Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast - Pat Bailey

As a national champion for Oregon State , coach Pat Bailey goes in-depth on winning the College World Series , outfield play , recruiting and so much more .

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Visit them online at wwwnettingproscom or check them out at Netting Pros on X , instagram , facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects . Now to my episode with Oregon State Associate Head Coach Pat Bailey . Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged .

I'm your host , coach Ken Carpenter , and I'm excited to bring to you from the state of Oregon , pat Bailey , associate Head Coach at Oregon State , and he was a two-time national champion Coach . Thanks for taking time to be on Baseball Coaches Unplugged .

And so I had Ryan Johnston , who's the five-state director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes , called me and asked me if I'd be interested in going to work for FCA and I said yes and we met . And then he and my wife and I met and I said yes . And so I've been working for FCA since December of 2020 . I'm 69 . Fortunately , I'm still healthy .

I'm not taking any medication or anything . So other than I've had quite a few surgeries related to baseball Tommy John , both shoulders , left hip just recently . So I'm going to be the $6 million man when it gets over with , but that's what I'm doing now . I'm working for FCA .

And I said well , I'm majoring in business . And he goes , they teach business in high schools . So I took a class and I'm switching to business education and graduated in four years , finished in 78 . And I applied for a job down in Eugene Oregon and it's the first job I applied for and I got it . And so I started coaching baseball .

I was the JV baseball coach and the JV football coach for both sports and that's when I got going . So , anyhow , I think it's a God thing that I ended up doing

so . That's what I'm doing . Well , you know it's a God thing that I ended up doing so . That's what I'm doing . Well , you know it's funny you mentioned that .

It's about helping other people and having an impact and influence on other people , and every coach should know his why and my why was to develop men of character and to help them become great citizens If they choose to get married , great husbands , great fathers , great community members , and so you know , I use baseball as a vehicle to teach that .

But I just read a stat the other day that said I believe the average division one college baseball player age is 21.9 nearly 22 years old , and this makes it incredibly hard for a high school kid that has aspirations of playing at the D1 college level . I got to get your thoughts on the transfer portal . Is it good for college baseball ?

In fact he's going to be a first round pick this year and he came in at the end of last year and he said coach , I need a hundred thousand dollars in nil money or I'm not going to come back first-round pick this year . And he came in at the end of last year and he said Coach , I need $100,000 in NIL money or I'm not going to come back .

And he goes , I don't have that kind of money . And so he hit the transfer portal and the next day he was at SEC school . I mean that thing was already done before that kid even came in there . So honestly I'm glad I'm not coaching anymore between the NIL and the transfer portal . And the transfer portal was then when I was coaching too .

It's just the NIL . Things really changed that . And that 21.2 years part of that's the pandemic , you know , because kids were playing longer , because they got that extra year I would be worrying about . If you looked at that before the pandemic , it was probably somewhere around 19 to 20 , probably 20 .

Because most kids maybe a little over 20 , because not everybody signs after their junior year . But yeah , I think it's really changed things . I think it affects development . You get a guy in your program instead of developing him either . You know , because I think it works both ways .

I think coaches tell kids they need a transfer because they want to get a better , better PAC , a player in the portal , and they want to get a better player . So the whole thing is I'm just thankful I'm not doing it anymore because of it .

If you know bob todd , he was coach for Ohio State for a long time and he was a big proponent for moving the season back a little bit because he felt like teams in the North are at a disadvantage . What did you guys do , or what do they still do , at Oregon State ? You're in the Northwest . How do you continue to put out

great teams and compete at such a high level ?

But I'm just telling you , culture eats strategy for breakfast , and we had a great culture , and you know , every place I've been , I primarily think culture is really important . So you've got to recruit the right kind of guy . So our big three , because I was a recruiting coordinator . Number one you better be a man of character .

If you're not a man of character , you're not going to fit our culture . Number two you better be a hard worker , and hard work starts in the classroom . I rarely recruited a guy that was below like a 3.5 GPA . Most of them were like 3.8 or higher . And I'll give you three quick examples Madrigal , who , in 18 , was the fourth pick in the draft .

I think that was a 4.0 in high school and I think he ended up with like a 3.85 there . Adley Rutschman , who was the first pick in the draft . Adley Rutschman was like he had one B in high school . I think he's a 395 . And he ended up being like a 378 GPA in the business department here .

So , and then Caden Grenier was a 4.0 in the valedictorian of his class in his high school and he was a first-round pick in 18 . So we recruited guys that were really hard workers . And the thing is , when students get really good grades , that tells me they're doing things right on and off the field . The kid's getting bad grades .

Whenever I talk to a guy that had below 3.5 GPA , I ask what's going on in your life that you're not getting good grades ? Well , I got a 3.2 because 3.2 , anybody can get a 3.2 . I can chew bubblegum in a class and not do anything to get a 3.2 GPA today . So , anyhow . And then the last thing is you better be selfless .

You better make other people more important than yourself . It's team , teammate , self , in that order . And if you can't buy into that , I can't recruit you . I mean , the very first time I talked to kids on the phone , that's what I told them .

think absolutely , and case was a great motivator .

If you have one guy that's affecting your culture and he won't change , you got to let that guy go . I mean , if I went to business I'd do the same thing , and this is I mean it's kind of like running a business .

Do you need to hold the backup shortstop and put him out there in the outfield , or is there any certain things that you look for in great outfielders ?

You want to be around six , eight or better . So we recruited speed and I recruited speed for defense , not offense . There's some times where guys are really good athletes that play shortstop but they're not good defenders in the infield , so you move them to the outfield .

There's a whole bunch of things that factor into that , but I'm just telling for high school coaches . When I was a high school coach I always had an outfield coach . An outfielder makes a mistake . It's always a multi-base mistake . It's not just a single base error like a fielding error . So I kind of equate outfield play to defensive backs in football .

If a defensive back makes a mistake , it could cost you the game . It could end up being a touchdown and sending an outfielder . If an outfielder makes a mistake , it could cost you the game . So we I worked our outfielders every day and our big three was this number one secure the couch .

Number two take great routes and we did route work every day in practice For me , throwing balls to them . It was really controlled . They hit and fly balls to them every day and we had a sequence that I did every day with fly balls . I'd always have them start shallow and I'd hit them over their heads . They worked on going over their heads .

I'd hit them to the left , I'd hit them to the right and then I would hit them out in front of them , then I'd hit him out in front of him , then I'd hit players to him where they'd have to run in and dive and gouge him . So that was our sequence when I hit live down . And then the last thing is I want guys being accurate with their throws .

I'll take a quick arm and an accurate arm any day over a great arm .

We got one inch of snow about a month ago and they closed school down because they have no way of cleaning it up .

I mean , we'll get rain once in a while now , but it's it , and our fields turk . And the other thing is we have a great facility . We have the best facility on the west coast . It's beautiful , and , and and , by the way , we kids come have a great facility . We have the best facility on the West Coast .

It's beautiful , and , by the way , kids come to a game to watch us play . Our place is sold out every game . It seats 4,000 people . There's going to be between 3,500 and 4,000 people at every home game . Wow , that's amazing , and it's just a great facility .

it , what would you emphasize and how would that routine work daily for a high school player ?

into three-dimensional motion analysis . So number one is be on time . If you know , if a guy doesn't have a strike foot down by it at uh , by the time the ball's a minimum 30 feet away , he's not going to unlock and seek once . And you and you , whenever you work with hitters , you always start with their base uh , and then work your way up .

And then the second thing is , uh , besides being on time , is you have to stabilize your posture . If you don to stabilize your posture , if you don't stabilize your posture , if you have spine angle movements when you're striding , you're not going to have proper swing mechanics . So those would be my two big ones . There's some things .

And the third thing I would say is , when you're working with guides , don't be a cookie cutter . Not everybody's the same . Every person is uniquely bold . There isn't any one athlete that's the same . So you know the posture thing and getting down on time , those have to be done , but everybody has their own signature in terms of how they add .

So but I would definitely if I was a coach , I would get some information from biokinetic research and the thing young coaches are doing is they're not going to clinics , which is crazy to me . They're not going to a clinic and learn from somebody who really knows what they're talking about .

They get online and look at stuff and a lot of the stuff online is not accurate . So you got to be really careful who you learn from .

I mean , if you're swinging at pitches that are out of the zone , so you it . You got it from day one . We talked about approach and strike zones , strike zone management , and we also did uh two strike hitting almost every day of practice . I mean approach , uh zone management .

I mean , if you look at our guys in the major leagues that are up there right now you look at Conforto , you look at Rutschman , you look at Kwan Stephen Kwan with the guard nails , you look at Trevor they all manage the strike zone really well .

So I mean that was a really big deal for us and let's be honest , the only person that hits a really good slider or breaking ball is God . So you know you've got to be fastball ready yes , that's , that's true .

He was a leading hitter in the AAA and he said as soon as he got up to the Braves they started changing everything on him and he didn't want to do it , but he thought I'm at the major league level , I better listen to these guys , major league level , I better listen to these guys .

And he really thought that that kind of affected his career because he made so many changes . He got away from what was so successful for him and you know , if you have a guy come in that hits really well prior to coming to you , how much do you try to change that ?

But I mean , if you got a guy that comes in and can really hit , I mean , the biggest thing where our guys jump , I think , is what you know from their freshman year to their sophomore and junior years . They learn how to manage the strike zone and they come up with a really good approach .

And so , uh , I think that's too bad that he really had minor legs and they're trying to change things to manage . I think that's crazy . But , uh , if a guy can hit , I mean he's doing everything right mechanically where he's able to . You , you know , hit pitches in different locations and , let's be honest , there's spots where guys just don't hit .

But pitchers make mistakes . A major league pitcher in quadrants misses an average of four and a half inches every pitch . Those are major leaguers . So if you're patient enough to play , you're going to get a pitch and your swing zone to head at some point , not a bat , and that's the critical piece .

That's part of the approach , and I firmly believe you can't hit 17 inches of the plate . There's about eight inches of the plate that you need to focus on . That's your area that you really hit and look for a pitch in that area because , let's be honest , most hitters get themselves out .

Pitchers don't get them out , they get themselves out , and it has a lot to do with swing decisions and strike zone management .

Because you know , I I've come across coaches where they've been head coaches and now all of a sudden they're like I don't want to deal with all the headaches , I , I just want to go and coach at the high school level . What was your approach to that ?

And we probably spent an hour talking about that and he had the same philosophy I did in terms of why he was coaching Developing men of character , developing men who are going to be accountable and responsible . That was the most important thing to me . And secondly , I honestly wanted to have an opportunity to coach at a higher level .

I mean it just you know the guys I've seen play when we were in the Pac-10 and it became the Pac-12 , I mean there's a lot of guys in the majors that I coached against , along with the guys that we've had in the majors ourselves . I mean Matt Boyd , who's now with the Cubs I think this is Matt's 11th season . He is one of ours .

Drew Rasmussen , who's with the Rays , is one of ours . You know , I just it's fun seeing talent . So you know , it was an opportunity for me to coach at higher level and I love my time at George Fox . I love being a head coach and , by the way , when we won the national championship in 2004 , I had four guys or five guys on that team that got drafted .

high school . So we had a lot of talent .

And the second thing is , I think you know you need to be a class act . I mean what you , what you allow , you encourage , what you permit , you promote , and so there has to be standards that are set , and those standards are things that just you can't . They have to abide by them . And then you need to be clear about your expectations .

I mean from expectations about your program philosophy , the expectations about discipline , the expectations about practice . And when we practice , I tell guys , when you walk through that gate to come to practice , you better be a laser bait . I'm not going to put up with floodlights .

I don't care what's happened during your day , I don't care if you got three hours of sleep . When you walk through that gate , it's all about 10 . And I expect you to work hard , I expect you to be focused , and I will not put up with anybody that's not focused in practice .

But to start with they didn't win a lot . And you know , I I don't want snowflakes for grandchildren , I want grandchildren that are going to compete . So you know , whatever I'm doing , I'm going to compete at it . I want . There's a so many people . When you ask them how they're doing now , I say they're doing good .

I don't want to be good , I want to be great at everything I do , and that's what separates goodness from greatness .

We didn't talk a lot about winning , we talked a lot about you know , all the stuff you do with your program , what your culture is . I mean being relentlessly pursuing excellence . It's not about success . Success is a scoreboard .

If you pursue excellence and you make the most , if you get every kid to make the most out of their God-given talent , then the success part takes care of itself .

I'll just give you an example year when we won the national championship , we started on valentine's day and I didn't have any kids at home , so my wife traveled with us a lot . So I got to be with my wife a lot , who I've been married to for 47 years and , by the way , I'm jamie and she's varsity how the hell I'm . I'm very blessed .

I have a great wife and a very supportive wife , because she saw our main coach in baseball's admission field , so we had kids over our house that came and ate dinner at our house and all kinds of stuff .

But anyhow , we started on february 14th , from february 14th till june 28th when , when we won the national championship , I had three days off and one of them was Easter .

Yeah , all that matters is your team and your players .

was at the plate and he hit a pop-up down the right field line .

I think the championship game we won 5-0 . To three . Then we won the championship game . I think the championship game we won 5-0 . I would say Trevor's home run was the highlight that we're going to lose that game . The guy not catching the ball down the right field line and the second baseman over around the ball I had behind him .

Honestly , the ball was not his ball , it was the right fielder's ball and that's why you want you know . I just I'm firmly convinced that our right fielder would , would have called off and got that ball . Because we work on fly ball , communication and what . In areas where three people converge , those are called tough ball areas .

That was pretty neat . Yes , we were at a regional there .

You know you can use constructive criticism whatever you want , but don't attack the person personally . That's a no-no .

Contact them today at 844-620-2707 , or you can visit them online at wwwnettingproscom . As always , I'm your host Coach , ken Carpenter , and thanks for joining me on Baseball Coaches Unplugged , thank you .