This summer marks the 10th anniversary of the Northwest Championship Tournament—our signature event. This year’s event is going to be even bigger and better than ever for the players, coaches, and scouts. The effectiveness and popularity of the event (and the amount of work it takes!) has made me step back and look back over the years and reflect. I get ask often how and why did Baseball Northwest get started.
It really started about 15 years ago when I was ask if I would work with some local high school players on their hitting and pitching. They knew I was a scout and had played and coached in the minor leagues, so I must know something. We started working out in the fall. I was available. They were not playing a fall sport. The weather was nice, so we ended up on the field, and that turned into more players working out and into a fall baseball league so I could work with the players as they actually played the game.
Fall baseball has become very popular all over the nation and in the Northwest and the Northwest weather is usually as good or better in September and October as it is in March and April. We saw players getting extra development and playing experience that was much needed as fall ball began.
Our fall high school leagues and the development of our unique and first “scout” teams and exclusive entry into the top fall west coast tournaments cannot be duplicated. Let me comment on fall baseball also: it is and was designed for players that are not playing a fall sport in their high school, so as not to take players from those sports. I am a big believer that high school players should play as many sports in high school that they can, it will make them better ATHLETES for a lot of reasons and thus a better baseball player after high school. But certainly for those other players fall baseball can be an important development and exposure situation for players. I have actually talked players out of giving up fall sports in high school to play fall baseball. Some of these players went on to play professional baseball.
But back to the beginning of Baseball Northwest. At that time I was traveling the whole country (in a two year period I saw a high school or college game in the spring in 47 states) as a national crosscheck scout for the Royals and saw a lot of amateur baseball at all levels. What I saw was what was happening especially in the warm weather states in the development of a wide range of baseball programs and events. I felt like the Northwest was not keeping up with what it could do. The development of our players was also not keeping up. More could be done around in addition to the existing spring and summer teams.
Baseball Northwest then and now decided early on that it was important to not do anything that competes or conflicts with exiting spring and summer programs, only complement them. A players’ spring and summer teams will always be the most important part of their baseball experience. Basically I saw two areas that needed to keep up with the changing times. One—TOP players need to play against the best of the best PLAYERS (not teams) to develop themselves in a better way. Players develop in a lot of different ways, but playing AGAINST AND WITH other top players is the most important. Two, players need to have more exposure to scouts and college coaches in those competitive environments. They need to learn to perform with evaluators watching. I knew one of the benefits also would be the promotion of the game itself to all players (to motivate players) to know there was an even bigger venue to play the game and develop. We were losing good athletes to other sports for many reasons, but one reason we could address was by providing players more top level competition and attention.
College baseball was beginning is rise in popularity. We needed to provide our players with the development and exposure to compete for scholarships at as many of the top programs as they could. The Northwest college baseball landscape as certainly changed significantly over the years. The Northwest schools playing the Pac-10 full schedule, the early regional success of the University of Washington, two national titles for the Oregon State Beavers, and the adding of the University of Oregon program. As they say, “This is not your Dad’s college baseball environment.” Also, the late 1990’s increased in high school players being drafted from the Northwest and the attention some high round players received made the development and exposure of players to the players important in this area.
The development of the State Prospect Games, the Northwest Championship Tournament, the the unique and exclusive Fall Scout Team program and Arizona Fall Classic Tournaments, our exclusive involvement with USA Baseball in their selection of national teams to represent the United States internationally, our fall high school leagues and championship tournament, our Youth Development Series, our Uncommitted Player Showcase event, Pre-Draft workout, and our top player evaluations and lists, our free Baseball Northwest newspaper, the development of our website promoting Northwest college and high school players and teams, and our cooperation and significant contributions (along with their cooperation with Baseball Northwest) to other events we feel can be important to Northwest players like the Seattle Marines Cup, and the Area Code Games, all in their own way don’t CREATE it for the player, but we provide the opportunities for the player to CREATE his own success and development.
I have done what I could with a vision (and frankly have taken my share of personal attacks and criticism along the way) and used my contacts, knowledge, experiences, and energy to in some small way make a difference. That’s how it began and why. I get asked often, “Did I think it would grow to the extent is has?” My answer is yes, as long as we were providing a service that players benefit from. We have had some growing pains along the ways, could have done a few things better, but always felt like we needed to “push the envelope” to provide the best.
We have not increased our player fees for any of our events in 10 years and don’t have plans to, which is unique in our challenging economy. Baseball Northwest has provided over $100,000 in scholarship aid to players over those years. We have never turned down a player who is selected for one of our “invitation only events” and was not able to potentially attend because of creditable financial issues. Our sponsors (Nike, SPARQ, and Richardson Caps) who share our vision and realize our contribution to the players have significantly helped us provide top services and product. Please acknowledge them for their help. Also, our player fees are the least expensive by a wide margin that any other similar type of event or program. There is so much money spent by players and parents with little to no benefit on many other programs, etc, that it is becoming a problem (Will discuss this in a future column. Many comment on what can be done to avoid it.)
The best memories are the players we have helped and also the coaches we have had as part of the programs. It is easy to site our 26 players who have gone on to play in the major leagues, and over 200 who have played professional baseball, over 600 who have played Division 1 baseball, and over 5,000 or more who have gone on and played college baseball at some level. It is not the numbers but remembering the individuals, what they were like as players and people when we first met them and watched their development through their high school and college careers and now succeeding beyond.
Remembering Jacoby Ellsbury walking into one of our tryout camps as a skinny skinny kid from Madras, Oregon. And all could really do well as a player was run, and how he could run, and then watch him, through hard work, determination, and a unique humbleness, lead OSU to their first College World Series appearance in a long time, and set the tone for the programs’ eventual back to back national titles. Jacoby is now a major leaguer (and a 2007 World Champion).
It brings to mind—many conversations with scouts in and outside the Kansas City Royals organization (who I worked for at the time) about the evaluation of Jacoby’s ability and potential as a player.
Scouting is a very tough thing to do (I was fortunate to do it for over 25 years full-time) but I don’t think I remember so many different opinions on a player than with Jacoby. Credit the Red Sox for seeing his athletism and his ability in his swing to make adjustments. More on scouting at some other time.
Also many don’t know that he was drafted out of high school by Tampa Bay and made a significant offer to sign. But he felt strongly about wanting to improve himself as a player at OSU (work on his education) and mature while being better prepared before joining professional baseball. Many kids (and parents) can’t postpone the attention and acclamation (delayed gratification of today’s have it now culture) of signing out of high school. I often think players believe they instantly become a better player because they signed when in reality they are the same player.
Remembering another skinny and short right handed pitcher (two red flags for scouts) pitching in the Northwest Championships as senior to-be with a pin wheeling, fast, unique, with arms and legs all over the place, pitching delivery but a competitiveness on the mound that stood out. He also had a confident, free-spirited on the edge personality that was likeable. He too was drafted in high school, chose instead to go to the University of Washington, and developed there into the College Pitcher of the Year and the eventually 2008 National League Cy Young Award winner: Tim Lincecum.
Maybe more important in a lot of ways—the many faces and personalities I remember many we helped to get into high academic schools (even the Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell, Stanford, etc). Some with baseball scholarships. They may not have become professional players but certainly have become significant business and civil leaders. Remembering coaches who have helped us, and we helped them in developing their coaching careers, and have now become top Pac-10 head coaches and top assistants and professional baseball managers. Also the many who have went into professional baseball as scouts, some of those were ex-Baseball Northwest players, that makes me proud of them and makes me feel old. This year I believe is the first year we will have a son of an ex-Baseball Northwest player in the program. Wow! How time flies. Am I ready for the next generation of players?
Along the same lines of developing players one thing that history and experience has taught me is (I wish I could impress on players and parents) that you they spend way to much time, energy, money, and focus on trying to create a college scholarship through some event, program, or scouting service. Time, energy, money, and focus should be spent more on the playing to become better as a player, the rest will take care of itself. There is a huge misconception that if you just attend the right event, or join this scouting service, or do this or that, that s all that matters. All the matters in the long run is how GOOD a player can become, every player must continue to improve. Some players think they don’t need to improve, those players never turn out to be real players.
Along those same lines, the second most important thing I wish I could impress on players and parents is that high school stats, all-state, all-league honors,etc., have no correlation with success after high school at a very high level of competition. How you hit, or how you pitch in high school, and the mechanics you use does not in itself make a difference at the next level. The game speeds up to another level so your ability to adjust to that will determine you success at that level. Learning as early as you can what can help you be in a position to make those adjustments is what the focus, time, energy, and money should be spent on.
In talking with a lot of college coaches, players are not as good as they should be in HOW TO PLAY THE GAME when they come into their programs. Their exposure to what they need to learn to give them a more advance impact sooner in college. While there are some good high school and summer coaches their job is to not prepare players who have ability for the next level but to teach players the game to win high school baseball or summer team games. Same with the summer coaches, but unfortunately more of them have their egos in the way, and it becomes more about them than the players.
Baseball Northwest next level of influence and help is going to be in the instructive development part of the game. Our new Youth Development Series, to help players and parents, understand the challenges facing them as they enter the high school age of their baseball career and our Winter Instructional Series will help current high school players understand what they have to do to prepare as a player for the next level.
We have done research on what is it that can make a difference for players to be successful after high school. I personally have been very fortunate in my college and professional baseball playing and coaching career to be exposed to a lot of coaches and instructors. As a scout for 25 years I have been fortunate to seen many of the top players, as high school and college players, in the major leagues from all over the country. It does not make me smarter than anyone else, just a lot of experience and background as to why and how players develop and what can make a difference.
I have been greatly influence by my involvement with Bio-Kinetics, Inc. It changed completely the way I evaluated players as a scout and how I evaluate players even now. The biggest factor is what I learned through study of the best players in the game and why they are the best. When I was fortunate to then use that information when scouting the top players in the country for those years it was like a classroom to test the information.
Their objective information provided 100% correct rate. We can be better in understanding which players become the best and why and we can help them through proper instruction to be the best they can be. We can’t make them the best, God did that, but we can help them reach their God given potential.
There are a lot of misunderstandings and incorrect information out there that Bio-Kinetics found in their research. It has never been expressed to the public in any significant form yet by anyone, but we are working on that. I will begin soon to also do some hitting and pitching specific columns of my experiences and information learned in that process.
The bottom line is we will use that as our information base for our winter camps, etc. for hitting and pitching instruction. It is important to understand that the computer can see a swing or pitching delivery at high speed and analyze the movement, our eyes can only see so much. We have based our instruction only on what we have seen or feel. Through better technology, we should have better information as to what actually happens, and should use it to get better. Professional baseball has always been the slowest to change or adjust, but that is the same for many other areas and that discussion is for another time.
Also, players need to learn how to get bigger, stronger, quicker and faster in a baseball specific way. Baseball will always be a game of skill, not strength, power, and speed. Where there are two players with equal skill, the bigger, stronger, quicker and faster one is a better player. We will continue to do SPARQ “testing” at our Prospect Games and Northwest Championships and will add SPARQ “training”. Fall and Winter Programs and Camps do just that, make players baseball specific stronger, bigger, quicker, and faster.
Two more 2010 Northwest graduates have made “verbal” commitments: Drew Vettleson, OF/LHP. BBNW’s top ranked Washington prospect from Central Kitsap HS has committed to Oregon State, also to be a Beaver is infielder Brandon Drury from Grants Pass HS (Or.). We have Brandon as our #8 Oregon prospect. That brings the number of 2010 Northwest player commitments to 11 by our count.
Speaking of the Beavers, baseball radio play by play guy Mike Parker won the Oregon Sports Broadcaster of the Year award recently. Mike does an excellent job and we will always remember and forever etched in our minds his game ending calls of OSU’s National Championship Title games. The University of Oregon announcers will hopefully improve also as the team improves.
I am one to also think the Pac-10 is down some overall this year and may come up with only three NCAA regional birth teams. There is a lot of good young players, freshman and sophomores, which should make things very interesting over the next couple of years. In normal years Oregon may not have one a game at all in league play. They picked a good year to come into the league. But with the Ducks staring at a 40 loss season it shows the lack of understanding by the Oregon athletic administration on how tough it is to start a new program without having a year to prepare and to try and play in the Pac-10 at the very beginning. Yes, they have a tremendous facility and accomplished coaching staff and it is great that baseball is back at Oregon, but maybe they will respect the level of Pac-10 baseball and how tough the league is and how impressive the OSU program accomplishments the last few years really were.
I also wanted to include in this column a college recruiting information aspect: what to do and not to do, but that will have to wait. Look for that on the web site soon. I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the Prospect Games that I have been not been able to see yet this spring. I look forward to that.
