BASEBALL COACHES UNPLUGGED

5 High School Baseball Coaching Lessons That Actually Win Games

• Ken Carpenter • Season 4 • Episode 19

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Five coaches. One convention floor. A flood of practical wisdom you can use at your next practice. We hit record at ABCA in Columbus and asked straight questions about what actually translates to wins when the lights are bright and the lineup is short on second chances.

Coach Ronald Maestri opens with a clear case for command over radar gun romance and a blunt assessment of the transfer portal. For most high school players, JUCO can be the fastest route to real innings, development, and four-year success. From there, Coach Matt Vosberg puts two-strike hitting and situational offense back at the center of high school baseball, challenging hitters to extend at-bats, go the other way, and value the kind of contact that flips games, not just highlight reels. He draws a sharp line between talent and team-led cultures that hate to lose.

Coach Carter Turnquist brings fundamentals and character to the front: routine plays, aggressive baserunning, clean pregame habits, and grades that keep doors open. He explains why players who keep the moment small thrive early in college. Coach Matt Spivey spotlights bat speed as the game’s great equalizer while crediting his best season to total-roster buy-in and best-players-set-the-pace leadership. He calls on youth programs to value throwing, catching, and development over weekend rings. Coach Kyle McLaughlin ties it together with a simple mandate: compete. Then lift. Then showcase. Strength multiplies tools, culture sustains effort, and informed parents make the journey smoother.

If you want actionable coaching tips, real recruiting context, and a blueprint for building teams that win when it matters, this conversation delivers. Subscribe, share with your staff, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway so we can keep bringing you the most useful voices in baseball coaching.

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SPEAKER_06:

Last week, the ABCA convention was held here in Columbus, Ohio, and I decided to step out of the uh studio here and take my show on the road. I went out and I picked five random coaches. Two were college, three were high school to feature. The conversations covered a variety of topics about the game we love and coaching baseball. Next on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

SPEAKER_01:

This is the Ultimate High School Baseball Coaching Podcast, Baseball Coaches Unplugged, your go-to podcast for baseball coaching tips, drills, and player development strategies. From travel to high school and college. Unlock expert coaching advice grounded in real success stories, data back training methods, and mental performance tools to elevate your team. Tune in for bite-sized coaching wisdom, situational drills, team culture building, great stories and proven strategies that turn good players into great athletes. The only podcast that showcases the best coaches from across the country. With your host, Coach Ken Carpenter.

SPEAKER_06:

Today's episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged is powered by the netting professionals improving programs one facility at a time. Coaches, is your field ready for this upcoming season? Do you need a few things just to put the finishing touches for the season to get your guys ready to go? Well, I think you need to do one thing. You need to reach out to Will Minor and his team at the Netting Professionals. They specialize in the design and fabrication and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball. This includes backstop batting cages, BP turtles, screens, ball carts, and more. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, and cubbies. The netting pros also work with football, soccer lacrosse, golf courses, and now pickleball. Contact them today at 844-620-2707. That's 844-620-2707, or visit them online at www.nettingpros.com. Check out Netting Pros on X, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged. I'm your host, Coach Ken Carpenter. And as always, thanks for checking out the show. If you enjoyed today's show, please be sure to hit that subscribe button. Leave us a review. It helps us to grow the show. Today I sat down with a couple coaches that I had never met before and with a variety of experience. The first one was Ronald Maestry, University of New Orleans head coach and 56-year member of the ABCA. Matt Vosberg at Pendleton Heights High School in Middleton, Indiana, Carter Turnquist, Aurora University in Yorkville, Illinois, Matt Spivey, James Island Charter High School in Charleston, South Carolina, and Kyle McLaughlin, Miller Place High School, Port Jefferson Station in New York. Please be sure to check out our show every Wednesday as I sit down with some of the best coaches from across the country. And now to the ABCA convention held in Columbus, Ohio. Ronald Maestry, retired University of New Orleans coach and 56-year member of the ABCA, talking about chasing velocity versus command and control.

SPEAKER_05:

Just command control. But if you got a guy that can command that play, you're gonna win. And uh usually you get the guy that control strikes and the command his bishop, you're gonna win.

SPEAKER_06:

The transfer portal has changed the game for high school players. Would it be a bad idea to go the JUCO route?

SPEAKER_05:

You know, it's uh it's changed so much now with the transfer portal and NIL. I really I I I I think it's hurt the high school kids to these men. Unless you're really a highly recruited player, you might think of going to junior college only just because you can play and get your experience. Whereas, yeah, they're gonna church you but they get out of the portal at the last minute, and you might not get the playing time. I think the high school kid, I mean, if he wants to go to a major Division I program, unless he's an exception, yeah, he's better off going to a junior college, given his experience, and he still gets because four years of eligibility. So um, I hate to see it for the high school coaches. They work so hard to develop a kid, and their kids are recruited to go somewhere, and then at school said, Well, I can get a guy from uh whatever school, and he's fixed there, and uh everyone in the portal, and then the high school kid doesn't get a chance to play.

SPEAKER_06:

Your thoughts on the role of a head coach?

SPEAKER_05:

Well, that hasn't changed. I I think, you know, with all the uh NIL and everything, still communication, still understanding what you're doing. Parents have been trusting, you know, with the parts of their son, teaching the values of the game, and teaching him the values of life. Uh yeah, make sure that they're prepared. I've always said, I don't care if it's baseball, basketball. You play the team sport, you learn about your teammates, you learn how to support. It's life lessons when you get out in the real world. So I always said the high school coach have the most difficult time. You don't get a chance to recruit. You get kids that are in your district, you can't pull a guy out of the transfer portal. And up until right now, NIL wasn't, but I think it's creeping in. But uh yeah, I think it survalues the high school coach, really gets that kid at a formidable age, really teaching the principles of life and Barnett Howard and carry those things on him. So I employ the high school puzzles. They're so important to people in this.

SPEAKER_06:

Perfect. Thank you very much, Country. Thank you. You have to be able to hit to win a baseball game. Matt Vosberg, Pendleton Heights High School in Middleton, Indiana, on what hitters should buy into.

SPEAKER_00:

It doesn't take some of these like private instructors. Like, we got to situationally hit in high school. What does it take to win a baseball game? We got to be able to hit with two strikes, we've got to be able to situationally hit, go the other way with baseballs. You know, we see on social media and all sorts of things guys launching baseballs, and it looks pretty cool. But like with the against the best pitchers in the biggest games of the year, small ball going the other way, fighting off pitches with two strikes and elevating pitch counts. Like, I wish hitters would be able to buy into that a little bit more uh to win a baseball game.

SPEAKER_06:

Sometimes your best team isn't your most talented team. Why is that?

SPEAKER_00:

The best teams are uh player-driven, you know, guys that are self-motivated, willing to do things outside of the constraints that we have as high school coaches. Um, and guys that just are baseball junkies, guys that just love the game to the point where they don't want to lose. Yeah, winning's fun, but you've got to hate to lose. And then those types of guys, those types of dogs end up being better guy uh putting together better teams than just the most talented. Like you can have some really talented guys and teams come through, but it doesn't always translate to wins. So what translates to wins are guys that refuse to lose.

SPEAKER_06:

What would you like to see more of at the youth and travel baseball level? What emphasize more with their players before they get to you at the high school level?

SPEAKER_00:

I I it it's it's the in-game type of play. It's the a lot of I feel like a lot of the travel teams and a lot of uh, you know, youth programs focus on the the wins and the skills, like uh skill development. Like we want to get you to so many miles an hour, we want to get you to so much exit VLO so that we can say that we've gotta recruit and they've getting committed and so we can promote our program better that way. But when it comes down to winning baseball games like on-field play and understanding what it takes to win a baseball game as a team as a collective unit, um, I feel like that's a a big struggle for a lot of high school guys to take, you know, a starting nine that could come from nine different travel teams, put them on a field, and ultimately go out and win a baseball game. You know, so that more collective unit, that team unity, that doing the little things, buying into roles, uh, and then going out and executing.

SPEAKER_06:

Do you hate to lose or love to win?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I hate losing. Just uh I hate I hate to because I you you you stew with it, right? Like you reanalyze everything and uh you can't sleep that night, you can't like you can't wait to get back out, you know. So um, like a win feels good, obviously, and you feel pretty good about where you're at, but like I think a loss makes you reassess and it makes you rethink. And so yeah, I hate to lose. I don't want to lose, so you're gonna do everything in your power not to do it.

SPEAKER_06:

Sounds good. Thanks, Coach. Up next is Carter Turnquist, Aurora University, Yorkville, Illinois, on what one thing that he feels bad or should focus on?

SPEAKER_03:

I think it's the mindset to have of continuing to hit the ball hard all the time. Not to make contact, not to just make it simple as possible and look in the ball hit the ball out front as hard as possible.

SPEAKER_06:

What separates the best teams from the most talented teams?

SPEAKER_03:

The fundamentals, one hundred percent. Um being able to make the routine plays all the time, being able to um take the extra base when you can, going from first to third, being aggressive on the base paths, um, getting to third base with less than two outs, um, and doing all of the small things right all the time, going through your warm-up routine correctly on a daily basis, playing catch correct. Um really going about your daily details at a high level, um, off the field, especially in school and college and in high school, making sure you're on top of your stuff. So um your grades, your grades matter. I think in high school, um, man, you gotta have good grades to be able to open up the doors um to a lot of different schools and everything. So um being able to do that, being able to also be a good person though, too. Um, we take a look at that as college coaches all the time. We really uh definitely we want to know who you are as a person, how you treat others. Uh, we don't want to be able to bring in somebody that's not going to do that and be a cancer to the team. We want somebody that's gonna be a team guy that's gonna continue to build our program, and that's something that we look for all the time.

SPEAKER_06:

What's something that you wish high school players I wouldn't want to say master, but have a good grip on it when they show up to play college baseball. What are you looking for in a high school player when they're making that jump from the high school level to the collegiate level?

SPEAKER_03:

Aren't faves. Um, a lot of these kids haven't played against guys that are three or four years older than them. Um, and guys that are not scared to go out there, guys that are not nervous and not too big, like the moment's not too big for them. Those are the guys that typically succeed early on in their career. Where nothing's too big for them, though they're they're gonna go in and attack every day and um they're gonna do what's asked.

SPEAKER_06:

Why do you hate losing as a coach?

SPEAKER_03:

Just the competitive drive in my in and me and I know a lot of our guys back at home as well, too. Um, they're gonna do whatever it takes to to go out and and win. And when when we do lose, it it has a it stings. It should hurt. Um that's that's something we tell our guys all the time. Like, every loss should hurt, but we gotta turn the page, go into the next day, attack the next day, so then and make our adjustments so that doesn't happen.

unknown:

Great.

SPEAKER_06:

Thanks, Coach. James Island Charter High School head coach Matt Spivey from Charleston, South Carolina. How important is bat speed in high school hitters?

SPEAKER_02:

If I could just instantly change somebody's bat speed, that would change a whole lot. Uh with their recognition time and and just how getting a swing off. Um, I think if if I could change anything, it was just overnight, it would be bat speed. If they got bat speed.

SPEAKER_06:

You've been a successful coach. What separates your best team from your most talented teams?

SPEAKER_02:

My best team from my most talented team, that's I see. Um the guys who my best teams have been the teams that won through 23. We carried a roster of 23 last year, and it's probably our best team that we've ever had. Um they all loved each other, man. It was simple. We're all pulling in the same direction. And uh I've had some really talented teams, and not to say my best team wasn't my most talented team, but uh everybody pulling in the same direction, and your best players working the hardest.

SPEAKER_06:

In South Carolina, what would you like to see youth and travel teams do more of?

SPEAKER_02:

That's uh that's a loaded question, but uh development. Um youth and travel baseball now is so much driven towards, oh, we're trying to win this ring or this tournament when really all that stuff does is immaterial. It doesn't matter. Uh I just wish that it was all about development. I we have a youth program that kind of feeds into our high school, and I tell people all the time, like, I don't care if you ever win a baseball game at all. It doesn't matter to me. I hope it's fun and I hope the kids want to come back, but I also hope they're developing. Uh and then putting an emphasis on throwing and catching. That's it. Throwing and catching. If you can't do it, you can't win. So uh you got to be able to throw and catch.

SPEAKER_06:

Hate losing or love winning? Where do you stand, coach?

SPEAKER_02:

Hate losing or love winning. Um I don't have a hate for losing. I I don't mind losing. Uh losing is is losing is a learning opportunity. Um, we love winning, we but we never talk about it. That's the thing. Uh if we lose, we lost four games last year, uh, ended up winning back-to-back state titles. But those those losses early on kind of dictated who we became throughout the rest of the year. So the response from your team, you learn a lot from losing. So um I can't say that I hate losing. Uh, but winning is definitely uh an update deal. Thanks, Kens. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06:

My last coach is Kyle McLaughlin, Miller Place High School, Port Jefferson Station in New York. And we discussed what is the most important asset a player should have, whether they're pitching or hitting.

SPEAKER_04:

If I could teach a pitcher or a hitter, one thing, it would be to compete as hard as possible. So when when you're competing as hard as possible, it makes it tougher for the opposition either way. And if you go in there with that mindset, you're just putting your team in a better position to succeed in general.

SPEAKER_06:

What is the biggest separation between your best team and your most talented team?

SPEAKER_04:

So the best teams for the most talented, what I would say is I feel like the best teams have a pretty good culture. And a coach can only do so much. I feel like that's kind of formulated within themselves. Um, at the same time, the work ethic, you know, for the guys that are the most talented might be lacking. And that comes again from culture. So I feel like if you have a pretty strong culture, um, you're in a much better chance to succeed. Of course, you need some talent as well, but you know, I I think the whole the the old adage of hard work meets talent actually does make sense.

SPEAKER_06:

What would you like to see youth and travel coaches put more of an emphasis on to make them better high school players and be more prepared for the high school game?

SPEAKER_04:

Something that I would love them to emphasize in from a from a baseball standpoint would be you don't need to necessarily go play fallball or do all these crazy showcases. You need to get stronger, and that's going to help you both in high school and for travel as well. If you're stronger, you have more to showcase when it's actually time to showcase that. And then off the field, it's it's a tough spot because if we can get parents in general more educated on the process from start to finish, it just helps everyone involved. Final question hate losing or love winning? I hate losing way more than I love winning.

SPEAKER_05:

Why is that?

SPEAKER_04:

Because I feel like I and you know, myself as a player or as a coach and the guys I'm coaching as well, invest so much time into what we're trying to do. It from a coaching standpoint, at least, it almost makes me feel like did I not prepare us well enough? And I start to second guess myself.

SPEAKER_06:

Sounds great. Thank you, Chris. Yeah, thank you. Today's episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged is powered by the netting professionals, improving programs, one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at www.nettingprose.com. As always, be sure to tune in every Wednesday for a new show here on Baseball Coaches Unplugged. I'm Ken Carpenter. Thanks for listening.

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