[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the abca's podcast. I'm your host ryan brownlee.
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This week's guest on the ABCA podcast is ABCA ATEC, NCA Division 3 Assistant Coach of the Year Alex Luparco.
Entering his third season as an assistant coach with the Endicott baseball program, Luparco brings a deep understanding of the game shaped by an outstanding playing career at Western New England University.
As a four year standout, he had an impressive 335, racking up over 200 hits and earning Commonwealth Coast Conference Player of the year honors in 2018.
That same year, Luparco helped lead his team to a conference championship and an NCAA regional appearance, putting together a near 1000 OPS season that showcased his impact to the plate. After his playing days, Luparco seamlessly transitioned into coaching, contributing player development, recruiting and team strategy, helping build nationally ranked offensive and defensive units at Western New England and Endicott.
Endicott has 1001017 overall and a 322 conference record in Loparco's three seasons. Let's welcome Alex Luparco to podcast
[00:03:16] Speaker B: here
[00:03:16] Speaker A: with Alex Aparco ABCA ATECH Division 3 Assistant Coach of the Year, but third season endicott this year, but was at Western New England as an assistant, a player before that. Alex, thanks for jumping on with me.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks for having me. Really appreciate it.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: Congrats. By the way, you guys are having a good run, especially last three years. And aot you guys having a great run there.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Thank you. Yeah, it's been exciting playing deep into. Deep into the season, which is always fun.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: Yeah, you had a really good career at Western New England. What type of adjustments did you have to make when you got into coaching?
[00:03:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I think you're looking at the game from a different. Different lens.
Just trying to understand different positions, too. I mean, I was an infielder, so that's kind of where I feel the most comfortable in terms of positions. But now trying to understand what to do with outfielders, what to do with catchers.
I was a pretty good baserunner, but just teaching the game is entirely different from playing it. I thought it would be a lot more similar, but it's definitely different.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: What did you have to dive into then with the new positions? Like, where do you start? All of us probably had to go through that in the beginning. So coming in with kind of fresh eyes with positions you haven't coached before, how did you tackle that?
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's leaning on other coaches, for sure.
I was at Western New England. I didn't really work with the catchers too much, but Dan Gomez, the head coach, was a catcher in college. So just having coaches around you, I think that played those positions just to lean on, I think is a huge help, because right now, I still work mainly with the infielders, but there are days where I'll be with the catchers, where I'll be with the outfielders.
So just trusting the other coaches that have played those positions, just get insights from them. I think it's huge.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: How did you handle coaching guys that you played with?
[00:05:04] Speaker B: So I actually. I don't think I crossed over with anyone.
I might. I think I missed the senior class by a year.
But still, that age. That age gap was. Was definitely small.
And I think that's a challenge for any young coaches, drawing that line.
And I think it's something you just have to focus on daily, like, understanding you're not a player anymore. As much as you might want to be one of the guys, there's got to be that line where, hey, you're the coach or the player. There's Got to be, there's got to be a respect there too.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Did you have to ever have that conversation with the, the players on that?
[00:05:37] Speaker B: I don't think so.
We had a really good group. So it was, I think that was pretty, it was pretty set by the time we were there.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: What did Dan Gomez relay to you about Endicott's program?
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Yeah, he told me a lot of good things and having played against Endicott too, I, I knew from afar kind of how they ran things and just the success that they've had was probably the biggest thing he, he said. And Coach Haley to is the head coach. He played for him.
So just kind of some insights into his style and how he goes about his business too.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: How, how was that interview process for you with Anakot?
[00:06:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it was crazy. So I was at Western New England. I was, I was a semester away from finishing grad school and Harry O. Ringer, who was the longtime assistant at Endicott, their heading coach, got the head coaching job at St. Anselm College.
So that job opened up in like December of 2023. And then having the connection between Coach Haley and Coach Gomez, he reached out to Coach Gomez to see if I was interested and I definitely was. It was, it was definitely tough leaving the place where I went to school and had a connection with all those players.
But it was something I had to explore and it was a great opportunity.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: What have you learned from Coach Haley?
[00:06:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think we have enough time to go over that.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: That's all right. We dive into it. We got time.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean the biggest thing I would say is the standard he holds all the players and the coaches to and just how he emphasizes it every single day. There's not really any let up in terms of that standard. It doesn't matter who you are, if you're the best player, if you're a role player, if you're the pitching coach, if you're a volunteer assistant, like he holds everyone to a really high standard. So I think it just makes you want to be a better person, honestly, and a better coach. So I think that's probably the number one thing I've learned from him.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Do you think that consistency is why you guys have been able to roll off so many long win streaks? I mean that's the thing. When I look at your guys schedules from years past, it's like you might kick a game here and there, but then you guys are going to roll off a ton of wins in a row.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I think he does a really Good job of that.
That coach speak, I guess you'd say, but taking it just day by day, pitch by pitch. He really tries to emphasize living in the moment for the players, and I think that helps them.
We don't really dwell on if we have a winning streak or a losing streak or if we lose one game. We just try to focus on whoever we're playing next.
And he does a really good job of emphasizing that every single game.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: What type of drills do you still use as a. That you were using as a player? Hitting wise? You still use anything that you're using as a player?
[00:08:20] Speaker B: Yeah. So a lot of stuff from Coach Gomez, and I think Coach Haley does this too, with the pitching, but just really simple stuff. So it could be like angled flips.
When I played, we used to.
We have like a heavy bat or an axe bat, and Coach Gomez taped a bunch of quarters of stuff to the end of it to make it. Make it a heavy bat.
So just simple stuff like that. I think I've tried to take and implement as well. So I think that stuff that. That definitely works.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: What about with Coach Haley on the pitching side? How does he keep it simple?
[00:08:51] Speaker B: Yeah, so he really.
He doesn't. I think he believes in a little bit of the technology, but he really believes in the compete aspect and the mental side of pitching.
I think he bought everyone on the staff the mental ABCs of pitching the book in the off season.
So I think for him, it's just, what are your best pitches? Go attack with those. Try to get ahead, as simple as that sounds. And that's what he tries to emphasize every single day.
[00:09:18] Speaker A: Did you dive into the mental ABCs
[00:09:20] Speaker B: of pitching, not the pitching side? I've read a lot on the hitting side.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: I really like the mantle ABCs of hitting.
I used a lot of that with our hitters with the mental ABCs of hitting.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: Yeah, it's so beneficial. And I think the good thing about those books is they never go out of style. Whatever new technology or whatever comes up as the years go on, those. Those simple mental techniques always work.
[00:09:45] Speaker A: You guys have played really well in the postseason. You know, what do you attribute that to?
[00:09:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's having really good players to start to win at the end of the year, you need. You need guys that are elite. And I think.
I think Mike Deegan said it at the convention this year. You need to win a D3. You need guys that have, like, D1D capabilities or that are above the level.
And I think we've had that. There's been a bunch of guys that, whether it's their grad year, it's. We're starting to see undergrad now to have transferred to D1 schools and have. Have had success.
So I think having those type of players just carry you in the postseason because you might have a game where you may not execute the same level as the other team, but if you have that talent edge, you're probably going to find a way to. To win in the end, especially on the pitching side. We've had. We've had phenomenal pitching.
That just makes the game way easier. I just think back to one game last year. Evan Scully threw a complete game against Concordia Texas, and that just makes everything easier on the offensive and defensive side as well.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Have you guys had to adjust your recruiting much with. With the landscape changing?
[00:10:53] Speaker B: Not too much. I think we still try to just get the best players we possibly can, and a lot of times we end up losing players to Division 1 programs out of high school because we're trying to get maybe the kid that doesn't get the D1 love that he maybe thought he was going to get.
So I think we've been lucky to get kids like that, but not too much has changed from what I can tell.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: How different is training in the fall for you guys as opposed to once you get rolling in the spring?
[00:11:23] Speaker B: Yeah, so the weather is a big factor, um, and we're lucky enough to have turf and lights, so we practice at night in the fall, which is great. So we don't have any class conflicts.
But on the floor we're doing a lot of inner squad, getting our best pitchers to face some of our freshman hitters and then some of our freshman pitchers to face some of our better hitters. Just try to create that competition.
So it's more seeing where we're at and then where we're at as a team, and then we can start to dive in on the individuals as well. And I think the preseason is more geared towards that. We'll still go live a ton inside just to get the pitchers built up and get our guys at bats, but I think the preseason is definitely more towards that skill development.
You're able to spend way more. Way more time with them as well.
[00:12:04] Speaker A: You have the same roster fall in the spring. You keep the. You keep everybody around.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: So we do make cuts some years, just depending on the roster size or how guys try out in the fall.
But there's not too much of a fluctuation.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Let's go ahead. Once you get so your infielders let's go through your infielders as soon as you get them there in the fall. What are you trying to. To get out of them in the beginning?
[00:12:28] Speaker B: Yeah. So we. We run like a kind of a showcase that first night of practice. So pretty much running IO, have them run the 60, go through a bunch of, like, different infield drills, different catching drills, just to see how guys move, especially the freshmen that we may have only seen two or three times while recruiting them.
So I'm just trying to figure out how they move.
How are they with one hand? How are they with two hands? Do they struggle on forehand or backhand? How are they charging the ball?
So just asking those types of questions so I can start to figure out where does this guy need the most help?
[00:13:03] Speaker A: And then go through your dailies once you've got them. You kind of know who you've got. Go through your dailies.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: Yeah. So I really like starting off with the hand drills. Whether that's mini gloves, bare hand, the flat pads, I think are huge.
I know Ron Washington does a ton with that, and there's so many good videos of him on YouTube as well.
So I pretty much try to implement those videos of what Ron Washington does, all that stuff. So trying to separate the upper body from the lower body, trying to work on different hops, especially when we're in the field house, when we're inside, we'll do a ton of. I'll try to hit, like a high chopper that almost hits the ceiling, and then they have to field it on the short hop. So I think you really learn how to move your feet. And then also having really good hands with that drill, that would be probably the one we do the most.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: How much time you spend on double plays
[00:13:55] Speaker B: indoors? Not too much.
I think all the hand. All the hand work and footwork, I think that that translates to turning really good double plays. But then once we're outside, once we're able to actually get out on the infield, we do that a ton. And we'll do that against the clock, too, I think. I can't remember who I learned that from, but it's probably an ABCA video or Kai Correa, Tucker Frawley using the stopwatch when we don't have live runners. So trying to say, hey, this is a fast runner. We're trying to beat, like a 4:3 on a double play. So you just see how the guys react to that.
And it's cool when you tell them to do, like, a specific number. So, like, say we need to try to do this in exactly 4.7, 4.8 and then you smash one so that they know they have a little bit more time.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: Then what about throwing program?
You have a specific throwing program you have them go through daily.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: Yeah. So I, I use the same one from coach Gomez at Western New England.
Again, it's, it's simple stuff but trying to throw backspin, just working on as simple as this when you were 7 or 8 years old to start off and then as you move back you're starting to get a little bit more athletic.
Work on all the footwork patterns that you might go through as an infielder. So throwing on the run, two step where you have to get rid of it or four step where you have a little bit more time and then airing it out. When we're outside we try to just long toss as much as possible because we don't know especially in the preseason when the next time we're going to get outside is. So we just try to use as much of the space as possible.
Yeah.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: How are you handle that when you're inside what they're throwing?
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Yeah. So we have a, we have a track above our field house. So if the pitchers aren't up there running or we don't have guys base running up there, we'll have them pretty much be in a line of four or five guys and they're just crow hopping, throwing it off the top of the track to try to simulate that long throw.
But we. Yeah. Try to make the most of the space when it's cold out.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: Yeah. And how are you handling the competitive side with the hitting part then when you have to go inside to make it as game related as possible when you're inside.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Yeah. So we do have rapsodo hitting so we'll use that sometimes. I didn't, we didn't use it a ton this year.
But you can do different challenges whether it's you need to get 75 of your average exit below in a round.
We do a lot of competitions. Whether it's sometimes I'll set up the machine, it's two machine and then we have four teams almost in like a tournament style with two cages.
So each inning could be whoever has the most hard hit through through the lineup wins that inning. And then it could be different situations. So calling out like run around second got to get him over runner on third, infield inner back. Just trying to create as many game like situations inside as possible because it can get monotonous when you're just taking BP rounds into a Cage for. For two months.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: I spend much time with situational hitting?
[00:16:50] Speaker B: Yeah, a ton. So every time we take BP inside or outside, I'm trying to implement one thing that could be related to situational hitting. So working on hitting runs, working on driving guys in, because I think those are the most important at bats you're going to have in a game when there's guys in scoring position, just figuring out what pitch you're looking for, what kind of swing you have to put on it to execute.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: What's the difference between live arm and machines? How. What's protocol for you guys? How often are they seeing live arm and how often are you hitting off machines?
[00:17:23] Speaker B: Yeah, so once we get to our preseason in the fall, it's pretty much all live arm in the preseason.
We'll go live three or four times a week, and then I'll set up the machine. Usually the day we go live, I'll have one station be machine on the day we go live. Typically, less of a challenge just to have guys feeling good about their swings. And then the further off from live we are, try to make it a little bit more of a challenge and just try to get them to understand that the machine will probably make you look dumb at times, but it's. You're figuring out how to hit really good pitching, and you can't really create that. Throwing BP or flips or all the other drills that are great.
But really trying to figure out how to beat a machine that's trying to get you out, I think is really beneficial.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: You guys use multiple machines at the same time?
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Yep. So sometimes we'll go two on the same side. So if it's a righty, fastball, slider fastball, change, and then sometimes if we're working on angles, we'll just have one set up as a righty, set up as a lefty, and then pretty much alternating swings just to feel the difference in what you're looking for and what you have to do with your swing. Based on right ear, lefty, you know,
[00:18:29] Speaker A: how do you have that conversation with your hitters? Because it is challenging with the machines to where it's okay, we are trying to challenge you here. How's that conversation go?
[00:18:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's just. It is explaining it early on that you're going to get pissed, the machine's going to make you look dumb, you might get jammed, it's going to sting.
But then trying to get across that, it's going to. It's going to help them as players. And I think it's tough because there's nothing that can simulate a live arm. But I think it helps your mental game honestly more than anything else because it's teaching you how to reset and focus on your next at bat. Or if we're doing stations where the machine just blew you up for two rounds and then you have bp, how can you kind of reset your mind to say, all right, the machine got me there. But now like this BP round I know is going to be a little bit easier.
How can I adjust kind of my mindset to make sure I'm locked in for bp.
[00:19:21] Speaker A: Now do you adjust your in game BP as the season goes? Is it pretty standard for you guys? Batting practice pregame?
[00:19:29] Speaker B: Pretty standard.
There will be times where if I feel like we haven't covered something in a while, I'll add it to bp. But this year we've kept it the same pretty much every game.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: That's a good thing.
What about your in game responsibilities? How have those grown since you started?
[00:19:45] Speaker B: Yeah, so I went to New England, Coach Gomez, coach third. So me and the other assistants, we were, most of us were pretty offensive minded, so we had another pitching coach and then myself and two other assistants were offensive minded. So we would help the hitters try to pick up tendencies.
It was mostly just charting and trying to pick up tendencies and help the hitters out while I was in the dugout, which was awesome and helps you kind of talk to them before they go up to the plate.
And then at Endicotta, it grew a ton. I think Coach Haley does a really good job giving us autonomy. I know it was the same with, with Coach Ohringer. As soon as he stepped in, I think he started coaching third and running the offense and luckily it was the same for me and I was, I was fortunate to do it. Just kind of get thrown into the fire of coaching third and running the offense and that, that takes your understanding of the game and how you have to look at it to a whole other level. So I think I'm doing that on the offensive side and then defensively during the week when our volunteer assistants aren't there, I'm positioning the outfielders and working with the infielders as well.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: You got any tips for coaching third base?
[00:20:51] Speaker B: Yeah, it's harder than I thought it was going to be.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: It goes fast.
Yeah, it's really fast.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: But I think to be honest, watching baseball helps a ton. Like I'm a huge Yankee fan and now I'm in Massachusetts, so it's not as, not as popular up here. But Watching baseball, watching where the third baseman's, where the third base coach is set up, what he's doing when he's sending runners. Like where's the ball hit, what's the outfielders momentum doing, what's the speed on the bases? I think is the biggest thing just watching the game. And Coach O Ringer, the biggest thing he told me was try to think two or three batters ahead as well. So like you need to know who's coming up in the inning and just running the scenarios in your head. If we get first and second, no outs, are we going to bond?
If we, if the leadoff guy gets on, are we going to bond? If the leadoff guy gets on, are we going to steal? Just trying to create those situations in your head so when it happens you're not just, you're not sped up.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: How are you relaying to the outfielders? With positioning.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So we have, we have cards for everyone. So we use college spray charts.
So we'll have that info going into the game that they'll have and then we can adjust it real time on the fly too. So if we see like this guy's heavy pole, but he's really late on fastballs, we'll adjust in game.
So mainly trying to work with the center fielder and then the corner guys will work off of him.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Why do you think the power numbers in college baseball have gone up?
[00:22:16] Speaker B: I think the strength training is a big part of it.
The technology and knowledge of the game I think is growing too rapidly.
Hitters are just figuring out how to get the barrel on the ball and then with metal bats, that's really all you have to do so.
And pitchers are throwing harder than ever too. So I think all that, I think
[00:22:35] Speaker A: it's a. Yeah, I just think it's a three pronged thing. Guys throw harder, hitters are better, they're stronger, the technology is better. I just think it's, it's a three prong thing.
[00:22:45] Speaker B: Yeah, the game's just, it keeps getting faster, it seems, and stronger.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: Who handles your guys strength and conditioning?
[00:22:52] Speaker B: So Jack Dustin, I think he's, I want to say eight or nine years he's been at Endicott. He was at Coastal Carolina when they won the national championship in 2016. So he's been huge. He works mainly.
He's like our main strength and conditioning coach for baseball and Coach Haley will say the same thing. But since he started working with the program, I think that's when we've seen the biggest spikes, whether it be personal development and team Development as a whole because of that strength training and just being really explosive.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: Have them do different things than what you were used to before you got there from a training standpoint.
[00:23:29] Speaker B: I don't think so. He has the, the force plate. I think it is a really good piece of technology.
He has a ton of technology that I never used in the weight room.
He has the.
I don't even know what they're called, but they're these readers that measure how fast you move the bar.
Yep, exactly.
So he has all this technology that I never used when I was playing that I think is really helpful because some guys need more weight and then some guys just need to move the bar faster. So I think he has, he has all the knowledge in the world and all the tools in the world now too to understand what each guy needs. And then he just attacks that daily.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: What's he trying to get them in there during the season? How many times are you guys in there in the season?
[00:24:11] Speaker B: Yep, three days a week. And then he'll give players like a one off lift that they do on their own.
So yeah, three days a week during the season. And then based on where guys are at, if they're an everyday player, it looks a little bit different than if they're a developmental guy.
So just trying to understand like maybe our starting shortstop shouldn't be deadlifting every day, but he's really smart about that and his number one goal is to make sure guys are healthy on the field.
So having that as the base is huge for our team.
[00:24:40] Speaker A: Is recruiting fairly fluid for you all? Because I know every school is a little bit different as far as when they can get guys into school.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: Yeah. So we, we do most of ours in the summer, most of our visits and stuff mid to late summer.
And we're usually a year behind in terms of like grad years. So this summer we'll be looking at class of 20, 27 high school, high school students.
So right before they start their senior years, typically when we start recruiting, how
[00:25:07] Speaker A: long has it taken you to develop your recruiting eye?
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Yeah, another thing that I thought would be way easier after playing, but it's tough. I think you're in. Coach Haley is, has reiterated this to me too. Like you're going to, you're going to be wrong a lot.
So I think definitely just trying to see as many games as possible and try to understand what you're looking for in a player and having a list of standards, whatever, whatever you're looking for I think is important. So whether that's you're looking for someone that's really explosive, someone that's a good athlete, someone that's already polished.
And then there's players that maybe don't, I guess, quote, unquote, look the part. I know that's like a coach is saying now, but players that don't look like D1 prospects, that you just see something, and maybe it's toughness, maybe it's how they respond when they go over four, but make a diving play in the field, I think all that stuff, whatever you value, you need to kind of write that down. And then that's what you look for when you're. When you're out on the road and
[00:26:06] Speaker A: when we're going to watch. What are you really evaluating? What's important to you when you're doing evaluations?
[00:26:11] Speaker B: Yeah, so the mental side, for me is important. I think that's. It's really tough to quantify, but seeing how players react to failure, how they interact with their teammates is huge.
We've all seen players that.
It's. When it's going great, they're the best leader in the world. And then if they go for three, they're.
They're complaining or they're pointing out teammates. So I think that's the number one thing for me. And then all those physical tools that coaches look for are important for pitching. You have the metrics of a certain fastball that you're looking for.
How does his breaking ball move? Does he hold runners?
And then hitting wise, just seeing if guys have an approach, if they're up there swinging at everything, it's really tough to have success.
But do they have a clear approach? Are they trying to use the whole field?
And then all the. The other metrics, too, of their speed and arm strength on the outfield, all stuff that you can see.
[00:27:02] Speaker A: If you're going to bring a pitcher to Coach Haley to look at, what are some things that are important to him?
[00:27:08] Speaker B: Yeah, command is probably the number one thing.
He doesn't have a lot of patience for walks, which is a great thing to have in a pitching coach.
So I think command. Command is probably the number one thing. And then are they able to mix pitches?
Are probably the two main things.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: Did you end up getting your masters?
[00:27:26] Speaker B: I did not. I think I have two classes left.
[00:27:29] Speaker A: Do you really?
So how is that program, though, that. That you were able to work through?
[00:27:35] Speaker B: It was really good.
Again, just stuff that you wouldn't really think about when you're playing.
One of the. One of the main things I learned through that program was just kind of the personality traits and how everyone's personality is different.
A big, a big part of one of the classes I took was body language and just trying to use that to understand what players might need.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: Do you have a favorite leadership book?
[00:28:00] Speaker B: It's a tough question.
Recently, Recently I read Dan Hurley's book and that one was really good. I don't know if it's my all time favorite, but it's just, it's been in the front of my mind, especially with UConn success that they've had, I think just trying to understand how they've done it. I think anytime you can read about successful teams or people to try to help you out, I think is. Is valuable.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: What were your main takeaways from his book?
[00:28:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I think again, the standard piece is huge. I think the standard he holds his players and staff to is definitely it's a direct correlation to the success they've had. And I think one thing that I think it might be easier in other sports is making practice way tougher than the game. So I think Hurley does a really good job and he talks about that a ton of making the practices so tough that by the time it's game time, his players are playing free and they feel like they've already been challenged so much in practice that the game feels a lot slower for them.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: You try to carry that over the baseball practice, correct?
[00:29:04] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah. I think, I think baseball's again tougher because it's so it's such a failure driven sport, especially for hitters. Like you want your hitters to feel good, but also need them to feel like, all right, I still have some stuff to work on, but I think you can do a ton with infielders making it harder, whether it's playing infield in all the time, whether it's using the stopwatch.
Sometimes we'll have like Marv balls that are, that have been cut up by the machine so it turns them into like those old skill balls just to try to make it. Make it a little bit tougher than what they'll see during a game.
[00:29:38] Speaker A: For somebody doesn't know anything about Endicott's program because I mean, you guys are up there a little bit in New England. What would you say about endcot's program?
[00:29:45] Speaker B: The baseball program? Yeah, yeah, I would say we're just a program that loves to compete together. I think that's the big thing that I've really noticed this year. We lost a ton coming into this season.
A lot of big personalities, a lot of Guys that were like, clubhouse guys, you could say that just made the experience fun. And I think the guys that were coming back were awesome guys as well and are awesome guys. But we weren't sure, like, who the personalities were going to be and who was going to step up in terms of that.
But it's been awesome so far this season. Like, guys who were quiet last year have really stepped up and been vocal leaders. So I think the main thing I would say about baseball is that our guys just love to compete as a team and just have a ton of fun playing baseball.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: Do you guys do many classroom sessions with them?
[00:30:35] Speaker B: We do in season. It's more like how the game went in the off season. In the off season is when we really try to tackle that. And in the fall, the big one that we do is surrounding, like, mental health and some of the bigger struggles that they may face as student athletes.
So we have them all in a room, and then they'll list, like, whatever they go through on a daily basis that might be challenging, and then we talk through strategies to try to help them, because I think. I don't know if there's ever been a tougher time to be 18 to 22 in college right now. So we just try to give them as much guidance and they learn, honestly, more from each other because they're the ones that are going through it right now.
[00:31:14] Speaker A: Yeah. How are you handling that? I do think it's a really hard time because I've got kids in that generation. I just think it's a really difficult time, especially for us as older generation, to.
To help them navigate what they're going through, especially online.
[00:31:28] Speaker B: Yeah. I think number one is just having them know that we're there for them, whatever's going on, because I think sometimes you can be a little bit skittish talking to your coach about certain things. But we tell them, like, hey, if you have anything you want to talk about, like, our doors are open. So I think that's. That's number one. And then just trying to teach them about balance. I think it's tougher now with phones and just trying to teach them, like, there's a. There's a real life out there that's pretty cool. And just try to get. Try to get in nature and just do stuff outside of your phone.
Because, I mean, social media is so big right now that it's easy to just get sucked into your phone. And all of a sudden you pick your head up and it's been 45 minutes. I think we've all. All been through that, so just trying to give them things that they can do to maybe not be on their phone.
[00:32:14] Speaker A: Was the powerhouse Bulldogs, was that your first coaching experience?
[00:32:18] Speaker B: No. So my first coaching experience was actually American Legion, so I was coaching American Legion right after I was done playing in 2019.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: What were your first thoughts there and getting into it?
[00:32:33] Speaker B: Yeah, just how much I loved it. I knew I would.
During my playing career, I had multiple talks with Coach Gomez and Coach Raiola, who was our other assistant, about what the coaching career looks like, the good and bad parts about it, like, what's going to be the most challenging.
So getting a lot of insight from them was awesome. But then that's the. The number one thing I realized once I got into was just how much fun it was and it was the next best thing from playing. So that's what really, really stood out to me in that first summer.
[00:33:02] Speaker A: What did they say was going to be the most challenging thing about getting into it?
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I think just making it a career was probably the number one thing. And then the time commitment and then just the family aspect, too. I. I have a girlfriend right now. I don't have a family, but that aspect of it just, I think makes it so much more challenging as well. So all the aspects outside of coaching really are the things that they brought up to me.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: How are you navigating the time commitment with her?
[00:33:34] Speaker B: Yeah, so she's awesome. I feel like that's. I have to say that first, but it's just trying to be as present as possible. I think I've learned that from. From Coach Haley and Coach Gomez as well. Like, as much as we want to win, as much as we want to do great and work hard to do that, there has to be a balance. And you have to understand that there's stuff outside of baseball that's honestly more important.
And while you're at baseball, like making out the most important thing, but then once you're off the field, not coaching, just trying to attack all those other areas of your life that are. That are super important.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: Do you guys set time aside to hang out?
[00:34:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So she's become a big baseball fan since we started dating. She wasn't really before that, but yeah, definitely set aside time to hang out where we're not watching baseball.
[00:34:22] Speaker A: All right. Give us your fail forward moment. Something you thought was going to set you back, but looking back now, it helps you move forward. Could be professionally, could be personally.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: Yeah. I think your question, I would say just. Just not getting into coaching right Away like full time.
I kind of, I was hesitant because of all the, the hurdles I just assumed would be there. So I was working a corporate job and then I was coaching the American Legion on the side.
So I think having that experience in the corporate world, working for a marketing company which, which had its good moments, I think that honestly helped me, that helps me appreciate baseball and coaching so much more now because I know what that, that office side looks like.
So there's times I have to remind myself whether it's a tough day coaching or we struggle one day like I'm still out on a baseball field at 3pm which is.
I'd much rather be there than where I was three or four years ago.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: Yeah. What are the differences? I. I probably been in office is the biggest one. Right. Set office hours and having to be there and, and just.
I think that's the great thing with coaching is it is so flexible. It's everything. Every day is going to be a little bit different with coaching.
[00:35:40] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. And you're interacting with 50 different guys. So like every day is going to be different.
And there's definitely. There's administrative parts of coaching too. That's the one thing I also didn't really think about once I got into coaching. But that's stuff that needs to get done.
But yeah, I think just the ability to be flexible, the ability to go out in the summer and you're recruiting even though that's busy, like you're still watching baseball.
So just trying to put it in perspective when at times it is tough. Like putting it in perspective I think is huge for all coaches.
[00:36:11] Speaker A: You have any daily habits or routines that you like that you use?
[00:36:16] Speaker B: Yeah. So journaling.
I wouldn't say it's daily right now. I try to make it daily, but again, just trying to, trying to talk to myself more than anything. And that's something that I think is a huge part of the mental game is talking to yourself instead of listening to yourself.
So I try to do that a lot through journaling. I try to read often as well.
Sometimes most of the time it's about sports or leadership or baseball.
And recently I've tried to dive into more like fiction type stuff to again try to get my mind off baseball sometimes.
But I think it's a mix of trying to better yourself in your career and then also finding stuff outside baseball. Whether that's playing the guitar, going on walks. I think it's. It's important to balance it all.
[00:36:58] Speaker A: You play the guitar.
[00:36:59] Speaker B: I do.
[00:37:00] Speaker A: Good for you.
[00:37:01] Speaker B: I do. Thank You. That was one thing I learned during
[00:37:04] Speaker A: one of my biggest regrets. It's not picking the guitar up.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: You have time.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: I know everybody says because I love music, I love music.
[00:37:14] Speaker B: Yeah, there's. There's so much stuff on YouTube now where you can learn chords in a day and then you're off and running.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: Do you have a fiction genre genre you like, book wise?
[00:37:24] Speaker B: I don't.
I don't. So I haven't read too much fiction outside of like the ones I was required to read to read in school.
So I would say since I've graduated, it's been mostly like non fiction baseball or leadership type stuff.
I'm reading the Godfather right now, so.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:37:42] Speaker B: Yeah, that's one. Yeah, it's a. It's a big. It's a big book. But that type of stuff is always interesting, especially when I've either seen the movie or I know there's a movie based off of it. I think it just makes it easier to read and more interesting.
[00:37:55] Speaker A: What do you feel like makes a good assistant coach for a head coach?
[00:38:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I think just. Just being there for anything they need is number one. And I think there's times where you want to put your own spin on things as an assistant, but I think when it comes down to it, you got to just buy into whatever the head coach is doing.
If you don't agree with it, I think it's fine to have that discussion. But I think in the end you got to. They're the decision maker, so you have to agree with them and just try to do the best with whatever the decision is. So whether that's a lineup decision, whether that's a practice plan decision, I think it's great for you to put in your own input and I think head coaches want that from assistants.
But in the end, I think you supporting them and just being there for them with whatever they need, I think is number one.
[00:38:41] Speaker A: You think that's the biggest tip for young assistants listening in that are just trying to get into this is be there for whatever the head coach needs?
[00:38:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so.
And I think you have to pay your dues in any job, I think.
And just trying to keep that in perspective too, with whatever it is, whether that's ordering food, whether that's helping with laundry, whether that's setting up practice, working with position you're not familiar with, just taking it, taking it wrong with it and just try to make the best of it, whatever it is you're doing.
[00:39:15] Speaker A: Were you able to reflect on getting this award at All I was,
[00:39:21] Speaker B: I was, I was humbled.
That was probably the, the number one thing. And at times you feel imposter syndrome. I'm sure other coaches feel that too, or any other award winners.
I think it's cool because it makes you think, like, hey, you're doing something right, but it also makes you really appreciative of, like, the players that you coached. I think that's the number one thing. And like the players that Coach Ohringer and Coach Haley were able to recruit, like, I didn't, I didn't recruit any of those guys that I was coaching the last two years at Endicott. So I think it starts with having them be really good hitters.
But yeah, it's definitely a cool award. And 100. Was not expecting to win anything like that, let alone in my first two years at Endicott.
So I think humbled and just. And just grateful were the. Were the two top things that came into mind for me.
[00:40:09] Speaker A: What are some of the better routines that stand out for the better hitters you've coached?
[00:40:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's. It's having a plan when they're doing t work, doing flips, and not trying to change too much about their swing. I think the really good hitters know that they're good and just try to change the environment more so than. Than their swing. So if they feel off a little bit, it could be maybe I'm going to try to work hitting low line drive, say, or hard ground balls if I'm under it. I'm not going to try to, like, feel something in my swing. I'm going to try to just create whatever the external is and pretty much just trust myself. In the end, I think the guys that are really good have, have gotten there by having a really good routine, so they just stick to that. When, when times are tough.
I think the hitters that maybe haven't proven themselves in their mind or haven't had the consistent success, they're. They're constantly searching. So those are the guys that are. You try to remind them, like, hey, you're really good. Like, trust what's worked for you in the past, whether that's high school, Little league, like, there's a reason you're playing college baseball right now, so just try to trust what got you there.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: I mean, how hard is it to get on a college baseball roster right now?
[00:41:14] Speaker B: Yeah, again, it's one of those things. I don't think it's ever been harder.
So I give the kids going through high school now a ton of credit too, just for navigating everything.
And they've, in my experience, they handle it really well.
They're really respectful in interactions with coaches and I think they know how hard it is too. So if they get an opportunity, I think they're really grateful for when that
[00:41:36] Speaker A: comes to do you relay journaling to your players as a way for a mental health decompress? I think it's one of the best decompresses you can have is as journaling.
[00:41:45] Speaker B: Oh, 100%. I think our minds are so cluttered now. I think technology and how fast life seems right now adds to that.
And especially for them in college, I think anytime someone comes into our office to talk, that's like the number one thing I bring up.
I think a lot of them have bought into it, whether they learned it from us or did it before.
I think it's just huge because you have so many thoughts in your head that you didn't put there. So I think we're being able to write them down and just decipher, like, is this important? Is this really important? Like, why am I worrying about this? I think it's so much easier when you see that in front of you to try to be like, all right, like maybe I'm a little bit stressed about this, but it's in the grand scheme of things, it's really not that important.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: I think self talk is what separates the good from the great ones too. I think their self talk is much
[00:42:33] Speaker B: better, 100% and I think you need to go through a lot of, a lot of growing pains to learn that as well. Yeah.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: Any changes to Division 3 baseball you'd like to see going forward?
[00:42:46] Speaker B: The first one that pops into my mind is the conferences for offensive, for offense. I would, I would love to see like, similar to the mlb where the hitter can call time once in at bat. It's like it's a small change. I don't even know if it would change much, but I just, I don't agree with it. Being charged in offensive conference, I guess.
[00:43:09] Speaker A: What are some final thoughts before I let you go?
[00:43:13] Speaker B: No, I just appreciate the award and I know the ABCA has been a huge help for me just learning more about the sport and I think it's so great.
I know other sports have really good coaching communities, but I think baseball has the best. It's easy to say being in it, but I think just coaches are so willing to share knowledge. So I just, I'm excited to learn, learn from more coaches as time goes on.
[00:43:37] Speaker A: Alex, thanks for your time, man. I appreciate it. I know it's the middle of the season, but thanks. Thank you so much for being on with me.
[00:43:42] Speaker B: Of course. Thanks for having me. Have a blast.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: Always great to shine a light on the many great assistants we have at every level of baseball. They don't always get the recognition they deserve for all the behind the scenes work that they do.
Best of luck to Alex and the Gulls the rest of the way out.
Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale and Matt west in the ABCA office for all the help on the podcast. Feel free to reach out to me via email or brownleeabca.org Twitter, Instagram or TikTok oachbca or direct message me via the MyABCA app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off with American Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks and leave it better for those behind.
[00:44:28] Speaker B: Are learning and you know that way
[00:44:33] Speaker A: Yep Wait for another day
[00:44:38] Speaker B: and the world will always return as your life there before yearning and you know that wait for another
[00:44:59] Speaker A: day.
