Player Diary 1.31.18

Welcome to the 2018 Potomac State Baseball player diary homepage. This season, Sophomore's Mitchell Henshaw (Brockport High School / Brockport, NY), and Jeff Wong (George Washington High School / Charleston, WV) will take the lead on the Potomac State Baseball Player Diary. Note: Wong's entry will be in bold font.

Welcome back Catamount fans to this week’s addition of the Potomac State Baseball Player Diary! We have really been getting after it in practice this past week. We had been inside in Lough Gymnasium this week practicing Tuesday through Thursday. While being inside for practice, the hitters have really been getting our work in. Taking hundreds of swings every night to make sure we are as best prepared for our opening weekend in three weeks. Towards the end of the week the weather started to warm up, and we were able to get outside. We ended up playing three intrasquads this past weekend. On Friday, we were able to get out and play on Golden Park for the first time this spring. It was awesome to be on our field getting reps in our first intrasquad. Now it was not a real game. Pitchers would throw 15 pitches an inning, as they are all on pitch limits. It was still great to be able to play in game situations. It is as close to game-like as we can get. On Saturday, we played a nine inning intrasquad on the turf field. Our field was a little too wet from the rain the prior night. Being on the turf, and getting live reps is still better than being in the gym, so none of us complain. Sunday was a little colder, but we were still outside on the turf to get our intrasquad. It was a good weekend for the team, as this could have been the last time we get outside before we head down to Florence, South Carolina.

After this weekend, Monday was a much needed off day to get away from the field, and rest our bodies. I went on a trip to Swallow Falls State Park in Garrett County, Maryland with fellow teammates Jacob Callaway (Belle Vernon, PA/Belle Vernon Area), David McQuain (Fairmont, WV/East Fairmont), Joel Spishock (Carmichaels, PA/Carmichaels Area), Andrew Berry (Morgantown, WV/Morgantown), and Brandon Schamp (Marietta, OH/Marietta). I had never been there before, and it was a great experience. It was very relaxing to hike around with some great teammates, and enjoy the wild. It is a very nice park; I highly recommend taking the trip if you are in the area. See for yourself in this video of our trip! 

On Monday, January 22nd, I went around with OF/RHP Sebastian Williamson (Oley, PA/Oley Valley) to show you guys a day in the life of a Potomac State baseball player. Sebastian is the man of many nicknames. We like to call him Sea Bass, Bass, Basstian, Grey, and Earle. How he got all of those nicknames, I have no idea! Sea Bass is committed to continue his education and playing career next year at Marshall University. Please take a look at this video, to see a day in the life of Sebastian Williamson. 

This week’s weekly interview is with RHP Eric Gustafson (Newark, DE/Hodgson). Check it out.

That will be it for this week's edition, stay tuned next week for more videos of current Catamounts. Feel free to follow the team on Twitter @PotomacStateBB and Instagram @potomacstatebaseball. You can also follow me on Twitter @mhenshaw4 for some exclusive coverage of the team. If you have any questions or comments about the player diaries you can email me at  mjh0025@mix.wvu.edu.  Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it.

This week in the Potomac State Baseball Player Diary, we are recapping the weekend’s Annual Potomac State Baseball Pitching camp. This camp, held on Sunday, January 28, 2017, was a pitching specific camp that focused on the basic mechanics of pitching. The young campers, ages 8-13, went through a day of high energy drills and a session in the classroom with Tanner Skidmore, RHP #32, and myself to go over the basics of pitching strategy.

            At the beginning of camp, Head Coach Doug Little gave an overview of how us pitchers to throw, breaking down mechanics into 4 simple steps. An emphasis was put on the importance of creating a smooth delivery that can be repeated over and over again, ideally while expending the least amount of energy possible. The

Coach Little at PSC Baseball Camp

Potomac State pitching staff does a good job, in my opinion, of keeping things simple enough in our actions and mechanics in order to be effective and EFFICIENT on the mound. I put an emphasis on efficiency because efficiency is a good measure of how effective a pitcher is. Coach Little didn’t jump too deep into the complex world of pitching, but got deep enough to advance the campers’ skill and mindset on the mound. Balance was a big point of discussion, as a pitcher cannot possibly be a consistent strike thrower without balance. Another main point of Coach Little’s was “pointing the scope,” as he called it. A pitcher’s scope is his front side, the leading foot, hip and shoulder going towards the catcher’s mitt. This may seem like basic stuff, but for a young, learning pitcher, fundamental information like this can really help guide and improve his mechanics, which is very important at a young age, as habits are much easier to form and break before an athlete’s body has reached maturity.

            Once the campers got stretched out and got their arms loose, they were split into groups, according to age, that they would remain in the rest of the day. There were three main stations that the groups rotated around to, working on different skills at each one. The first one was ‘PFP’, or Pitcher’s Fielding Practice. At our own practices, we work do PFP very often, usually once a week. A pitcher has to be able to get off the mound and field a bunt and occasionally a week ground ball. If a pitcher is unable to field the position, it makes it hard for a coach to put him into the game.

            The next station was throwing off of the mound to a catcher. Each pitcher threw 3 simulated innings of 15 pitches per inning. Coach Little, who works with us pitchers during practice, critiqued and gave suggestions on how the kids could make a better pitch than the last one. Coach does the same during team bullpens, making sure that each pitcher gets better each time. He makes sure we understand what we’re doing well and what we need to fix.

            The last station was the station that Tanner Skidmore and myself was assigned to. We were given the job of teaching the kids basic pitching strategy and showing them one of our most useful tools, Crossover Symmetry band system.

            “What is the most important pitch?” I asked each group that came into the classroom. I would get a variety of responses, such as ‘fastball’, ‘changeup’ and just about any other pitch you can think of, but only one of the campers had the answer I was looking for. A Strike. The most important pitch in baseball is a strike to open up the at bat. Getting yourself into a 0-1 count, as a pitcher is key to getting outs. The hitter immediately changes his thought process to one of apprehensiveness and hopefully a little fear of striking out will poke through. Once a hitter is scared or hesitant in the slightest bit, the pitcher has already won. A high percentage of first pitch strikes is a key measuring stick when evaluating a pitcher’s effectiveness and efficiency. Skid and I covered a few simple pitch sequences that we use effectively in games when we need a big out.

            Crossover symmetry is the most important tool, other than long toss, that us Catamounts have accessibility to. This system of resistance banded contractions of the upper back and shoulder muscles uses a series of 8 to 10 exercises to be done in order. With the number of reps and pictures of how to execute each contraction, Crossover is easy enough for young kids to utilize, and is not strenuous on their growing joints like traditional weight lifting is. Scaps, deltoids, latissimus dorsi and the rotator cuff are all engages, on both throwing and non-throwing sides, are constantly engaged. By the end of the Crossover workout, some of the kids were pushing themselves through the burn that comes with the Crossover system. We use Crossover Symmetry religiously here at Potomac State; it can be performed for activation for before we throw, or for recovery after we throw, often both.

            The Potomac State Baseball Pitching camp gave me an opportunity to share some knowledge and some tricks I know with a younger age group that might not have the same level of coaching that I received as a kid at that age. It meant a lot to me to be a figure of improvement and hopefully somewhat of a role model for these young kids. The camp gave me a chance to step back from baseball, while still being around baseball, which doesn’t happen for me very often. Stepping back made me remember that these kids are still playing baseball solely on their will to have fun, and are playing for the love of the game.

            Next week on the Potomac State Player Diary, I will be interviewing and featuring our two international players, Joakim Svedhem and Tobias Holmelund. Thanks for reading