Arizona Christian University Pitching Coach and assistant recruiting coordinator, formally SD Mesa College, Bring back plowing the catcher
Phoenix, AZ
Joined June 2023
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Pat Capone retweeted
I knew a hitting coach who worked with a few big league teams and he always said he spent more time building confidence than he did talk about approach or mechanics
Pat Capone retweeted
Over 2,500 games from the dugout. 50+ years in baseball. 17 as an MLB manager.
I won Manager of the Year and also lost more games than I want to count.
I led teams through losing seasons and took a team to the World Series.
If I could go back to my first day as a leader, here are the 5 lessons I'd whisper in my own ear:
Lesson 1: Be a window when it's good, a mirror when it's bad.
The leaders I respected most shared every win and absorbed every hit.
What this looks like in practice:
• Wins: name the people who made it happen
• Losses: say "that's on me" before anyone asks
• Locker room: spotlight the effort before the outcome
Your team will fight harder for a leader who deflects credit and absorbs blame.
Lesson 2: Nobody hands you trust. You earn it before you coach it.
Early in my career, plenty of coaches tried to fix my swing.
I tuned out every one I didn't trust.
Get to know your people before you try to develop them.
Their hobbies, their family, what makes them tick.
Then the coaching lands.
Lesson 3: Shower well after every loss.
After a losing streak in Colorado, our team president asked me how I kept the clubhouse together.
This was my rule:
• Self-evaluate honestly, were we prepared, did we execute?
• Shower well, wash off the grit, grime, and angst before you walk out
• Be present for whoever you're going home to
Tomorrow is a new opportunity. Don't drag yesterday into it.
Lesson 4: Lead transformationally, not transactionally.
Transactional leaders ask: what can this person do for me?
Transformational leaders ask: how do I put this person in a position to win?
The first builds compliance.
The second builds careers.
When your people start chasing growth instead of your approval, you've crossed over.
Lesson 5: Stay humble before life humbles you.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are humble, and those who are about to be.
Discipline keeps you in the first group:
Skill gets you in the room. Humility keeps you there.
50 years taught me leadership isn't about you.
It's about the people you serve.
@rockies
Pat Capone retweeted
Love this, chandler simpson getting his pre pitch dialed in during BP. So many players neglect these reps during BP because of the focus. Watch his eyes and body move in the direction the ball is hit. It’s the little things.
#Worldseries
Pat Capone retweeted
DAMN! Who knew little old me and my opinion would have all y’all this STIRRED UP?!
Some of y’all heard the word ANALYTICS and completely MISSED MY WHOLE DAMN POINT!
I’m talking about REAL BALLPLAYERS! DOGS! GRINDERS! Dudes who will fight through 12-pitch at-bats, move runners, lay down a bunt, run the bases, make plays, and do the dirty work EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! Guys who COMPETE THEIR ASSES OFF!
I spent a few years around Pat Murphy. Sat in his office, had plenty of personal conversations, and heard firsthand what that man preached!
“PLAY LIKE A NEANDERTHAL!”
Now let me ask y’all something…
YOU THINK NEANDERTHALS KNEW WHAT ANALYTICS WERE?! OR WERE THEY JUST OUT THERE TRYING TO COMPETE, SURVIVE, AND WIN NO MATTER WHAT?!
THAT’S MY WHOLE DAMN POINT!
I never said the Brewers and Rays don’t use analytics. I’m saying I see two organizations that value OLD-SCHOOL BALLPLAYERS! Complete players who know how to WIN, even when it ain’t pretty!
Y’all call it analytics. I call it GETTING BACK TO THE GAME I GREW UP LOVING! BASEBALL! SIMPLE AS THAT!
And yeah, let me be a LITTLE PETTY before I go!
Respectfully, I’m not letting people who have NEVER stepped between those lines convince me otherwise just because you went to a really FANCY SCHMANCY COLLEGE 🤣and know how to read a spreadsheet!
I respect education. I respect analytics. But being book smart doesn’t automatically mean you understand what it takes to COMPETE AND WIN between those lines!
I played 15 YEARS in the BIG LEAGUES! I’ve been around some of the greatest baseball minds in the world. That doesn’t mean I know everything, but I’ve earned the right to have my own perspective on this game!
LOVE THE DEBATE! RESPECT EVERYBODY’S OPINION! BUT I’M STANDING TEN TOES DOWN ON MINE!
Pat Capone retweeted
In the last few months:
The Orioles owner said he bought the team because all of his friends who had sports teams made more than he ever could in private equity
The Padres sold for $3.9B, 63% more than the previous record
The Angels then sold for $4.0B, beating the Padres record
So why then are billionaires lighting money on fire by bailing out other billionaires from the apparent financial ruin of owning a baseball team?
It's because they're all making billions in appreciation and teams like the Yankees can sell just 16% for $2.6 BILLION (MLB of course waived the 15% cap lol) with an additional $1B in tax-exempt revenue bonds to refinance debt in their other business ventures
Seriously, who would pass up on an infinite money glitch like that?
I'm begging you all to realize owners just want a cap to make accounting easier. They're lying about competitive balance to create a narrative that is only in place to win them cost certainty
Pat Capone retweeted
For half a century, the Milwaukee Brewers had some of the worst plate discipline and least amount of success in all of professional sports.
That was up until about 10 years ago.
How the Brewers changed its franchise around with “Moneyball 2.0” ⤵️
This
NLCS MVP Jake Bauers shares how letting go of results helped him find a different level of freedom as a competitor.
"I think what changed for me this year was I stopped caring about results. I started caring about competing. I started caring about being in the moment and getting out of my own way."
Sometimes, the biggest obstacle to performing at your best isn't a lack of preparation or ability.
It's the pressure you place on yourself to produce a particular outcome.
You become so concerned with what you want to happen that you lose touch with what the moment actually requires.
Any performer can unlock a new level when they learn how to be fully invested in the competition without becoming imprisoned by the outcome.
🎥: Fox Sports
Pat Capone retweeted
Some of the most talented ⚾️ players I've ever seen never made it.
And some with far less talent found a way.
After 20+ years in this game, I've learned something.
Talent gets you noticed.
Discipline keeps you improving.
Consistency separates you.
And how you respond when things aren't going your way? That reveals who you really are.
Your ceiling might be determined by your ability. But your floor is built by your habits.
Build your floor. Chase your ceiling.
Pat Capone retweeted
Total runs scored:
2006: 23,599 runs
2016: 21,744 runs
2026: 21,769 runs
Check out the XBH totals per year other than the HR.
So with with less homers and more singles, doubles, and triples, there were 1,830 more runs scored 20 years ago.
Yes pitchers are better, but 9000 strikeouts better?
2026 k’s vs 2006 k’s
Pat Capone retweeted
Radar guns and analytics can measure almost everything in this game. None of them can measure guts and nuts.
Pat Capone retweeted
I never jump straight into coaching when I visit our minor league clubs.
The first thing I do is watch and listen. I call it collecting coins.
Collecting coins means learning who the players actually are.
Two parents in the house growing up? Just mom? Any mentors? Did they love school or struggle with it? What do they do when it's raining and they're stuck inside?
Because here's what I figured out after a long time in the game: before you can ever coach a man, you have to know a man.
You can have the best practice plan in baseball and lose a player completely because he never felt like you saw him as anything more than a roster spot.
Collect the coins. Know who you've got. Everything you teach lands harder once you've done that work.
Pat Capone retweeted
I came across a video of a college baseball coach in Texas talking about their recruiting process.
He broke down their numbers:
300 players on their initial list.
60–70 phone calls.
35 offers.
26 visits.
10–12 players signed.
But what really caught my attention was something else he said.
He’s LOOKING for reasons to cross players off that list.
The quicker a player shows he’s not a fit, the easier his job becomes.
Think about that.
The next time you’re playing your third game of the day, it’s 95 degrees, you’re exhausted, and you hit a routine ground ball to shortstop…
Run your ass down the line.
You never know who’s watching.
And you have no idea how quickly you can go from being ON a coach’s list to OFF it.
Pat Capone retweeted
Straight from the mouth of a mid-major D1 coach a few minutes ago. I told him I needed to write this stuff down and share with everyone.
We were talking about a few players that I work with and he was telling me about how ridiculous recruiting is getting.
"Everyone's running out of roster spots... so we are all like, 'this guy sucks' [when watching a player] because he's not an absolute dude. And we're all passing on good players because you'll probably be able to find an older or more experienced guy down the road".
"We basically have 3 different recruiting classes each year. High school, JC, and portal. And you don't even know how many roster spots you're actually gonna have".
"We have so few roster spots that we are grading kids on such high scales. Like a high school guy has to be a starter as a freshman or we can't recruit him. And then if he shows up and actually starts as a freshman for us he'll probably leave and get more money from a bigger school. So you can't win. And then we just end up sitting in a holding pattern."
"The value of a single roster spot for us has gone up a ton because the total amount of spots we have has gone down, but the dollar amount per spot has gone up with scholarships increasing. So we are investing more in these guys, and expecting more."
This is the sentiment amongst most D1 coaches at this point and honestly a large population of D2 and D3 programs that are incentivized to be patient and wait for an older guy rather than recruiting young. High tier academic schools operate on a different timeline, and there are certainly some other exceptions. But this is the new reality for most programs.
Players and families... do not assume that you are the exception and that this doesn't apply to you!
Pat Capone retweeted
Support our 2026 Arizona Christian University Baseball Fundraiser! ets.rocks/4cJUYD7
@ACUFirestorm @ACU_AZ @AzBCA_ @azc_obert
thecomputerfactory.net/tales…
The curse no one talks about
Pat Capone retweeted
Parents, here's what a Division I baseball player looks like right now.
AGE
In 2022, the average D1 player was 20.1 years old.
By 2024, it was 21.9.
That's almost two years older in two seasons. The transfer portal, extra eligibility years, and roster limits have D1 programs filling spots with experienced college players instead of high school recruits.
SIZE
The starters in the 2024 College World Series finals averaged:
Height: about 6'1½"
Weight: 204 lbs
In 2024, they averaged nearly 210 lbs.
PLAYING TIME
Freshmen now play barely 10% of Division I innings.
So when someone tells you your 5'10", 165-pound high school junior is "definitely D1," ask yourself who he'd be competing against: a 22-year-old, 210-pound college veteran.
That doesn't mean your son can't get there. It means the path might run through D2, D3, NAIA, or JUCO first, where he can play, get bigger, get stronger, and move up.
Know the numbers. Plan accordingly.
Coach Drew