Coach Beede Podcast

Walter answers questions about youth baseball on today's episode.

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A.J. Miller ‘11, a former Patriot League Player of the Year with the Leopards, begins his second season as the program's head coach.

In his first year at the helm of the Leopards program, Miller led the Maroon and White to the Patriot League Tournament, with Pete Ciuffreda, Michael Zarrillo and Alex Walsh all being selected to the All-Patriot League First Team. Also in 2023, Pete Ciuffreda broke Lafayette's single-season home run record, blasting 13 home runs.

Prior to returning to College Hill, Miller spent seven seasons on the coaching staff at Lehigh University, holding titles of assistant coach, recruiting coordinator and associate head coach, during his tenure in Bethlehem.

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Blake Dean has completed five seasons as the head coach at the University of New Orleans. In that span, he is 130-119-1. Dean picked up his 100th win against Louisiana on Mar. 12, 2019.
In 2021, Dean guided the Privateers to their highest finish since joining the Southland when they earned a 2-seed in the conference tournament. In that season, he coached six all-conference selections, tied for the most in a single season since 2008.
Dean also vaulted up to third in the all-time wins list and as of the end of the '21 season, was the fifth youngest head coach in Division I baseball. 
The Privateers started getting hot in 2020, winning 11 of 14 games before the season was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. New Orleans swept Arkansas State in that span, won series against UConn and Nicholls, and defeated Tulane in the first game of the Pelican Cup.
That did not stop the streak Dean has been on in helping to produce draft picks. Eric Orze was selected in the fifth round of the 2020 Draft by the New York Mets. That marked the fourth consecutive year a Privateer has been drafted.

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Eric Cressey is president and co-founder of Cressey Sports Performance, with facilities located in Hudson, MA and Palm Beach Gardens, FL.  A highly sought-after coach for healthy and injured athletes alike, Eric has helped athletes at all levels - from youth sports to the professional and Olympic ranks - achieve their highest levels of performance in a variety of sports.  Behind Eric's expertise, Cressey Sports Performance has rapidly established itself as a go-to high performance facility among Boston athletes - and those that come from across the country and abroad to experience CSP's cutting-edge methods.  Eric is perhaps best known for his extensive work with baseball players, with more than 100 professional players traveling to train with him each off-season. In January of 2020, he joined the New York Yankees organization as Director of Player Health and Performance.

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One of the cornerstones of Rice’s rise to prominence in college baseball, José Cruz Jr. was named the 22nd head baseball coach at Rice on June 9, 2021.
Cruz returned to the Owls from the Detroit Tigers, where he was in his first season with the club as a coach, focusing on hitting instruction and working with the outfielders under manager A.J. Hinch. 
 
He is the first former Rice player to be named as the Owls head baseball coach since Harold Stockbridge, who lettered from 1946-48 and guided the program from 1949-52.  He joins Efe Ustundag (Men’s Tennis) and Jon Warren (Men’s Track and Cross Country) as former student-athletes who now serve as head coaches at Rice.

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Scott Bradley, the Robert H.B. Baldwin '42 Head Coach of Baseball, starts his 25th season with Princeton in 2023. He currently has a career record the 420-561-2. Bradley has led the Tigers to seven Ivy League titles, seven NCAA tournament appearances and 11 20-win seasons.

Bradley, who spent nine seasons as a left-handed-hitting catcher in the major leagues for the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, came to Princeton after a year as an assistant coach at Rutgers University. He is a 1982 graduate of the University of North Carolina and an Essex Fells, N.J., native

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Rob McCoy enters his 16th season as head coach of the Purple Eagles in 2024. He is the winningest head coach in Niagara baseball history with 261 wins entering the 2024 season.
In McCoy's time as head coach, six Purple Eagles have been selected in the MLB Draft, including Matt Brash, who is currently a relief pitcher for the Seattle Mariners. Brash, who was drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2019, is the first NU player to be active on an MLB roster since the 1950's. 

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A proven track record of postseason success, explosive lineups and highly-ranked recruiting classes make LSU’s Jay Johnson one of the best college baseball coaches in the nation. He has made a significant impact at every program he’s led, and he is one of the most energetic, innovative and focused coaches in America.

Now at the helm of one of the nation’s most storied college baseball programs, Johnson has enhanced LSU’s elite legacy by guiding the Tigers to the 2023 College World Series title, marking the seventh National Championship in school history.

In just his second season at LSU, Johnson directed the Tigers to the 2023 National Championship as their drive to the title was culminated with an 18-4 win over Florida in Game 3 of the College World Series Finals.

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Chris Pollard became Duke University's 25th head baseball coach in June of 2012, taking over the reins of the Blue Devil program after successful stints at Pfeiffer University and Appalachian State University.
While at Duke, Pollard has coached 33 Major League Baseball Draft picks, 16 All-ACC selections, four Freshmen All-Americans and three All-Americans. In addition, he has led the program to two Super Regionals (2018, 2019) and an ACC Baseball Tournament Championship title (2021), each the first in program history. Duke reached three consecutive postseasons (2018, 2019, 2021) for the first time in program history and his first postseason appearance in 2016 broke a 55-year drought. In 2021, Pollard became the first Duke coach to reach 100 career ACC wins, becoming one of six active head coaches to achieve that mark at the time.
Pollard led Duke to another historic season in 2021, capturing the programs first ACC Baseball Tournament Championship title in program history, and its first conference title since 1961. Duke strung together 12 consecutive wins in May to capture the ACC title and secure a spot in a NCAA Regional.

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Coach Mejia came to Northern Essex as the Knights as head coach in the 2013 season. Since his arrival the program has seen record breaking accomplishments 8 New England Regional Championships, 7 District Championships, 7 NJCAA College World Series Appearances.   For these accomplishments Coach Mejia has been named the New England Regional Coach of the Year 8 times and the American Baseball Coaches Association NJCAA III Northeast Regional Coach of the Year 7 times.

In Coach Mejia’s ten full seasons an impressive 93 student athletes have gone on to play at four-year Universities/Colleges. Since 2013 the Knights have produced 21 NJCAA All-Americans and 65 All-New England players.

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