College baseball coaches to speak at Platt Published: January 1, 2015 | Last Modified: January 1, 2015 10:37PM By Ken Lipshez Record-Journal Staff The American Legion baseball programs in Meriden, Berlin and Wallingford have teamed up with South Meriden Youth Baseball League and the Cheshire High program to hold a symposium for young baseball players, their families and their coaches to become better acclimated with college ball and its recruiting procedures. The 2 ½-hour event, slated for Sunday, Jan. 11 at the Platt High School beginning at 2 p.m., will feature four coaches from state colleges discussing facets of the game as it pertains to them and the student-athletes they recruit. The speakers will be UConn coach Jim Penders, Fairfield University coach Bill Currier, University of Hartford coach Justin Blood and Quinnipiac University assistant coach Patrick Egan. Penders will discuss the Huskies’ recruiting philosophy as it pertains to Division I baseball. Currier’s topic is hitting, Egan’s is pitching and Blood will talk about the relationship between coaches and players at the college level and how communication helps maximize performance. The cost of the event is $20. Advance purchase is recommended. Some tickets will be available at the door if seats remain. After speaker fees, proceeds will be meted out to the organizations in proportion to how many tickets each sells. Tickets can be purchased through: Meriden Post 45 coach Doug Wedge (203-715-0582); the Wallingford Post 187 junior division’s assistant general manager John Christofor (203-314-5523); Berlin Post 68 coach/general manager Rob Manzo (860-986-9544); SMYL president Bryan McCarty (203-907-8686); SMYL Babe Ruth Division vice president Willie Thiel (203-434-0244); Cheshire High baseball coach Bill Mrowka (203-530-8988). Wedge and Meriden’s Edward DePersio, formerly a professional scout with the Braves and Pirates, said the event serves multiple purposes. One is to bolster the sagging interest in Legion baseball brought about by the advent of costly AAU programs. They feel it isn’t necessary to spend thousands of dollars to train and showcase young players to college coaches. “I want to help the kids understand what they have to do to become college players,” said DePersio, who has served effectively as a liaison between college-bound players and regional college coaches for many years. “A lot of players don’t realize what they have to accomplish in order to be seen.” Wedge said most parents don’t fully understand the recruiting process, and strongly reiterated that an investment of thousands for private instruction is not necessary. He offered several examples of players who have come back to him to play Legion ball and landed at appropriate colleges after trying the AAU route without satisfaction. “We want to give players and their parents a realistic idea about what coaches are looking for when they recruit,” said Wedge, who has been coaching Post 45 since 2008. “We’ll look at it through the coaches’ eyes. It’s not just how you perform on the field but how you perform academically and how you conduct yourself as a young man.” DiPersio explained why college coaches are more apt to scout at the Legion’s Junior Division games. “The Senior Division has some kids who are already in college and others who have already committed,” said DiPersio, who is now a member of Post 45’s baseball committee. “Kids in the Junior Division are all going to be sophomores or juniors in high school and coaches will be able to recruit every player on every roster.” Wedge called the conference a “template to fit the needs” of the potential recruits and their families at a fraction of the cost demanded by AAU programs. “It’s a business for them. We do it out of the love of the game,” he said. “These guys make their livings by charging from $1,500 to $4,000 plus travel expenses. Parents get caught up in it, thinking they’ll get better instruction and a leg up on playing college or pro ball, but it just isn’t true.” He said the showcases that many of these organizations attend are in places like Maryland and Georgia, and college coaches from the Northeast often don’t get the chance to see their kids. “Coaches in Maryland are likely to pick the kids in their own backyard unless your kid goes down there and hits like Mickey Mantle,” Wedge said. “I’m not telling you I’m next coming of Bily Martin, but I’ll work 12 months a year to help get your kid in front of baseball people and help get him in college. From there, it’s up to your son.”
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 00:47:33 +0000