Crystal Lake Babe Ruth 14U

14U Players and Parents-

Thank you to everyone, players and parents, for a fun and successful 2014 tournament season! We had a lot of success achieving many of the goals our team set, both at the start of the year, and by winning a few games against 15U teams at the end of the season. The coaching staff and I were very proud of how hard the team worked together to achieve our goals and the overall growth of the team dating back to our last Fall season.

A few of the team goals accomplished include:

• Support our teammates whether we win or lose (everyone contributed all season)
• Have a fun and successful season (accomplished almost all our goals)
• Have a winning record in MCBL League (14-3)
• Win the MCBL Championship (beat the Warriors in the bottom of the 7th)
• Win more games than we lose (18-13-1)
• Win a game against a 15U team (won two games, including an elimination game)
• Over 70 percent of players had 10 or more hits
• Over 85 percent of players had .900 fielding percentage or better
• Have our pitchers throw a shutout (Mizell, K. Noonan and Becker combined in a 5-0 win)
• Have the pitching staff average less than 6 walks per game (less than one per inning)
• Make less errors as a team in 2014 compared to our previous season

That is an impressive list of team accomplishments and I know that does not include every area of our team’s success. Most impressive is that all of these goals were achieved while playing as a complete roster for only June and July.

I am very proud of how our players improved using our goal driven program and believe that all players, whether they are on the 2015 team or not, will continue to achieve his goals if he works hard and makes sure his effort and energy remains focused and positive.

I will have our 2014 team statistics in another email this week before 15U tryouts. I will include offensive, defensive and pitching stats that were complied during the MCBL season and tournaments. Please make sure to focus on three main categories: On-base percentage (OB%), Fielding percentage (FLD%) and Earned-run average (ERA). Those are the three areas that were driven by our goal based system and worked on throughout the year and I believe they best reflect the success of our team as a unit.

Tryouts for the 2015 season are Sunday, August 10th from 5 PM to 6:30 PM at Lippold Park. If you are not able to attend that tryout, we will also hold a tryout Tuesday, August 12th from 630-800 PM at Lippold as well. Please let me know if you will be unable to attend either tryout date and I will make other arrangements with my coaching staff to complete an additional tryout. All players must attend some form of a tryout for the 2015 season per our league by-laws, however each player should understand that at this point there is very little that one tryout will show that would possibly replace the one or two seasons of successful goal achievement we already have on each player.

As a final stage in our second season together, the coaching staff and I complied comments on each player’s “competitive advantage (CA),” or a key area of contribution to our team, and each player’s “team building (TB),” or a key area of focus to better prepare each player to help his team in 2015. Player information is below.

1. Becker:
CA) Focused on a key area of the field and became a top pitcher. Solid bat continued. Excellent improvement
TB) Focus on hitting his pitch and taking more consistent swings across every at-bat
2. Cormier:
CA) Worked on pitch location and secondary pitch and became a top pitcher. 1B skills impressed. Excellent achievement
TB) Must continue to build bat speed and plate discipline to become a complete player.
3. Dominski:
CA) Focused on catching skills and was teams most consistent catcher. Hitting improved tremendously. Excellent focus
TB) Must continue to build arm strength and work on footwork to help throw out more runners as a top catcher
4. Gadjzik:
CA) Consistently handled multiple fielding positions well. Excellent plate discipline and had solid at-bats.
TB) Must build arm strength to be able to contribute consistently on defense and bat speed to improve hitting.
5. Haskin:
CA) Worked hard and improved aggressiveness at shortstop.Drove the baseball consistently all year. Excellent success
TB) Focus on building confidence as a pitcher and make adjustments to swing to help drive the baseball consistently.
6. Kovack:
CA) Improved arm strength and bat speed and found multiple positions in the field to contribute.
TB) Focus on building swing strength to better drive the baseball at the plate.
7. Michaelson
CA) Strong pitching upside with starting pitching skills. Worked hard to improve at every defensive position.
TB) Work on finding a spot on the field to own defensively and much more consistent swings at the plate
8. Mizell:
CA) Focused on a key area of the field and became a top pitcher. Excellent all-around defensive skills. Great improvement
TB) Work on knowing the best pitch to swing at and to swing hard to drive the baseball in every at-bat.
9. Noonan, D:
CA) Strong arm and excellent improvement at 3B trusting his defensive ability. Threw well at the end of the season.
TB) Work on driving through the baseball with every swing and increased bat speed.
10. Noonan, K:
CA) Tremendous outfield improvement and excellent plate discipline. Threw quality innings on the mound.
TB) Work on driving through the baseball with every swing. Improve pitching arm strength and secondary pitches.
11. O’Donnell, L:
CA) Exceptional center field work and outfield leadership. Improved greatly at the plate. Excellent achievements
TB) Focus on driving the baseball with every swing and building arm strength to complete the outfield skill set.
12. O’Donnell, S:
CA) Fundamental catcher with excellent blocking ability. Strong bat capable of changing the game with every swing.
TB) Improve arm strength/grip on the ball to increase catching skills. Work on overall fielding to keep bat in lineup
13. Tanzillo:
CA) Excellent 1B skills and great plate discipline. Gets the most out of every swing at the plate. Excellent focus
TB) Work on arm strength to secure a pitching role and work outfield skills to keep bat in the lineup.
14. Weber:
CA) Dominant player who worked hard to improve every element of his physical and mental game. Amazing dedication.
TB) Continue to develop infield skills to lock down a position and keep bat in the lineup every game.

Please let me know if any player would like more details about our Program Goal Analysis or would like any more details on the specific statistics when I send them later this week.

Thank you again for a wonderful 14U season and I look forward to helping every player achieve their goals in 2015.

Thanks-
Coach Justin