In this episode of Patrick Jones Baseball, I interview Tyler Gillum, 

the Assistant Coach, and Health and Wellness Coordinator at South Mountain Community 

College in Phoenix, Arizona. During the summertime, he is the head coach for the Savannah 

Bananas, a collegiate summer baseball team. He has also been in the Coastal Plain League, 

Texas Collegiate League, and Cape Cod League. Tyler Gillum talks about infield play, how to 

coach third base, strength training, and base running. 

Episode Highlights:

• What drew Tyler Gillum to coach the Savannah Bananas? 
• Tyler Gillum talks about ways his team breaks the norm on the baseball field. 
• What did Tyler’s high school coach do that made such a big impact on him? 
• What are his roles with South Mountain?  
• What is a typical day like for his infielders?  
• Tyler Gillum shares a story about a bullpen catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays.  
• Tyler shares his positive opinions of wall balls and counting hops.   
• How does he teach the double play?  
• Does he have runners purposely slide in?  
• Does he use machines to measure the type of spin that is coming off the ball? 
• What are his thoughts on developing first basemen?  
• Does he have first basemen hold off runners differently? 
• Your body is going to figure out how to be as fast as possible if you put it on a stopwatch.  
• Is he ok with players sliding head-first? 
• Tyler walks us through a third base runner scenario. 

3 Key Points:

1. During practice, stretching and playing catch are the two things that they do every time.   
2. Wall balls are something you can do anywhere that are very helpful for training. 
3. When training players for the double, Tyler tells them to approach the bag with their left foot in the middle of the bag in an athletic position, with their shoulder parallel with the part of the second base facing them. 

Tweetable Quotes:

• “Whatever is normal, do the exact opposite.” – Tyler Gillum 
• “I wanted to be in Phoenix because I thought it was the best place that I could grow and network. Those two things are something I always stuck with.” – Tyler Gillum
• “Catch play is, I would say the hardest things we do at practice, one of the hardest things that we do at practice, also one of the most beneficial things that we do at practice.” – Tyler Gillum

Resources Mentioned:

• patrickjonesbaseball.com
• Tyler Gillum’s Website: gillumbaseball.com
• Tyler Gillum Social Media: Instagram Twitter
• Tyler Gillum Phone Number: (602) 370-7649

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