Episodes

When we talk about practice, what should our main goals be? Are we practicing the areas of the game that happen most often so that they create an automatic response during games? Are we being efficient, purposeful, and productive? Are we keeping it simple? Are we perfecting fundamentals? Do we have a plan? Are we making it FUN? There are a lot of components to having a great practice so, let’s set up our… Practice!

Navigating through the recruiting process can be quite a challenge. Why not make it fun and interesting? The Baseball Bluebook App affords players, recruiters, vendors, and everyone involved with baseball a place to develop relationships. In this episode Eric Wubbena, President at Baseball Bluebook, talks about “The LinkedIn of Baseball”.

It is that time of year once again! Tryout time. What does a good tryout look like? How do I decide what team is the right fit? How do coaches and organizations run their tryouts? There are so many questions that need answers as players and their parents navigate through the complex maze of youth baseball! One wrong turn can get you locked into the puzzle, scurrying for a way out!

In this episode we meet up with author, coach and youth baseball administrator, Adam Sarancik. Adam shares his views on the current state of affairs and uses his many years of experience to explain what, he believes, is needed to make participating in youth baseball more enjoyable for everyone!

There are coaches and then there are coaches that are among the best in the country. What makes them tick differently from the others? How did they become part of an elite fraternity? Every coach’s journey is different from the other and in this episode, we get some great insight from the 2021 National Coach of The Year, Jeremy “Sheets” Sheetinger.

There are many tools in a coaches tool box that need to be honed and sharpened. The is no greater aspect to the craft than communication. In order to be an effective coach, communicating skills have to be high on the priority list. All of the great coaches throughout the history of sports are great communicators.

There are many people in the baseball world that aim to promote our game for the betterment of all who are involved. There are a lot of good ones but there is no better advocate than Peter Caliendo. Peter has literally traveled the world teaching coaches and players how to be the best that they can be. He also shares some knowledge of what he has learned from his many journeys.

We start the show with a little state of affairs for our high school teams and our observations at this point in our seasons. We then take aim on the out-of-control sports parents and coaches who physically attack refs/umps/officials at our kids' games. We need to find a solution for this toxic environment that continues to plaque youth sports.

Rick Wolff is the host of The Sports Edge on WFAN radio in New York City. Rick’s show has been running for well over 20 years and is heard all over the country. The content of his show revolves around youth sports and sports parenting. We thought that he would have a lot of insight as to what is going on in youth baseball. Thanks for stopping by Rick we thoroughly enjoyed the conversation.

One year ago on March 23, 2021, we released the first episode of the Clearing The Bases podcast. We decided to do a "quick hit" show to give you a little history of how we got started and to say thank you to all of the listeners and guests that have made this show a huge success.

There are many baseball players that for one reason or another that do not get noticed by scouts or recruiters. Player advisor and player agent Joseph Guzman of the Empowerment Sports Group joins us for a conversation that will help youth, high school and college players understand what it takes to get to their next level.

Overcoming obstacles is not an easy thing to do. It is our responsibility to teach our players how to do navigate the unpaved road that they will travel. Former MLB player, Jeff Frye talks about his journey and the many hurdles that he had to leap in order to make it to the pinnacle of the game we love.

The game of baseball is filled with pressure, mental stress and lots of distractions. Are we teaching our players how to remove all of these "performance killing" pieces of the game? Stay focused and control what you can control during this episode while we take a peek into the mental side of baseball.

The American Baseball Coaches Association kicks off the year in early January with their annual convention. Dave and I recap my visit to the "Windy City". We also talk a little bit about ego and start a conversation about how to run a practice. Practice is a constantly evolving discipline. We try to give some insight to help get practices moving in the right direction to start 2022.

If leagues and organizations adopted the "growth mindset" philosophy, it would be a win/win situation for everyone in the world of youth baseball. In this episode we talk with Peter Lyons of the Fishkill Little League about how he, and his board of directors, are creating an environment to grow his league and develop the players in order for them to reach their full potential at the next level.

We talk about coaches, players, and parents, but what about the people entrusted with the task of creating a suitable environment to develop youth baseball players? Are they creating an appropriate atmosphere for teaching the skills, mental and physical development, respect for the rules of the game, and basic ideals of sportsmanship and fair play. Do they practice these principles amongst themselves? Let's take a look at The Board Of Directors.

It's the off season and we decided to talk a little bit about it. What should players be doing this time of the year? What should players not be doing this time of the year? We also jump into a discussion about 6U travel baseball and try to help out a baseball parent by answering a question he had posted on social media.

In this episode we talk to former pro player, author and visionary Kevin Gallagher. We will be discussing his book ”Teach Your Kid to Hit … So They Don’t Quit” and the movement that Kevin is spearheading called "Save The Game". Be part of this exciting journey by signing up at https://savethegameus.com/ to stay informed of the progress that Kevin will make as this movement gains traction! You won't want to miss this episode where Kevin details the reasons and needs for change in Americas favorit...

Most participants in youth baseball have experienced some type of crazy behavior. It comes at you, sometimes, from every angle. It really makes you want to scratch your head and say, "What the heck is going on here?" In this episode Dave and I talk a trip down Memory Lane and discuss things that we have witnessed throughout our time coaching youth baseball. If you would like to donate to the Newburgh Knights to help Jett Diaz with his battle ahead, please use this link... https://bit.ly/3FdS8TK

Experience is the teacher of all things. In this episode we learn from the experiences of North Jersey Hall-of-Fame coach Jack Smithlin. Coach Smithlin is in his 48th year of coaching at the high school and college levels. He has managed multiple symposiums on sports psychology and sports parenting. Coaches, players and parents, take advantage of the experience, knowledge and wisdom that Coach Smithlin has to offer.

Matt Cole is the Owner and Moderator of the Youth Baseball Coaching Support, Drills and Philosophy Facebook group. He also the coaching coordinator for the Bethlehem Little League in Richmond, Va. In this episode Matt shares his vision for his Facebook group and how he handles coaching for his youth baseball league.

Get those Airpods in! Relax and get ready to hear a fantastic baseball conversation with Butch Chaffin of Cookeville High School in Cookeville Tennessee! We have Coach Chaffin diving into topics such as USA Baseball, High School Baseball, Nekton, Credo and lots more!

How do you run a college program alone as a head coach? You develop the “BEAST”! Anthony Pla, Head Coach of Lincoln University and 2021 ABCA convention presenter explains this and many other topics in this episode!

There are two types of players... the confident and the... not so confident. These two mental processes live inside of every baseball player. How do we get the right guy playing every day? In this episode we talk to Steve Springer of Quality At Bats and he, not only, tells his story but why coaches and parents need to help our players to "Compete with Confidence".