Piotrowicz making coaching transition at Saginaw Valley State

By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Adam Piotrowicz is preparing for his first season as a college baseball head coach.
He is running the show at NCAA Division II Saginaw Valley State University in University Center, Mich., after assistant stints at NCAA D-III Heidelberg University (2008-10), NCAA D-I Valparaiso (Ind.) University (2010-13) and NCAA D-I Western Michigan University (2013-22).
“I feel very prepared for this because of all the people I’ve worked for and with,” says Piotrowicz, 37. “(Western Michigan head coach) Billy Gernon gave me all kinds of freedom and increased my role every year.
“Brian Scmack at Valpo is another big mentor for me I’ve always been able to lean on.”
Piotrowicz served as the associate head coach, recruiting coordinator, hitting coach and catching coach at WMU before making the transition to skipper of the SVSU Cardinals.
“The one big difference is that my phone is always ringing,” says Piotrowicz. “It was always ringing before but I always knew it was recruits. Now it’s anything and everything.
“It’s compliance or a fundraising thing or an alum that wants to meet up for dinner or the bus company. I was prepared for it. It comes with the territory. I knew that was what the job was going to be.”
As Saginaw Valley prepares to open the 2023 season Friday, Feb. 17 against Cedarville University in Xenia, Ohio, the roster is full of upperclassmen.
“Thankfully we have a real good group of older guys coming back,” says Piotrowicz. “It helps from a recruiting standpoint that I’ve been recruiting the state for the past nine years.
“I’ve got good assistants in-place and that’s key, having the right people around you.”
The coaching staff features pitching coach/co-recruiting coordinator Justin McMurtrey, co-recruiting coordinator/baserunning/outfield coach Brandon Evans and hitting/infielder coach Demeris Barlow.
McMurtrey pitched at Eastern Michigan University.
Evans was an pitcher/outfielder at Rochester University.
Barlow was a corner infielder at Indiana Tech and Indiana University South Bend (playing for Doug Buysse, a teammate of Piotrowicz at John Glenn High School in Walkerton, Ind.) and is on the coaching staff of the 2023 Lafayette Aviators of the summer collegiate wood bat Prospect League.
Piotriowicz took his assistants to the American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Nashville in January.
“I like to listen to the speakers,” says Piotrowicz. “We have a young coaching staff and it’s good for them to go down and network. They see what the profession is like.”
Saginaw Valley belongs to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. As an NCAA D-II school, the game limit is 50 — six less than D-I.
“My thing is I want this place to be ran like a Division I school,” says Piotrowicz. “The first guy I worked for — Matt Palm — said make it ‘big time wherever you’re at.’ We were a small, little Heidelberg University (in Tiffin, Ohio). We treated each day like we were competing for a spot in Omaha (and the D-I College World Series).
“We have a few less hours to work with (players) out-of-season but it’s nothing major,” says Piotrowicz, who sees the recruiting, player development and in-season and out-of-season periods as very similar.
In addition to getting the Cardinals prepared, SVSU has hosted prospect and youth camps.
“We try to make those affordable so we can get more kids out and excited about baseball,” says Piotrowicz. “This area for baseball is really, really good. I feel like it gets under-recruited sometimes. Some of the best guys I coached at Western were from out of this area.”
University Center is about 110 miles northwest of Detroit and about 100 miles northeast of Lansing.
Left-hander Keegan Akin, who went to high school in Midland, Mich., made 45 appearances for the 2022 Baltimore Orioles.
There’s also Connor Smith, Alex Goodwin, Chad Mayle and Grant Miller.
“A lot of those guys didn’t have a lot going on out of high school,” says Piotrowicz. “You’ve got smaller schools but with that you get some multi-sport (athletes). Once they get to focus on baseball year-round the development really takes off.”
Piotrowicz says the transfer portal has many D-I programs looking there for players at the expense of those at the prep level.
“More and more high school guys are not getting the looks they would have four or five years ago. There are more grad transfers because of COVID. It all kind of goes together.
“That opens up a really good market for us at the Division II level.” says Piotrowicz.
Not many players come to the Cardinals via the portal.
“It has to be the right fit,” says Piotrowicz. “I’d rather get guys through high school or our (junior college) connections.”
Saginaw Valley plays at the SVSU Baseball Complex and — when the weather does not allow for outdoor work — trains in the SVSU Fieldhouse.
“Everything we have is better than some of the (D-I Mid-American Conference) schools,” says Piotrowicz. “We have a beautiful indoor turf football field with a track and windows all around that makes it pop as a first impression.
“There’s an auxiliary gym with an additional 2 1/2 batting cages. We’ve got a Division I weight room.”
The Cardinals also have access to outdoor turf football and soccer fields.
Piotrowicz graduated from John Glenn in 2004 and Manchester University (North Manchester, Ind.) in 2008.
Adam and wife Heather have two sons — Hunter (7) and Elliot (4) — and a third one due in the middle of April.
“It’s a very nature/outdoors type of area and my kids love that,” says Piotrowicz. “(First grader Hunter) is into baseball, basketball and hockey — all that stuff. He’s made the transition very well.”

Adam Piotrowicz. (Saginaw Valley State University Image)

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Western Michigan’s Piotrowicz gets hitters to develop routines

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

While you’ll only see Adam Piotrowicz donning one cap — usually a brown one with a gold “W” — he essentially wears three.

A member of the Western Michigan University baseball staff since the 2014 season, 2020 was the second for Piotrowicz as associate head coach. He also served as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator on a group led by Billy Gernon.

Piotrowicz, who played at John Glenn High School in Walkerton, Ind., and Manchester College (now Manchester University) in North Manchester, Ind., describes his associate head coach duties.

“I help out more with scheduling, budget and things of that nature,” says Piotrowicz. “I have more administrative responsibility.”

Piotrowicz guides the Broncos’ offense. In 2019, WMU hit the most home runs (32) since the BBCOR Bat era in 2010 and posted the second highest batting average (.287) since 2012. The team also scored the most runs per game (6.0) since 2008 and racked up the most stolen bases (50) since 2013.

When the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic brought Western Michigan’s 2020 season to a close after 15 games, the Broncos had belted seven homers with a .261 average, 8.6 runs per contest and 35 stolen bases.

“I’m a big believer in having a great two-strike approach and competing in the box,” says Piotrowicz. “It’s about our daily routine — whatever it is.

“Each guy’s different.”

Some hitters are focused on power and others are looking to get the most out of their speed.

It’s the routine that keeps hitters sane.

“This game will drive guy’s crazy,” says Piotrowicz. “Just focus on the day-to-day process. It gets you over the 0-of-10 slumps and keeps you grounded during the 10-for-10.”

It’s helpful to Piotorowicz to know the style of learning that suits hitters best — Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic — in order to best communicate and assist them with their approach, mechanics etc., while competing at all times.

“We want to be a tough out,” says Piotrowicz. “We want to make other team earn all 27 outs.”

Piotrowicz is also aware that all players do not respond to the same coaching techniques based on their personality. Calling a player out in front of his teammates may not be appropriate for one while another will respond well.

“Our center fielder (Blake Dunn), I can yell at him,” says Piotrowicz of a junior from Saugatuck, Mich., who he expects to go high in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. “He was a multi-sport athlete and football player. He needs that. He wants that hard coaching.”

The analogy that Piotrowicz favors is the mail. A package, whether sent first class air mail or standard third class will carry the same message and expectations regardless of delivery method.

Piotrowicz says Western’s recruiting territory is reflective of the 2020 WMU roster which features 19 players with hometowns in Michigan, nine from the Chicago area and three from Indiana high schools — junior Ryan Missal (Lowell), sophomore Bobby Dearing (Lafayette Harrison) and freshman Hayden Berg (Penn). The Broncos have received a commitment from Ryan Watt (Mishawaka).

Piotrowicz says the school has helped by making out-of-state tuition only $2,000 to $3,000 more than for in-state students.

Working with Gernon, Piotrowicz absorbs knowledge someone who has plenty of coaching experience. He was an assistant at Indiana University, helped Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne (now Purdue Fort Wayne) transition to NCAA Division I as assistant then head coach then was a Michigan State University assistant before his first season in charge in Kalamazoo in 2011.

In 2016, WMU won its first Mid-American Conference tournament. Jeffersonville (Ind.) High School graduate Gernon has 210 victories as Broncos skipper, including 104 in the MAC.

“I couldn’t ask for a more supportive boss,” says Piotrowicz of Gernon. “He’s given me a lot of freedom and responsibility.

“I learn something everyday.”

Prior to Western Michigan, Piotrowicz was an assistant for three seasons (2011-13) at Valparaiso (Ind.) University, where former big leaguer Tracy Woodson was head coach at current Crusaders head coach Brian Schmack was pitching coach.

“(Woodson) gave me a ton of freedom and a lot of trust,” says Piotrowicz, who go to work with hitters, infielders, catchers and outfielders while splitting strength and conditioning with Schmack.

In 2012, Valpo was regular season and tournament champions in the Horizon League and competed in the NCAA Gary Regional, losing to Purdue and Kentucky.

In 2013, the Crusaders won the HL tournament and took part in the Indiana Regional, losing to Indiana and Austin Peay but not before knocking out Florida.

Piotrowicz got his college coaching start with two seasons at NCAA Division III Heidelberg University (2009-10) in Tiffin, Ohio, where they won Ohio Athletic Conference Conference and regular-season titles both seasons. The 2010 team won the Mideast Regional and competed in the D-III World Series in Grand Chute, Wis., beating Johns Hopkins and Wisconsin-Stevens Points and losing to eventual champion Illinois Wesleyan and Linfield.

Though he was a graduate assistant, he worked like a full-time coach and had his perceptions of what a coach is shaped while developing head coach Matt Palm’s Student Princes. He aided hitters and catchers and shared in recruiting.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without Matt Palm,” says Piotrowicz.

After a season at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Ind. (now Bethel University), Piotorowicz finished his playing days at Manchester.

Recruited to Bethel by Mike Hutcheon, Piotrowicz played one season for Pilots head coach Seth Zartman and assistants Dick Siler and Javier Jimenez.

“(Zartman) was a good guy,” says Piotrowicz. “He was very big on team culture.

“(Siler) was amazing. He was very, very knowledgable guy and a down-to-earth person. He worked with catchers and made sure I was in shape.

“(Jimenez) also brought a ton of knowledge.”

Rick Espeset was and still in head baseball coach and athletic director at Manchester. Given his workload and Espeset’s young family, Piotrowicz and his teammates marveled at how organized he was.

“Practices were always detailed,” says Piotrowicz. “He did a good job of teaching guys how to the win the game.”

Points of emphasis included baserunning, defense and playing the game hard and fast.

“You do that and winning will take care of itself,” says Piotrowicz. “We called (Espeset) the ‘Silent Assassin.’ He was a psychology major with a very dry sense of humor. The mental side of the game, that’s where he was the strongest.”

At Glenn, Piotrowicz played for John Nadolny aka “Nud.”

“I couldn’t ask for a better high school coach,” says Piotrowicz. “He coached us tough. He coached us fair.

“He was hard on you, but you know he had good intentions behind it. He wanted you to be better. Nud was great.”

The Glenn Falcons were 2002 Class 2A Jimtown Sectional champions, losing to Manchester in the Jimtown Regional championship game.

In 2003, Glenn won the sectional and regional at Jimtoiwn then lost to Frankton in the 2A State Semifinals.

The 2004 Falcons had a win-filled regular season then lost to Fairfield in the 2A Jimtown Sectional title game.

Piotrowicz, a catcher, had a backyard neighbor and best friend named Andy Groves.

“I caught him since Little League,” says Piotrowicz. “We had all kinds of fights over pitch selection.”

Right-hander Groves pitched four seasons at Purdue University (2004-07) and two in the Colorado Rockies organization (2007-08).

Adam and Heather Piotrowicz, a former Manchester basketball player, have two sons — Hunter (4) and Elliot (1).

A member of the Western Michigan University baseball staff since the 2014 season, 2020 was the second for Adam Piotrowicz as associate head coach. The graduate of John Glenn High School in Walkerton, Ind., and Manchester College (now Manchester University) in North Manchester, Ind., also served as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator on a group led by Billy Gernon. (Western Michigan University Photo)