By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

CLAREMONT, Calif. — Nobody had more wisdom than the late John Scolinos.

He led Cal Poly Pomona to three national championships (1976, 1980 and 1983) and retired in 1991 as the winningest coach in NCAA Division II history. He passed away at the age of 91 in 2009.

Scolinos was named NCAA Division II Coach of the Century by Collegiate Baseball for not only his coaching ability but the influence he had on thousands of baseball coaches across the nation and athletes who played for him.

Prior to becoming Pomona’s head coach, he spent 14 seasons at Pepperdine University where his teams went 376-213.

His all-time record in 44 years of coaching was 1,198-949.

Scolinos’ overall record is highly misleading since his teams always played the best teams in Southern California and Arizona, including all the top NCAA Division I teams.

This giant in the profession influenced more coaches than possibly any skipper has in the history of the game with the way he broke down the game during clinic sessions — often in front of standing room only crowds at American Baseball Coaches Association conventions.

And after almost every presentation, he would be given a standing ovation from the crowd.

Here are some of those priceless lessons coaches learned from Scolinos through the years that Collegiate Baseball has collected.

“On days when nothing goes right, I call them ‘jock games,’ ” said Scolinos.

“That’s when all the defense does is throw their jocks out there, the hitters get faked out of their jocks, and the pitchers get their jocks knocked off.

“If a team gets in a jock contest, they don’t have a chance.”

About the type of ball players there are in the game:

“There are a lot of puppy dogs and hot dogs with a few bull dogs scattered among the group. We want the bulldogs.”

Possibly the greatest moment I have of Coach Scolinos was as at the 1990 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in New Orleans where he gave a clinic in front of thousands of coaches discussing the finer points of hitting.

He sternly told coaches in attendance they should never allow players to have their heads in their jocks.

To demonstrate the point, he quickly pulled a jock strap over his forehead. Every coach in attendance howled with laughter. But Coach Scolinos made his point.

Years ago, I interviewed former Cal. Poly Pomona assistant coach Steve Osaki who explained in detail Scolinos’ other legendary clinic sessions.

“At clinics, he was well known for giving his talk on handshakes to demonstrate fielding mistakes,” said Osaki.

“The first one was the halitosis handshake. Coach Scolinos and another coach would each shake hands but turn their heads away to demonstrate how a fielder turns his head away from the ball.

“The next one was the political handshake. Coach Scolinos would walk up to another coach on stage and extend his hand.

“Just prior to a handshake taking place between the two, Coach Scolinos would slip his hand back and flip his glove.

“The third demonstration was the mafia handshake. Two people were shoulder to shoulder embracing each other in a handshake as Coach Scolinos says, ‘Let’s make a deal.’

“Then comes the Japanese handshake. Two people walk up and bow to each other signifying the player who lets the ball roll through his legs.

“The final one was the best way to field called the American handshake. You look your opponent right in the eye with arms not locked and shake.”

Boxing Demonstrations
Osaki said Scolinos was also known for his boxing match demonstration during clinics.

“The whole point of the boxing match was to show that you must get up after suffering a setback in baseball.

“Coach would have another person work with him during this demonstration and knock him down with a punch to the jaw (actually fist misses player’s jaw by a few inches).

“The player would stay down as Coach discussed why players who stay down for the 10 count are finished in baseball.

“Coach then explained that the player must make adjustments such as blocking those punches.

“But if that player is knocked down again, he must bounce back up and make further adjustments.”

One of the keys to Scolinos’ amazing success was that he surrounded himself with outstanding people.

“But if you surround yourself with donkeys,” said Scolinos, “You’ll be in donkeyville.

“You just can’t afford to surround yourself with jerkballs, snotballs or donkballs.”

Coach Scolinos had this fabulous, yet unique way, of getting his point across to fellow coaches at clinics or his own players.

To read more of this tribute to the great John Scolinos, purchase the May 6, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

By PERRY HUSBAND
Special To Collegiate Baseball

PALMDALE, Calif. — The biggest question in baseball is what allows hard contact by hitters?

Pitchers who limit hard contact dominate and hitters who create more of it are at the top of the sport. This is the core question that sparked all the research that went into the discovery of Effective Velocity.

Ev is the science that introduced Ev Pitch Tunnels, Movement Mechanics or the use of tilt axis, arm angle and spins to make the ball move, Pitch Recognition Training and much more.

Pitchers are throwing harder every year, and with modern technology, they are creating “better stuff.”

But are they using their “stuff” better? To do damage, hitters have to be close to 100% on time, and their swing needs to be at or near 100% efficient.

The Effective Velocity hitting term for perfect contact is 100-100, a line in the sand to measure all contact against. To break the sound barrier, planes must go 767 mph. If they get close, they’re going fast, but they didn’t create a sonic boom.

To measure anything, there must be a true north to measure from, and in hard contact, that is 100-100.

Think of all pitches as 1’s – 2’s – 3’s or 4’s.

Fastballs located up and inside are 1’s, fastballs away or down are 2’s, the harder off-speed pitches like cutters and splits are 3’s, and 4’s are slower off-speed, mostly curveballs.

This illustration above shows 3 different pitches going to 3 different locations at 3 different speeds from a RHP.

One pitch is a 93 mph fastball located away. The other is a hard split-finger that is 90 mph located middle and the last is a slider at 87 MPH located inside. 

All 3 pitches will “run into” the barrel at different points in the same swing, not the same time but the same swing timing.

This is Effective Velocity in a nutshell. 

All 3 pitches have the same EvMPH or “true reactionary speed.”

These pitches would be great examples of 2’s and 3’s in action and roughly 2/3 of all MLB pitches are 2’s and 3’s.

This is a hint as to the earlier question of whether pitchers are using their “stuff better.”

The bulk of pitches are being thrown directly into the speed range hitters are most geared to.

A pitchers’ next chess move will put hitting on a whole new level of difficulty if they change this approach.  

Hitter’s Attention
Ev Pitch Tunnels are when 2 pitches share the same horizontal and vertical planes for at least 20 feet of pitch flight, then split apart going to 2 different areas of the zone with large speed spreads between them.

To read more of this story, purchase the May 6, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE. This in-depth story delves into visual and reactionary skills, the reactionary test, experiment with 14,000 at-bats, 100-100 perfect contact, MLB data, Biola Ev study and Ev Pitch Sequencing which features a number of graphics and charts.  

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

FREMONT, Calif. — One of the most successful and fascinating college head coaches in the nation is Mike Curran of Ohlone College.

This incredible skipper led the Renegades to a 36-game winning streak this season in California Community College baseball and 40-3 overall record.

Curran has discovered that when his offense performs 4-5 specific jobs in games, his program has won its last 140 straight contests.

He also explains keys that have allowed his defense to be ranked No. 1 in California for 5 of the last 9 years and what his pitchers strive for in the quest for success.

If that wasn’t enough, he explains the 7 pillars of culture his program demands of players which is another integral part of his system.

Now in his ninth season with Ohlone, he has led the Renegades to a 269-71 record.

Curran has led Ohlone to 5 conference championships, 4 regional titles, 3 Super Regional championships, a sectional title and made 1 final four appearance in the California community college playoffs.

Over the last five seasons:

• 22 players have gone on to NCAA Div. I schools.
• 48 players have earned All-Conference selections.
• 13 players have earned California C.C. All-State honors.
• 7 players have earned All-American status.
• His teams have been nationally ranked each season from 2017-2022.

Curran explained his remarkable system at Ohlone College.

“At the college level, you have to be relentless recruiters,” said Curran.

“I spend at least 3-4 hours every single day hunting guys from Oct. 1 to the middle of June, talking to prospective players and sending e-mails as well as text messages. You have to be willing to work your tail off at this level to get kids who will make a difference.

“I tell my assistant coaches here that we must initially cast a wide net to identify the right players. Hopefully, we will get 10 percent of them. That means you are bringing in 25-30 guys each year. If you do that, 10 percent of them must be difference makers. That means each year, you have 3 elite ball players. So in any given year on the JC level, if you have 6 difference makers on your ball club, you will win some ball games.

“It all starts with players for me.”

Creating Culture
Curran said once you have players, then it is about creating culture.

“What are your guys doing when you are not around? How are they acting, conducting themselves, what is their work ethic and decision making? Once you find talented players, you must create a good culture.

“We have 7 Pillars Of Culture we consistently talk about: 1. Expectations, 2. Accountability, 3. Trust, 4. Work Ethic, 5. Value, 6. Selflessness, 7. Attention to detail.”

Curran broke down each of these 7 components.

To read more of this article, purchase the May 6, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE. Mike Curran not only delves into the 7 Pillars Of Culture but explains his Offensive Jobs Chart that accurately predicts wins, plus much more.