Boot Camp Training For Free

That might be why ol' Braves hasn't made that trip to beautiful downtown Roxboro, yet.

 

I guess Braves does have some pull!

The weather report has changed after Braves made a call. Now is supposed to be 65 and partly sunny on Saturday. Thanks Braves I guess you do have some pull after all! We may just do everything outside if that weather reports holds up.

 

You're welcome ....I know the Big Boy

 

must be living the good life I suppose... u comin to creedmoor?

 

Thanks to everyone that came!

I want to thank all the players and parents that came out today. Some drove a long ways , Charlotte , Stanly County , Fayetteville , Tarboro and many other locations. We had a total of 30 players show up the youngest being a 7th grader. We had a great time. Tons of swings and a good work out before the bp. Several catchers got some individual work and several pitchers got to throw a pen.

I want to thank Andy Partin from Impact Baseball for making the trip and taking the time to talk to the players. And for the fungos as well. Andy is just alot of fun to be around. I want to thank my good friends Coach Steve Evans from Roxboro Person. Hey those beans were pretty good huh? And my good friend Coach Jeff Tate from Oxford Webb High School. Coach Ryan Stephenson from Methodist College and Chris Luck. And a special thanks to my nephew Rusty May former standout at Southern Durham and Liberty University. Awesome job with the catchers Russ. This guy needs to be coaching somewhere.

There is nothing more fun to me than seeing young men work at the game and have fun at the park. I was very impressed with these young men they really swung the bat. I want to list each player and say some things about each one. I will do this very soon. It was a pleasure to work with each and every one of them. Great young men each and everyone of them. I enjoyed it guys thanks for coming and good luck this spring!

 

More pats for you

Coach,
That was by far the best time we have had in along time even with the cooler temps than expected. The trip from Fayetteville was worth what my son learned and for the time I got to spend with old and new friends just BSing about baseball. I just gotta know...how tired is the arm? Thanks for a great Christmas present for the kids. Anytime that you need ANYTHING from down in our part of the country you just have to ask.
Happy Holidays to you, your family and to all the others that helped put on such a great event.
thanks
Tom and Britt Kuchen

 

It was a treat to watch the baseballs fly off the bats of Ben Fish, Brian Goodwin, Jeff May, and Pratt Maynard. Lots of power in those four swings. I wasn't able to stay for the whole thing, but I did get to see the tractor tire roll. That was good stuff. Explains a lot as to why Jeff & Pratt can ton a baseball.

 

The Youngins

Please excuse any mispelled names. Im going from my sign up sheet and some of the boys writing is hard to read. Feel free to correct the spelling.

2013 - Logan Koch - C/1B - Logan hits from the left side but also showed some hitting ability from the right side as well. He appears to be more of a natural left hand hitter. But if he sticks with it he could develop into a switch hitter. He has a nice compact approach. He hammers the baseball middle to outer half. He struggles a bit with pitches in on the hands and down and in. This is due to casting the arms a bit on his launch. He is very young and if he continues to work is going to be quite a hitter. He shows very good power for a kid his age. Stays on the baseball well. He has a chance to be very good down the road.

2011- Zach Seagrave - Myers Park - P/1B/OF - Great quiet approach at the plate. Attacks the baseball. Pure rotational hitter with a very good set up at the plate. Zach loves to hit. You can see he feels very comfortable in the box. He chases balls up and in out of the zone a bit. But that is because he is a very aggressive hitter. He has good power especially for a kid his age. He uses the field pretty well for a young kid. I really like his make up at the plate. He gets in there and he goes to work. Im going to be making sure I follow this young guys progress in high school. He wants it and it shows.

2011- Justin Hammond - Hopewell HS - P/OF - The rich get richer! Coach Brown has a good one coming in this young man. Justin gets after it. He has a very nice approach at the plate. He can get a little long at times but then corrects himself immediately on the next swing. I love to see guys that make adjustments. Not after 20 swings but as soon as they understand whats going on. Justin was very good on balls middle in and turned on anything in that zone. I loved his attitude on the baseball field. Its fun to work with guys that want to get better. This kid is going to be real good.

2011- Justin Britt - Fairmont HS - P/2B/OF - The first thing I noticed about Justin was his athletic and strong frame. This kid is really put together for a 2011 kid. He really attacks the baseball. I would like to see him start with his hands a little higher. And sometimes he lets them drop on launch. But this is easily correctable. What I did like was his aggressive approach. This kid is looking to mash. He was very good on middle in and down in the zone. Like all hitters he needs to work on letting the ball get deeper outer half and away. But one things for sure as he grows and if he keeps working he is going to drop bombs.

2011- Charlie Seagrave - Myers Park HS - C/IF/OF - How lucky is Myers Park to be getting these two brothers. Charlie and Zach brothers in the same class. Charlie like his brother is a pure rotational hitter with an outstanding approach at the plate. He has advanced hitting mechanics and you can tell he like his brother have put in their work at the plate. Sprays the field with line drives. Hits the ball where its pitched and has a clue for sure what he is doing out there. He loves to hit. He has that look when he gets in the box. Like Zach this guy is going to be very good. These two brothers can hit folks. Power will come but the ability to hit line drives to all parts of the field is there now.

2011- Travis Vaughan - Roxboro Person HS - C - I love this kid. Great lower half already. Strong and athletic kid. You know when you see a kid in the box and they really want it. You can tell there is no where else they would rather be. That is Travis. He has a nice approach at the plate. Sometimes his feet get a little "happy". But after some instruction that was gone. That is a great sign to me. Coachable and hungry - thats where its at for me. This kid has some juice. We have a huge park folks. Huge and it does not carry well at all. This kid was putting some shots out there. And he was showing some real bat speed. Coach Evans has got a good one in the making with Travis. He is going to be a real player.

2010- Stephon McKinney - Cary High HS - 3B - This kid can flat out hit. He hits from the leftside with a tremendous approach. When you watch Stephon hit the first thing you notice is his set up at the plate. He has great balance and he lets the ball get deep in the zone. Stephon uses the whole field and for a 2010 thats saying something. He has good power but will really develop as he grows and gets stronger. Stephon is an advanced hitter and you showcase guys better get on him quick because he is a top level 2010 player. Outstanding attitude on the field. He goes to work out there bigtime. This guy is really good and is only going to get better.

2010- Ty Breedlove - JF Webb HS - 1B - Ty is big kid and hits from the leftside. He tends to get his hands away from his body at times. He also tends to cast his arms and hook around balls as well. He shows good bat speed and attacks the baseball. What I liked about Ty was his ability to make adjustments in a short period of time. After a couple of rounds at the dish he started to show a much shorter stroke and hammered several balls to rf. Actually he almost went yard to rf with a line drive seed. Ty has alot of potential and has the chance to be a big power guy from the leftside. Great kid works hard and is very coachable.

2010- Trey Talley - JF Webb HS - C/P - Trey is another of Coach Jeff Tates young Warriors. Trey has a very aggressive approach at the plate and attacks the baseball. He did a good job on balls down in the zone and hit several line drives during his bp. He tends to cast a bit and at times he got a little long. But he made adjustments and showed the ability to drive the baseball. Trey is going to be a very good hitter if he continues to work hard and get stronger.

2010- Ryan Allen - JF Webb HS - 2B/SS - This young man is a player. He is not a very big young man. But he swings a big bat. I love his approach and his set up at the plate. He has a very sound swing and you can tell he has been well coached. He barrells baseballs on a consistent basis. He has tremendous power for a young man his size. He tended to drop the back shoulder and hit the outside pitch too far out in front at times. But he hammered the baseball middle in. I really enjoyed watching Ryan swing the bat. He has obviously worked hard at hitting and it has paid off. Now all he has to do is continue to work hard and let nature take its course. He reminds me of Pecora from Northern Vance a bit but at this time in his career he is better at the plate. Coach Tate has got some nice young players in his program and Allen is one of them.

More to come.

 

Thank you!

Thank you Coach and thanks to the other coaches, players that helped, everyone involved and ESPECIALLY to Rhonda, Mrs. Maynard and everyone involved in keeping the coffee and food flowing!!

P.S. The pintos were great!!

I had a great time seeing everyone and letting Nick learn from you, Chris, and the others. I asked Nick his thoughts on the camp and he said it was a lot of fun and that he did learn some things!

I know you don't need and want "thanks" because I know you well enough to know you would still be out there right now if there was a kid there wanting to learn and work just because you love kids and teaching them... BUT I going to tell you THANK YOU again for all of your hard work organizing the event, getting the other coaches and on field experts there and talking the ladies into spending the day with us. Not to mention the amount of batting practice "all" of you had to throw (I was worried for a minute you were going to ask me or Kevin... but don't worry though, I was prepared to......prepared to volunteer Kevin!)

It was well worth the trip just for the fun, not to mention the learning experiences!!

Thank you again and I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The McBrides

 

Continued - Boot Camp

2010 - Zack Moran - South Granville HS - 1B/C - Zack is a big kid and very athletic. At 6-3 and around 175 he has a great baseball body. He has a nice quiet approach at the plate and generates some serious bat speed. Zack has tremendous power and was very good on balls middle in. Zach showed a long swing at times and tended to hook around pitches outer half and away. When he learns to use the whole field he has the chance to be a very dangerous hitter. Zacks best tool is his bat. If he can learn how to control his emotions in the box and not out think himself he has a chance to be real good.

2010 - Matt Wilson - South Granville HS - 1B/C - Matt attacks the baseball. I call him Hack Wilson because if you throw it he is going to take a hack at it. Matt had a tendency to chicken wing a bit and cast his arms. And he pulled off pitches away several times early today. But he made some nice adjustments as the day went on. Matt has a chance to be a very good hitter if he continues to work. He needs to shorten his swing and flatten it out a bit but the desire and work ethic is there to get it done and he will.

2009 - Will Byrd - Broughton HS - C - I made a new baseball friend today in Will. A catcher that wanted to catch every bull pen he could. He made sure he got with Rusty May and got in a ton of work in the pen. He loves to catch and he is going to be a good one. At the plate I liked his approach. He is confident and quiet in the box. He has really good hands and showed the ability to adjust to pitches and drive the ball to all fields. He is not a power guy at least right now. But he has gap power and a good baseball body. Will , keep working hard. You have a chance to be very good. Work ethic and attitude are his two best strengths. And he has alot of baseball ability as well.

2009 - Eli Baker - Wilkes Central HS - P/OF/3B - Man I really liked this kid. Eager to learn and ready to take care of business on the baseball field. Eli showed a very good approach at the plate. He hammered several balls in the gaps and numerous line drives. He like several guys got leaked out front a few times but for the most part stayed back and drove the baseball. Eli is a physical player who has alot of potential. Hey the kid drove from Wilkes Central to get in a day at the park the last Saturday before Christmas. Thats says it all for me right there. Great kid!

2009 - Geoff Watkins - Roxboro Person HS - C/Inf - I dont know what it is about these Roxboro boys but they all just seem to be great kids. Geoff gets after it. He attacks the baseball and looks to mash. He had two great rounds of Bp then struggled a bit and you could tell he didnt like it. I like that. It shows me the kid wants to do good all the time and is not satified. He has a nice compact swing and hammered the middle in stuff. He needs to let the ball get deep away and he needs to work on not wrapping the bat at times. But overall a nice showing for this Rocket.

2009 - Nick McBride - Ragsdale HS - P/OF - Tall and very athletic player. Also he is one of the top RHP in the state of NC right now. Nick got "hip happy" in his first round of Bp. His hips were getting ahead of his hands and he was dragging the bat. Once he corrected that he was hitting lazers all over the field. This kid can hit folks. He has power and he has bat speed. If Nick can learn to not try and over swing and not let his hips open up too early he will be a fantastic hitter. I have no doubt that he will make this adjustment because he made great strides already today.

2009 - Drew Davis - Tarboro HS - C/P - Drew is a big and strong young man. He hammered the ball middle in all day. Drew has a short stroke and he repeats in consistently. Drew needs to let the ball get deep middle away. And he needs to look to drive the ball opposite field when he gets that pitch. Drew was very good on pitches up in the zone but tended to hook around balls down in the zone. Learning to let the ball get deep between his legs when its down in the zone will help alot. Drew had a good showing at the dish.

2009 - Matt Boykin - Tarboro HS - 3B - Matt has a nice approach at the plate. He for the most part let the ball get deep and showed good bat speed. Matt has gap power and good flat swing approach. Matt really gets after it at the dish. He is very aggressive and if its around the plate he is hacking. Like most hitters he had a tendency to hook around pitches away and not let them get deep. He also had a tendency to wrap the bat at times. Matt has a chance to be a very good hitter for the Vikings. One things for sure he is not going to get cheated. Great kid . very coachable.

2009 - Brian Goodwin - Rocky Mount HS - OF - Brian hits from the leftside and showed power and the ability to consistently barrell the baseball. Brian just finished up with football and has not swung it much in the last couple of months. Each round he got better and better. He has tremendous power. He has tremendous batspeed. Brian had a tendency to dip a bit on the pitches outside and down in the zone. Up and away he hammered the baseball. This kid is the real deal. Already an early verbal to UNC its easy to see why he is considered the top 09 OF prospect in NC and one of the top 09 prospects in the nation. His combonation of speed , power and athletic ability are rare , very rare. Great kid, a pleasure to be on the baseball field with.

2009 - Bryan Bass - Northern Durham HS - 2B/SS - Is there anyone in HS baseball that loves to be on the field anymore than Bryan Bass? NO! Is there anyone out there I wish I could coach more than Bryan? NO! Add in the fact he is a pure stud on the infield and at the plate and what more could you ask for? Bryan is a hitter. He barrells the baseball. He makes immediate adjustments in the box. He does things you just can not teach. Tremendous hands , great balance , pure swing! Bryan is a gap to gap machine. As he gets older and stronger look out because he is going to develop some serious power in college. Every coach wants guys like Bryan. Gritty as hell and tough as nails. Can you tell I like this kid a bit?

more to come