Baseball practice report from KAKE

[Aargh]

Butler is very involved in practrices. He participates with the players by throwing batting practice and being personally involved in the drills.

The Shocker was when a player (sorry, didn't catch the name) was interviewed. As I recall, he said (roughly) "Practices are just go, go, go. No sitting around like last year. Last year during batting practice we mostly just hung out in the outfield. There's none of that this year. We're always doing something".

Are you kidding me? Next time Gene wonders why he's not at WSU any more, just play that clip back to him.

[WSUwatcher]

I've never been to a Shocker practice in my life, but somehow it's hard to imagine that 25 years ago the guys were just hanging around in the outfield while BP was underway at practice. Can anyone else enlighten us on the good old days?

[1972Shocker]

The Shocker was when a player (sorry, didn't catch the name) was interviewed. As I recall, he said (roughly) "Practices are just go, go, go. No sitting around like last year. Last year during batting practice we mostly just hung out in the outfield. There's none of that this year. We're always doing something".

Interesting. I watched the video that is up on www.kake.com and that quote was not in there. Perhaps they edited that part out.

[RoyalShock]

KWCH interviewed Tyler Baker and he was HIGHLY appreciative of actually having a coach that knows the catcher position. He also said Walker has helped him with his hitting, too, which was nice. That told me volumes about the job Jim Thomas did (or didn't do).

[WSUwatcher]

Mixing sports for a moment: Manny Diaz = Jim Thomas?

Some have said that Mack Brown panicked in dumping Diaz after two games (probably true), that he should have done it sooner, and that the reason for his unseemly haste over the weekend is that he knew he should have done it sooner (and maybe even his AD did, too). Who knows -- but the bottom line is that however messy and poorly handled the move may have been, the Almighty Horns decided they needed to do something about their bumbling defense, and Mack finally did what needed to be done.

If Gene had done the same a few years ago to fix his offense, he might still be running things at WSU. More important, things might have been better the past few seasons.

[1972Shocker]

nm

[tru2thaduce]

I seen Baker on KWCH and it made me feel real good about the hire.No wonder we weren't getting the best out of talented players in recent years.I wonder how Coy would have done with this staff?Way too many guys were regressing under Gene and JT.Now back in the day I believe Gene was a totally different coach.A true legend of the game.But with that said his time had come and gone.

[Ricardo del Rio]

Two-thirds of the barn was cleaned out and I am most happy about it.

I am not going to regurgitate the past, but I am most happy say that I am delighted about the change.

Shagging balls, during batting practice, does not provide much learning or skill improvement except glove behind the back catches.

[vbird53]

On Sports radio last week, Brent mentioned in regards to how practice has begun with the new regime that his normal daytime naps and soap opera watching is now over. (Heavy amounts of sarcasm).

[BleedsGold]

The intra-squad was a fun night out complete with standard baseball stuff: Gillaspie goes yard, the old 4-5 triple play, CF headlong dive into the base of the outfield wall to rob Gillaspie, innings starting with a runner on second and an attempted bunt to move the runner. Stuff like that. Can't wait for the Black-Gold Fall series.

[_kai_]

Last year I was at the park really early for a game doing some work related stuff and sat and watched warm ups before the Creighton homestand. Probably 2-3 hours before game time and what I saw being done wouldn't have been acceptable in a highschool setting. Multiple players were doing fake karate stuff in the outfield while a couple guys ran 90 foot sprints next to them. Went on for about 5 minutes and I'm just standing there thinking "I wonder what Gregg would do if Baker and Malcolm started doing fake karate during warm ups prior to playing Creighton at home?"

I'm glad we went in a different direction, and I'm really glad we went with Coach Butler. I've heard him speak a few times, and in settings where he isn't pandering to a crowd of fans, and the guy is top notch. He's just on top of it all, and hearing that he's involved with every little detail of practice does not shock me one bit.

[ShockerFever]

The intra-squad was a fun night out complete with standard baseball stuff: Gillaspie goes yard, the old 4-5 triple play, CF headlong dive into the base of the outfield wall to rob Gillaspie, innings starting with a runner on second and an attempted bunt to move the runner. Stuff like that. Can't wait for the Black-Gold Fall series.

I know it's just an intra-squad, but that just gets me excited. I cannot wait til next spring.

Did we have an intra-squad scrimmage last year before the Fall World Series? Are we sure there is a Fall World Series this year? Hasn't it normally started by now?

[ShockerFever]

Last year I was at the park really early for a game doing some work related stuff and sat and watched warm ups before the Creighton homestand. Probably 2-3 hours before game time and what I saw being done wouldn't have been acceptable in a highschool setting. Multiple players were doing fake karate stuff in the outfield while a couple guys ran 90 foot sprints next to them. Went on for about 5 minutes and I'm just standing there thinking "I wonder what Gregg would do if Baker and Malcolm started doing fake karate during warm ups prior to playing Creighton at home?"

I'm glad we went in a different direction, and I'm really glad we went with Coach Butler. I've heard him speak a few times, and in settings where he isn't pandering to a crowd of fans, and the guy is top notch. He's just on top of it all, and hearing that he's involved with every little detail of practice does not shock me one bit.

That's mildly disturbing and kinda shows small reasons for why our records have slipped and our mental IQ was normally low in games.

I'm excited for a fresh look too. All signs point towards WSU baseball eventually returning to its rightful spot in the college baseball landscape.

[pogo]

I don't know what the scrimmage was supposed to accomplish if anything. I didn't stay real late but I did get to see Gillespies dinger and he got a lot of it. The pitching looked good but really its tough to tell whether they looked really good or our hitters didn't. Beautiful evening last night and from what I observed before the scrimmage started and they were taking batting practice there wasn't a lot of just standing around much less guys practicing their kung fu kicks.

[Kung Wu]

"Coach ... I gotta sit the first couple of innings ... I think ... yeah ... I gotta cramp in my hammy ... on that last flying reverse roundhouse kick."