Taulman takes the reins at Lawrence North

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Jason Taulman has been a baseball coach at the collegiate level. He has his own training business and started a travel organization.

Now Taulman can add high school head coach to that list.

On Dec. 11, he was named to lead the program at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis.

The Jason Taulman Pitching owner and Indy Sharks founder was planning to focus on those things in 2024 after ending a three-year run as pitching coach at Marian University in Indianapolis (he has also served in that capacity at Butler University, Ball State University and Saint Joseph’s College).

Except for helping behind the scenes with some teams, this is 1991 West Lafayette (Ind.) Junior/Senior High School/1995 SJC graduate Taulman’s first time as a high school coach.

When Richard Winzenread announced his retirement in late October after 32 years as Lawrence North head coach, Taulman was encouraged to apply.

“He did just a remarkable job,” says Taulman of Winzenread, who led the Wildcats to numerous sectional, conference and county championships with a state runner-up finish in 1999. “He sent so many players into college and pro ball.”

Current minor leaguers include right-handed pitchers Nolan Watson in the San Diego Padres organization, Garrett Burhenn (Detroit Tigers) and Ty Johnson (Chicago Cubs) and catcher/designated hitter Duncan Hewitt (Minnesota Twins).

College players from the past three LN classes include 2021’s Josh Haller (Indiana Wesleyan University), Enas Hayden (Purdue University), Robbie Manuzzi (Wabash College), Caleb Olsen (Indiana Wesleyan University), Calvin Shepherd (LSU Shreveport), Jack Taulman (Olney, Ill., Central College), Tyler Walkup (Marian U.) and Michael Willeke (Marian U.), 2022’s Trevor Jones (Hanover College), Owen Quinn (Ball State University), Jake Winzenread (University of Southern Indiana) and Coby Stephens (Wabash College) and 2023’s Nathan Olsen (Indiana University-Kokomo) and John Morgan (Marian University’s Ancilla College). 

College commit’s from 2024 include Logan Crock (Butler) and Brock Taulman (Frontier Community College in Fairfield, Ill.).

Jason and Kelly Taulman have four sons — Clark (25), Nick (23), Jack (21) and Brock (18). 

Clark graduated from Marian in May. The two youngest Taulman brothers played for Winzenread at LN. Jack is now on the team at Olney Central and Brock (Class of 2024) is still with the Wildcats.

“I was going to put more time into the Sharks and player training (at a private facility on 96th Street in Indianapolis),” says Jason Taulman. “The only reason I put my name in is that some of the boys on the team asked me to.

“We’ll have fun with it.”

Lawrence North (enrollment around 2,850) is a member of the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference (with Ben Davis, Indianapolis North Central, Lawrence Central, Pike and Warren Central).

MIC teams play home-and-road two-game series within the same week, typically on consecutive days.

The Wildcats are part of an IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping in 2024 with Ben Davis, Indianapolis Cathedral, Indianapolis Crispus Attucks, Indianapolis North Central, Lawrence Central and Pike. Lawrence North has won eight sectional titles — the last in 2016.

Taulman’s assistants include LN alum J.T. Burns, who coached with Winzenread and is also a coach with the Indy Sharks, plus two hired by Winzenread who helped guide the Wildcats during the fall IHSAA Limited Contact Period in Cam Cook and Cole Sherman (Lawrence North Class of 2019 and a former Hanover player). Taulman is seeking a head junior varsity coach.

A meeting of coaches and administrators was planned to map on gym space and schedule winter Limited Contact Period practice sessions.

Lawrence North will have a new varsity field in the spring. When the 2023 season wrapped, construction began on the old JV field and a stadium with turf, lights and seating was placed there. 

The adjacent original dirt-and-grass varsity field will be used for practice as well as JV and freshmen games.

Besides various travel teams, the Lawrence North program is fed by seventh and eighth grade teams at Fall Creek Valley Middle School plus Fall Creek Softball & Baseball, Oaklandon Youth Organization and Skiles Test Baseball and Softball.

Jason Taulman. (Lawrence North High School Photo)

Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis.

Indy Sharks founder Taulman emphasizes healthy mechanics, throwing strikes

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Jason Taulman is a busy man — especially at this time of the year.

For the past eight years, he has run a baseball training facility that some call the “The Facility” or the “Shark Tank” in Noblesville, Ind.

From January to March as players are gearing up for their seasons, Taulman teaches up to 60 lessons (30-minute sessions) per week. From April to September, that number is 20 to 40 with October to December being 20 to 30.

A former college player and coach, Taulman started the Indy Sharks travel baseball program in the fall of 2014 to develop players and to educate them and their parents on the recruiting and scholarship process and more.

“We focus on training and the five tools of a baseball player,” says Taulman. “When the time is ready we’ll showcase you.

“Players don’t have measurable good enough to be recruited (in the early ages).”

In 2020, the Sharks will field seven teams — 12U, 14U, 15 (two teams), 16U and 17U (two teams). The majority of the players on one 17U team were on the original 12U squad.

Taulman says 12U to 14U teams tend to play 40 to 45 games per season while 15U to 17U get in 30 if they have a good summer and advance deep in their tournament.

The 17U Sharks will participate in top-notch recruiting events like the New Balance Program 15 in Cincinnati as well as the Prep Baseball Report Midwest Prospect League and Bullpen Tournaments Amateur Baseball Championships at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., and the Perfect Game USA World Wood Bat Association National Championship in Marietta, Ga.

Taulman is a proponent of the Ron Wolforth’s Texas Baseball Ranch method and the coaching of Woolforth, Derek Johnson and Brent Strom.

In teaching pitchers, Taulman’s approach is straight-forward.

“We want to see mechanics that will keep the arm healthy,” says Taulman. “We want them to throw strikes and pitch. That’s lost in today’s technology and social media craze.

“Everybody wants to throw hard. If we’re not doing it safely and are able to locate, velocity does us no good.

“We teach them how to train and get stronger.”

Lafayette, Ind., native Bobby Bell, who was the hitting coach with Carolina in the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 2019, runs hitting clinics while Taulman runs arm strength/bat speed clinics at the “Shark Tank.”

Taulman began his prep days at Lafayette Jefferson High School. He tranfered to West Lafayette and graduated in 1991.

He played for two head coaches with the Red Devils — Pat Murtaugh and Fred Campbell. Murtaugh was an associate or “bird dog” professional scout and went on to be a full-time scout. He is now employed by the New York Yankees.

“With Coach Murtaugh, I became intrigued about the professional game and what it takes to be at a higher level,” says Taulman. “That was motivation for me.”

Taulman got to know former Purdue University head coach (1978-91)/Seattle Mariners scout Dave Alexander when he mowed his grass.

“He came across as kind of gruff,” says Taulman of Alexander, an Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer. “But he has a good heart.”

Former Purdue and McCutcheon and current Purdue Fort Wayne head coach Doug Schreiber coached Taulman with the Lafayette Red Sox summer collegiate team.

Right-handed pitcher Taulman played four years for head coach Mike Moyzis and earned an Elementary Education degree at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind. The NCAA Division II Pumas were Great Lakes Valley Conference champions in Taulman’s senior season of 1995.

“(Moyzis) was an outstanding coach,” says Taulman. “He was very big on mental toughness and how to compete.

Moyzis recruited Chicagoland and had many players with swagger.

“He taught you how to carry yourself with confidence,” says Taulman. “Moyzis was off the charts with that stuff.

“For me, it made a world of difference once I began to carry myself that way.”

Moyzis is now vice president of special events for Game Day USA and runs tournaments all over the country. He has brought in Taulman to serve as a coach for select events.

Joe Fletcher was the Saint Joseph’s pitching coach when Taulman was there.

“Fletch had just a huge impact on me,” says Taulman. “That’s when I learned how to pitch. It’s the first time we really learned how to work at the game.

“(Moyzis and Fletcher) were excellent teachers and trainers. They were ahead of their time.”

When Taulman was an SJC senior, Rick O’Dette was a freshman. O’Dette went on to serve 17 years as Pumas head coach before the school was closed at the end of the 2017 season.

Lawrence North High School junior catcher/outfielder Jack Taulman, one of Jason’s sons, attended a showcase at Saint Leo (Fla.) University, where O’Dette is now the head coach.

After graduating from Saint Joseph’s, Taulman played four seasons with the Lafayette Leopards of the independent Heartland League with Lafayette winning league titles in 1995 and 1996.

In the fall of 1996, the Indiana Baseball Academy opened in Brownsburg and Taulman was a part of that training facility that was co-owned by big league pitcher Jeff Fassero.

Taulman served a short stint with the independent Northern League’s Sioux Falls Canaries in 1999. Former Purdue head coach Steve Green (1992-98) was Sioux Falls’ bench coach.

To start out his coaching career, Taulman served with the independent Frontier League’s Ohio Valley Redcoats and the Lafayette Leopards.

He later was pitching coach for head coach Steve Farley at Butler University when Pat Neshek hurled for the Bulldogs.

In the summer of 2017 and again last year and again last summer, Taulman and others ran travel tournaments with the Indy Sharks at Gil Hodges Field.

Saying he missed raking a field, Farley helped last spring in getting the field ready.

After the Indiana Baseball Association, Taulman helped start the Tippecanoe Baseball Academy in Lafayette with partners Bell, Jake Burton and Matt Kennedy.

IHSBCA Hall of Famer Burton was then the McCutcheon High School head coach and is now at Twin Lakes. Kennedy has been an assistant to O’Dette at Saint Joseph’s and Saint Leo and is now on the Butler coaching staff.

After Taulman was pitching coach at Butler, he assumed the same duties at Ball State University, where he earned his master’s degree in Coaching Specialization.

He was on head coach Greg Beals’ staff for one season. Jason and Kelly Taulman have four sons — Clark (21), Nick (19), Jack (17) and Brock (14).

When Jason was at Ball State, 2-year-old Nick was diagnosed with Autism.

“We decided that someone needs to be home full-time to manage this,” says Taulman, who by this time had moved his family to Hamilton County. Nick Taulman is a 2019 Fishers High School graduate who participated in the IHSAA Unified Track and Field State Finals.

Jason Taulman, a West Lafayette (Ind.) High School graduate, teaches private baseball lessons and runs the Indy Sharks travel organization out of Noblesville, Ind. He is a former pitcher at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., and was the pitching coach at Butler University and Ball State University. (Steve Krah Photo)