Patrick Jones Baseball – Details, episodes & analysis

I visited Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, this week and recorded an episode with Matt Rembliak (Associate Head Coach) and Joey Cooper (Assistant Coach) 

Bowling Green was the 2024 MAC regular season champion. They had a breakout season in 2024, going 24-6 in conference play, and finished with a 33-20 overall record. 

In this episode, we discuss the current recruiting landscape, including: 

Players getting their offers pulled. 

How the new rules impact the type of player Bowling Green will recruit 

What Bowling Green looks for in a high school player 

Advice to current high school players 

Lastly, we discuss player development at Bowling Green and the similarities between the players who have made the biggest jump in on-field performance. 

College Baseball Recruiting Consultation: This is for high school baseball players interested in college baseball.

Check Out Patrick's Stuff:

• 📬 Patrick's Weekly Recruiting Newsletter – Get insights on college recruiting, player spotlights, and advice for parents and coaches. Subscribe at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruit

• ⚾ Need Help with College Recruiting? – We help serious baseball players get recruited. Book a 1-on-1 consult at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruiting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There have been massive changes in college baseball over the last 12 months. In this episode, you will learn what those changes are, how they impact the recruiting timeline, what college coaches are looking for, when you should go to camps and showcases, and how college coaches find players.

1-1 PJB Recruiting Consultation: We meet via Zoom, and I can answer any questions you have and evaluate you. If you're a good fit for my recruiting service, we can discuss the next steps.

Check Out Patrick's Stuff:

• 📬 Patrick's Weekly Recruiting Newsletter – Get insights on college recruiting, player spotlights, and advice for parents and coaches. Subscribe at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruit

• ⚾ Need Help with College Recruiting? – We help serious baseball players get recruited. Book a 1-on-1 consult at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruiting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Patrick Jones interviews Mike Brumley, a seasoned baseball coach with a rich 40-year career. Brumley shares his expertise in coaching hitters at various levels, from high school to the majors. They discuss the emotional aspects of hitting, the transition challenges for high school players, and the mental approach to the game. Brumley introduces a grading system for at-bats and emphasizes strategic game planning. He also offers unconventional insights into hitting mechanics, stressing stability and leverage over hip rotation, and the importance of the thoracic spine. Brumley's perspective challenges traditional coaching methods, advocating adaptability and a progressive mindset.

TIMESTAMPS:

[02:03] Differences in Working with Players

[10:55] Judging At-Bat Success

[18:18] Game Planning

[23:04] Developing a Hitting Philosophy

[25:53] Understanding Pitcher Tendencies

[32:55] Contrarian Views on Hitting Mechanics

[37:30] Rotation and Separation

[38:30] Understanding Hip Rotation

[40:30] Impact of Body Mechanics

Mike Brumley Website: https://brumbands.com/

Check Out Patrick's Stuff:

• 📬 Patrick's Weekly Recruiting Newsletter – Get insights on college recruiting, player spotlights, and advice for parents and coaches. Subscribe at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruit

• ⚾ Need Help with College Recruiting? – We help serious baseball players get recruited. Book a 1-on-1 consult at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruiting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today’s episode, we have Steve Merriman. Steve returned to the Wolverines baseball program for the 2021 season after previously serving as pitching coach in 2002 and 2012, in addition to starting his coaching career at U-M as a hitting coach in 1995.

Steve worked in the Colorado Rockies organization, where he was the minor league pitching co-coordinator and pitching coach for the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats.

He worked with the Chicago Cubs in 2018 at their high-tech pitching lab in Mesa, Ariz., and has other professional coaching experience with the Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets, and Detroit Tigers organizations.

He currently serves on the advisory board for OnBaseU and has previously served in various professional roles, including area scout, AA pitching coach, and MiLB Pitching Coordinator. He has also coached at all levels of college baseball, including three seasons at Michigan.

In this episode, he shares his insights based on his experiences helping players improve their mechanics and he speaks of his philosophy and expertise as a pitching coach at different levels. Also, he shares advice for dads out there coaching their sons.  

He explains the best approach for pitchers, the importance of player development, having a routine, and communication.

In this episode, learn the importance of having a growth mindset.

SHOW NOTES:

[2:33] What advice would you have for dads out there coaching their own sons?

[8:11] Timing and Tone.

[12:38] Do you have someone in the last bucket who just does not want to listen to you or anybody else?

[17:03] Is there a level that reflecting back on your career so far that was a ton of fun I really enjoyed that level?

[20:49] How do you go about if you see something in a pitcher like we need to add this pitch to your repertoire?

[24:41] What advice would you give them from just a pitching standpoint for high school pitchers out there and what to focus and work on?

[29:51] Roger Clemens and how at times he didn't throw necessarily an actual change up but he would just take some off of his fastball.

[32:52] What advice would you give to hitters?

[34:34] How often do you think pitchers are tipping pitches that you can pick up on?

[36:11] What are you focus on as a pitching coach?

[38:55] What would be from a pitching coach's perspective and your experience some ways that you've helped pitchers improve their mechanics?

[42:42] Why not external, could you dig in as to why you don't think that's necessarily the best approach for pitchers?

[45:08] What about helping players with the mental side of the game?

[47:41] What are some of the ways that you've been able to help them?

TWITTER:

@SMerrBullpen

Check Out Patrick's Stuff:

• 📬 Patrick's Weekly Recruiting Newsletter – Get insights on college recruiting, player spotlights, and advice for parents and coaches. Subscribe at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruit

• ⚾ Need Help with College Recruiting? – We help serious baseball players get recruited. Book a 1-on-1 consult at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruiting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode, I speak to Brady Kirkpatrick. Brady joined the Florida Atlantic University staff as pitching coach in September of 2021.

Brady comes to FAU most recently having coached at Harvard University for the past three years. 

Prior to Harvard, he coached for two seasons at Monmouth University. Before that, he was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Rochester University, and coached two summers with the Mountain West College Summer League as well.

Brady’s playing career began at the University of Maryland, for three seasons. He finished his college career at the University of San Diego, and began coaching there as well, in the fall of 2015 as a volunteer assistant.

In this episode, he talks about the landscape in the summertime as a Division I baseball coach.

He says that players need confidence to improve, and that confidence comes with preparation and organization.

He shares what he does every day when it comes to recruiting. He talks about structure and the mechanical side of things.

In this episode, we'll take a look at why command is important for younger pitchers.

[2:28] What's the landscape in the summertime for a division one college coach?

[4:03] How do you identify players you want to look at in the transfer portal?

[5:38] Is there a red flag when you see someone in the transfer portal?

[7:07] You guys had a prospect camp where you can actually work with the players when is that and I didn't know you're allowed to work with players at your camps?

[9:21] What's something that you see as a flaw from a lot of young pitchers that they don't necessarily work on enough for?

[11:10] What are some ways that you've been able to help pitchers improve their command?

[13:07] How many times when a player comes in as a recruit as a freshman there's mechanical work that you feel needs to be improved?

[15:12] Is it too young still at the college level to get kids to focus on meditating and the mental game?

[18:13] Do you want all your guys throwing sliders?

[20:34] Do you call the pitches during the game?

[22:57] Was this the first year that they used the earpiece or did you guys have that last year too?

[24:25] Can you review all games now?

[26:00] Are you a fan of the automated strike zone?

[27:28] What's something that you learned as a pitcher that has helped you as coach coaching pitchers?

[28:43] What's a way that you help players kind of understand and grasp what you want them to do on the field?

[30:37] Do you have your guys write down so they can remember what it feels like when they do it right and then when they do it wrong?

[31:44] Do you utilize personality tests at all when and trying to understand how your players learn and think?

[34:05] Jump steal - Are you guys doing that in college?

[35:50] Do you think they are going to change the ball next year?

[38:56] When you're out watching pitchers, How much of it is them just looking the part of being projectable?

[40:47] How important is body type to you when identifying pitchers?

[42:52] Is there a certain amount of time on average you watch a kid before you're like okay I'm in let's make him an offer?

TWITTER:

@FAUBaseball

@FAUcoachBK

https://patrickjonesbaseball.com/

Check Out Patrick's Stuff:

• 📬 Patrick's Weekly Recruiting Newsletter – Get insights on college recruiting, player spotlights, and advice for parents and coaches. Subscribe at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruit

• ⚾ Need Help with College Recruiting? – We help serious baseball players get recruited. Book a 1-on-1 consult at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruiting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode, we have Troy Merriman Troy is currently the hitting coach at the University of Findlay. He played at the University of Findlay, and now he's coached there for eight years.

In this episode, he gives some insight into not only how they do things at the University of Findlay, but also how the DII landscape is laid out, what scholarships are like at that level, how they allocate money at Findlay, and then he gets into a little bit more in-depth on what specifically are they looking for out on the recruiting side. Troy talk about how do they go about trying to develop players and what tools they use. Learn if they utilize the transfer portal.

We can get into a lot of different areas of a college program in this episode!

This episode can be very beneficial for parents, players out there, and even coaches maybe in other schools giving you all kinds of insight into what exactly goes on behind closed doors with these colleges so be sure to listen in!

SHOW NOTES:

[2:31] What's been something that stands out at the University of Findlay?

[4:10] How do division two scholarships work?

[6:42] If you give someone $10,000 can they take that $10,000 and spent it on tuition or can they do it on room and board?

[10:28] What takeaways did you have from watching and evaluating players and just the whole nine yards?

[13:48] In your eyes, what does a recruitable player mean?

[15:33] How many guys can you have on the roster?

[16:59] What's a typical day for you?

[19:51] Is there a system that you can kind of have to make sure everyone gets some time and knows what they need to work on?

[24:23] What do you like to do has been a player yourself and now a coach to help players with that side of the game?

[30:50] How often do you utilize social media for recruits or transfers and just everything out there?

[33:08] What do you think about kids tagging you in posts?

[37:23] When do you guys start looking at players specifically Division two level?

[40:50] Do you guys utilize the transfer portal?

[42:29] Why wouldn't I bring in the guy who's already had some experience?

[48:09] Why would someone want to come to play at the University of Findlay?

FOLLOW TROY:

Twitter:

Assistant Baseball Coach

@UF_Baseball_

@Coach_Merriman

Check Out Patrick's Stuff:

• 📬 Patrick's Weekly Recruiting Newsletter – Get insights on college recruiting, player spotlights, and advice for parents and coaches. Subscribe at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruit

• ⚾ Need Help with College Recruiting? – We help serious baseball players get recruited. Book a 1-on-1 consult at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruiting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Resilient. That would be the best word to describe T.J. Bruce. After his playing career ended, he decided he wanted to get into coaching. When he first started coaching junior college baseball he was making 5k while supporting his wife who was still in school. 

He was passed over three times while he was a volunteer assistant at Long Beach State for the paid position. He never gave up. After he became the head coach at the University of Nevada, he had a player pass away, and then two weeks later, his dad passed away. He held it all together and became a stronger man.  

He did all of this while becoming known as one of the best college recruiters in the country, won a national championship, and have a family. 

[1:49] Why did you decide then to transfer to Long Beach State?

[3:27] When you say the style of play, what do you mean?

[5:58] So you're a graduate assistant when you came back and then did you transition into just a full-time assistant coach?

[9:17] During those four years was there ever a point where like I need to get a real job?

[13:19] Do you have a game plan of like what you want to do?

[15:08] Do you have to go out and watch just as many games as a mid-major school or can you just go to the big tournaments and just kind of pick and choose the best ones because it is UCLA?

[18:01] What was your recruiting pitch to someone who was drafted pretty high but obviously, still wanted to go to school with you?

[19:27] What do you think makes you a good recruiter?

[21:21] Why did you end up taking that big instead of staying at UCLA?

[24:28] How do you balance having a family with four kids and a wife plus being the head coach of a Division one baseball program?

[25:53] What was one thing that was unexpected that you found whether it be a good or bad thing about being a head coach that you didn't know you would kind of feel or figure out?

[28:08] How were you able to kind of hold everything together and just keep it going?

[29:36] When you got there what did you put in a completely new, system-like philosophies for offense and pitching and everything, Or how do you kind of go about changing the baseball culture?

[31:35] Do you man pretty much the offense?

[34:13] Have you implemented anything in terms of helping guys with their mental game?

[39:19] How do you decide how much an incoming recruit gets?

[41:49] What do you make of that of those bigger schools sometimes recruiting players and I've seen it even in the fall the guys coming in the fall and they don't play well They're on a big seller ship in the spring there at a junior college?

[43:50] Do you look at junior college players?

[44:16] If I'm a recruit right now listening to you what are some of the best things that you can kind of describe about going to the University of Nevada and playing baseball there?

@NevadaBaseball

@tj_bruce

nevadawolfpackbaseball

Tjbruce02

Blast Motion Code: pjb25 for $25 off

Check Out Patrick's Stuff:

• 📬 Patrick's Weekly Recruiting Newsletter – Get insights on college recruiting, player spotlights, and advice for parents and coaches. Subscribe at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruit

• ⚾ Need Help with College Recruiting? – We help serious baseball players get recruited. Book a 1-on-1 consult at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruiting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Currently, in his 7th season as a Volunteer Assistant and the University of Louisville, Adam Vrable loves what he gets to do, coach. His passion for baseball sticks out like a sore thumb when you listen to him talk. Adam played College Baseball at Coastal Carolina where get graduated with a degree in History. After graduating he began his coaching journey, with stops at The Citadel and Charleston Southern. He also was involved in travel baseball coaching in South Carolina right after graduating from South Carolina. In this episode, Adam explains what it's like coaching at Louisville, why they compete in everything that they do, and working with baserunners, outfielders, and hitters at Louisville.

SHOW NOTES:

[2:12] Does that change the philosophy of the game when it's that cold outside?

[3:18] Do you guys change your philosophy on hitting or just approach or anything just based on where you guys play?

[5:11] Would you say that at Louisville you guys didn't waver your approach too much just in the last couple of years with the whole launch angle revolution?

[7:50] What's your guys' approach to stealing bases?

[10:41] Are there certain drills you like having the guys do?

[15:22]  Did you teach something specific down there for outfielders as they're fielding the ball?

[20:20] Is it just all approach and mindset based with two strikes?

[23:05] What's a typical practice look like for you guys maybe just in the offseason what's that environment looks like?

[27:29] How do you make sure that these guys do get what they need individually in a team setting?

[40:26] How do you gauge that in a recruit?

[44:58] How many times do you want to go and watch a recruit?

[48:47] You mentioned two-way players. How often do you recruit two-way players?

FOLLOW ADAM:

@avrabes

Check Out Patrick's Stuff:

• 📬 Patrick's Weekly Recruiting Newsletter – Get insights on college recruiting, player spotlights, and advice for parents and coaches. Subscribe at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruit

• ⚾ Need Help with College Recruiting? – We help serious baseball players get recruited. Book a 1-on-1 consult at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruiting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today’s episode, I talk to Adam Cornwell. Adam joined the University of Indianapolis coaching staff after a two-year stay at the University of Dayton. The Flyers finished second in the A-10 during the regular season. He helped guide the Flyers to the 2nd most strikeouts in program history during the 2021 season.

He joined the University of Dayton baseball staff in August 2019 following a one-year stint as an assistant coach at Iona College, where he served as the pitching coach for the Gaels.

He talked about the pitching development side as a coach. He shares that pitching is all about disrupting timing.

In this episode, learn about the growth opportunity as a pitcher and what velocity he is looking for when recruiting. 

SHOW NOTES:

[2:19] What was one thing that you thought you did an excellent job of and one thing that you are reflecting you feel like you could have improved upon as a coach?

[4:48] How did you get some players to believe in themselves?

[7:01] What rabbit holes have you recently gone down on the pitching development side?

[10:01] What were some of the everyday things you found when doing that screen on pictures? Was there a specific screen that failed or like a low-hanging fruit like all of them?

[11:45] How did you like the marv trainers? Are you talking about the ply balls that they had? How'd you like those with the seams?

[14:24] Are more guys playing catch with those because it feels like a baseball?

[15:15] Is increasing the velocity of your pitchers overall like a goal that you have at the end of the year?

[17:37] What's the most significant value you see in pitchers who have experience versus those not having experience?

[20:00] The average velocity at the d2 level versus the d1 level?

[22:09] What velocity are you looking for when you're out recruiting?

[23:56] Why did you transfer to Pittsburgh?

[25:46] What were some of the things you learned as a pitcher when playing in California?

[27:24] What did you say you went out there and worked with?

[32:12] What would you say from a mechanical standpoint? Was there anything that you changed when you were out there?

[40:03] What pitchers do you like to watch right now?

FOLLOW ADAM: 

Twitter:

@AdamCornwell10

@UIndyBaseball

Instagram:

adam_cornwell10

Check Out Patrick's Stuff:

• 📬 Patrick's Weekly Recruiting Newsletter – Get insights on college recruiting, player spotlights, and advice for parents and coaches. Subscribe at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruit

• ⚾ Need Help with College Recruiting? – We help serious baseball players get recruited. Book a 1-on-1 consult at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruiting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we have Craig Snider. Craig is currently the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator at Texas A&M University. He won a National Championship when he was at his prior school, Florida State University, back in 2018. 

Craig talks a bit about what they do at Texas A&M from a development standpoint and what he's looking for in recruits. It's fun to go across onto the softball side and see some of the similarities and differences between baseball and softball, doing some cool stuff with force plates down there.

He talks a bit about some of the fantastic projects behind the scenes.

SHOW NOTES:

[1:52] Why did you start and continue to stay in softball your entire career?

[4:27] How have you evolved over those 21 years as a coach?

[6:04] How have you gone about being able to make changes that show up in the game?

[8:05] What good exit velocity for a college softball player?

[9:09] Is there a team philosophy you have like I was listening to another podcast you did earlier. Did you talk about having a common language amongst your players?

[10:36] Vertical elite-What would be elite?

[10:46] Is there a correlation between the release point and vertical break?

[10:58] What would be an approach to facing a pitcher with an eight to ten-inch vertical break?

[15:24] Why would you want to run and swing, and I mean, is that just you're trying to hit ground balls?

[17:40] If you see someone's a slapper, are you probably not to look at them?

[18:23] What are you looking for from a defensive standpoint?

[20:27] How do you identify players you want to recruit?

[22:51] This is purely testing how the brain works, so this is actually like a blueprint of how your brain thinks and works.

[26:31] What are the percentages for pitchers who throw change-up versus other pitches?

[27:40] How do you give this information to the players?

[29:48] What's something that you would say the majority of players out there if they worked on it, would help them in the long run?

[33:09] Why do you think that is about players being on top of the play?

FOLLOW CRAIG:

TWITTER:

Coach_SniderSB

AggieSoftball

WEBSITE: 

https://12thman.com/

INSTAGRAM:

csnider42

Check Out Patrick's Stuff:

• 📬 Patrick's Weekly Recruiting Newsletter – Get insights on college recruiting, player spotlights, and advice for parents and coaches. Subscribe at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruit

• ⚾ Need Help with College Recruiting? – We help serious baseball players get recruited. Book a 1-on-1 consult at https://www.patrickjonesbaseball.com/recruiting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.