Cubs Batting Leaders:Logan Hilton .532, Jackson Bell .500, Drew Guffey .486, TRey Hasty .412

Cubs Pitching Leaders: Logan Hilton 34 Innings -71 K's, Jackson Bell -29 innings 44 K's, Drew Guffey 21 Innings -37 K's,

We've been moving our infielders around in hopes of finding a group that will mesh and to identify those who can play the infield.  Right now we probably have three players who can play each infield position, so we are becoming more comfortable in how we can move players around.  Not every player can play every infield position, but every position has three players who can fill in if needed.

We tried 3 new position changes this week. 

• Trey Hasty was moved to third base, a position we pegged him for last year.  He looked very good at third.  He has a strong arm, and a good glove.  Once he finds his range to first base he could be an excellent third baseman.
• We also tried Hunter Hewitt at first base.  He did pretty well for someone who has never played first.  Once we work on his footwork, he should be able to fill in at first base.
• We put Dakota Ware behind the plate and he did remarkably well for someone who has never caught before.  Dakota has always been our toughest player having been hit by more pitched balls than any player.  He may be a natural at catcher.  The coaches were all very pleased with how he performed in his first attempt.

Right now we are comfortable putting Jackson, Logan and Drew at any infield position.  As our three pitchers we may position them at second and shortstop when they are not pitching.

Ryan can play second base and possibly pitch for us. We may try Ryan at third, as well.

Hunter can first and second base. He may see some time in the outfield.

Trey can play third and first.

Paxton can catch and play second base. Paxton also may see some time in the outfield.

These 7 will probably be our infielders for now.

Garrett Kelly, Hunter Hewitt, and Tucker Burns are all three fast enough to play center field.

Robert Nichols and Chip Brown are good at not allowing balls to get behind them and should do well in right field.  Right field is the busiest outfield position for the Cubs.

Cody Ware will play left field and third base and Dakota Ware will play left field and catch.

As we enter the Early Bird tournament, we may reevaluate.

In this practice, Henson Gibbs, Tucker Burns, and Dakota Ware were missing.

We worked infield drills and especially worked on double play drills.  We did OK for the first drill, but alot of our throws were wide of the bag.  Players need to learn to put the throw on the bag and to trust that their teammates will be there to take the throw.  If the teammate isn't there, or can't get the flow of duties, the teammate won't be playing the infield.  Every team member has a function on every play.  We looked good in as far as using proper technique.  If boys will get in the habit of using proper technique, their skill level will begin to progress quickly.

We also took batting practice and while we did not look as good as we did during the last practice, some players really surprised me.  Our pitching showed fewer strikes in this practice than the first night, but this will come with work.  When I took over pitching, the players began to see more strikes, but hitting is always behind fielding at this point in the season. Jackson looked exceptionally good on the mound and his fast ball was breaking which cause problems for a number of batters.

• Trey Hasty took my best 90 m.p.h fastball and turned it on me almost every time.  It's amazing how much progress he has made; especially since last year was his first year in baseball. 
• Cody Ware could become "unsafe" for boys that no longer have their "baby teeth".  He drove a ball to right (opposite) field that was 5 feet short of leaving the ballpark with and arm swing only.  If we can teach Cody to open his hips and turn on the ball, he could hit some balls out of the park at regulation-size fields like Friendship Field. We will begin working with Cody from the batting tee.
• Chip Brown is finally beginning to realize the strength he has.  He is staying in the box and swinging with more authority.  He got numerous good hits.  This could be the breakout year for Chip.  Chip's game has improved so much since last year.  It's been fun watching Chip progress over the last 5 years.  Chip is one of the few remaining "original" Cubs that has been on the team since the very beginning.
• Jackson and Logan continue to swing the bat very well.  Both hit the ball well to the outfield, hit with authority, and made good contact.  Jackson and Logan will probably end up as our 1-2 hitters this year.

Our March 3 practice worked infield and outfield and the Cubs are well-stocked.  The coaches think we will will be much better than the the 2007 Cubs and our infield will be tough to crack.  At least 8 of our players can play the infield. Since there are so many players that can play the infield, players that earn infield positions must learn the duties of each position to earn a spot.  This is the easy part.  Every Cub picked up the infield movement flow and most are using proper fielding technique.  We continue to stress that players that do not learn proper fielding technique will not play in our infield; this is more of a teaching and motivating tool.  It certainly worked for Paxton Bennett.  It took him a year, but he is our most improved infielder. He played center field last year and never quite got the hang of fielding ground balls with proper technique.  This year is a different story.

Being able to field ground balls means very little if a player doesn't know what to do with it once they catch it or if other players aren't in the right position to take the throw.

We hit for the first time using Cubs players to pitch batting practice. We have never been able to do this before and it worked quite well.  I was very pleased that we were able to do this because #1 our coaches are old, and #2 both our pitchers and batters get work.  While it was obvious that this was our first batting practice, several players really crushed the ball.  As hard as they hit the ball, Trey Hasty and Cody Ware could really hurt someone, if the infielder is not paying attention.  Chip Brown and Hunter Hewitt probably showed the most promise and most improvement.  Chip showed a big improvement, and Hunter, who has not played in 4 years, probably made more contact than anyone.  Henson and Logan did not get an opportunity to bat, since they have been getting plenty of work at Gordon Central High School.  They will bat first on Thursday.

Next practice Jackson, Ryan, and Henson will pitch batting practice.

After our first practice, all our Cubs coaches were very, very impressed with where stand for 2008.  The new players we added should more than offset the loss of Blake and Clay from last year's Championship Team.  Overall, we are very much improved from last year at every position and the boys we had last year have acquired more skill than they had last year.

During fly ball drills, it seemed as if none of the boys wanted to be the first boy to drop a fly ball.  At last years' first practice we may have caught 5 fly balls; this year we may have dropped 5.  Our outfield will be greatly improved.

In our infield, boys are beginning to use proper fielding skills to field ground balls (two hands, feet spread, etc.) While some of the new Cubbies are a little behind the curve, last year's Cubs were almost perfect.  Our new Cubs will learn from watching our existing Cubs. 

• Trey Hasty looked very good at first base for the first practice.  If he can nail down this spot, we can move Logan to another infield spot. 
• Also, it looks as if Paxton Bennett wants an infield spot this year.  Last year, we told Paxton that "he was not going to play in our infield until he learned to field with two hands". He looks really good fielding grounders using proper technique and it appears he wants an infield spot enough to learn to field the right way.  As he polishes this technique, he will begin to improve dramatically.
• Drew, Jackson, and Logan will each be shortstop candidates for us this year.  It depends on their ability to understand game situations and become our coach on the field.  We need the shortstop and second baseman shouting out instruction before each play rather than the coaches.  The players need to start taking ownership of the game this year.

At pitcher, the Cubs are rock solid.  The addition of Ryan Townsend has really bolstered our staff.  While I was pulled away from seeing Robert Lee Nichols throw (Spring Sport management duties for other teams), he pitched for the Indians last year.  If Robert is able to make our 6th pitcher, we will have three righties (Jackson, Drew, & Robert) and three lefties (Logan, Henson, & Ryan).  The most important thing for our pitchers is to be able to throw strikes.  Parents must work with boys every day in pitching, if they expect to pitch.  If parents can't work with them, invest in a pitch-back net.  If Logan doesn't throw every day, he cannot throw strikes.

At catcher we are also solid.  Henson is the best 10 year old catcher you will find and with Paxton's newly-found right-hand (two-handed fielding), he should be able to transfer those infield skills to catching.  A good catcher wins championships.

We will begin hitting On March 3.