5 Competitive Drills Every Baseball Coach Should Steal

You can tell within the first few pitches whether a high school baseball team has been coached with intention. It's not on the scoreboard — it's in how they carry themselves, communicate on the field, and respond when things go sideways.

Dell Lever, head coach at Chapin High School in South Carolina, has built his program around four non-negotiables: play hard, play the right way, be an unbelievable teammate, and compete every single pitch. In this episode, he breaks down exactly what that looks like in practice — and in games.

We get into the nuts and bolts of high school coaching strategy: how much weight to give scouting reports, how to keep players from falling into the comparison trap fueled by social media and travel ball, and why Dell would rather obsess over clean defense, throwing strikes, and competitive at-bats than scheme around an opponent. He also makes the case for scheduling the toughest competition you can find early in the season — not to prove a point, but to expose gaps fast and build a standard your team can actually measure itself against.

Then we get into the practice toolbox, and this is where it gets really good. Dell walks through his Eagle Defense Drill for rapid-fire situational reps, the PFP Olympics that puts pitcher fielding practice on a clock, and a competitive batting practice format that rewards hard contact and smart execution. We also dig into bunting and the slash — two weapons most high school teams leave on the shelf — and how Dell teaches bunt defense in short, repeatable segments that actually transfer to game situations.

And we wrap with the culture piece: what it means to trust your players instead of handcuffing them, how to keep the game genuinely fun, and where the line is between celebrating with your teammates and showing up the other team.

If you coach high school baseball and you want more energy in your practices, better carry-over to games, and a sharper team identity — this episode is for you. Subscribe, share it with a coach who needs it, and leave a review so more coaches can find the show.

Transcript

What Makes This Program Different

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Today on Baseball Coaches Unplugged, one coach's approach to practice that carries over the games. Eagle defense drill and PFP Olympics are just a few ways of making practice competitive and the players love it. Also, who are you taking to help you win a championship? Freddy Freeman or Bryce Harper? All this and more with Del Lever, head coach at Chapin High School in South Carolina, next on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

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-backed 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.

Subscribe And Coach Outreach

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Today's episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged is powered by the Netting Professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. The Netting Professionals specialize in the design, fabrication, and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball. This includes backstops, 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 even 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 back to Baseball Coaches Unplugged. I'm your host, Coach Ken Carpenter. And before we get to uh my interview, I would like to uh do something I haven't done in a while, and that's thank you, the listener, for tuning in every Wednesday to hear from some of the best coaches from across the country. And I got a simple ask for you today. If you get an opportunity, hit that subscribe button, look for a new show every Wednesday, and I will be uh putting out episode number 200 coming up here in about a month. So if you have a great guest or an idea, reach out to me on any of my social sites or you can check us out on our website. It's www.athleteone.net. That's athlete number one.net. And uh would love to hear from you. If you also get a chance, share this episode with a friend. Today's guest is going to uh provide a lot of great insight on drills and stuff he does in practice to help make his team better each and every day. It's Del Lever, head baseball coach at Chapin High School in South Carolina.

Team Identity And Competing Hard

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk some ball with you.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Here's where I want to start. Every program has its identity. And when someone comes to watch your team play, what do you want them to notice immediately?

SPEAKER_01 3:34

It's a really good question to kick this thing off. Um I want them to come and say, and I honestly I'm glad you asked that because I hope our guys are gonna listen to this because I tell them all the time that you never know who's in those stands watching you. It could be the first time they see you, and it could be the only time. So anytime we step across those lines and play, everyone that watches you need to see that we play hard, we play the right way, we're unbelievable teammates, and we compete. And if we can do those four things as individuals, we're we're gonna put on a pretty good show.

Game Planning By Mastering Ourselves

SPEAKER_03 4:16

I love that. That's uh the the compete part is the the one I like the most. Is if you can get a bunch of competitors, anything's possible. Absolutely. Well, let's get into the game itself. Uh, when you're preparing for an opponent, what are you evaluating that actually uh shapes your your game plan for them?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Um obviously you kind of want to know how they pitch. Um, you know what what you're gonna see on the mound and and from an offensive standpoint, just standard stuff, right? How how do they swing it? Are they more catered to the the small ball approach, or they're gonna slug and send the ball out of the yard from one through nine? Um so we kind of look at that. But as far as preparing, um, I'm a big believer in, like I just said, preparing our guys and how we play and how we handle our business. It's clean defense, we're gonna throw strikes, we're gonna compete in the box, and we're gonna execute. And obviously you're gonna prepare for each opponent, but you're gonna it's not the same as football, where you've got the playbook and you know what they're gonna run. So I we have an idea going into it, um, but I just if we practice the way that we practice every day and we prepare as individuals at our positions with our position groups to the top tier ability, top down, when we go play someone else, I feel pretty good about our chances. So I don't necessarily focus too much on the other team. I really focus in on what we do and what we do well and make sure that we can do that well for seven innings each timeout. So I hope that answers your question there.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

Yes, because I I really think when it comes to high school baseball that uh, you know, if you focus on what what you just said, what you guys do well and uh play as close as you can to mistake-free baseball, you're gonna give yourself a chance to win every time out. And, you know, I mean, maybe when you get closer to tournament time, you might be able to go out and take a look at a team and that you might be playing. But you know, I see where you're coming from when you say that guys, let's just worry about ourselves. We, you know, we can't even uh worry about what's happening because I can recall a time when there was a team that we uh that I when I was coaching, we played and just the way that uh they took infield was just incredible. And I was you know, I was like we had a young team and I thought I can't even let these guys watch this. I'm I'm gonna give them a reason. Let's go behind Doug Down and talk about something. And uh, you know, but uh, you know, sometimes that can that can have an effect on how the game's played because you you never know what you're gonna get after a team takes I.

Playing Elite Teams Early

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Right. Yeah, that's my thing. You know, I I think with today's youth as a whole and a social media world and the way that it's just society's gotten, I think they already see the external factors anyway, and it's all it's the comparator mindset. Well, they do this. And I don't look at it that way. Like I preach to our guys all the time, if we can really focus on ourselves and our own skill sets and master those, it doesn't matter what the other team does, doesn't matter how big they are, how fast they are, how they play, because we're masters at our own craft and we're playing with confidence, and then we can mash up with anybody. So I really try to hone in that with our youth and our in our program from varsity all the way down to the middle school team is just hey, we're gonna be the best that we can do, we can be every day. And if we can start stacking those days when it comes game time, we're gonna be able to go out there and compete at the highest level.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

Well, prior to recording, we we talked for just a few moments, and you talked about uh how you guys opened up the season, and uh you're down, you're you're you're playing in South Carolina, so you guys are playing in a state where baseball is really good. And talk about how going out there and playing tough opponents is gonna make you guys a better team when it comes tournament time at the end of the season.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Yeah, we we play we we kicked off the season in a preseason tournament. It's called the Classic in Georgetown, South Carolina. I'm about 15, 20 miles from Myrtle Beach. It's it used to be called the the IP, the International Paper Classic. It's been around since I think 1990 or 1991, and it's a big deal. And there were eight teams down there this year, and all of them, you know, are some of the top teams in the state from the top classification in 5A, 4A through all that. I mean, you're I believe we in our bracket or our pool rather, we played three um reigning state champions in in different classifications. So, you know, you're going down there and you're playing some of the best competition that the state has to offer. Um, so it's a good test, right? You go down there, you learn about yourself as a team because you think you're okay, you think you're good, and then you go down there, you learn, you know, what you need to work on. And then, you know, as a whole, from our varsity team, from coaches and players and parents and everybody, like we see where we want to go because we're playing those teams. So now we our guys, I our coaching staff included, see these teams, and that's who we want to emulate. That's where we want to get to as far as a program. And in order to, it's like you said, you know, you sometimes you don't want to see a team take I.O. because then you're like, oh no, but like I think it was good for us because we're playing the likes of Dorman High School, who's nationally ranked, James Island, who's nationally ranked. They, I mean, they're both of those teams have, you know, 10 Division I guys. And you're facing top-tier pitching, you're you're facing guys who they're gonna play high-level baseball at the next level and then probably beyond. So it it really tests you early. Um, it tests, you know, your coaching, the mental aspect, but it really helped prepare us for getting into the region or the our region play our regular season and hopefully making a run in the playoffs. So, man, it's a baseball hotbed down here. And every time out, you're gonna get someone's best, and that's what makes it fun.

When To Small Ball

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Yes, definitely. Well, you know, one thing that separates coaches is the uh I guess good coaches from the the the great coaches would be the their fuel for the game. And how do you decide when it's time to, hey, you know, we need to play some small ball here versus just letting your guys get after it and swing.

Pulling Pitchers And Managing Stress

SPEAKER_01 11:50

I think I've learned from some really good dudes in in my coaching career. I've been so I've been fortunate to coach under some unbelievably just brilliant baseball men. And I've learned so much. I've learned a little bit about feel on what you're saying. What's the game, and then like what's the game telling you to do and such. But I, you know, for me, I like sending the guys out, hey, this is your game. Go play a little bit, and then um we'll kind of see how the game goes as far as is this guy we're facing, is he, I mean, is he mowing, is he locked in? Is he mowing us down? Do we need to kind of change a little bit? But as far as the nuts and bolts of I, you know, kind of how we play and how we like to play, you know, we want to execute, we want to move the baseball, we want to get guy. I tell our guys, and this is something we've been preaching for the last couple weeks, is get on the plate, get on base. And then when you get on base, we're gonna, we're gonna play some situational baseball. We're gonna execute to get you in scoring positions so the next guy can have his moment to drive you in. So um, I'm just a believer in just playing baseball. And whatever that individual who's in the box or who who's on the mound, whatever his skill set, his best attribute is, we're gonna accentuate that to help us maximize that particular moment to hopefully score a run or get get an out or just get us to the next half inning and so forth. So I really like using strengths as a as a pitching coach who would call pitches, like, you know, that I'm kind of rambling here, so feel free to stop me. But as far as uh I never really focused too much on a scouting report of a hitter so much because I I didn't want to fill my pitcher's head with all of this information when his stuff was good enough. And if he just competes in the zone, I don't necessarily see where he could beat us over and over again as long as we compete, pitch with conviction. And I've kind of taken that as far into a head coach role where you know what? If we go into that moment relaxed and playing to the best of our ability and understanding what the game needs us to do or is it telling us to do, more often than not, we're gonna come out on the positive end.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

Makes sense. Well, you know, touching on what you said about about calling pitches, you know, that the whole momentum thing there, uh, you know, is I had written down, you know, when you have a pitcher that, you know, maybe he's starting to struggle a little bit, what do you look for before you you make a move and uh take that starting pitcher out and go to your bullpen?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

How the swing the swings, obviously. Um the crisp the crispness of the pitches. Are we up? Are we down? Are we left right? Are we consistently up, down, left, right? That kinds of those kinds of things. Um the the total number of pitches from in in stressful situations. Because I mean, you know as well as I do. I mean, if a guy's rolling out there and he's not having anybody on base, yeah, he may have thrown 65, 75 pitches, but are they taxing pitches? So you can you may could roll him out a little further, but if it if there's constant traffic or if we've booted a couple balls behind him and he's having to pitch out of the stretch to get out of jams, he may have only thrown 60 pitches. But when you look at it, that 60 may be 80, 85 as far as stress. So um I take those into account, but I also as a coach, I really, really take great pride in getting to know each kid. So as a pitching coach, like I wanted to know, I wanted to really get into their line of thinking. And I felt like, or I feel like by doing that, when it comes to struggling on the mound, or maybe, maybe they're kind of on his pitches, I've kind of got an idea of where he's at mentally. Is he fatigued, or can we push through that a little this a little bit to hopefully steal one, two, three outs to then bridge to the next guy rather than having to make a hasty move? But with that said, I also do try to make a move earlier than later, obviously. I mean, that's just standard. But I I really take great pride in getting to know pitchers and knowing how and teaching them how to pitch in certain situations, how to compete. And that way, you know, I guess what I'm getting at is I I put trust in them to get out of a situation rather than go make a move maybe at two or three hitters too soon when he actually could have gotten out of it. So I hope that in a roundabout way, I hope that made some sense. But you know, I look at the swings, pitch count, the number of pitches he's thrown in with traffic and all that, but um yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

Makes sense. Well, you know, the um you know, you talked about uh a couple mentors that you had as uh coaches that helped you out along the way, and just on your experience alone, where do you think high school coaches mismanage games the most right now?

SPEAKER_01 17:37

That's a tough one. Um I think sometimes in today's realm of baseball with the type players, I think I think sometimes we don't give players enough credit. Because more often than not, you're gonna, you know, is especially at our level in 5A baseball, in the type of baseball that we play in the teams that we play in this state, every team is full of top-tier players. So they've been playing since they could walk, obviously, and they've been playing high-level competitive baseball, whether it's high school ball in state or the the showcase, the travel organizations, like these guys know how to play. And I think sometimes as a high as a whole, as high school coaches, we sometimes cripple them in a sense. Maybe that's not the right word, but we sometimes handcuff them or I get what I'm saying is we don't allow them to go play. We don't allow them to relax in a moment because we're trying to do everything for them. When in reality, if we just pull the rap, pull ourselves, you know, pull the reins on ourselves a little bit, these guys are gonna, they know what to do and they can go get the job done. We just have to trust them to do it. So I don't know that as a whole, you know, especially with today's player, that we we may not trust them enough. We may not trust them to go out there, compete, and just execute in the situation when they really know what to do and they can handle that.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

How important is it for them to have fun when they're playing?

SPEAKER_01 19:13

One uh it uh to me, it's the most important thing, right? Like if you uh, you know, if if if they're not having fun, they're not gonna play to to the best of their ability. And that's just gonna trickle down. And then we're as a team, we're not gonna be as successful and play at the level that we that we can play. And then from a coaching standpoint, if they're not having fun, we're not having fun. So to me, the fun aspect is the most important. And obviously winning helps that, right? Winning is a lot more fun than losing is. But if you're not having fun and you're not enjoying what you're doing, you're probably not gonna win anyway. So I'm all about fun.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

Well, what is a drill or something you do in practice that you feel is a has a huge carry over to actual gameplay?

SPEAKER_01 20:01

We like I said, I I have learned so much through doing this and different from different guys. And I've taken things from my college coach to every my high, even my high school coach to even the guys that I've coached under and tried to formulate and build my own kind of mindset of of what I want practice to be. So, you know, we kind of have a theme each day. So we have different drills each day. One day it may be tempo, so we're boom, we're moving, moving, moving, moving, moving. And then we're competing one day. One day's urgency. And this and so every day we have different drills that these guys love. Um, a couple off the top of my head, we do an eagle drill, an eagle defense drill. Our mascot is the Eagles, so just call it the Eagle Drill. Okay. But um, we set machines up on both sides of home plate. We've got a coach on a fungo at home plate, and we like we call out a situation and we are shooting balls and we're hitting them. And as soon as one play is made, we move to the next. So I we try to do that once or twice a week, and it takes about 20 minutes, and we've we you can really throw out any situation you want. So we do two or three rounds. One round we're doing kind of routine plays, and we'll call something out, you know, runner at second, one, whatever, but it's boom, rapid fire. Pitchers are involved, we'll work PFPs with it, we'll shoot balls to the outfield. Second round, maybe we're maybe that day we're doing a cut and relay type situational stuff. So you've got eight to ten plays in that way. And then the third round is kind of the do or die. Like we're going to try to win the game. So um I've I've I've seen where that really helps these guys um because it allows them to go play. Um, you're not necessarily on the clock, but we don't move to the next. Play until the the previous ones completed perfectly. Um, and they take great pride in it. It it, you know, they learn, hey, you know, on our cut and relay, we're gonna line the glove up, we're gonna catch it, we're gonna turn, and we're gonna throw. And it's gonna be crisp. Our outfitters are talking, our infielders are talking, communication on fly balls between infielders and outfielders. Our pitchers are moving, man. You come and watch us during that drill, it it is it is a beautiful sight when everything's done crisp perfectly. The guys are just jumping around. Pitching the pitching coach in me loves it because the guys are jumping around, they're having the time of their life, man. Our catchers are involved. So that's the Eagle defense drill. I'll be glad, you know, someone can reach out to me. I'll be glad to talk with them. Love that drill. Another one we actually did it today during our little Sunday afternoon practice is the PFP Olympics. Um, this is something that I love. I take great pride in PFPs. As a former pitcher, I probably was never gonna win a Cy Young, but I felt pretty good my chances of winning a gold glove. So um the PFP Olympics, the each pitcher has nine plays, and the coach can come up with whatever nine they are. You know, you have a bunt to one, bund to three, comebacker two, three, six, one, squip, anything, really. But they're on the clock. So I have a pitcher on the mound, I have a pitcher at home. This is strictly a pitching drill. Like no position players are involved. This is all for pitchers to have fun, but also compete. So a pitcher on the mound, pitcher at home, pitcher at first, pitcher at second, and occasionally I'll put one at third. The guy on the mound has to complete all nine of those plays on the stopwatch. So fakes his pitch, whatever the play is, we call it out. He completes it, runs back to the mound, pitch, next play. As soon as he completes all nine cleanly, stop the clock, write it down, next guy jumps up. So we compete, and obviously the one with the fastest time completing those plays would would win. And we've played from anything from you know, a WWE championship belt that I just happened to find at Walmart one time. Um, we played for that. We played for a glove that we actually spray painted gold. So I mean, it is it's whatever you want to make of it, but those dudes, man, at every place that I've been, they've bought into it, and that that's a weekly staple. They love it, they love to compete. Um, but like I said, we just compete. You know, we we we we put in a competition BP here this season, um, where the outcome really isn't necessarily the forefront what we're looking for. We want to hit balls hard, so we're grading off smoked line drives. Obviously, if they got carry home runs count for a certain amount of points, but even hard contact. Um, they've really bought into that. And that's really helped our our approaches at the plate where you know you're trying to simplify it. You don't want to make it too difficult in a situation. You don't want to make them robots, you just want to go out there and compete. And then we also do a situational BP where you're getting graded on that as well. So you are we try in one round, are we trying to move a guy from first to second? And what's our mindset there? What are we trying to do? So you you get five, six, maybe eight swings, and do you execute each swing? And then the next round could be something else. So we do that, but I do as far as drills, I'm sure I don't do anything differently than anyone else does, but I try to make them competitive, high tempo, high pace, and full of energy, man. You come to watch us practice, you should see a group of dudes that are bouncing all over the place. They're having the time of their life. They're being coached, but they're also having a good time and playing hard and and being the best at their ability in that moment all is one. So in turn, that should help us come game time.

Bunting For Hits And Bunt Defense

SPEAKER_03 26:09

I couldn't agree more with that. I love I love the uh the the way you do things there. That that is something that if there's listeners, uh coaches out there listening, those are things that you know you could throw into one of your practices right now, and and it could be beneficial for them. You know, I wanted to ask you though, you know, when we were talking about drills and things, how much time do you devote to butt bun defense? And wanted to get your thoughts on do you think players ought to try to bunt for hits more?

SPEAKER_01 26:47

I do. I 100% do. And it's you know, it's funny you're asking all these questions because these are things that we've been trying to preach to our guys since January, and and and they're starting to understand it. You know, if you you're for me, bunting small ball, slash to me, slash is the most underutilized play in baseball, without question. But as far as bunt defense and all that, I'm not one that's gonna spend 20, 30 minutes a day on it, because we only have really three four plays, three that we practice often, two that are that are used most often. And we don't spend 20, 30 minutes on it a day, but we do spend about five to eight minutes two or three times a week, just to keep the guys fresh. Hey, we're this is a five-minute segment between you know, catch play and eagle defense. We're gonna we're just gonna run six-month plays and we want them to be clear crisp. So I try to hit it in small periods a couple times a week rather than spending a chunk of time on it once. Um so I take great pride in in being able to defend the bunt. And with that said, if you're gonna take great pride in defending it, you better take great pride on the offensive side of it. So we spend a very good amount of time a couple days a week in different realms or settings as far as bunts. Like we'll do a bunt scrimmage three times a week at the end of practice, and we'll break them into teams and a team will, you know, whatever team gets the most bunts down, maybe they don't have field cleanup, field prep that day after practice and stuff. But I want them to understand the importance of it because it can win and lose a ballgame. And it, you know, it it allowed us to win a ball game Friday night. It did. And you you put that ownership on your guys to go and get the bunt down, take great pride in it when we're working on it. And then when it comes to the moment in the game where we've got to get it down and they get it down, then it's like, oh, yeah, that's why we do it. But um we we do we do bunting in some form or fashion, if not every day, at least every other day, whether that's on the defensive side or offensive side. And with that said, we practice the slash. Um, we've got some speedy, speedy guys, some guys that can really scat out of the box. So being able to bump for a hit is is very important to me. But I also think you have to have a guy who trusts his ability to get it down in order to do it. I don't think, you know, you if I go to you and say, hey, Coach Carpenter, I need you to bump for a hit right here. Third baseman's back. But if you if you're not completely bought into your ability to do that, it's probably not going to be a successful attempt, right? So we've got some guys in our lineup that can do it, and we've got a couple that really buy into it and trust their ability. And that's where it goes back to me as a coach is I want you to trust your own self, your own ability, and your your attributes that allow you to play at the highest level that you possibly can. And we want to use those. So try, you know, I try to treat, I try to teach trust um in themselves and belief in themselves that, hey, he's playing on the grass, you can scat down the line, just drop it down and you can walk to first base, right? So to me, bunning for a hit and just moving the baseball on the ground is one of the most important and underutilized aspects of baseball, especially in high school baseball.

Celebration Without Disrespect

SPEAKER_03 30:46

Yes, without a doubt. I I couldn't agree with you more. Now, here's something that uh, you know, I you're for the listener out there, uh you know, coach is a uh you know, much younger coach than I am, and I wanted to get your opinion on this. I'm all for celebrating having success on the baseball field, but what are your thoughts on today's college and high school players who, you know, flip the bat and they show up the opponent and just I don't know, excessive celebration, I guess you could call it. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 31:29

I think I think it it it's a fine line. A slippery slope, if you will, because I I don't care for the bat flip. I don't care for I don't I don't care for the the showing up the pitcher or the other team. You go hit a home run, no doubt, or like drop the bat, take off. You don't have to flip the bat, throw it at the dugout, throw it at the pitcher. Everyone knows you just put a good swing on it. That pitcher knows that he just, you know, he just you just took him yard. So we don't have to do that. But I do think I do think teams should be able to celebrate the success of each other as a team. But I think it needs to, it, it's gotta be about us. Yes, it can never be about anyone else, not the pitcher that you just took went yard off of, not the, you know, they threw a ball away, we just scored two runs. Like that, that's about them. It needs to be about us. Getting the dugout, you know, chant, jump around, whatever. Like that's one thing. But when it becomes external and you're making it about or trying to show up the other team rather than keeping it about us, that's where we've got a problem. So I do like emotion. You know, you go out there, you strike out the side to get out of a bases loaded jam, and like that's okay as long as it's directed at us with your teammates, never at anybody else. So that's that's something that I've found through coaching high school ball and in the summer and fall circuit that you really get, you really gotta really just make them understand is yes, you you're you can talk, but that talk needs to stay about chapin high school. That talk needs to stay about the the Eagles, not anyone else, because at that point it becomes external and that doesn't help us win. That doesn't help us compete. And ultimately, could that cause us to lose a ball game? You never know. But I I just I like emotion and I like celebrating victories and and winning moments, but it's gonna be about the Eagles, it's gonna be about Shaven High School, no doubt.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

You hate losing or love winning?

SPEAKER_01 33:56

The easy answer would be to say, I love winning, right? But I really I hate losing. I do. Um winning, you know, we'll celebrate those wins because winning's so hard to do, man. You know, it's so hard to win. So when you do win, you celebrate it after that game. But that loss, when you lose, man, especially if you lose on a Friday night, you don't play again until Monday or Tuesday, you're sitting on those two or three days just thinking, oh man, I want to get it back out there and compete. So um with that said, I hate losing, but I love to compete. I love to compete. And I know I maybe I'm not answering this question the right way, but I truly believe that if guys compete and they go out there to compete to win and not just play not to lose, you're gonna win more than you lose, right? But I also think you compete at the best of your ability. And sometimes you're gonna come up short. I mean, it is what it is, but you can live with that a little better than just, oh, we lost. But I went and, you know, we played clean baseball. They they were just one pitch better than us, or they were just one run better than us tonight. You can you can live with that a little bit. But um, yeah, I just I love to compete and I love these, I want these guys to understand what competing means and what it means to win. Because if you don't practice like a winner and level up each day, you're not gonna win. So I love to win and I do hate to lose, but I would I would probably say the losing that sits with me more than a win, if that answers your question.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Yes. Well, if you uh can have one of these two players to help you win a state championship baseball game, and you're gonna run them out on the mound, would you take Paul Skins or uh Derek Scupel?

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Oh, oh dude, that's uh I can't have them both.

SPEAKER_03 36:06

You gotta pick one.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Dude. Oh, that's tough. That's like a flip of a coin, man. I'm probably I'm probably going scooble. I like them both. I love to watch them both compete, but Scoobyl to me, he's like a unicorn right now. He just it he throws a frisbee up there and it's like nobody can hit it, and then he blows them away with just jet fuel. Same thing with schemes, but I really like Scoobyl. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Now let's go to first base. Freddie Freeman or Bryce Harper?

SPEAKER_01 36:42

As a Braves fan, I could never I yeah, I I respect Bryce Harper and I love the way he plays, but as a Braves fan, I can't pick a Philly, so I would go Freeman.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

Okay. Last one here on the uh the players here at third base. Jose Ramirez for the excuse me, Guardians or Manny Machado out there in San Diego.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Ramirez.

SPEAKER_03 37:07

Why's that?

SPEAKER_01 37:10

I just love the way he plays. I honestly, as again, as a Braves fan, and I love Austin Riley. But if Jose Ramirez was in that lineup, manning third base, how fun is he to watch play, right? Yeah, he competes, man.

SPEAKER_03 37:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

And he just gets after it. He is, he's in, he's a dude. So I I love to watch him play. He's actually one of my favorite non Braves players.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

Yeah, I'm a I'm a big Cleveland fan, and I he he it's hard not to like that guy. He's he does everything right, that's for sure. Well, to finish up, most entertaining story from all of your years of either playing or coaching baseball.

Coaching Joy And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Most entertaining story. I've got a bunch of them, but I don't know that I can say them while we're recording. Um like I said, I I I've been around some phenomenal young men and some unbelievable coaches. And I don't know that I can really narrow it down to even one entertaining story. But what I can say, and you know, not to dodge the question, but as far as entertaining moments, stories, just watching these guys have success and watching the switch flip and them those guys going out and playing and reaching, you know, success as individuals. Like I said, I've been fortunate. I was on a, I was under, I was at Lexan High School as the pitching coach in 2024 and we won a 5A state championship. And nothing against those guys. I love them to death. But if you I was there five years and you look at that roster in the five years I was there, that that that was not the most talented roster. But when it came time to play a baseball game, those dudes knew how to compete. They played for each other, and man, they just got the job done. So from a the entertaining, the most entertaining piece was being able to, you know, hold that trophy up, you know, at the end of May in 2024 and be able to look at those 20 couple guys and say, hey, you guys did it. You just accomplished your mission and you did it the right way. And now at the you know, at Shapin, now with these guys, I there's a lot of similarities between the guys that I'm with now and those guys. Um, so that to me is the most entertaining piece. I wouldn't, I wouldn't call it a story. I would just watching young men have success and winning moments, it's it's what makes us worth it, man.

SPEAKER_03 40:08

Well, it's Del Lever, head baseball coach at Chapin High School in South Carolina. Coach, thanks for taking time on a Sunday night. And I know you're early in the season right now, but uh I can't thank you enough, and you uh got to wish you the best of luck the rest of the way.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Thank you, sir. Enjoyed it, and thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 40:30

Be sure to tune in every Wednesday for a new episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged, where I sit down with some of the best baseball coaches across the country. Today's show is brought to you by the Netting Professionals Improving Programs one facility at a time. Contact Will Minor and his team at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at www.netting pros.com. As always, I'm Coach Ken Carpenter and thanks for listening to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.