Connecting the Dots Baseball

Jesse Katz enters his second year as the Pitching Coach at Minot State University. Katz plays an integral role in the Beavers' recruiting. Katz comes to Minot State after spending the 2019-20 school year as the Associate Head Coach/Pitching Coach at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, MO. While at C-SC, Katz was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the pitching staff and handling all of the Wildcat's recruiting. Katz spent two years as an Assistant Coach/Head Developmental Coach at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, FL from 2017-2019. In his time at Keiser, the Seahawks had a 70-40 overall record, including a trip to the NAIA National Tournament and back-to-back conference tournament appearances. Katz assisted in the development of nine All-Conference players in his two seasons at Keiser. In addition to his collegiate coaching duties during his time in South Florida, Katz was also the Owner/Field Manager of the Ft. Lauderdale Knights in the South Florida Collegiate Baseball League. In his one season in management, Katz led the Knights to impressive first season in the history of the organization, finishing the season with a league best 30-13 record and a second-place finish. Katz served as a Graduate Assistant at Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL from 2015-2017. While at TIU, Katz was responsible overseeing the pitching, recruiting, and camps. Katz, a graduate of Bemidji State University, made 24 appearances on the mound for the Beavers in his three seasons. A two-time NSIC Academic All-Conference performer, Katz was also a member of the 2013 team that finished as the NSIC Tournament runner-up. Katz graduated cum laude from Bemidji State, with a Bachelor of Arts in Sport Management in 2015 and earned a Master of Arts in Leadership from Trinity International University in 2017. Katz is married to his wife Rebecca, and they have two dogs, Miz and Kiffin.

In his first season with the Eagles, Diaz's pitching staff showed tremendous improvement, dropping their staff ERA by two-and-a-half runs per game and dramatically reducing opponents hits by three per contest. ERAU improved from 20-30 to 29-22 in 2019, and Garrett Goodall had a breakout season for Diaz's staff, earning first team All-SSC honors after an 8-2 season on the mound. The 2020 season was shaping up to be a continuation of the pitching success from Diaz's first year with the Eagle staff posting a 3.84 ERA, the lowest team ERA in the ERAU NCAA era, but the Covid-19 pandemic ended the promising season early. Diaz came to Embry-Riddle from Old Dominion where he spent the 2018 season with the NCAA I Monarchs as a volunteer assistant. Diaz spent the 2017 season at NCAA II Kentucky Wesleyan where he helped the Wildcats to a Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship and a NCAA II Regional appearance. Diaz appeared in 58 games with 25 starts over four seasons with ODU (2013-16), helping guide the Monarchs to 113 victories and a 2014 NCAA Regional appearance. The right-hander went 5-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 2014 and posted a 6-4 record and 3.78 ERA in his final collegiate season in 2016. Prior to pitching at Old Dominion, Diaz spent a season at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota where he had a 3.86 ERA and was also a member of the 2011 Mississippi State Super Regional squad. During the summer of 2011, he played in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Summer League with the Bethesda Big Train, leading them to a national championship.

Hitting Instructor @grindhousebaseball Assistant coach @esbacademy Raise The Level Podcast

Former Pfeiffer head coach Jordan Stampler joined Justin Haire's staff as Director of Player Development in August 2020. Stampler came to Campbell after leading the Pfeiffer baseball program for the last three seasons, and five total years with the Falcons, previously serving as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. “We are very excited to have Coach Stampler join our staff,” said Haire. “He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge that will not only help our student-athletes develop, but will also help our coaching staff to grow and get better. He is someone that I have known for a long time, and are very fortunate to be able to add someone with so much value to our program.” Stampler helped lead Pfeiffer to a Conference Carolinas Championship game appearance in 2016 despite entering the tournament as the number six seed. Pfeiffer upset top-seed Erskine, coming within one game of advancing to the NCAA Tournament. In 2017, Stampler assisted as the program made another Cinderella run in the conference tournament. In the opener, Pfeiffer defeated the No. 1 seed and top-ranked team in all of Division II Mount Olive by a score of 9-2. Pfeiffer used an 8-run sixth inning and scored all eight runs off Bruce Zimmermann who would later be drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 5th round of the 2017 MLB Draft. In 2018, during the Falcons' first year of NCAA DIII competition, Stampler led the program to a record of 31-7, topping the conference in the regular season. Pfeiffer also set multiple school records in 2018, including team batting average at .348, team on-base percentage at .447 and overall winning percentage at .775. In 2019, Stampler's Falcons captured the ECAC Division III title with a 9-7 win over Grove City College, finishing the year with a 30-8 record and a 17-6 mark in USA South play. Stampler helped Falcon great Nick Richmond to a career year as well, who would secure a spot in the illustrious Cape Cod Collegiate Summer League, and later signed by the Detroit Tigers. A native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Stampler began his coaching career at Adrian College as the program's assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in 2014, helping guide the Bulldogs to a 33-15 mark and an MIAA regular season and conference tournament title. Adrian advanced all the way to the NCAA Midwest Regional, winning three games in the NCAA Tournament. In 2015, Stampler moved back to his alma mater, USC Upstate, as a volunteer coach for half a year before being promoted to assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. At Upstate, Stampler coached Tyler Jackson who was later signed as a free agent to the Seattle Mariners organization. In addition to Jackson and Richmond, Stampler has coached six others who have gone on to play professionally. Kirby Lambert (Roswell Invaders), Derek Perry (Lake Erie Crushers), Blake Whitney (Chicago Cubs), Sam Fischer (Gateway Grizzlies), Ryan Darrow (Hickory Crawdads) and Ian Mikowski (Eastside Diamond Hoppers), while Charlie Carpenter was a 26th round draft pick by the Atlanta Braves before returning to school. Stampler played two years at USC Upstate, seeing time in 108 games while tallying 88 runs, 113 hits and 42 runs batted in. His 44 runs scored in each of the 2012 and 2013 seasons rank him fourth in program history and his 29 walks in 2013 places him fifth. Additionally, Stampler owns the top two marks in Spartan history for most hit by pitches in a season, getting plunked 18 teams in 2012 and 16 in 2013. He graduated from USC Upstate with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications in 2013, going on to earning a M.S. in Leadership from Pfeiffer University in 2017. He is married to his wife, Hannah.

This episode is for those who are interested in the life of a Maryville College freshman. Joami explains how he got to Maryville College and his experience in the McGill scholarship program. Eric explains his experience of how he is transitioning to life in Tennessee from Florida.

Author of How The RiverCats Won and Green Light Hitting. Kyle is a great follow on twitter and has pushed me to think outside the box. This conversation is on how having a relationship with your players parents can be a competitive edge!

Zack and I go through how our similar journeys through small college, independent and affiliated baseball shaped us as coaches! Here is an article for more of a look into Zack's past! https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/park-ridge/sports/ct-sta-baseball-thunderbolts-st-0818-20170817-story.html

Jordan Miller enters the 2021 season in his first year as the volunteer assistant coach of the James Madison baseball program. The Winter Springs, Fla. native comes to JMU after a year as the hitting coach at Eastern Mennonite University where he helped the Royals average six runs a game in the CoVID shortened season. Prior to EMU, Miller coached a season in the Great Lakes Collegiate League, serving as the head assistant for the Grand Lake Mariners where he worked with the offense. Miller got his coaching career started in the fall of 2017, becoming the hitting coach of Mauldin High School in Mauldin, S.C. He helped raise the batting average of the team from .240 to .320 and also helped the team see improvements in stolen bases, triples, and home runs. He spent the last four years before going into coaching as a two-way player at University of South Carolina – Upstate. He was a four-year starter as a pitcher and catcher, appearing in more than 30 games as either pitcher or catcher each season with the Spartans. He graduated with a degree in business management in 2017.

Over 40 career appearances and 195.1 innings over two-plus seasons, ranks tied for 15th with former Major Leaguer Jared Burton in WCU program history with 212 career strikeouts ... Signed as an undrafted free agent with the San Diego Padres following the shortened 2020 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

This was an awesome conversation with one of my best friends, Conner Hale.  2015 NCAA Baton Rouge All-Tournament Team 2015 First-Team All-SEC SEC Player of the Week (March 9, 2015) 2015 Finalist for Senior CLASS Award 2015 First-Team All-Louisiana 2014 SEC All-Tournament Team SEC Player of the Week (April 21, 2014) MLB Draft: 9th round in 2015 (Seattle) Excellent all-around player who made 119 careers starts for LSU during the 2014 and 2015 seasons ... posted a .318 (150-for-472) career batting average at LSU with 28 doubles, four triples, eight homers, 85 RBI and 87 runs scored ... junior college transfer from State College of Florida, which is the same school that produced former LSU reliever Nick Goody, the Tigers' saves leader in 2012 ... Hale was the Suncoast Conference Player of the Year in 2013 after having an incredible offensive year and playing outstanding defense at third base ... helped lead the Falmouth Commodores to the 2014 Cape Cod League championship series, batting .327 (56-for-171) with 12 doubles, one triple, four homers and 38 RBI ... also played in the '14 Cape Cod League All-Star Game ... selected in the ninth round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners and signed with the Mariners in the summer of '15.

In this series, I  invite my friends that I met throughout my playing career that are no longer a part of baseball. In this episode- Eric talks about the importance of a routine and finding something to fill his competitive edge!

Griffin Miller is a COVID Sophomore at Dyersburg State CC.  I coached Griffin in the summer of 2019 with the Licking County Settlers, now named the Ohio Bison. Griffin goes over his career development and how he has gone from mid 80's to 97 in such a short time. 

A brief interview with Clint Helton and Drew Henry of the Maryville College Baseball Program! 

An introduction to what's to come with the Connecting the Dots Baseball podcast featuring my wife as my first guest.