The excitement of Raptors Baseball is back for 2009 with the kickoff tournament May 16-17 in Rocky Mount! USSSA’s Big East Challenge NIT pits nine AA teams in competition. The Raptors will begin play on Saturday at 4:00 against the Chapel Hill Royals, then continue with a 7:30 start against the Carolina Warriors. Both teams bring winning records into the opening contest for the Raptors.
For those who have not been to the Rocky Mount Sports Complex, here’s the link.
It’s that time again, and even with winter weather returning it will be great to see the Raptors on the field again.
If you did not receive an email in the past few weeks about the beginning of the spring season, please email us at baseball@raptorsbb.org. You’ll be hearing soon about an informational meeting and the start of practice 
!
Some of our guys will be playing on Middle School teams that will prohibit them from playing with us on the weekends. They will be joining us in May, when the school season is over.
Stay tuned here for the latest information. And, PLAY BALL!
At last night’s practice we went through six of our favorite drills to help reinforce fundamentals. We hit soft toss, worked on bunting, used the soft hands, ran down fly balls, snagged short hops, and did a “quick feet drill.” All helping us concentrate in practice what must come naturally in games.
We ended with our lesson to take home. As we talk about often, baseball is a game of “half seconds.” What I mean by that is the outcome of a game my very well depend on beating out a throw at first, or turning the double-header at second base. Our focus on half seconds actually won the championship game for us this past Sunday. Ryan Speer hit a slow roller to third, but was able to beat it out. He came around to score the tying run.
One way to take make ourselves better in that half second is learning to rightly “take a glance.” This is an advanced technique, in my experience and opinion, but one that kids can begin to learn. They will not execute it perfectly until much later, but they can begin to try it now.
Essentially, the glance is that brief look to the catcher a runner attempting a steal from first to second needs to make. A runner will usually take 4 or 5 steps between when we breaks for second and when the ball gets to the plate. This timing is crucial for proper execution because we do not want the baserunning watching the ball; we want him only to take a quick glance to see what happened when the ball reached home plate.
Why is this important? To see, we shoud ask, “What all can happen when the ball reaches home?” First, the ball could be caught by the catcher. If the catcher receives the ball, the runner knows there will probably be a play at second (unless, of course, it was ball four, something the runner should be aware of). If the ball is caught, the runner needs to refocus on getting to second base as quicky as possible, and making a slide based on where the fielder sets up to receive the ball (as far from the tag as possible).
Second, the batter could hit the ball. There are several possible outcomes to a ball having been hit. It could be a popup, which means the runner needs to change direction and get back to the bag as quickly as possible. It could be a ground ball behind him, at which point the runner needs to pick up the coach at third to see if he needs to turn and head for the next base. It could be a fly ball to the outfield, at which point the runner needs to stop and be ready to return to first.
Third, the ball could be a wild pitch that goes to the backstop and rolls around. The runner should pick this up, then look to the coach at third for directions. The coach may call him to third or tell him to stay at second.
Proper use of the glance home on a steal can save the runner from being doubled up on a pop fly, can give him a chance to reach third on a successful hit and run or wild pitch, and can refocus his effort to get to the bag as quickly as possible for the play at second. In each case, the glance home is a powerful weapon in a baseball players arsenal. It should be practiced and employed.
Here’s the weekend schedule posted here:
Saturday
9:00 AM v. Area Stars
10:45 v. Carrboro Yankees
Sunday
12:30 v. Apex Arsenal
4:00 v. Carolina Chargers
All games are scheduled for field 3.
Come out and watch some great baseball this weekend!
As of Thursday morning, the following teams are scheduled to play at the Factory this weekend:
Ida Terbet Raptors
Area Stars
Apex Arsenal
Carolina Chargers
Carborro Yankees
This weekend the Ida Terbet Raptors will play in Wake Forest at the Factory for the first time since last fall. The previously scheduled tournament in Rocky Mount was moved to Ashboro, and the Raptors have decided to play with our friends in Wake Forest rather than make the drive for the final tournament of the 2008 season.
Raptors baseball is coming off a strong showing the past weekend in Raleigh, going 3-1 and taking first in the silver division. The Raptors started slow with some struggles, espcially on the mound, in the early spring, but have made some adjustments that have strengthened the team, putting them in a position to play some great baseball. Most importantly, the Raptors are having fun and working hard. The coaches continue to stress the importance of discipline, hard work, and learning the fundamentals of baseball. While the boys have enjoyed winning some hardware, they are often reminded that real goal is to learn life lessons from the game of baseball, not achieve some semblence of a fleeting victory that no one will remember next week, much less next year. Happily, every one of the Raptors understands this emphasis.
At the Factory this weekend, the Raptors will face the Apex Arsenal and the Area Stars from Fayetteville. The Raptors have never played the Stars before, but expect a strong showing from the collection of all star players. Coach McKinion said, “The Area Stars have been playing a lot of baseball this spring and summer and will probably be seasoned pitchers and hitters. We’ll need to play some flawless defense and hit to ball to compete with them.”
Apex will be a team familiar to the Raptors. The Arsenal are a reconstitution of the Wake County Cougars that the Raptors last played in August of last year, splitting a two game set. Like the Stars, the Arsenal have played a lot of baseball this spring and summer, though Apex has played mostly at ECAP rather than recreation baseball. Again, Coach McKinion: “The Arsenal have won several tournaments at ECAP this year, and will be very strong both offensively and defensively. They are an experienced team with solid players and coaches. We’ll have to be at our best to have a chance.”
*UPDATE – On the Capital City website a fourth team is now listed as playing this weekend – the Carborro Yankees. The Yankees are very familiar to the Raptors, and are a team that is gaining confidence each weekend. They are a very good baseball team which nearly defeated the Raptors in the championship game last weekend. This is shaping up to be a competitive and exciting weekend.
On the Raptors chances this weekend, Coach Weeks commented, “We’ll have ten talented baseball players on the field. We’ve put together a collection of some great kids who love this game and give everything they have.” According to Coach David, “This will be a great conclusion to the 2008 season, and a good way to launch 2009. We know that the kids will have a lot of fun and will do their best.”
As soon as Capital City posts the game times they will be posted here as well.
What a fun weekend of baseball. It has been so fun playing so much baseball this summer with this great group of young men. This weekend was no exception. Due to some travel schedules we needed to pick up a nine-year old and a player who had never stepped on a baseball field in his life (he grew up in Europe – lots of soccer, little baseball). But EVERYONE contributed to a 3-1 weekend.
Nathan Sandy, Jeff Gemmell, Lachlan McKinion, and Tyler Patridge all did exceptionally well on the mound in our wins.
In game one, Nathan started the game and pitched 3 strong innings, giving up only 1 run. Ryan Speer went 3-3 at the plate. Jeff Gemmell was 2-2 and Lachlan McKinion was 2-3. The Raptors won 9-7.
Game two was a disaster. In the second game of a 95 degree double-header, the wheels came off. The Chargers hit the ball hard and their pitchers kept the Raptors off-balance. Raptors pitchers had a tough time finding the plate, and when they did the Chargers made them pay. A good lesson in humility, but the Raptors only loss of the weekend.
Sunday afternoon the heat continued, as did the Raptors winning ways. In the first game Jeff pitched four solid innings, giving up only 1 run. Lachlan finished the final two innings, shutting down the G-Force. The Raptors won 5-1.
The final game of the weekend was one of the most exciting this season. The Raptors played the Carrboro Yankees, who earlier in the day had won. Lachlan started for the Raptors and went two innings. He was relieved by Tyler who finished the game and got the win. The score was nip and tuck all game long. In the fifth inning, with the Raptors down one, Jacob Hildreth scored for the home team to keep the game alive. The Yankees scored one in the top of the sixth to go ahead. The Raptors came up in the bottom half of the final inning needing at least one run to keep playing. After a lead-off out, Ryan Speer beat out a roller to short for an infield single. He then stole second on the first pitch. Lachlan McKinion moved him over to third on a sac bunt, putting him in position to tie the game with two outs. Ryan scored on a passed ball to tie the game. Tyler Patridge was then hit by a pitch and was replaced on first by Lachlan, who stole second and third to put the winning run only 70 feet away.
With two outs, and two strikes on the batter, the Yankees intentionally walked Jeff Gemmell and Jake Pritzlaff in an effort to set up force plays at every base. With Spencer Shiflett at the plate, Lachlan scored the winning run on a passed ball.
The win was nice, but more importantly both teams played some really good baseball, both offensively and defensively.
It was another fun weekend with the Raptors. The boys have worked so hard in practice that the wins are a good reward. More importantly, the kids are having fun playing baseball. These boys are easy to coach because they are disciplined, and want to learn. But they are also fun to coach because they are good teammates. I wouldn’t trade a single one of them for any player in North Carolina! Let’s keep having fun playing the great game of baseball.
The schedule has been posted for Saturday. The Sunday game time are based on seeding, but we will probably play at 10:00 AM.
10:00 AM v. Carolina Chargers
4:00 PM v. Carolina Warriors
If anything changes I’ll post it later.
Next in our series of Baseball Essentials is the reminder that good baseball players never quit.
3. BE RELENTLESS.
Never Yield. Never Yield. Regardless of what the scoreboard says, you are never defeated unless you give up, unless you go belly up. No opponent can make you do this. Giving up is something you do. Regardless of what the scoreboard says, no opponent can extinguish the flame in your heart or crush the intensity of your will without your consent. Never surrender
If as players we remember that the opponent we most desire to defeat is not the one in the other dugout, but the one in our dugout who says we can be lazy, undisciplined, selfish, or downcast, then we have a chance at a real win. True, they do not give out trophies for not giving up. When UNC lost to Fresno State in the CWS, they went home. No one gave them a consolation prize. However, those young men left knowing that down to the last out they gave their best. When a teammate struck out, no one put them down; instead, they tried to encourage him so in his next plate appearance he was confident that he could, and would, hit the ball. Despite their dejection on the plane ride home, because they are good athletes, they knew that the life-lesson of perseverance is more important than a CWS title. After all, can you name one person off the top of your head who was on the CWS winner in any of the past three years?
Me neither.
On accident, I stumbled across the online roster of a travel team from 2002. It was an 11U Major team that rarely lost. The roster lists teams they played on before, during, and after that season. Interestingly, every kid was on a team the next year, as 12 year olds. Then, all but four played as 13s on at least one team. Most significant was the number of kids who played for a team in 2008. How many? One. That’s correct, only one kid from a MAJOR team was playing travel baseball by the time they were juniors in high school. Now, there are many possible explanations for this. Many high schools have teams that play together during the summer, meaning these boys would not be on travel teams. There are explanations, but I find it very interesting the small number of boys who played 50-70 games as 11 year olds who continued to play baseball once they could make up their minds for themselves. I then did a spot check of 16 year old teams in North Carolina who play in the AAA division. Interestingly, I found only 1 team with more than 2 kids who had played travel ball at an age younger than 13. What were these kids doing? I am sure they were playing baseball, but they were not selling their young soul for another plastic trophy. They were not playing 100 games a year so their parents could brag. They were not jumping from team to team in order to be “noticed.” Instead, they were, I am sure, playing baseball because it was fun. They were learning the fundamentals, and forgetting about records. They were becoming better so they could keep up with the advances each year offers. They were boys playing baseball.
What this unscientific survey tells me is what I know experientially to be true: how a kid plays at 11 years old is no indicator of how well he will play baseball in high school or beyond. Some kids will be better, some worse, and some will shine as college ballplayers just like they did in 10 year-old rec ball. For parents who look at their son and see a kid who rarely hits, barely understands the game, or has trouble with routine plays, there is hope. The opposite is also true. For a parent whose son strikes out every opposing batter, leads his team in hitting, and embarasses opposing pitchers with his batting, there is the real possibility that in a few years when he discovers interests outside of baseball, the stats of a 12 year old will be forgotten for the life of a teenager.
What does this mean? As a coach it means my role is to give ball players what they need to excel at the next level if they so desire. It also means I should make baseball an experience they want to continue having. Most importantly, it means that I should try to shape them to be young men who are good sportsmen, good teammates, and productive members of society. If a 16 year old decides no longer to play baseball, I want him to look back and be glad he played baseball. I don’t want him to look back and think he lost something by playing. I hope that if someone looks at the roster of the 16U Raptors in five years that he will see the same list of kids who are playing now because every one of our kids loves playing the game. I hope every Raptor plays college baseball somewhere. There is no reason to think they CAN’T. If they work hard, believe in themselves, and maintain an individual dedication to do what is necessary, they all CAN.
It’s fun to be your teammate. See you Thursday night!
