Blog – Page 5 – Rawlings Tigers

How To Dominate a Baseball Tryout

Post author By Spiker Helms
Post date May 7, 2020

The year is 2006 and I am at the Perfect Game National Showcase in Ft. Myers, Florida. This was one of the events that could propel you to the Aflac Games. The Aflac Games are equivalent to the McDonalds All-America in basketball and the National All-Star High School Football game in Dallas.

At this National Showcase, there were over 200 participants, many of which were 16-year-olds. To prepare for these type of events was extremely difficult for me because I didn’t know where to start. My family didn’t have a baseball background, I didn’t have a mentor, and the internet was just starting to get interesting. Quality information was not at my disposal. So, I did what everyone did. I lifted, I threw, and I hit.

There was something extremely wrong with this plan…

I was preparing like I was getting ready for a season, rather than preparing for a showcase. There is a huge difference.

Usually, when I talk to a player after a tryout or showcase I get one of two responses. “I did great, I had a lot of fun.” “It was okay, I am not a good tryout guy, I wish we played more games. If we played more games I could really show them what I can do!”

I get more of, “I am not a tryout guy,” response than any other. And I get it… But how do you crush it in our skill evaluation?

Before we start, I need to explain the reasoning behind why you should be more excited about your skills evaluation than your game evaluation.

With a lot of players at these events, it is better to over excel at the skill testing. These are the most important for two reasons. One, you get the undivided attention of the evaluators at the camp and two its’s done at the beginning of the day, so they don’t have event fatigue.

What is event fatigue?

It’s where an evaluator has seen a lot of players and the participants start looking the same.

It’s hard for an evaluator to distinguish between players unless something extraordinary happens. It’s similar to when you listen to the radio. When you listen to the radio on long road trips, every song starts sounding the same.

To crush during these skill tests here is how I would train. To get optimal results I would start training 2–3 weeks before tryouts and do this three days a week. In no way will this make you magically throw 90mph or have an exit velocity of 95mph, but it will make your talent shine. Think about this email as a polishing rag to your Bentley Continental GT-V8.

60yd Dash:

This is the standard distance for a professional tryout. I explained the reasoning in a previous email, but to prepare for this sprint I would do the following:

Quick bursts: 5 x 20yd sprints

Long sprints: 5 X 80yd sprints

Exact sprints: 2 X 60yd sprints

*Find local football field to do workout

Defense:

SS/2B/3B: you will take ground balls at shortstop. This is where the evaluation is typically performed for SS, 2B, 3B. The fungo hitter will give you 4 baseballs. He will hit them in this order:

1. At you

2. Backhand

3. Forehand

4. Slow roller

With this in mind, I would train in 5-minute intervals with 20 minutes of total time spent fielding ground balls. This does not account for pick-up time.

1. At you = 5 minutes

2. Backhand = 5 minutes

3. Forehand = 5 minutes

4. Slow rollers = 5 minutes

1st Base: you will do the same, but take your ground balls at first and throw to third

Outfielders: the same concept but you will take your fly balls in right field and throw to third base and home. In the tryout, you will take 2 fly balls and 2 ground balls.

Catchers: you get 4 throws to second base. Spend 5–10 minutes working on your transfers. 5–10 minutes on your throws.

Hitting: You will get 5–7 swings in a tryout. You need to prepare yourself mentally to only get one round. Do this by taking small rounds of 5–7 pitches. Do not continuously hit, rather hit 5 pitches- take a break, then hit 5 more.

If you would like to tryout for the Tigers, please go to www.rawlingstigers.com. Also, watch this video. It’s how one of our players who went from a 15U Tryout to an MLB Draft Pick.

Tags how to, tryout

Blog Story

This Deserves a Baseball Celebration

Post author By Spiker Helms
Post date May 7, 2020

I love seeing these photos. It gets me amped that one of our players delivered in a high-pressure situation. It takes me back to when I played. My favorite moment of all time is putting away the 2nd to last out for my friend who pitched a championship game no-hitter. When he struck out the last guy we dog-piled in front of 7,500 of our fans. ⁣
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This was nothing new for him. He was our best pitcher and delivered whenever we needed big moments. If you want to be like my friend you need to understand what it takes to win. If I could rank top attributes of a player, I would put them as follows: mentality, a good human being, athleticism. How you view the world around you is massively important. It will dictate whether you’re able to overcome adversity, aggressively compete, and finish what you start.⁣
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I believe humans are innately good at heart and it’s choice of following a set of core values that makes your future self. These values are teachable and it comes down to a mentor to show the value of team, patience, and fortitude. ⁣
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I’m not going to deny that having players who are athletic makes competing fun. BUT I would take a person who is open-minded with strength of mind over the person who is closed and weak minded and is more athletic. I can teach the person who is open minded how to win on a set of core values. ⁣
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To get more experiences like my friend you first need to build your view of the world and be opportunistic. In these opportunities, it’s not necessarily the bigger and stronger player that wins. It’s the person who’s built better. (i.e 1980 US Hockey Team, Buster Douglas KO’s Mike Tyson, UMBC upsets 1 Virginia in 2017 March Madness opening round). ⁣
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My friend was not the most talented pitcher on our staff. He was a right handed pitcher that sat 85–88mph with a good secondary pitch. He wasn’t explosive and he didn’t intimidate hitters, but what he had was the competitive mindset. He would dominate you and believed he could strike you out. It was a culmination of his training and upbringing that gave him an edge over his peers. ⁣
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Focus on building who you are: mindset and core values. Let the athleticism take care of its self. ⁣
⁣
Spiker Helms 👊

[email protected]

Tags baseball, nohitter, story

Blog how to

How to Get an Athletic Scholarship Using The Internet

Post author By Spiker Helms
Post date May 5, 2020

In last 8 weeks I’ve been hearing:

“How do you get noticed in this climate?”

“This is the worst time…I feel bad for the seniors?”

“There’s no way for me to get recruited.”

STOP. I’ll tell you right now; you need to pivot. There’s been a tool a group of players have been using, and it’s been slowly gaining attention from baseball influencers. Before I tell you what it is, we need to address the underlying issue.

You need to take control of your recruiting.

How I see high school baseball is this….

1. Club baseball teams primary job is to develop your skill sets, put you in the right events, and consult you. They’re your expert guide and should be your most trusted resource.

2. Showcases are for creating an internet foot print and be seen by scouts. You’re not guaranteed the scout in attendance will be a decision maker (aka head coach or recruiting coordinator). Also, every showcase is not the same and they offer different types of services. Do your homework!

3. Tournaments are for competition and for scouts to see game play. Tournament directors are driven by team sign-ups and creating a competitive schedule. Good tournament providers aim for the bracket to have close scoring games.

4. College camps are an educational tool and a chance to see the school up close. You can get recruited from these events, but understand it will take more than one look to get an offer. The rule of the thumb in marketing is that you need to see something 7 times to make a decision. I could make the same case for recruiting a player.

There are 455,000 high school players in the country. And there are only 25,000 college players. Playing on a local team is not enough unless you have a remarkable skill. Even with a unbelievable skill, you need to market yourself to some degree.

Most player’s think the only way to market yourself is playing in tournaments, showcases, or college camps…this is true, BUT, what is marketing? It’s grabbing needed attention on a product or service. In this case, it’s your ability to hit, field, or throw a baseball.

Now, who are you trying to market too?

Coaches.

Where is there attention?

View this post on Instagram

Pin a video to your profile, tweet more video, and then have your club RT you when you tweet an update. Bonus tip! Use tech to get your metrics. If college coaches follow your club they will see your video and they will click on your profile if they’re interested. 😁#rawlingstigers #socialmediaathlete #baseballlife⚾️ #baseballseason #baseball #baseballboys

A post shared by Rawlings Tigers (@rawlingstigers) on Apr 23, 2020 at 5:30pm PDT

TWITTER!

You need to use Twitter video. The majority of the baseball influencers use this tool to communicate thoughts and ideas. They typically follow people inside their networks like Driveline or the ABCA, but they also follow baseball clubs.

Tweet a video and get your club to retweet you. Continually do this when you have the right skill sets and you’re going to get the attention of a school.

To learn more about our thoughts on the future of recruiting and how you can use tech in your twitter videos, listen to this episode of the Closing Pitch.

Blog how to

The 3 Types of Baseball Players

Post author By Spiker Helms
Post date April 29, 2020

I’ve been watching fall baseball the last five years and I felt the urge to write this piece. These are observations that I have thought long and hard about. They actually root back to the days of playing at Missouri State and manifested themselves from the tweet I sent last week. Please read carefully, feel free to share with your own player. These thoughts are unemotional and unbiased. It’s purely black and white.

There are three types of players.

Before you read this, there is nothing wrong with who these players are. They are simply in a stage of their life. It’s their mentality at the time. The good thing is, is that mentality can change and grow. People gain this edge at different stages. You can accelerate or decelerate your growth. Some reach the point of player 3 during their athletic career, and some get there afterwards, and others never reach it.

The tweet above is what I have found as the formula to become unbeatable. Here are the three players:

Player 1: They wait to be told what to do and do it at half speed because they feel tired, hungry, or lethargic. This does not mean they don’t excel on certain days of the week. The conditions have to be perfect for them to max out their abilities. They don’t put in extra time on their own. If they do, it’s because they are hanging out with a group. They are good at showing up and listening. They will work hard when they feel their best.

Player 2: They wait to be told what to do and they do it full speed. They can fight through thoughts of tiredness. They will do work on their own, but they prefer not too. You will see this player working out on their own for a week because they were told to do it. After a couple of days they go back to their default and wait for their next point of guidance.

They can workout extra by themselves but choose to be in a group setting. They are good at showing up, listening, and working hard. They will do some research, but they don’t find an interest in it.

Player 3: They do what they are told but they also look to add more by their own volition. They choose to research, learn, and grow even when they don’t feel their best. They truly look to get better 365 days. They are the ones who will workout 2–3 times a day. They don’t care if they workout by themselves or with a group. They just want to get better. They find a way to achieve it, even when it’s the most inconvenient type of setting. They are good at showing up, listening, knowing how to research, working hard, and they love doing it themselves.

The best part of knowing these players is being honest, knowing your goals, and having the ability to improve on becoming “player 3”. I view coaching as a method of not creating division 1 athletes, even though it is awesome, but I view it as a way to grow a player’s strength.

Anyone can develop a physical skill set. It’s even easier when the person is motivated, but I think the hardest part is getting the player to a mental strength where they are an unbelievable force. A force in which they command a room and have the ability to get through any circumstance. This is where coaching become more about making a person strong enough to fight through future heart breaks.

The quality of teachings can really be told when a player reaches a failing moment in a game or even how the player handles themselves outside the field. Does the player over react? How do they dress? How do the speak? How are they amongst adults and their friends? These are questions I ponder each year as a new Tiger graduating class moves onto college.

This is how I evaluate myself. Are they strong in these categories? What do I need to fix in my approach as a teacher to help them for life? These areas include discipline, work ethic, and character.

After evaluating, I then go to the drawing board and adjust where needed with the new clients I teach, the players I coach, and the classes I instruct.

Thank you for reading. If you find value in this email please forward it onto your player.

Spiker Helms

Contact Tigers

Tags confidence, hard work, how to, players

Blog Story

The Decade Challenge, How to Go From Zero to 140

Post author By Spiker Helms
Post date April 29, 2020

The JOURNEY is a winding road. It’s filled with many ups-and-downs, left-right turns, and occasional moments of clear sailing. It has a lot of great ideas, bad ideas, inspiration, anxiety, and triumphs.

We launched the Rawlings Tigers in 2011 as a developmental-based program. Our mission has been to help our club members develop both athletically and build upon their character. We strive to give each player the foundation that will help guide them through tough decisions.

When the Tigers first started, our teams were not the best. We only won one game in 2011, and it was an ugly win too. BUT! We focused on what mattered the most. We channeled our energy towards developing the player. We grew the club-coach-parent-player relationship. We found it very hard to compete with the established teams in the area. Both players and the program, certainly faced adversity as we were both working towards establishing ourselves in the baseball community. Through this adversity, we grew a stronger bond with our players because they could see they were evolving.

In many instances, people think an advanced skill is complete natural ability handed down from the heavens. If you look through time from famous Roman emperors too now-famous business moguls, they all had a starting point. There was an initial beginning where they were “throw-up bad.” Over time, however, they grew in becoming who they became. It was persistent dedication with a touch of aggressiveness and a dash of patience.

Through the years, we got better and better on the field. Our mindset and vision as a club never wavered. We continued to offer more and more value to our parents, players, and coaches. In turn, not only were we able to retain every player from year one, but we also attracted interest from players and teams outside of our area.

We have always had a growth mindset when it comes to the value we offer our club members. No matter if we are talking to an 8U player in St. Louis or a National Director, we aspire to provide value and offer as much assistance as possible. We want them to believe in themselves, even if they were as “throw-up bad” as us in the early years.

To the players of 2011, we know you’re doing big things in life. You’re building a career, or even starting your own family. You guys are the real O.G.’s because you did something that the majority of the population wouldn’t do. You continued.

From 2011–2019, we have had incredible success in developing players, coaches, teams, and programs. We even have our former players come back and teach our way and our culture to future players. This leads us to find the next person who believes in what we believe, who shares in the same passion for building people. What was once a single club in St. Louis, MO, the Tigers have expanded and are now being represented in 24 states with over 140 teams nationwide. A future era of tough-minded resilient players who are not afraid of being “awkward” or being “not good,” because they know the first stages of a build will be rough waters.

We are incredibly excited about the passionate individuals who have joined and share in the vision that we present daily. I challenge you today to think about what you want to create. The thing you want to bring out for people to share or enjoy. Ten years seems like a long time, but it also is a flash in the pan when you’re looking in the rearview mirror.

We’re ready for the next decade, are you?

David Birkby

Twitter: https://twitter.com/David_Birkby?s=2

National Director

[email protected]

www.rawlingstigers.com

Tags 2011, challenge, club baseball, david birkby, decade