The 2017 National Coaches Clinic took place February 10-12 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto and featured three days of presentations and on field sessions with the goal of providing coaches with tips and techniques to bring back to their local teams.
Kevin Wilson spoke to coaches about the mental side of hitting and shared with them a few examples they could take home and immediately implement into their practices and games.
If you’re a baseball fan, you may already know about Matt Szczur. If you’re a college football fan, you may already know about Matt Szczur. But you will soon find out why he is quickly becoming everyone’s favorite Chicago Cubs outfielder.
You have to go all the way back to his Freshman year at Villanova University, to find the origins of his incredible story. During that Freshman year, Head Football Coach Andy Talley ran his donation drive for Be The Match, the national bone marrow registry. Matt signed up and proceeded to take a couple of “cheek swabs” to donate samples for his 1-in-80,000 chance of being a match for someone in need.
Fast forward to 2009. He received word that he was a match. All he knew was that it was a young girl who was in desperate need and he had a once-in-a-lifetime chance of saving her life.
With the MLB draft a month away, he underwent a three-hour procedure at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia to remove his healthy bone marrow. It was an exhausting procedure, but that mattered not to Szczur. He wasn’t sure about the side effects of neupogen, a drug he took to increase blood-stem cells, but that wasn’t a deterrent. His spleen could have ruptured but that wasn’t a problem.
(Photo by John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune / ESPN)
This was about more than himself and baseball.
His amazing journey has been documented by ESPN and E:60. And now, 6 years later, Matt was able to reconnect again with the little girl’s life he saved.
Meet Anastasia Olkhovsky and her family. They have endured a lot over the course of recent years and their story is one that is both emotional as well as inspirational.
Click here to watch The Match. Please type in the password “Szczur” (with a capital S) to gain access to the video.
“You can only do so much in baseball. You can only hit the ball so far. You can only throw the ball so hard. To be able to make a difference in not only your life, but someone else’s life and their family, is huge. And I feel that’s my greatest accomplishment so far.” – Matt Szczur
On Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies, Gavin Cecchini recorded his first major league hit and RBI!
He had a successful night at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI. The second double hit the top of the wall, just missing his first MLB home run.
“You’re always trying to win regardless of what the score is,” Cecchini said. “When we were put in, the score was 10-0. We’re not going out there and just going through the motions. We’re trying to put together good at bats and get back into the game.”
It was a night to remember for Cecchini, taking advantage of extended playing time and having a taste of success at the big league level. The 22-year-old showed his ability to hit the ball with some authority, smashing both doubles.
Cecchini is now 2-for-5 since making his MLB debut on September 11. Before being promoted to the Mets, Cecchini hit to a .325/.390/.448 slash line with eight homers, 27 doubles and 55 RBI while also helping to produce 71 runs for AAA Las Vegas.
The KWB Experience rolled into Collegeville, Pa to work with the hitters and coaches at Ursinus College.
The 2-day Experience involved a 2-hour of classroom-style instruction on the mental game of hitting on Day 1, putting the emphasis of understanding the power of “knowing thyself.”
Being a college baseball player can bring a lot of unwanted anxieties and pressures, due to the lack of knowledge of the situation, and/or lack of experience. Kevin described in-depth, certain situations and scenarios that present itself throughout the year for a college baseball player. He truly believes that “hitting is a conversation.” He used the classroom setting to engage the players, asking them questions in order to make them “think” and encouraged them to give thoughtful answers in order to learn more about themselves and the way they go about their daily routines.
On Day 2, Kevin joined the team on the field as they took on McGill University (Montreal, Quebec) in a doubleheader. Kevin worked his way through the dugout, taking advantage of teachable moments during the game. He was able to spend individual time with players, sharing insights on situations and answering player’s questions. He finished up the day working in the cage with hitters, listening to their needs and then working immediately on fixing, enhancing and maximizing their swings.
Kevin believes that everyone is an individual. You truly cannot teach every hitter to hit the same way. The Experience allowed the hitters to master their strengths and truly understand what it’s like to HIT, rather than just swing a bat.
Special thanks goes to Tanner Tees for providing the batting tees for our Experience. We are proud to be partnered with the best batting tee in the game and every player who attends a KWB Experience gets to use the same equipment the big leaguers use!
The KWB Experience is available for high school, college and travel team programs throughout the United States and Internationally. For more information about how you can bring Kevin in to work with your hitters and coaches, click here for more details.
CINCINNATI — Gavin Cecchini’s participation in the Arizona Fall League apparently will have to wait.
Cecchini, the New York Mets’ first-round pick (12th overall) out of high school in Louisiana back in 2012, is due to join the club Tuesday as a September call-up after the completion of Las Vegas’ season. He previously had been due to represent the organization in the AFL, but Neil Walker‘s season-ending back injury may have prompted the Mets to add another infielder.
Entering Monday’s Pacific Coast League finale, the 22-year-old Cecchini is hitting .324 with eight homers and 54 RBIs and has a .387 on-base percentage in 116 Triple-A games. His average ranks third in the league, trailing only his teammates Nimmo (.354) and Rivera (.350).
Cecchini exclusively had been a shortstop during his professional career until Thursday, when he started at second base for the first time. He now has appeared in three games there.
“He has really started to understand a game plan from at-bat No. 1 each day,” Las Vegas hitting coach Jack Voigt recently said. “He realized early in the year that he was not always going to get a fastball in a fastball count in Triple-A. He is improving his plate discipline every day and that has translated into a better approach as well as some added power this year.”
St. Lucie shortstop Amed Rosario rightfully gets plenty of hype, but Cecchini is two years older.
While with Las Vegas this season, Cecchini had the opportunity to be in uniform in the same game as his 25-year-old brother for the first time since they were the double-play tandem in high school. Garin, who has appeared in 13 major league games with the Boston Red Sox, currently is playing in the Pacific Coast League for Colorado Springs, a Milwaukee Brewers affiliate.
Cecchini’s parents were on hand for that May 19-22 series. While playing for their father in high school in Louisiana, Gavin played second base as a freshman and his junior-year brother played shortstop. Midway through the following season, Garin suffered a knee injury and Gavin moved to shortstop for the duration of his prep career.
Cecchini has been slowed by injuries at points during his pro career. A left shoulder strain suffered on a swing forced him to halt his Arizona Fall League participation last offseason after four games. It also scrapped his planned participation with Team USA in the Premier 12 Tournament in Asia. Residual inflammation in spring training led to a cortisone shot and kept him out of Grapefruit League action.
“Ever since then it’s been good,” Cecchini recently said.
Cecchini does have 33 errors this season. He said he has been particularly intent on remaining focused each and every play, which should remedy that issue.
“I know that I’ve made a few errors this year on plays that I might have taken off,” Cecchini said. “For example, I’m ready the first 20 pitches of the game. And then the 21st pitch, because it’s just a pitch, I’m saying, ‘OK, I’m going to take the pitch off.’ And I’m not focused and mentally prepared, saying, ‘Hey, the ball is going to be hit to me.’ The next thing you know that ball is hit to me and, oh, man, I make that error because my feet aren’t in good position to make the play.
“That’s the main thing I’ve really been working on this year is just staying focused out there and being ready every single pitch. As you keep moving up, the game gets faster, the guys get stronger, they start hitting the ball harder. So you’ve really got to be ready and on your toes every single pitch expecting the ball to be hit to you.”
