When you hear about Nashville you likely think Country Music
and the state of Virginia is better known as the “Mother of Presidents,” it was
the birthplace of 8 U.S. presidents including George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson. * And yet, two
universities, Vanderbilt located in Nashville and The University of Virginia
(both better known for their academic reputations) have built baseball
powerhouses in a sport that has traditionally been dominated by schools located
in the deep South or the West Coast.
Consider their recent run of successes:
Virginia under head coach Brian O’Connor has made 12
consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament and have made it to the College
World Series (CWS) 4 times, have had 39 players drafted into MLB over the past
6 seasons. ** And the Cavaliers won their first ever CWS title last week
against…***
The Vanderbilt Commodores whom under the leadership of head
coach Tim Corbin have made 10 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and have
played in the CWS finals the last two years, winning the championship last
season. Corbin’s 13 seasons has seen the Commodores produce 12 First Round MLB
draft choices and since 2003 Vanderbilt has seen 48 of it’s pitchers drafted
into the Major Leagues. ****
So what are these two programs doing that has allowed them
to stand above more established programs?
It all comes down to their recruiting philosophy!
What type of players have the Cavaliers targeted to build
such a strong program?
"The physicality of a player is important, to be able
to endure an entire season," O'Connor said. "That's why all you see
the guys playing on TV in the big leagues, they're physical specimens. And the
pro people like these guys too, because when you're playing 160 ball games in
professional baseball, it's a grind, and the more physical you are, the better
you hold up.
"You look at our lineup, 3 through 7, and you're
talking about big, physical but most importantly athletic guys that can run.
They can last longer; they're better late in the season. When you're not as
physically gifted, your body wears down quicker throughout an entire
season."
As proof of their theory about durability, the Cavaliers
were indeed better late. This team was in danger of missing the NCAA tournament
all together but a late run got them in and the rest as they say is history.
They finished with the fewest wins (44) by an NCAA champion in nearly 50 years
but they finished strong to say the least!
As impressive as the size of many of his players, O'Connor
said, is their athleticism, and that's a priority in recruiting. The Cavaliers
target prospects whom in the field "maybe can play a few different
positions," O'Connor said.
"Every one of those guys that plays for us in the
outfield, every one of them could play center field.”
"That means they all can run. They also happen to be
physical guys. They all happen to be able to hit the ball out of the ballpark;
they're all middle-of-the-lineup kind of guys. They could all play center
field, so they all cover good territory in the outfield. And so it's been a
conscious effort of recruiting guys that don't just hit. They can run, they can
get down the baseline, they can be valuable players every day, even if they're
not getting two hits and driving in runs."
To this point freshman centerfielder Adam Haseley started
game 2 of the CWS on the mound for Virginia even though he had only started 4
games all season and the Cavaliers were down 1 game to none in the best of
three series when he got the call (huge pressure spot for anyone let along a freshman!)
and he tossed 5 shutout innings.
The elite Division I athlete who played multiple sports in
high school may be a vanishing breed, but it's not extinct. O'Connor's program
includes such examples as Joe McCarthy, Brandon Downes, Papi, Young, Jared
King, Whit Mayberry and Rob Bennie, and the Cav’s are always looking for more.*****
McCarthy was the ACC freshman of the year in 2013, and also
starred in football and basketball at Scranton High in Pennsylvania. Downes
played quarterback and defensive back at South Plainfield High in New Jersey.
Papi was an all-conference basketball player at Tunkhannock High in
Pennsylvania, and Young was a three-year letter-winner in hoops at Atlee High
in Mechanicsville.
The coaches, O'Connor starred in baseball, basketball and
football in high school and McMullan played football and baseball at Indiana
University of Pennsylvania.
Noting that former UVA baseball greats Steven Proscia and
John Hicks were also football standouts in high school, McMullan said, "We
do like those guys. A lot of times parents ask us if we're going to ask their
sons not to play football. It's funny, because we respond, `If he doesn't play
football, this opportunity at Virginia is not going to be there for him.' We
like those guys that like to compete."
O'Connor agreed.
"I've always said that if I have a choice between the
same player, and one played high school football and one didn't, I will always
choose the guy that played football," he said. (Joe McCarthy is a great
example of that. There's toughness and a competitiveness that comes from that
that I love, and I think that's part of what makes him the player that he is.
Multi-sport athletes tend to be more resilient because they
have to role in different crowds and adjust to an ever-changing environment.
That was evident in a Virginia team that experienced several key injuries early
in the season and endured poor weather and field conditions that forced them to
cancel or move 13 games. And as mentioned earlier they nearly missed the NCAA
tournament outright!
"That being said, in today's day and age, there's not
many guys out there that are doing it, because baseball's become a year-round
sport. They play in the fall, the spring and the summer, and they're training
in the winter."
To enhance the players' natural size and athleticism, the
coaching staff emphasizes strength and conditioning. That's contributed to the
program's extraordinary success under O'Connor.
"It starts at the top, and both Kevin and Brian since
I've gotten here have been all about the off-field conditioning," said Ed
Nordenschild, UVA's director of strength and conditioning. "That gets
translated to the athletes, and they take it and run. I don't think it takes
much to get guys to believe in the benefits of strength and conditioning."
McMullan said: "I love our plan in the weight room. I
love the way Ed handles our guys. He's a teacher. He's going to teach them
techniques. He doesn't just throw-weight on the bar. It's fundamental. It's
technical. It's a reflection of a lot of the things we do with our players.
It's a seamless transition [from the weight room to the field]."
The benefits of weight training are many, Nordenschild said.
Bigger, stronger players are "a little more
injury-resistant, for sure," he said. "They have better armor, so to
speak. And to be honest, that's the biggest reason why any athlete should hit
the weight room: injury prevention. After that it's performance enhancement.
But their performance becomes secondary if they're injured. If they're sitting
on the bench, they can't help us."
Programs like Virginia and Vanderbilt are maximizing their
on-field potential because of the well-rounded athletes they recruit. They seek out young men with all around
athleticism because they understand that this diverse background affords them
as coaches the best opportunity to get the most out of the athletes. And they
emphasize off-field training to keep their players healthy so they can stay on
the field of play, which is essential to long-term talent development. And more
specifically both staffs understand that baseball players have unique strength
and conditioning needs. Applying football or Cross-Fit style training to this
population would be a big mistake!
This philosophy shouldn’t be so rare, the fact that it is
speaks volumes about why these two non-traditional baseball schools have
established themselves as the trendsetters in College Baseball.
***Virginia caps comeback season as College World Series
Champs!
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