Joining us on the ABCA Podcast this week is Aberdeen Iron Birds manager, Roberto Mercado. Mercado is entering his second season as manager with the Orioles High A affiliate. Mercado spent 19 seasons coaching at New Britain High School and five seasons in the Cape Cod League with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox with ABCA Hall of Famer Scott Pickler. In this episode we cover the transition from coaching amateur to professional baseball, what he learned coaching high school and elite college players, outfield play, his role as manager, the outfield zoom chat we started during COVID and what he got out of presenting at the 2023 ABCA convention in Nashville. The ABCA Podcast is presented by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time, specializing in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, bp screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies and more.

Roberto Mercado, High A Manager, Aberdeen Iron Birds

The ABCA Podcast runs the gamut of baseball coaching topics, from pitching, to hitting, to the mental game, practice planning, recruiting and more. It's hosted by Ryan Brownlee, longtime coach and current Assistant Executive Director of the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). The ABCA is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches, with more than 15,000 members representing all 50 U.S. states and 41 countries. Since 1945, Association membership has broadened to include: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, Junior College, Pacific Association Division, High School, Youth and Travel Baseball. Each January, the ABCA hosts the largest baseball convention in the world. Over 8,000 coaches participate in the convention, which is held at various locations around the country. The ABCA's official website is http://www.ABCA.org.

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Next up on the ABCA Podcast are Minority Prospects’ Alex Wyche and Reggie Hollins. Wyche founded Minority Prospects after a successful stint coaching high school baseball in the State of Georgia. Wyche served as an educator and coach for 13 years. Wyche was the first black head coach at Griffin High School. Wyche’s next opportunity was at Redan High School, which is historically one of the best high school programs in the country. In seven seasons Wyche had over 100 wins, seven MLB draft picks and 60 players obtaining college scholarships. Wyche was the 2022 recipient of the Georgia High School State Coach of the Year. Hollins is currently the President/COO of Minority Prospects. Hollins came from the college side after 13 seasons as an assistant and head coach at Tuskegee University. In Hollins’ time coaching at Tuskegee the Golden Tigers had the most wins since 1999 in his first season as head coach and played for an SIAC Conference Championship for the first time since 1989. In 2021 Hollins spoke for the ABCA Virtual Convention during COVID, if you want to dive into his talk on the website. This is a highly entertaining listen. The three of us had a great time. The ABCA Podcast is presented by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one fa

Alex Wyche & Reggie Hollins - Minority Prospects

This week on the ABCA Podcast is the owner of Elevate Sports Academy, Adam Sarancik. Sarancik mentors student-athletes in physical conditioning, nutrition, career & college counseling and sport skills. Sarancik has spent most of his adult life mentoring youth ages 8-22 in baseball, softball, soccer and basketball. In baseball, Sarancik’s teams have consistently won championships at every youth league and high school level. In administration, Sarancik has served as a league founder, board member and coaches’ & players’ clinic director over the course of his 40+ year coaching career. Sarancik earned his Bachelor of Science Degree from San Diego State University, Juris Doctor Degree from the University of San Diego and his Masters of Arts in Teaching Degree from Western Oregon University. Sarancik has written 11 articles for the ABCA’s Inside Pitch Magazine and is the author of 3 books. Sarancik’s fourth book “Teacher, Role Model, Mentor: Lessons Learned from a Lifetime of Coaching” will be published later this year. The ABCA Podcast is presented by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time, specializing in the design, fabric

Adam Sarancik - Owner, Elevate Sports Academy

Next up on the ABCA Podcast is Corona High School head coach, Andy Wise. Wise has led Corona to a historic season winning the USA Baseball NHSI and going undefeated in league play for the first time in school history. Corona is ranked #1 in most high school polls. Wise started his playing career for ABCA Hall of Famer Don Sneddon at Santa Ana CC before heading to Long Beach State to play for another legend in Dave Snow. Wise pitched on the 1993 Long Beach State College World Series team. After a brief stint in professional baseball, Wise started his coaching career with another ABCA Hall of Famer Dave Demarest at La Quinta High School. Wise took over the Corona program in 2009 after starting the program at Segerstrom Fundamental in 2006. Wise has built Corona into a nationally known program from a team that was 3-11 in league play the year before Wise showed up on campus. The ABCA Podcast is presented by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time, specializing in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, bp screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies and more. Coaches: Let's talk about your new assistant: Rapsodo. With Rapsodo's products you can track everything from how fast a pitcher throws to a batter's spin rate off the bat. Rapsodo's pro-level data gives you the power to look deeper into every athlete's skills, helping them take their game to the next level. Whether you want the basic dat

Andy Wise - Head Coach, Corona HS

Next up on the ABCA Podcast we welcome members of our Travel Committee for an open forum on travel baseball. This is a look behind the curtain of the conversations we have at the ABCA convention and the Youth Summit in November. Rob Hahne, Blake Hibler, Taylor McCollough, Jeff Petty and Jordan Baltimore give us some great insights on what is going on currently in travel baseball. The ABCA Podcast is presented by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time, specializing in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, bp screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies and more. Coaches: Let's talk about your new assistant: Rapsodo. With Rapsodo's products you can track everything from how fast a pitcher throws to a batter's spin rate off the bat. Rapsodo's pro-level data gives you the power to look deeper into every athlete's skills, helping them take their game to the next level. Whether you want the basic data points or a more advanced look at a player, Coaches can customize their dashboard to help identify strengths and weaknesses that the naked eye can't see. Turn the cage into a simulated field to make competition and practice more engaging. Take the guesswork out of coaching. From youth baseball to Major League Baseball, Rapsodo is used by thousands of colleges, facilities, and high schools to help their athletes train. Visit Rapsodo.com/baseball to check out their lineup of game-changing technology and how you can implement them into your program. Play On.

Open Forum for Travel Baseball

This week on the ABCA Podcast is Missoula Mavericks head coach, Brent Hathaway. Hathaway is one of the winningest coaches at any level with over 1500 wins in 40 years of coaching. Hathaway played collegiately at Gonzaga and UTEP for college coaching legend, Jim Lawler. After college Hathaway went to work as a civil engineer before figuring out coaching and teaching was his passion. Hathaway spent 30 years teaching math at Hellgate Middle School and took over the Mavericks AA program in 1993. Hathaway is the longest tenured Legion coach in Montana. The ABCA Podcast is presented by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time, specializing in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, bp screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies and more. Coaches: Let's talk about your new assistant: Rapsodo. With Rapsodo's products you can track everything from how fast a pitcher throws to a batter's spin rate off the bat. Rapsodo's pro-level data gives you the power to look deeper into every athlete's skills, helping them take their game to the next level. Whether you want the basic data points or a more advanced look at a player, Coaches can customize their dashboard to help identify strengths and weaknesses that the naked eye can't see. Turn the cage into a simulated field to make competition and practice more engaging. Take the guesswork out of coaching. From youth baseball to Major League Baseball, Rapsodo is used by thousands of colleges, facilities, and high schools to help their athletes train. Visit Rapsodo.com/baseball to check out their lineup of game-changing technology and how you can implement t

Roberto Mercado, High A Manager, Aberdeen Iron Birds

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