Mission of Grinnell College Baseball
Our mission: "First we will be best, and then we will be first." Our players train year round, have great passion and work hard at the game of baseball. They are committed to excellence both on and off the field. This is vital not only in athletics, but in life as well!
Coach Hollibaugh's Coaching Philosophy
"We coach our players up." Our coaches are teachers first. We adjust our teaching methods to each players and fine tune their mechanics. The hard work is done in practice so our players can be athletes in game. Championships are won on the practice field. Thinking and skill work should be done in practice, not in games. We are big in digital video usage. When I tell something, it may be heard. When a player sees a picture along with positive verbal reinforcement, what needs to be accomplished is realized and understood at a higher level. This is a powerful tool in coaching or teaching any skill.
Baseball Philosophies
The key to accomplishing each one of these in a game setting is the team and coaches ability to be on the same page which begins in practice:
Practice Philosophy: We win or lose during practice. When our players show up, they are expected to act like professionals. Game like tempo is stressed in every drill, situation or scrimmage. We routinely break down practices into three manageable parts: individual work, group work and finish with team work scrimmages or situations. Our coaching staff uses the whole, dry, part, whole method of teaching (teach the whole skill, allow players dry opportunities for success, break it down into part, and finish with the whole skill operated at game speed).
Team Philosophy:We must play team baseball to succeed. Players must be willing to work together, play together and be together away from the baseball field. A confident, skilled team working together is our goal and hard to beat.
Defensive Philosophy:We work hard on defense and our players must be able to play sound defense in order to crack our starting line-up. Our focus - make the routine play, anticipate before a play happens and get outs. To be great on defense, you must work hard in practice for championships are won with great team defense.
Pitching Philosophy:Pitchers and catchers control the game. Our pitchers are aggressive, throw strikes and work fast. Get ahead early (first or second pitch strikes), change speeds/locations, and hit your spots. Our goal is to locate pitches, change speeds and force soft contact when the batter swings at any pitch thrown.
Offensive Philosophy:Understand your strike zone, be aggressive and be productive. We are aggressive on the base paths and would rather steal a base rather than give up a precious out with the short game. Game situations differ and baseball is a game of adjustments. We can and will use the short game if we are facing a great pitcher, or if we are down late in a game. I want our guys to swing the sticks.