practice," he reveals, explaining that rest becomes increasingly precious as tournament time approaches. This season, his team has surged to a 12-1 record despite fielding nine underclassmen among their regular players.
The conversation dives deep into the challenges of schedule disruptions and managing young arms during compressed game schedules. But it's Brandt's perspective on coaching evolution that truly resonates. After more than two decades leading the program, he's transitioned from what he describes as a "fiery" young coach to a more balanced leader who understands that "it's just a game and the kids aren't out there trying to lose." This growth hasn't come without memorable moments, including a hilarious story about falling off a bucket in the dugout during a crucial late-inning situation.
Beyond tactics, Brandt shares invaluable wisdom for aspiring coaches: conduct honest one-on-one conversations with players about their roles, surround yourself with loyal assistants (three of his are former players), and recognize the critical importance of youth programs in sustaining high school success. His approach has led to five district championships and two state final appearances – proving that sometimes the best coaching happens when you know when to back off and let players shine.
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Today on Baseball Coaches Unplugged. How one coach handles his pitching staff as the end of the season state tournament is quickly approaching and you've already lost a week's worth of games to rain. And why he practices less the closer he gets to the tournament and you want to stick around to the end to hear the story of the dangers of sitting on a bucket. All this and more with Jason Brandt, head baseball coach at Wapakoneta High School in Ohio. Next, on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken Carpenter, presented by AthleteOne. Baseball Coaches Unplugged is a podcast for baseball coaches With 27 years of high school baseball coaching under his belt, here to bring you the inside scoop on all things baseball, from game-winning strategies and pitching secrets to hitting drills and defensive drills. We're covering it all. Whether you're a high school coach, college coach or just a baseball enthusiast, we'll dive into the tactics and techniques that make the difference on and off the field. Discover how to build a winning mentality. Inspire your players and get them truly bought into your game philosophy Plus, get the latest insights on recruiting, coaching, leadership and crafting a team culture that champions productivity and success. Join Coach every week as he breaks down the game and shares incredible behind-the-scenes stories. Your competitive edge starts here, so check out the show weekly and hear from the best coaches in the game. On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
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Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged. I'm your host, coach Ken Carpenter, and thanks for checking out the show. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button and tell your friends about us. Every Wednesday, look for a new episode with the best baseball coaches from around the country. Now let's hear from head coach Jason Brandt at Wapakoneta High School in Ohio. Coach, thanks for taking the time to be on Baseball Coaches Unplugged. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Well, we're getting close to the end of the season here in Ohio and the state tournament is right around the corner. Is the season going for you the way you expected and do you think you guys are capable of making a deep run.
Speaker 3:Well, I'll be honest, I I did not think. We're 12 and 1 right now. And if you would have asked me back in January, february, even March, what we'd be, I would have asked me back in January, february, even March what we'd be I would have said around 500. We returned six guys that played varsity last year, but only two of them really contributed a lot and one of those players actually was injured for half the season. So we really have a really young team. We only have one senior starter. We have nine underclassmen that play regularly.
Speaker 3:So definitely we've come out a lot better than I thought we would, which is great, but we still have a lot of baseball ahead of us. So the next two weeks are pretty important to us to see how we handle playing every day and then getting into the tournament and going from there. But I mean, I like our team, I like how we've gelled throughout the year, I like how we play, we've thrown the ball really well, we've hit it really well and defensively I think we only have eight errors in our 13 games. So that's probably kept us in a lot of games or helped us win. So right now I think we have a chance. But our district is loaded with a lot of guys that can throw the ball. You know in the upper 80s, low 90s, and we know how baseball is Like. It just takes one of those guys to put a team down.
Speaker 1:So what you're telling me is it's it's all coaching.
Speaker 3:I wish I could say that, I mean, my assistants were on the same page with me. So, uh, our kids have just done a really good job. They, uh, they get along as well as anybody and they're pretty gritty. Um, you know, they yelled at me because we canceled a couple games when it was, you know, 30 degrees outside. I'm like I'm old and I don't want to be in that, and you know they want to play every day. So you know, that's something, as a coach, you really love.
Speaker 1:Well, what inspired you to become a high school baseball coach?
Speaker 3:That's a tough call. Yeah, I grew up at Anna, which is just about 10 miles south of here in Wapak. I played basketball, baseball and golf there, Really liked my coaches I had basically the same coaches for all three sports. They were great guys.
Speaker 3:And then I went to college at Capital University and played baseball there and while I was there I was an athletic training major but we had to have a second major and I chose education and kind of after about a year of doing both, I decided that the education part was more my style and I just loved being around baseball and I was able to help out with our summer acme team at Anna, one of my one of my summers of college, and kind of liked it there. And then I graduated in December and Anna had a JV coaching job that year and I I just took it um, and then I got hired the following year at Wapaw as a teacher as well. I had a freshman coaching job that lasted a year. I still like doing it. The varsity job came open and I was the assistant for three years.
Speaker 3:Our head coach, then left In 2002, 2003,. I guess I became the head coach. I guess you say the rest is history. I really enjoyed it here. We have great facilities. The rest is history. I really really enjoyed it here. We have great, great facilities. Our administration is great. We've gotten a lot of things that they've done for us for our field. We just got field turf three years ago for the infield and it's just top notch. So you know, they've made it easy. The kids here have made it easy. The parents here have made it pretty easy to coach and be successful.
Speaker 1:Well, traditionally there at Wapakoneta, you guys have been one of the top programs in that area and you know, of course, across the state. If I talk to your players, past and present, what would they tell me about you when it comes to team culture and philosophy?
Speaker 3:um, you know, I think, our philosophy I'll start with that first. I, I think, you know, every year we just tried to build on what we've done the year before. Um, we get some of that in the summer with our acme, but a lot of our kids play travel baseball. And then, you know, we do a lot of just off-season conditioning weightlifting, running, throwing, hitting, anything that can get our non-fall and winter sports kids involved with something. And there's always usually you know two to three to four guys that played the year before that help run those and they know what's expected of everybody. Uh, and they make it very easy on the coaches. Um, you know, and then our goal during the year, it's it's never to win the league, that's one of our goals, but our goal is to be playing our best baseball come. Well, it used to be early May, now it's late May, just because that's when the tournament rolls around. And you know, winning a league championship is great, but I know a lot of our kids remember, you know, a district championship or a regional championship, or even making state, and those things are great because that helps build your program.
Speaker 3:Now, the culture like we, we deal with guys that want to be there every day. Um, and you know, some years we'll keep 15 or 16 on the varsity level and this year we're down to like 12 or 13 and those guys just want to play. Um, you know, we personal agendas. We try to keep those aside because when guys start getting into it for the wrong reasons or, you know, wanting personal stats and things start going the wrong way quick. And I think in the last five or six years we've had guys that were able to shut down those bad karma guys and things like that to help our program be a little more successful. And I think that's one of the things this year. Like, nobody's in it for the wrong reasons. They're all there just to play baseball and go out and win some games.
Speaker 1:Well, I, you know, I know that just around the state of Ohio, with all the rain we've been getting this past week and it's still happening right now, it's got to be annoying, driving you crazy because it's. You know the pitching rules and the way that the pitch count rule is, and how do you? You know every coach goes into it knowing that, hey, it's Ohio, we're going to get a stretch where we're going to have back-to-back-to-back games. How do you prepare for something like that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'll go back to the beginning of the season. We played on that first Friday we could play. It was 75 and sunny, and then we turned around and played Monday when it was 41 degrees and cloudy, and then we had 11 days off. We couldn't get a game in because maybe it was a Wednesday and we aren't allowed to play on Wednesdays, or like a nice day, but nobody already. Everybody else already had games scheduled and we just couldn't find games. So you know that part of it's really frustrating because you got to work. Well, these guys need to throw bullpens, these guys are probably going to start tomorrow if we play.
Speaker 3:So we got to kind of hold off on those guys and then to say, man, we've been outside almost every day in the preseason during practice, especially with the turf, and then, oh man, we're back inside and there's nothing worse than going back inside after you've been outside and you've played games. So you know, sometimes we have to shorten practices up. Maybe today we're just going to hit and with 12 to 14 guys you can get through a lot of hitting in an hour to an hour and 15 minutes and the guys kind of enjoy that because it gives them a little bit of a break. You know we're not going two, two and a half hours and then they're, you know, using all their energy up. So we had to do that now where we're getting into the stretch where we're supposed to have a league game tomorrow.
Speaker 3:But they're also calling for a half-inch range. So you know that might get backed up to Wednesday and then you know we might not play again until Friday, saturday, but then next week we have six games in six days or whatever. So throw a bullpen, maybe tomorrow, get a couple innings on the hill and then, you know, hope all those guys are ready and able to throw strikes when we need it next week, just because they haven't been on the hill a lot this spring because of the weather. So you know, you hope you get the most out of them and go from there Well you know you mentioned, you know, 10 days without getting on getting out there and playing.
Speaker 1:You know I I would love to to see a high school football or basketball coach have to have to do that. That would be, that would be fun to watch, because baseball is a totally different animal. And you know, I wanted to talk to you because at one I knew you guys. You guys are having a great season and this is the perfect time to talk about the state tournament which is coming up and in Ohio it's lose one game and you're done and um, over the years, do you keep the same approach, uh, or does your coaching style change a little bit once you get into the tournament?
Speaker 3:We try to keep the same approach. You know, year to year it changes. I know I'll just go like in my second year being the head coach, we won a district championship and and I didn't know what to expect I mean, here I am, I'm probably 25, 26 years old and we play Walsh Jesuit and they won the state that year. That was 2004. They had nine men on the field and you know we're going up there and our guys are just happy to be there because I think Walpole could only won one other district championship before that in baseball. So you know we go up there and they wax us pretty good. We didn't get run ruled, but they wax us pretty good. And then we had a stretch of some years there where we would be competitive but not make it out of districts. And that's always tough as a coach because you know, I'll be honest, when I first started coaching here, wap walk up and maybe only won one or two tournament games the previous 10 years. Um, so you know our first year was, hey, let's win a tournament game and and then we went from there and we had a really good stretch from like 2010 to 2018. I think we won five district championships in there and, and each year we did something different as we progressed. You know, the later we get into the season, the less we practice. That might sound weird, but I'm a big believer. Our guys need to have a little bit of rest and recovery time as well.
Speaker 3:You know, this is another weird thing we do during tournament. One day I bring out I got about three or four college bats. And you know, this is another weird thing we do during tournament week. One day I bring out I got about three or four college bats. So we bring out the old drop five two and three-quarter-inch barrel bats and we see how far we can hit it. One day Everybody backs up to the fence so nobody gets hurt, and we just see how far guys can hit baseballs with those bats. And the guys don't believe how ju those bats really were. But uh, so it's trying to try to keep them loose and have fun.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, and the other thing is is is once you get to tournament you really only use about three pitchers, maybe four, uh, you know, throughout the weekend and so so the last couple of years, or the last few years, we've thrown our other guys against our guys just so they can get a little more alive. They're not guys that we're going to see in a tournament, but it's a live arm and it's a chance for our guys that maybe won't pitch in the tournament to prove that they're going to be ready for us if we need it and go from there. But it kind of depends on the team we have and sometimes the weather, because if it's 85, 90 degrees and that turf's cooking, we don't want to be out there as long either, and you know we go that route. So you know we don't change a lot, but we might shorten things up, but we might shorten things up.
Speaker 1:Well, to a lot of people, coaching high school baseball looks easy, and they're usually the fans on the other side of the fence and not in the dugout. Over the years, what have been some of your biggest challenges in you know, from the opposite side of it, biggest rewards.
Speaker 3:Biggest challenges is. I mean, I think sometimes the expectations have been a lot higher from the outside than maybe what it is from the inside, with the coaches, you know, because I think the coaching staff has a pretty good handle on things. We know what our team's made of. We know what we can and can't do, you know, and a challenge is like getting beat. I remember a couple years ago it's been probably five or six years ago we faced a team in the first round Maumee would only won two, faced a team in the first round Maumee who had only won two or three games in the regular season, and they come in with a dude throwing 92 against us. We did beat him 2-1, but it's like, holy cow, where did this come from? Because we don't do a lot of scouting north of us. Usually we play a team that we've already played during the season for the first round. We knew the kid was good. I didn't know he was 92 good, you know, and that's really tough and that's hard to coach. You know your kids up, you know.
Speaker 3:Maybe another challenge was, you know, in 2012 and 2018, we were maybe an hour away from winning a state championship. Both games Got beat by one one game and got beat by two in the other, but played lights out in both games. You know it's disappointing that we lost but in the whole realm of things it's awesome that we got there and our kids had a chance twice to bring home the title to WAPUG and we just felt short. But I was proud of those guys as much as I could be. Uh, some of the rewards. I mean I've coached both my sons. My oldest son, um, is a sophomore in college now. Uh, pitching out at Lackawanna College in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3:Um my youngest son is a sophomore on our varsity team this year playing second base sports. My youngest son is a sophomore on our varsity team this year playing second base sports. You know I could also say it's a challenge because they're kind of like me and they get a little fiery at times and they might shoot back at me or something and I'll get back at them, but it's been really fun to coach them. You know they always want. You know they always say never give up. And those guys want extra batting practice every day and you know, as long as I can do it, I'm going to be up there throwing to them and that's some time that you won't get much more of once you know they're graduated and things like that.
Speaker 3:The other rewards are just seeing all the kids come through and then getting a text, a random text message from one of them saying hey, great job tonight or keep up the good work, or you get an invitation to a wedding. You know you try to get to most of them. It's sometimes tough in the summer with my own sons playing baseball, but you try to get back and go to those and all those things. And then just the relationships, like two of my former players. Three of my former players are actually coaches for us right now.
Speaker 3:So you know, I hope that one of those guys gets gets the head coaching job when I decide to give it up here, because they put in a lot of time and they've been here and they know what what it takes and we can go from there. So you know, the rewards are so there's so many. You know whether it's a team reward, a personal reward, a community reward, it's just, it's fun to be around. Um, you know, and we have great community support. No matter where we go, we have tons of fans and, and you know, our parents have been like almost perfect to a t for the. You know, 22, 23 years I've been the head coach and I know that's not true at all places.
Speaker 1:Well, let me ask you this you were, if you were asked to sit down and give some advice to coaches who want to become a high school head coach, what advice would you give them? And the reason I'm asking that is I spoke to a coach who's a Hall of Fame member recently and he's still coaching, and he was the type of guy that would have 20, 20, 20 freshman JV varsity and he'd end up having to cut 15, 20 guys and he'd end up having to cut 15, 20 guys. And he told me now that now he's down to 43 guys total in the program. So baseball's. You know it's tough because of all the changes that happen.
Speaker 3:What would you tell someone who aspires to be a high school head coach? Number one, I think, first foremost, is it's time consuming. You know, if you want to have a successful program, you got to put in a lot of time, and I think we've put in a lot more time as the years have gone on and gotten closer to where we are now than we did at first and not saying that we didn't put in time early on, but it's a lot different now. We didn't lift weights until probably 2012. I'll be honest, the weight room was not a thing. We did a lot more agility, speed, things like that. But now, when you incorporate the weight room a little more and you have your extra, you're throwing, you're hitting, you're open fields, you're. And then you have, you know, your expert. You're throwing, you're hitting your open fields, uh, you know you're looking at a couple hours a day, times two, three, four times a week, um, and in the summer, like I mean, we go three days a week in the summer, early morning, weight room and agility, um, and we're going to add into some more like small group settings this summer. We've already discussed that.
Speaker 3:So time commitment is number one. If you're married, have a really good wife that supports you. You know, I mean, my wife has been at probably every game, or, if she wasn't there, she was at one of my son's games, and that helps a ton. Both of my boys have been in the dugout, probably, and that that helps a ton. Um, you know, both of my boys have been in the dugout probably not as much as other coaches, sons, um, but they, they've learned the game through the dugout. Um, I think, surround yourself with good assistant coaches. Uh, one of my coaches coached with me, uh, from the time I started up until 2018, and then he left to become a head coach somewhere else. My one assistant coach now has been with me all, but like two or three years during that time, my other assistants, like I said, played for me. So, you know, that helps a ton, and they've all been there like eight years now, nine years now, so that helps a ton.
Speaker 3:Getting all those guys Don't be afraid to ask questions. You know, I think a lot of coaches have a lot of pride. They don't want to ask questions. They feel like, oh, I should know this. And one of the best guys, I mean Tom Held at Defiance, you know, even though they're in our league. He was a guy that would I mean we still text all the time, you know, whether it's about baseball or anything else Like he's a guy that would give you know, good advice up until the time you're playing and then after that, you know, then it's back at it. We have a good group of guys that I'm in a text message with throughout Ohio we're all playing this weekend down at Lancaster in the Curveball Classic Ten different coaches from all over the state that we've gotten to know through clinics and national conventions and things like that.
Speaker 3:That you know we shoot things all the time in there, so those are all good things.
Speaker 3:You know we shoot things all the time in there, so those are all good things. You know. And I guess you know make sure you do things the right way and do them for the right reasons. You know you're not in it for the fame, the fortune, anything like that, because there's not much fortune in it and unless you win every year, you're probably not going to have much fame. You know those are all a lot of big things and you know I guess probably have some thick skin because you're going to get it from time to time, probably from a parent or a player, you know, because emotions run high.
Speaker 3:And then, probably, lastly, the one thing that we've done a lot more lately is we have one-on-one, real conversations with every one of our players preseason, sometimes midseason and then again postseason, and we tell them what their role is, we tell them what we expect out of them. We send the paper home so mom and dad can see it, mom and dad sign it, send it back. That way, if and when there's a problem, boom, there's the paper. This is what we told you. You know, some guys exceed what we tell them and that's great, you know. But for the most part, most guys are spot on, because we ask them where they think they belong to. And kids know more than you think Like. They know where they belong and they probably could make a lineup up every day and have it pretty close to what us coaches have. But you know, those are the things that I think that if you look at and discuss with the kids and it'll help you be successful as well.
Speaker 1:Well, you know there are a couple of things that you mentioned there. You know I always admired coaches when you'd see them at a state or national convention and they're sitting there towards the front and they're taking notes and you're like holy cow, that guy's won three state titles. You know there's a reason why those guys win, because you know they're not hanging out talking to their friends or whatever. They're learning from something from somebody new. And you know, the other thing that you mentioned, derek, that I always try to do at the beginning of the season was I handed out a sheet of paper and told everybody make your starting lineup.
Speaker 1:And it's amazing, like you said, how close those players are to what the coaches are thinking. And it also helps if you do have that one player that maybe a parent gets upset and you say, look, your son doesn't even have himself in the starting lineup. So it kind of helps you in that sense too. Well, let me ask you, when you every coach kind of changes and progresses or, you know, maybe adapts their coaching style, what are mistakes that you've made or you have seen other coaches make? And how do you, how did you change to make you and the others, uh, around you better?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think probably when I first started I was pretty fiery. I would let a lot of things affect me. You know I wouldn't say I would jump players, but I would get on players a little bit at times After a loss I would let it affect me and I mean, I think that's human nature at times, especially early in your career, because there's games that every baseball coach has lost, that they should never lose, but there's also games that you win, that you have no reason winning those games. So you know, I think over the course of time you know understanding that it is just a game and the kids aren't out there trying to lose the game. You know they're giving you everything they have, they're doing everything for the right reason and and sometimes the other team's better than you. So you know you accept that. You shake their hands and you go back and get after it.
Speaker 3:Um, I think more recently I've been a little more relaxed. I still get fired up, don't get me wrong. Um, you know there's been times. I know that we have a little uh, it's like a story shit at the end of our dugout and I might go in there once in a while, you know, just to vent something to myself or you know, just so it's out of the way. But I understand, like I said, that these kids are really trying their best. Like I said, these kids are really trying their best and you know it makes it easy when you win, but when you lose at times like that's when sometimes the bad side comes out.
Speaker 3:I think I've learned to deal with losing and get better. Now I will say our one loss that we had this year we have an AWARE camera system where we have six camera, camera angles, and I probably watched that game for about three hours again after we got be just trying to see what we might have done better. But you know it wasn't. It wasn't anything that anybody did wrong. It's just one little play that that happened and, uh, you know it is what it is and and you get better. So I think that's the big thing. Just I've I've probably come full circle with going, you know, being a little more fiery to a little more, you know, calm and laid back and and things like that.
Speaker 1:What would you tell travel coaches or, in your part of the state, you guys are really big into the Acme baseball. What would you tell the coaches and parents of those levels to help their players get ready for high school baseball? Because I've talked to so many different coaches where they say that kids show up as freshmen and they struggle with a lot of the stuff that you think that they should already know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's something that I've probably changed a bunch too over the years. I used to be play Acme, acme, acme, acme, because we used to play 30 games in the summer. You play the whole month of June, you know, and that was great. But that was also 20 years ago where travel baseball really still wasn't big in the area, you know. Then I started saying go play some Legion baseball, because Legion baseball around here was still was still pretty big at the time and you could still play some Acme baseball as well. And now I'm I'm full circle, like both my boys have played travel baseball. We probably have 12 to 14 kids in our program right now that play travel baseball. But I also only play on Monday, tuesdays and Wednesdays, therefore allowing our kids to play travel Thursdays through Sunday. So our kids that really, really, really want to play baseball, they play every day anyway in the summer. The other thing we have to work around is at Walpurg. Even though we're a fairly big school, we still have, I think, every kid on our varsity team, but one is at least a two-sport athlete and there's a couple three-sport guys. So you know you got to also use their time wisely and not burn them out Now, when it comes to playing summer ball, and what would I tell the summer coaches?
Speaker 3:You know, I think the big thing is the kids have to be honest with the summer coaches first and foremost. You know, I don't like the fact when I see some of our kids throw Thursday, saturday, sunday, all on the same weekend. You know, no kid is going to tell their coach, hey, I can't throw today because they won't want to let the team down. But as a head coach and I talk about it all the time with my assistants like, ooh, this kid threw Thursday, he threw Saturday and he threw Sunday and he may not throw a lot of pitches any of those days, but it's like that's tough on a kid. You know, I think, as summer coaches and I help coach a summer team. So we've come now that they're in high school, like, you're going to start on Thursday, you're not going to pitch anymore this weekend. You know we're going to try to get as many out of you on Thursday and you try to have some, like you know, early weekend guys that can get you through pool play. And that's what I'd like to tell coaches Like use these guys in pool, use these guys when it comes to tournament time in the summer.
Speaker 3:So the big thing there is on arms, especially just not overusing arms, uh, and then you know, I know in the summer sometimes a kid might be my shortstop but he might go play second base or third base or center field. I'm okay with that. Learn, learn to play another position, uh, and make yourself really good, make yourself really versatile, because if you want to play college baseball, the the chances are you're probably not going to be a shortstop, or every kid that comes in with you will be a shortstop. So you know, be versatile. And I tell our kids, hey, go do whatever they ask, but be honest with them when it comes to pitching. And then you know, just, we want them to have fun, but we want them to work hard. We don't want them to go back digress, I guess during the summer because there isn't as much practice time, it's just show up for games. So you got to work on your own a little bit or hope that the organization that you play for maybe they take BP every day before they play. And you know, those are the things that you hope and can build on.
Speaker 3:Hate losing or love winning? Probably hate losing, but I think that's just the competitive nature in me, you know, I just, I feel like I mean it is fun to win, don't get me wrong. And yeah, I just, I is fun to win, don't get me wrong. Uh, and I, yeah, I just, I hate to lose. Uh, you know, I, I, I really can't say anything else other than that All right?
Speaker 1:Well, you're coaching an MLB team and you can add three outfielders to your team, Group A or group B. Group A you got Ty Cobb, Willie Mays and Ken Ken Griffey Jr, and Group B you got Ricky Henderson, Ted Williams and Roberto Clemente. What?
Speaker 3:group are you taking? Probably taking group A, I believe. I mean I know I wasn't around to see Ty Cobb but I heard he played the game as hard as anybody and he would go hard in the second, just old school. I think both groups have, I mean from a perceptive guys that were all about themselves a little bit. Ricky Henderson was all about himself, you know. I think Ken Griffey Jr had a little bit of that in him.
Speaker 3:But Ken Griffey Jr was man back in his prime. I mean I loved watching him. He's probably one of my favorite guys and he could play. So I think Devlin, who was the third guy in group A, was it Ted Williams also watching him. He's probably one of my my favorite guys and he could play. Uh, so I think, definitely, who was the third guy in group a? Was it ted williams? Willie mays, willie mays, yeah, I mean one of the greatest as well. I mean I, I like I said I only really watched griffey and saw ricky a little bit, you know, but but I mean group a, I think, hands down.
Speaker 1:At least if you had Ricky in your dugout, you'd have a lot of great stories. Yes, tell me a funny story from your time either as a coach or a player.
Speaker 3:I can say one would be this year, and a couple of my players actually saw it happen. Like I said, we sit back in our little storage shed at the end of our dugout. We leave the garage door open. We try to tell people that's where the media guys should go, but they never go in there. It'd be perfect. So we sit in there as coaches and we were playing a league game. It was 1-0, top of the seventh, two outs. And our pitcher has an 0-2 count on the guy and hits him. And I'm sitting on the bucket and I went and I kind of like hit the bucket well, I must have been a little bit leaning forward because the bucket flew out from under me. I fell straight back and the guy that does our camera system, he's like helping me up and I'm like, oh you know, like man. Hopefully nobody saw that. So after the game, my shortstop and left fielder both saw it happen and uh, they're like coach.
Speaker 3:I couldn't stop laughing and uh, you know, so I, I, you know it's probably a little bit of an embarrassment to myself. Uh, but that fiery side, I punched the bucket but forgot that I was sitting on an empty bucket first of all. So you know anything's going to happen. And then I just kind of slipped back and things like that happened. You know, it's pretty funny. I can laugh about it because we did win and a couple of the guys got a chuckle out of it. You know, I would say that's probably one of the funnier things that I can remember right now. I'm sure the players have some other stories about me. I probably make up some words when I'm talking to in the middle of a, you know, a conversation with the team or something. I know I've made up words, I've told funny stories, some of them probably aren't, you know, repeatable.
Speaker 1:But hey, we'll go from there. You know what's funny is that, shortstop and left fielder, you guys might go on to win a state championship and 20 years from now, that'll be the story they'll be telling their friends and their kids probably well, and I even said something after the game and and none of the other guys saw it, thankfully.
Speaker 3:but then those two like oh no, I saw it, I saw it, I mean, and they were still laughing and they had to tell all the players.
Speaker 1:So yeah, Well, I had a similar story happen and I had a rival coach on and he told the same story about their whole dugout. So it happened to me and I was like, oh boy, that's just totally relate to you. Yeah, well, to finish up, totally relate to you. Yeah, well, to finish up. What can we do to keep growing the game of high school baseball to make it better for players?
Speaker 3:and coaches. That's a tough question, because I think we talked a little bit earlier how I think numbers are dwindling a little bit, um, and I'm not sure why. Um, you know, this is probably our lowest. This is our lowest amount of kids that we've had since I've been the head coach here, but we also only have three seniors, so that part's a little more challenging. After this year we'll be back up number-wise.
Speaker 3:You know, I think some of it, I think you know youth was very important, uh, getting our youth teams, and and here in wapok we used to have, like we have rec baseball, which is great. Um, and then, like, from there we did just youth travel in our hometown. So you know the I won't even say the best any kid that wanted to try out, uh, for, like our nine-year-old team, our 10-year-old team, our 11-year-old team, our 12-year-old team, they could try out, and then we'd go around. We have a lot of local, uh community tournaments throughout the summer, pretty much mid-may till the end of june, even middle of july, um, so our kids could play in four to six tournaments during the course of the summer. Uh, we've had some years here, though, where we haven't had enough kids to make a team. This is the first time now, back in probably three or four years now, that we've had eight, nine, 10, 11, and 12-year-old teams that'll play throughout the area. So first thing, I think, is just play as much baseball as you can when you're young, and kids that enjoy it will continue to play.
Speaker 3:First thing, I think, is just play as much baseball as you can when you're young, and kids that enjoy it will continue to play, and then, as they get older, you still have to make it enjoyable. I think a big thing with kids too is on Friday nights in the fall you can hear your name announced. Friday nights in the winter you can be out in front of 1,500 fans and hear your name announced. In the spring there might be 20 fans and they're all family members and it's 40 degrees and you might be lucky if you hear your name announced. You know, I think not all kids play because of that reason. Right there, I think weather is huge. I would have never said that before, but now I think you know I don't think we'll ever change our seasons with football and baseball, but I feel like we could back up our season here in Ohio. I know we've done it in the past, but I think we could back it up a little more, just so we have better weather, because I feel like a lot of people don't want to be out when it's 30 degrees or raining sideways or sleeting or snowing or all of the above during a game. That's something. And keeping our youth involved, you know, and winning at the high school level helps grow your younger programs. So when young kids see a high school team having success, what do they want to do? They want to play and you know we've been fortunate here with that and I hope we continue to do that. I just want to help build our youth back up to where it was 5, 10, 15 years ago. So I think keeping the youth involved I can't say travel because I like travel baseball I really do because a lot of times you're best played there and you get to go compete against your best but I think some travel teams are watered down.
Speaker 3:You know every community has tons of travel teams now and you know we've played some really good travel teams in the summer and we've played some really bad travel teams. And I think sometimes parents get bad advice Like, oh, your kid can do this the summer and we played some really bad travel teams and I think sometimes parents get bad advice, um, like, oh, your kid can do this, it's. It's tough to play at the next level. Um, and and, and we I as head coaches we know that, uh, but sometimes I feel like travel coaches not all, because there are some really good travel coaches, uh but some don't always tell the truth to parents and that hurts our kids, because then you know, oh well, this coach told them this. Well, not the case. So you know, I think being honest with our travel coaches in the summer, being honest with our high school kids, that helps, you know, build it as well a little bit. So might have went off a little bit there, but I kind of feel like that's one of the things that we can get better at.
Speaker 1:Yes, Totally agree. Well, it's Jason Brandt, head baseball coach at Wapakoneta High School. Coach first, thanks for taking the time to do this. You're back at school and it's almost nine o'clock at night. And two, hey, best of luck the rest of the way and I'd love to see you make a run and get to the state championship again.
Speaker 3:Thank you, that's going to be very difficult, but you know, if it happens that would be awesome.
Speaker 1:All right, thanks again, coach, thank you. Baseball Coaches Unplugged is proud to be partnered with the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. Reach out to Will Miner and his team and contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. As always, I'm Coach Ken Carpenter. Thanks for listening to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.
