TBR Instant Classic: Ask Applejack

Ask Applejack

AJ attended Spartanburg Methodist. Was drafted by the Pirates and played for them as well as the Dodgers, Reds and I believe the Orioles. ( correct me if I am wrong AJ )

He was a successful pitcher in MLB and one of his biggest accomplishments was beating Randy Johnson ( I believe more than once ). He devotes his present time with his family and has a daughter who is an excellent basketball player. AJ will be working with someone's organization ( perhaps On Deck ) in the near future and anyone who gets a chance to spend some time with him will walk away amazed by his knowledge. He is one of a few people on the board whom can explain the process for a student athlete from HS all the way to the SHOW.

So this thread is titled " Ask AJ "

I'll start with the first question:

AJ- What is your opinion between the talent level between JUCO and let's say a D1 program? and how were you scouted?

 

Re: Ask Applejack

Thanks Braves. I was originally drafted by the Dodgers and signed free agent with the Reds and then the Tigers. Then traded to the Pirates along with Darnell Coles.

To try and answer your question, JC players attend the college for various reasons whether it be academic, athletic or just by preference.
When I was coming along you could not get drafted until your Jr or Senior year of college unless you attended a JC you were eligible to be drafted at anytime.
SMC was and still is a baseball factory. There were several players on my team that were sent there to play from D1 schools because they were going to be needed at their school of choice real soon and the coaches wanted them to get in as many innings as possible on an escalated level. Therefore, we had (6) D1 players playing on our JC team.
There were (8) players drafted from that team. We started out not being ranked at all and ended up in the top 10 in the nation.
We were one game from going to the JC world series held in Grand Junction , Colorado.
We scrimmaged several D1 schools and beat them or held our own. We were never beaten by more than 3 runs against D1 competition.
I'll hit you back in the morning. Gotta go!!!

 

Ask AJ

Wonderful thread guys:

AJ, as a former pitcher you've had games where you didn't have your "A" game, everybody does.

Mentally, how did you aproach your outing and be sucessful when you didn't have your best stuff ("B" Game) or best command ("C" Game) or both ("Let me just get through this one" Game)?

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"You have two hemispheres in your brain - a left and a right side. The left side controls the right side of your body and right controls the left half. It's a fact. Therefore, left-handers are the only people in their right minds."

 

Re: Ask AJ

Good question NCBBall!
Basically you are going to have these game a little more often than when you have your "best stuff".
These games are the games when you really find out if you are a pitcher in stead of just a thrower.
A thrower can get by with just natural ability. A pitcher is smart enough to get people out. The mentality and approach is totally different.
A thrower does not care who's hitting or what part of the line-up is up to bat, his mentality is "here's my best stuff, hit it if you can".
A pitcher analyzes (sp) the particular hitter from previous at bats or game film and sets him up to get him out. A pitcher should always get with his catcher between innings to go over the batters he's faced.
Here's the difference in mentality, a thrower wants to throw 3, 4,5 pitches per batter to strike him out.
A pitcher will take one pitch, change-up outside to a dead pull hitter, to get a ground ball out to the shortstop.
Now, if you get a combination of a pitcher that's got good stuff, the opposing team can forget it.

 

This is a sensitive question, but on I know you have strong feelings about AJ. Who should call a game. The catcher, the pitcher or the coach and why?

 

At what level are we talking B?

 

OOPS.. sorry AJ..... High School

 

Braves,
I think at the high school level it all depends on the maturity level of the pitcher.
Most guys at the high school level are throwers. If they are truly gifted it does not matter if the coach calls the pitch or not because they are basically getting by off natural God given talent.
Scouts like to see kids that challenge hitters and succeed because if they have the God given talent... you can always teach them how to pitch.
Let me put it this way, I've seen ** pitch on the side. He has the talent but he also has an idea as to what he wants to do with a hitter and where he wants to put the ball when doing it. I'd let ** call their game out there and analize the game afterwards by going over with him the hitters he faced and game film so that all season will be a learning process whether he wins or loses, same scenario.

 

Its an individual thing.

At the tender age of 13, we started letting our pitchers call their own game in order to get that painful learning experience out of the way.

It is a learning experience. For awhile, they seem to fall in love with a pitch... after a few years, they just try to get batters out, but it takes awhile.

The hardest education is on the catchers. Most haven't pitched before, don't have an idea of how to get batters out, don't try to read hitters in the box (stance, distance from plate, where the knob is), don't look at the hitter AND the situation so they start with the #1 on every hitter.

A lot of HS age pitchers don't have an idea of setting up a hitter. I like at HS for the coach (if he's good) to call the pitches and, for certain pitchers, allow them to shake off. It will remove a lot of stress of having to call a game, but allow the pitcher freedom to work the hitters.

Catchers develop this skill later. "If you believe your catcher is intelligent and you know that he has considerable experience, it is a good thing to leave the game almost entirely in his hands." ...Bob Feller

 

"It is a learning experience. For awhile, they seem to fall in love with a pitch' NCBballFan

This is one of the reasons that I personally would call pitches at this age level.
The fact remains that sooner or later a young pitcher of this age group could possibly develop a breaking pitch of some kind and fall in love with it. His arm more than likely can't tolerate the pressure of throwing a breaking ball and possibly ruin an arm.

At the major league level, catchers suggest what they would like for a pitcher to throw. Granted if the pitcher is fairly young and the catcher has vast experience then logically the young pitcher will go with the experienced catcher. This is one of the reasons I suggest all pitchers and catchers sit together between innings briefly to discuss hitters, situations, pitches etc... so that they will both be on the same page.

If this has worked for you in the past go for it. Do not fix a clock if it is'nt broken.