Better Men, Better Ballplayers Trey Cobb

Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with 
Ben Jones, HC of The Apprentice School.
Sponsored By: 
Netting Professionals844-620-2707 
info@nettingpros.com
www.nettingpros.com

 
BIO
HC of the Apprentice School since 2021 and won Small College World Series in 2022 (1st year)Pitching coach for the Builders since 2007
Part of the Small College World Series teams in 2007, 2015
Former pitcher for the Builders Winningest pitcher in modern era of The Apprentice School
The Apprentice School HOF class of 2020

USCAA Hall of Fame in 2018

 
NOTES
The Apprentice school 19 trade selections (blue collar), and 8 advanced trades (white collar)20% of enrollment get selected into advancement

ALL FREE
Start at $22/hr and finish over $30/hr
6AM on the shipyard
Classroom 16 hours a week
Other 24 hours they are on the job training
Every 6 months rotated to different shipyards to learn
All year long
Annual leave (40 hours of vacation)
full benefits with company match
6AM pull in, get out at 330, practice 430 for couple hours based on part of year
3 time Small College World Series champion
NSCAA schools must have a low enrollment (max 4000)
Follow all NCAA rules and regulations (eligibility, etc)
80% home games
Play D3, D2, JUCO, along with NSCAA teams
Manage workload based on their job and baseball - light on weights and off season conditioning unlike the traditional college student
Start 11/12 months - every monday with new starts
250-300 people brought in a year
****This program will turn a high school graduate into a mature man or woman!
Grades and attendance not satisfactory you can be dropped from the program
Its not for everyone, but it is very rewarding
Athletics contribute to teamwork, teamwork contributes to leadership
AS.edu general admission website
Gobuilders.com athletics website
Guys that aren’t scared to work!!
1 other trade school that offers athletics
25% acceptance rate
Team GPA 3.6!
SAT not requirement for admission
Required classes (minimum 4, like to see 6-8)
Focus on math and science 
Any higher math classes?
How many days you were late and/or absent
We are investing into you to be successful!
To see the guys graduate is the ultimate goal! 
Team grade policy - not getting the grades you will not practice and be part of team
Tutors available - do our best to make the program work!
Company first, school second, baseball team third and priorities need to stay that way
We help them keep them priorities straight

Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast 
with Justin Hanley - William Penn Charter
Sponsored By: 
Netting Professionals844-620-2707 
info@nettingpros.com
www.nettingpros.com

 
BIO
HC of William Penn Charter Associate HC/PC 2012-2017
Inter AC Champions 2014, 2017, and 2021
4 players have gone to play pro ball during his time at Penn Charter

He has help guide several players to college between Penn Charter and his time in travel baseball
Former Director of Baseball Operations and Player development at Elite Sports Factory
North American Baseball Account Executive at Silicon Valley FinTech startup, Pando, that uses predictive analytics to help professional baseball players mitigate their career risk.
 
NOTES
Win loss and ERA are going out the window and looking more at whip, qab, and other processes
Track bullpens and chart opposing hitters
Do it on your own, and coach it up in between the inning
There is nothing you can tell him that is goin to put him in a better position
Be a voice of positive encouragement
Strong up the middle
Good relationships
Tell me about mom and dad
Analytical and due diligence mindset
Big on self advocacy 
Summer camps to bring in the community
Big on communication Kid first, no parents

PillarsSelf advocacy
Don’t care what grade you are
accountability

Expect problems and use it has opportunity to teach leadership
It more than just about the wins. 
We need to prove to them that we care more about them as people
For every school that has their dream school, there is 10 kids at the wrong school
Spend a saturday doing manual labor to build team
School does great job bringing all types of kids together
Video message to the team from alumni
Players this is your program and your responsibility
Representing your family at the same time
Understand the common goalYou can’t do it on your own
Failure is going to find you
Lean on your teammates, your coaches
How are you going to play on a friday night if you can’t handle this chirping
You can tell who the last years state champion was not the PG 16U championship
 

Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with Anthony Renz Concordia College
Sponsored By: 
Netting Professionals844-620-2707 
info@nettingpros.com
www.nettingpros.com

 
BIO
HC at Concordia College (MN)AC since 2018
Acting HC 2022 
2022 Conference tournament
2023 Conference tournament and win
Most hits
Most conference players

Bench Coach & Hitting Coach with Fargo-MoorheadMLB Partner league (Pioneer, Frontier, American Assoc, Atlantic)
American Association champions (1st A.A title since merging)

Former AC and GA Shippensburg University (2016-2018) Regional 2017
PSAC tournament 2018
4 guys played pro ball during time at Ship

Indy ball grinder!Las Vegas Train Robbers
Evansville Otters
Fargo-Moorhead

 
NOTES
Powerful tool of Twitter
Recruiting world at your fingertips
Form good relationships 
Show I was a good coach and gain trust
Work youth baseball camps to grind and learn
Off season was CAMPS!
The grind makes you better!
Make sure the players know it is there program
Player driven. Coaches put up guard rails
Players win game, coaches lose them
The guys after college are set up for success
For 4 years we want you to feel like you are involved in the world series
Our togetherness is second to noneTown ball, playing more together
Cobber baseball family
Be with a group of guys you can lose with**

Team building daysCommunity events
Supporting other athletic events
Bus rides - Florida trips

They should want to come to practice as long as the environment is good
Winning helps the experience
What can you do to make practice fun?
Pick teams - compete more
Balance of fun and intensity
Conditioning mix of games
Practice matters
Everyday is a tryout
You got to perform - playing hard is given and at end of day you need to perform
Elimination in the cage - one pitch, in or out
Create competition with the skills set in mind
Reward BP “Dinger club”
Hit the ball hard determines who you areLine drives - right above the L screen
Gaps/HR - knock down the batter eye

Group BP based on skill set or lineup
Technology helps make live AB more realistic results, provide clarity
Technology turns up the focus
Train for higher EVHit a ton of machine
Weighted bat work
Hit plyo

Barrel controlThrow two balls and always hit low ball
Reward batting practice or out of cage if you don’t accomplish task (put a value on each swing)

2 strikesUnpredictable of 2K pitch needs to be trained with working on getting your barrel to the ball

Manage your work - know your body
Those who hit often, often hit
Stick to what you believe in and stay consistent. Don’t over react with small sample size.
Be where your feet are
All in right here

Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with Eric Lassiter
Sponsored By: 
Netting Professionals844-620-2707 
info@nettingpros.com
www.nettingpros.com

 
BIO
HC of Windermere HS (started 6 years ago)5/5 state playoffs
4/5  district champs
3/5 regional finalist

Former HC Tavares (1 year)
HC at alma mater Apopka HS (6 years)
Co Founder of Power Baseball
Former WV Wesleyan College AC
Director of membership for Diamond Allegiance
 
NOTES
We are really big in the community and focus more beyond baseball
Be the ultimate human being
How you do anything is how you do everything
Support other teams in the school
Supporting little league tryouts, signups, etc
Prep team, feeder team, little league nights
When you feel the community supporting you its playing for something bigger than you
Play for a bigger purpose
Fall season for community work
Grade checks
1 standard - don’t do anything that embarasses your religion, yourself, or your program
Holding them to the expectations
9 to 5 - first 9 has to beat their last 5 on the field
Everything counts
Energy, effort, commitment to each, 
Fall season do little things to score points for 9 to 5
Points for all types of ways to produce wins
Running gets you better, not punishment
Losers take care of the field 
Hold kids accountable on the travel scene will create good groups
Win between innings
The first tournament you set the standards
Finding ways to stay active to improve
Always an opportunity to get better and set yourself apart
You have to have a skill set and it doesn’t matter how you may hit in a tournament
How you fail is a big indicator of how you will succeed
Baseball is how well you can fail
3-3 should be same energy as 0-3
Each hitter can get into certain positions, which means they can move to get there
What if your body is not capable of getting to that position. Can we unlock parts of your body to get to those positions?
Power Baseball Foundation - board to help fundraise to help people who cannot afford to play travel baseballApplication to help with practice and planning. Players come out and we donate their time to help
Funded organizations that are not even part of Power Baseball

The more good you do the better you will be
 

Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with Billy Emerson of Paul VI HS
Sponsored By: 
Netting Professionals844-620-2707 
info@nettingpros.com
www.nettingpros.com

 
BIO
HC of Paul VI HS
Career record 336 - 191 (winning over 50% games in his career)
PVI since 2003 season
3 Conference WCAC championships
4 VISAA championships
8 times nationally ranked
Over 100 players in college or drafted
Paul VI HOF class of 2022
 
NOTES
Coaching in the summer is a way for me to learn and get better from the college guys
Each year you are taking a big hunk of clay and hopefully by the end of the year you hope it becomes a masterpiece
You win games you should of lost and you lose game you should of won
If you want consistency you have to be consistent
You have to stick to the plan
Maintain a coaching staff that can stick around a long time
Put together standards and values that you can stick to
Focusing on development players
Its also about developing human beings 
Using the game to create things that they can use later in life
If you focus on the right things the baseball things take care of themselves
End of season meetings
Using the battles to do use as fire and do more than this year
You can do things to foster team chemistry (this is how we do things)
You can’t force it, you need to foster it
You can’t fool the players, it has to be real
You can’t force someone to love you
Expose our guys to different types of people
Classroom session in the off seasonPitchers and catchers, hitters, mental toughness training

When a guy walks out of our program and he is blessed to play college baseball and he is prepared to step on campus that is an awesome thing
Another huge win is when a guy comes back and says I know what you were saying 
We have objectives everyday
Explain to the guys why and how this is gooing ot effect you now and down the road
The game mirrors life because you have to sit there during moments of inactivity but be ready
The value of paying attention to details 
There is a karma around the game and if you don’t pay attention it will bite you!
Keep the baseball demons away from us!
Every time we take batting practice we implement baserunning system
Defensively we take balls live - making people make throughs at game speed
Challenging the pitchers and hitters at practice with game situations
Pitchers that have not gotten innings will be throwing more in practice of game situations
Its about collecting outs. We need to get 21 of them as fast as we can
This is an audition! For the regulars and for the guys who have not had an AB
Keep stats in practice and it makes the process from objective
QPA average - quality plate appearance  - 60% or better
150 or lower strikeout %
Pop up or routine flyball = airball (set goal for no airballs)
Strike % and first pitch strike %
Force bad contact as early as possible
Defensively 1 error or less
Turn as many DP as games played
Always looking to take 2 until you can’t
Reading dirt balls good secondary, read the trajectory, and take off
Preparation, attention to detail, effort, focus, selfless, and toughness
Aggressive in hitting situations - looking for FB 
2 strike approach - the strikeout does nothing for us
Execute when called upon
Baserunning excellence - eyes up and hustle
Pitch to spots, execute pitches > selection, make adjustments, rise to the challenge and post a zero
Defense cherish outs - love outs as much as HR
No play no throw - calculated risks
The kids are our customers***
What did we do to prepare them for the majority of their life?

Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with Matt Jones Shippensburg Univ
Sponsored By: 
Netting Professionals844-620-2707 
info@nettingpros.com
www.nettingpros.com

 
BIO
HC at Shippensburg University (Since 2008 17 years)
Over 400 with Raiders, over 500 total as HC (Former HC at Elizabethtown)
2008 ABCA/Diamond Sports Company North Atlantic Region Coach of the Year
2-time PSAC Coach of the Year (2022 East, 2008 West)
2 College World Series appearances
10 PSAC Tournament appearances
4 NCAA Regional Tournament appearances
35 victories in postseason play – including a 10-6 record at regionals.
Six Raiders (MLB) Draft
Several other players have gone on to play professionally as undrafted free agents or in an independent league
Overall, Jones has coached in 54 conference tournament games,21 NCAA regional tournament games
5 College World Series appearances

 
NOTES
IF you don’t like where you are at you get a new hat
You have to keep recruiting your guys when they are there
I want the player to be with my players by themselves 
The family to be with the players by themselves
Make sure you take two visits before you commit
No one gets married after the first date
New facility allowed to never go inside
Winter workouts to be ready for 20-30 pitches and trust guys to get it done
Replicate the starters stuff on a machine
In our program its still about the program
It needs be team first
The younger you are the more blinders you have to have
As you get through school it will widen
Moving guys around the locker room
Changing hitting groups
Moving guys around in study hall
Purposeful seating or hotel roomates
Checking up with guys at practice that have nothing to do with baseball
Let them see me as more than a coach
We don’t hide things from the team
Most of the things kids dealing with are not full realityNo ugly pictures on IG
Not posting the 0-3, but will post the HR

You still need to decide how much to of the truth to tell a kid
Respect their feelings and understand where they are and how much info you give them
Fortunate to have bosses that appreciate how we do business
Number #1 rule - “Don’t be a jerk!”
Its not all about winning the last game of the year
I want the 90 minutes of the day at practice to be the best part of the day
Be someone that someone wants to be around
I am an educator, I recruit kids to a university, and guide them to what they are going to do the rest of their lives
Ultimate responsibility of the university is to guide people in to being productive adults
Coaches should Ask more questions than give directives to players
Communicating and getting guys to understand what your saying and understanding it is their career
We are going to have different relationships with all of you
I will be here as much as you need me here! Coach? I will be coach
Dad? I’ll be dad

You have to be ok to admit when you need help
I don’t have to do it, I get to do it!
I work with the travel ball tournament parents to get them to realize that it does not matter in those tournaments
Balance time with team time and individual time
Record practice and spend some individual time
Figure out how they learn and what they respond to