Ahead Of The Curve with Jonathan Gelnar

Michael Earley (Texas A&M) and Toby DeMello (University of Arizona) on Pre-Season and In-Season Hitting Development

Michael Bio
Michael Earley is in his first season as the hitting coach at A&M and arrives in the Brazos Valley after five seasons at Arizona State. Earley has built a reputation for developing hitters with his most notable work being the rise of Spencer Torkelson to the No. 1 overall draft pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. who went Undrafted out of high school. In the 2020 MLB Draft, four of Earley’s hitters were selected as Arizona State was the only school in the country to boast five players chosen in the shortened, five-round draft. 
Toby Bio
DeMello joined the Wildcats after spending three seasons at Sacramento State from 2019-21. He began his tenure with the Hornets serving as the program's Director of Operation and Analytics in 2019 before moving into the volunteer assistant role for the 2020 and 2021 campaigns. While at Sacramento State, DeMello's primary duties included serving as the team's catching coach, assisting with the hitters, aligning the defense, and coaching first base. Under his direction, the Hornets posted a record of 84-54 (.609) and improved their team batting average from .235 in 2019 to an impressive .283 in 2021. DeMello's coaching journey has also seen him make stops at Southern Illinois (2018), Occidental College (2017), and Sierra College (2016-17)
Michael Time Stamps
01:00-20:00
Toby Time Stamps
21:00-34:00
Contact
https://twitter.com/earleybaseball
https://twitter.com/tobydemello
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Derin McMains- Mental Skills Coach, Arizona Diamondbacks

Bio
21 years in professional baseball:
7 years - professional baseball player in the SF Giants organization
5 years - coaching in the SF Giants organization (3 years hitting/infield coach in Short-Season A, 1 year hitting/infield coach in Rookie-league, 1 year managing in Rookie-league)
9 years - mental skills coach (5 years with Giants, 2 years with Mariners, 2 years (currently) with Diamondbacks in mental performance consultant role)
Spent one year as the Director of Mental Conditioning at the University of Notre Dame
Show Notes
05:00- Intro
10:00- Trevor Moawads impact
14:00- How would you have coached yourself as a player?
17:00- Mental skills: The ability to focus on the right thing at the right time.
27:00- What you measure you can manage
31:00- Setting process goals
35:00- Pillars of peak performance 
42:00- Consistency of presence 
50:00- The importance of good body language (as coaches)
55:00- Resources 
Resources
Derin's Podcast
The Obstacle is the Way- Ryan Holiday
Contact
https://twitter.com/McMainsDmac
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Justin James on pre-season and in-development

Bio
https://plnusealions.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/justin-james/1020
Justin James is in his third season as the head coach of the Point Loma baseball team in 2021. James returned to his alma mater to take over as the head coach of the Sea Lions in the summer of 2018. He has over 13 years of collegiate coaching experience, including two as the pitching coaching at UC San Diego, where he helped lead the Tritons to back-to-back NCAA West Regional Championships.
 
In his first season as the leader of the program, James guided PLNU to a 32-21 record, a pair of postseason victories and into the final game of the NCAA West Regional #2. The Sea Lions ranked as high as No. 2 in the West Region poll, and reached No. 14 in the national rankings.
   
James' second season was cut short due to the COVID pandemic. At the time, the Sea Lions were playing their best baseball. PLNU finished conference play 3-1 (9-8 overall) and in second place in the PacWest standings.
 
On the show we discuss how to get arms ready for the season, how they develop in season and how to prepare teams for post season run. Here’s Justin James!
 
Time Stamps
01:00- Pre Season
06:00- How to get arms ready for the season
11:00- In Season Development
20:00- Post season and beyond.
Contact
justinjames@pointloma.edu
https://twitter.com/CoachJames_3
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Micah Franklin on pre-season training, in dugout conversations, and gameplanning / approach.

Bio
Today we have on hitting coach, Micah Franklin. Micah has spent a total of 28 years in professional baseball, 15 years as a player. In 1997 he made his MLB debut with with the St Louis Cardinals. He then spent 2 seasons in Japan with the Nippon Ham Fighters and Hanshin Tigers and 2 seasons in Korea with the Hyundai Unicorns
He actually started his career as a scout for 8 years, 5 years  for the Diamondbacks and then 3 years MLB pro scout Seattle. then has spent the last 5 years MILB Hitting Coach with the Diamondbacks
Time Stamps
01:00- Flipping the mental switch to pre season/ in season
04:15- Mental side of hitting
10:40- In Season Development
14:00- Timing/Gameplanning/Approach
Contact
https://twitter.com/micahf56
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Rachel Folden- MiLB Hitting Coach, Chicago Cubs

Bio
Rachel Folden is a minor league Hitting Coach in professional baseball, the first female to hold such a position in her organization. Folden also recently launched EliteFastpitch.tv, the most comprehensive hitting drill library available for softball players. Now players from around the world can train with Rachel and her team.
Rachel is a former professional softball player in National Pro Fast-pitch. She was drafted out of Marshall University after being a 4-time NFCA Division I All-American. Folden currently holds Marshall career records in batting average, hits, home runs, RBI, total bases, and walks.
On the show we discuss what the transition into professional baseball was like, we discuss coaching male athletes and female athletes, and we take an in depth dive into training timing and adjustability. You're gonna love this episode with Rachel Folden!
Show Notes
01:00- Being one of the first women in professional baseball
06:00- Trying to solve the "rise ball" problem
11:00- Coaching Male athletes vs coaching female athletes
14:00- Pre season, getting ready for the season
26:00- Tech Discussion
31:00-"it all starts with relationships"
37:00- Timing Discussion
45:00- Gameplanning and Approach
50:00- Lightning Section
Resources
Elitefastpitch.tv
https://www.elitebaseball.tv/liveclasses/elitebaseball-tv-elite-baseball-talk-podcast-episode-4-sit-down-with-rachel-folden/
Contact
https://www.foldenfastpitch.com/
https://twitter.com/foldenfastpitch
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Jason Thompson on practice plans, team drill concepts and getting ready for a playoff run.

Bio
Today we have on Jason Thompson, head baseball coach at Brennan HS. a few highlights, Jason has Over 250 Career Wins, Was the Texas 5A State Runner Up (2016), they Set Alamo Heights School Record for Wins in a Season (28 in 2015) and Reached the Texas Regional Semi-Finals
Part 2: We go over pre season through playoffs. Which includes practice plans, team D/O, and his process on getting his team ready to make a run through playoffs. Here's Jason Thompson!
Show Notes
01:00- Pre-Season Thoughts
08:00- Preparing an offense for games
10:30- Drills his players love
18:30- Priming a team for playoffs
22:00- Legacy Question
Contact
https://twitter.com/CoachJ_Thompson
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Shawn Stiffler on how he prepares his team from pre-season through post season play

Bio
https://vcuathletics.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/shawn-stiffler/551
Head Coach Shawn Stiffler enters his 10th season at the helm of VCU baseball for the 2021-2022 season. Over his tenure, the Rams have climbed back into national prominence. VCU stands as one of just eight programs in the country with 34-plus wins over the last seven full seasons.  Stiffler was named the the sixth head coach of the VCU Baseball  Stiffler was named the the sixth head coach of the VCU Baseball program in December 2012 following the passing of his mentor Paul Keyes. Stiffler was promoted after serving as the associate head coach for the first half of the 2012 campaign and serving as the interim head coach for the remainder of that season. Prior to being named head coach, he spent five seasons on Keyes' staff as the Rams' pitching coach and recruiting coordinator and was promoted to Associate Head Coach prior to the 2012 season. 
Timestamps
01:00- Game Ready (pre-season)
10:00- Putting together a process that helps us win games
22:00- Getting ready for post season
Contact
https://twitter.com/ShawnStiffler29
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Dane Fujinaka- Head Baseball Coach, Hawaii Pacific University

Bio
Dane comes to HPU from coaching in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system since 2019, and spent the last season as manager of the Blue Jays Dominican Summer League team.  He was an assistant coach at Illinois State in 2019 where he helped the Redbirds to a Missouri Valley co-championship and an NCAA Tournament berth before joining the Blue Jays. He also coached at Sacramento State, William Jessup and Menlo.
As a player, the new Sharks skipper was an Academic All-WAC performer as a catcher at Sacramento State, where he started 135 of 152 games at catcher for the Hornets. He finished his collegiate playing career at Menlo where he started all 54 games and was second on the Oaks with a .280 batting average with four home runs, nine doubles and 22 RBIs. 
Time Stamps
01:00- First 100 days on the job
12:00- Building the culture
18:00- Fall Training
32:00- Defensive Sets
40:00- Staffing and what he has learned lately
48:00- Resources
Resources
Talent Code- Daniel Coyle
Culture Code- Daniel Coyle
Top Dog- Po Bronson 
How to win friends and influence people- Dale Carnegie
Contact
https://twitter.com/_danejah_
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Brian Green- Head Baseball Coach, Washington State University

Bio
Brian Green is in his third season leading the Cougars after being named the 17th baseball coach in Washington State history June 3, 2019.
If you know one thing about Coach Green, his teams can hit. In the 2021 season they lead the Pac-12 and fifth in the country in doubles-per-game (2.4), second in the conference in hitting (.302), third in extra-base hits (101) and third in scoring (7.2 runs/g) while pacing the league with 74 doubles in conference games. 
So on the show, we discuss how they spend the first third of the fall on culture, and we go over his process of developing hitters during the fall. Here's Brian Green!
Time Stamps
2:00- Vision of the program
7:00- Staff Development
21:00- Fall Outline
27:00- "hitting talk"
Resources
Gary Ward ABCA
Mental Game of Baseball- HA Dorfman
Heads up baseball- Ken Ravizza
The Winner Within- Pat Riley
Contact
b.green@wsu.edu
https://twitter.com/coachbriangreen
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Toby DeMello- Hitting Coach, University of Arizona

Bio
DeMello joined the Wildcats after spending three seasons at Sacramento State from 2019-21. He began his tenure with the Hornets serving as the program's Director of Operation and Analytics in 2019 before moving into the volunteer assistant role for the 2020 and 2021 campaigns. While at Sacramento State, DeMello's primary duties included serving as the team's catching coach, assisting with the hitters, aligning the defense, and coaching first base. Under his direction, the Hornets posted a record of 84-54 (.609) and improved their team batting average from .235 in 2019 to an impressive .283 in 2021. DeMello's coaching journey has also seen him make stops at Southern Illinois (2018), Occidental College (2017), and Sierra College (2016-17)

Time Stamps
01:00- New Staff/new players and the transition 
07:30- Fall Foundation
12:30- "coaches are translators"
20:00- Fall Drills and 2K Tuesdays
Resources
Pitch Decision Chart-https://twitter.com/Tyler_Coolbaugh/status/1450933903867330561?s=20
https://www.theprogram.org/
Contact
https://twitter.com/tobydemello
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