Baseball coaching career now has Western grad Reida rolling with Alabama Crimson Tide

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Indiana native Matt Reida has landed back in SEC territory.

This time as an volunteer assistant baseball coach at the University of Alabama.

The 2010 graduate of Western High School in Russiaville, Ind., played four baseball seasons at the University of Kentucky — a Southeastern Conference member — concluding in 2014.

Lefty-swinging infielder Reida (pronounced Ray-da) was selected in the 47th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Chicago White Sox. He did not sign and went to college.

The MLB came calling again in 2014. Reida signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Rays and played 42 games for the Gulf Coast League Rays after one contest with the independent River City Rascals.

With the help of then-UK assistant and current Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon, Reida began his coaching career in 2016 on the Indiana University staff then led by Chris Lemonis (who is now head coach at SEC member Mississippi State University).

“I love Coach Bo,” says Reida, 26. “I have the utmost respect for what he does.

“He’s been a mentor for me for years.”

What is Reida doing with the Crimson Tide?

“A little bit of everything,” says Reida. “I’m now helping with the infielders and helping Coach (Jerry) Zulli with hitters. We have coaches (Bohannon, Zulli, Jason Jackson) that have done things at a high level. We all have our hands in a lot of different areas.

“Coach Bohannon is great at empowering his coaches. I’ll help with recruiting.”

While at UK, Bohannon was honored as the 2015 American Baseball Coaches Association/Baseball America National Assistant Coach of the Year.

Lemonis won the same award in 2013 while at the University of Louisville where he served for six seasons (2009-14) then spent four campaigns in charge at Indiana (2015-18).

Reida reflects on his two seasons (2016-17) with Lemonis at IU.

“It was my first experience in college coaching,” says Reida. “I didn’t realize what all went into the job.

“(Lemonis) has the reputation as a recruiter. I saw the see the hours he would spend and his level of commitment, how he would build relationships.”

In 2018, Reida was an assistant at Xavier University. His boss is Cincinnati was former IU player Billy O’Conner, who was in his first season as Musketeers head coach.

“Billy was great because he gave all of his coaches complete freedom,” says Reida. “There was a level of trust.

“He’s going to do a phenomenal job at Xavier. He gets more out of what he has around him.”

O’Conner, who at 31 is one of the younger coaches in NCAA Division baseball, leads from the front.

“He’s out their working on the field. He takes his turn to do laundry. Nothing is beneath him. As the head coach, he jumps in and makes things happen.”

Reida played at Kentucky for Gary Henderson, who led Mississippi State to the College World Series and was named National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Coach of the Year in 2018.

Teaching the mental side of baseball was a strength Reida saw in Henderson.

“He really thought the game at a different level,” says Reida. “He talked about routine a ton and the thought process. He talked about how to handle emotion and adversity and play the game one pitch at a time.

“I also learned from Hendu about personal responsibility. If it is to be, it’s up to me. Ownership was definitely a cornerstone of his program.”

Reida was a teammate of Terre Haute’s A.J. Reed when he won the Golden Spikes Award as D-I baseball’s top player in 2014.

“He’s an extraordinary person and a player,” says Reida of Reed. “I watched him grow for three years. It was neat to be a part of. He was someone that was driven.”

Read has played 48 games in the big leagues with the Houston Astros and slugged 123 home runs in the minors.

Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Ty Calloway was Reida’s coach at Western.

Calloway finished his 36-year coaching career with a 663-310 record with 18 seasons of 20 or more victories and an IHSAA Class 3A state title in 2012.

“I learned a ton from Coach Calloway,” says Reida. “One thing that stuck out with me was his level of commitment to the game and level of preparation.

“You could tell how much baseball meant to him and how passionate he was.”

Born in Kokomo, Reida grew up in nearby Russiaville and winning the city title with his Russiaville Youth Baseball League team against Kokomo area squad at 12 is still one of his baseball highlights.

Among the talented ballplayers of that era were future collegians Nolan Sanburn (Arkansas), Colton Summers (Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne), Seth Vautaw (Ball State) and T.J. Weir (Ball State).

“It’s great area for baseball,” says Reida. “It really is.”

Travel ball included the Central Indiana Kings (a Kokomo area team organized by Matt’s father Chad Reida and Tim Weir), Indiana Bulls and Midland (Ohio) Redskins. T.J. Weir, Tim’s son, pitches in the San Diego Padres organization.

Midland won two Connie Mack World Series championships with Matt Reida on the roster. Along the way, the Redskins had to best teams featuring Manny Machado, Archie Bradley, Dylan Bundy and Mark Appel.

Chad and Shelly Reida have two other children — Tad and Tiffany.

Tad Reida, who is six years older than Matt, played at Western, Wichita State University (2004-05) and Indiana University (2006) and coached at West Virginia University (2009-10) and Air Force Academy (2011). He now is attached to a travel ball organization — CageRat Baseball — in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Tiffany Reida played basketball at Indiana State University.

Matt Reida holds a communications degree from Kentucky, where he graduated Cum Laude in 2014 with a 3.69 grade-point average.

Matt Reida, a graduate of Western High School in Russiaville, Ind., and the University of Indiana, is now a volunteer assistant baseball coach at the University of Alabama. (University of Alabama Photo)

 

 

Advertisement

Kokomo’s Sanburn brothers impacting baseball, business worlds

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Parker Sanburn looks into the future and makes a prediction for himself and his two brothers:

“Give us another 20 years and we’re going to change the world, that’s all I know.”

In the present, the siblings from Kokomo — Nolan (26), Parker (23) and Connor (19) — are having an impact on their little slices of the world.

Nolan and Parker are professional baseball pitchers and Connor is a college student. All three Kokomo High School graduates and sons of executive pastor Dick Sanburn and public relations coordinator Crystal Sanburn have curious minds and entrepreneurial ambition.

“We’re always bouncing ideas off each other,” says Nolan Sanburn of his brothers. “All three of us our dialed in on being better people everyday.”

Nolan owns real estate and is about to launch a baseball-related podcast — The Ballplayer Mindset.

Parker, who was on his way to medical or physician’s assistant school when pro baseball opportunity came knocking, is also interested in the mental side and keeps a notebook of ideas and inventions.

Connor is a talented videographer and pre-Telecommunications major and Urban Planning minor as a freshman at Ball State University. One of his projects is “How Baseball Has Impacted the Sanburn Family” and served as digital entertainment coordinator for the summer collegiate baseball Kokomo Jackrabbits.

Nolan Sanburn was selected in the 34th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Detroit Tigers and did not sign.

The right-hander pitched two seasons for the University of Arkansas, going 2-4 with eight saves, a 3.62 earned run average, 35 strikeouts and 15 walks in 32 1/3 innings and 24 appearances (all in relief) in 2011 and 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA, 49 strikeouts and 22 walks in 40 2/3 innings and 22 appearances (18 in relief) in 2012.

Nolan was chosen in the second round of the 2012 MLB draft by the Oakland Athletics. He worked in the A’s system 2012, 2013 and 2014 and was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 2014 and pitched with that organization in 2015 and 2016 —  mostly at Double-A Birmingham.

He was released by White Sox in March 2017 and became a minor league free agent, landed with the Washington Nationals — going 4-3  with one save, an 4.87 ERA, 56 strikeouts and 27 walks in 64 2/3 innings and 17 appearances (nine in relief) at High Class-A Potomac — and was released by the Nats in August to again become a minor league free agent.

All but 23 of Nolan’s 141 pro games have been out of the bullpen.

“I’m going to wait and see if something shakes,” says Nolan. “If it doesn’t, I may just move on with my life.”

Parker Sanburn, a 2013 Kokomo graduate, also pitched at Arkansas (going 0-1 with a 15.58 ERA in 11 relief appearances in 2015 after red-shirting in 2014) and then Des Moines Area Community College in 2017 (going 5-3 with a 3.44 ERA, 72 strikeouts and 36 walks in 55 innings and 14 appearances) after attending Indiana University in Bloomington. The right-hander went un-drafted but was signed by the Texas Rangers in 2017. He began his pro career at short-season Class-A Spokane and finished the season at Low Class-A Hickory, combining to go 0-2 with a 2.40 ERA, 16 strikeouts and 12 walks in 15 1/3 innings and nine appearances (all in relief).

While they were never teammates until Nolan was a senior and Parker a freshman at Kokomo High, the two older Sanburn brothers both came up playing baseball in Kokomo’s UCT youth league. Then came Babe Ruth League. Nolan played for Kingsway and the Indiana Bulls. Parker was with Kingsway, the Indiana Chargers and then the Indiana Bulls.

Connor Sanburn earned a International Baccalaureate degree from KHS in 2017. He was involved in CEO (Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities), founded a film festival and made videos for teacher recruitment and how to add to the school’s legacy plus features from the City of Kokomo. His video production company is CCS Entertainment.

“I really loved Kokomo High School,” says Connor. “I just have this urge that I need to build something and create a brand. I know I want to do something in business someday. It just excites me.”

His baseball video on the Sanburns included interviews with his grandfather, brothers and parents.

Connor also produced fun music videos featuring his siblings.

More recently, Nolan has his youngest brother thinking about real estate and investing.

“He read that book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” (by personal finance author and lecturer Robert Kyosaki). He realized early that baseball isn’t forever and needs to make a living. He’s had players approaching him on how to invest. He absolutely loves that.”

While Nolan is keeping active while waiting to see where his baseball career is headed, he does a lot of reading and business research in Birmingham, Ala.

“It’s a lot of fun to learn stuff you don’t know,” says Nolan. “Everyday I read it’s like drinking out of a firehose.

“It never gets old. It’s about never being complacent, always trying to learn and consistently staying focused.”

He is engaged to a Birmingham girl — loan officer Rachel Thornton. Her father is a commercial real estate investor.

A few business concepts have stuck with Nolan.

“Don’t trade hours for dollars,” says Nolan. “Make money work for you.”

His baseball signing bonus allowed Nolan to buy property for cash and he has employed managers to tend to his 13 properties around Kokomo.

“It makes things really smooth,” says Nolan. “The experience has been awesome.”

He has been working with angel investors and became interested in online sales through family friend Chris Beatty. Before becoming an internet entrepreneur, the left-hander pitched at Arizona State University in 2003.

For his podcast, Nolan has interviewed teammates, coaches and scouts to get insights into their mental approach to baseball.

“I’m just trying to pick their brain and give the listeners one or two tidbits,” says Nolan. “You can still win the game by being mentally stronger than the competition.

“You may not be a physically gifted, but you can still compete by having a mental edge.”

Nolan made himself into a student of the game.

“I’ve worked way too hard to be here and get beat because I was not mentally prepared,” says Nolan.

A kinesiology major at Arkansas, Nolan went into pro baseball as a draft-eligible sophomore before completing his college degree. His deal with the Athletics call for them to pay for the rest of his schooling.

Nolan learned baseball lessons at Kokomo High from head coach Steve Edwards (who is now principal at Frankfort High School).

“He would talk baseball and talk life,” says Nolan of Edwards. “He was such a great leader.

“He showed us that you need to learn to be a leader on and off the field. It’s OK to have fun, but you are a guy that people look up to (for leadership).

“It was his respect for the game and passion to be the best. He was a leader of men. He wanted us to be great individuals.”

At Arkansas, Nolan played for head coach Dave Van Horn.

“He was so ambitious and so passionate about being successful and winning,” says Nolan of Van Horn. “He drove everybody around him to be better.”

Intense?

Van Horn was known to pull a batter for not getting a bunt down on the first pitch.

“Do things right the first time so you don’t have to go back and do it again,” says Nolan.

His first season as a Razorback, Nolan was a catcher, outfielder and pitcher. He was drafted in high school as a catcher. He eventually settled on pitching.

He was whizzing pitches at 98 mph and higher while playing with the Battle Creek (Mich.) Bombers in the summer collegiate Northwoods League in 2011 and as an Arkansas sophomore in 2012.

Last summer, he was sitting at 90 to 92 mph and looking to put movement on every delivery.

“I was blowing it by guys in college,” says Nolan. “In pro ball, 98 mph is going to get turned around.

“I’m cutting, sinking and throwing change-ups behind in the count,” says Nolan. “I’m always making the ball move.

“Nothing can ever be straight. It’s difficult for hitter to time it up, especially if it looks the same out of your hand.”

Parker had essentially three seasons in 2017. He started at Des Moines Area Community College, spent a month with the Grafton, Wis.-based Lakeshore Chinooks in the Northwoods League and then signed with the Rangers.

“I learned a lot,” says Parker. “I met a lot of good people.”

A person that he knew is one of the reasons he is still in the game.

Jason Van Skike was the pitching coach for the Kokomo Jackrabbits in 2016 and Parker was on the mound staff.

After leaving Arkansas and enrolling at IU, Parker was thinking about moving on from a baseball playing career. Then Van Skike reaches out as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at DMACC and Parker enrolled Jan. 5, 2017.

Right now, he is spending the off-season in Kokomo while preparing for spring training in Arizona. He gained 15 pounds and now carries 210 on his 6-foot-2 frame.

“I’m getting in the weight room, eating more and eating healthy,” says Parker. “I’m a lot bigger, stronger and smarter.

“It doesn’t hurt to be strong. I set myself up to maximize this upcoming season.”

Parker went into 2017 with a four-seam fastball and knuckle-curve ball and added a two-seam fastball and circle change-up to his repertoire.

In his final outing, he was able to throw all four pitches for strikes.

“I’m starting to learn to pitch as opposed to throw,” says Parker. “In the past, I had not been so proficient at throwing strikes. It was how hard can I throw this? Not where’s it going?

“It’s easier to get people out if you’re throwing it over the plate.”

He hit the radar gun at 92 or 93 mph in high school, got it up to 97 a few times in college and sat at 94 or 95 last season.

At Kokomo High, Parker was able to throw the ball past hitters. Now, he’s trying to dodge their bats.

Parker saw the differences and similarities of college and the minor leagues.

“College is more geared toward winning,” says Parker. “Pro ball is more geared to development until you get to The Show.

“In professional ball, you’re doing what makes you the best player you can be. You’re not doing what everybody else is doing. In pro ball, you’re at the ball park longer and not worrying about going to class and doing homework.

“But they’e still hitters (and you have to get them out).”

He’s also out there making his way in the online business world through WillowHead.com.

“I’m learning about customer service and price points,” says Parker. “I try to keep my hands in everything so I can make it all work out.”

After all, he is on a path to change the world.

Kokomo’s Sanburn brothers (from left): Nolan, Connor and Parker. (Sanburn Family Photo)

 

Sinker effective pitch for Kokomo native, Padres minor leaguer Weir

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Making more of his pitches go down has helped T.J. Weir go up in professional baseball.

Weir, a graduate of Kokomo High School (2010) and Ball State University (2014), has incorporated a sinker into his pitching repertoire and is now at Double-A in the San Diego Padres organization after beginning the 2017 season at High-A.

According to Tim Weir, T.J.’s father, off-season throwing partner and pitching coach at Kokomo High, his son learned the sinker while playing catch a couple off-seasons back with big league reliever Craig Stammen.

Todd Linklater was one of T.J.’s pitching coaches at Ball State and had coached Stammen while guiding pitchers at the University of Dayton and helped get the two hurlers together.

“Last year he used a four-seam fastball and sometimes a sinker,” says Tim Weir. “This year, it’s primarily a sinker. He can rely on the sinker and can get a swing and miss or ground balls in counts where he used to give up hits.”

T.J. played at UCT Cal Ripken Baseball League until 12 and travel ball with the Central Indiana Kings (coached by Tim Weir, Chad Reida and Keith Vautaw) and Tim Weir-coached Indiana Force through his 15-year-old summer before he went with the Indiana Bulls to be coached by Todd Dunwoody then Alex Rynearson.

All the while Tim, a 1982 Kokomo graduate who played Wildkats baseball for Carl McNulty and Mike Smith, was paying close attention. He knows his sons’ mechanics almost better than he does.

“I don’t like to admit it, but sometimes he’s right,” says T.J. of his father. “He knows the game really well. He watches the game online and sees things I need to fix.”

The 25-year-old Weir now often uses the sinker — thrown at 90 to 93 mph — in fastball situations and it has aided the 6-foot right-hander in going 4-1 with a 1.65 earned run average in 31 games and 49 innings with the Double-A San Antonio Missions after going 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA in 10 games and 19 1/3 innings with the High-A Lake Elsinore Storm.

Weir, who also throws a curve, slider and occasional change-up, has a way of describing himself as a pitcher.

“I’m a strike thrower,” says T.J. “I get ahead in the count and keep (hitters) off-balance.”

In his last 10 appearances, Weir has thrown 101 of 230 pitches for strikes while going 1-0 with an 0.56 ERA over 16 innings.

“I take pride in throwing strikes, being able to field my position and things like that,” says Weir, who was often a third baseman or shortstop when not pitching at Ball State.

Getting ahead in the count allows Weir to sometimes “pitch backwards” from the conventional sequence.

“The Texas League only has eight teams (four in Texas and four up north),” says T.J. “We play the same three teams over and over again. You need to be able to adjust on the fly.”

But players don’t actually fly in the Texas League. All trips are by bus. The shortest from San Antonio is 2 1/2 hours. It takes about 12 to get to Springfield, Mo. The Missions take two buses on that long haul and don’t have to share seats. Otherwise, players do their best to get comfortable on one. Not an easy task for Weir, but even tougher for bullpen mates like (6-9 Brad Wieck) and (6-7 Trey Wingenter).

T.J. played for Steve Edwards at Kokomo and was a classmate of right-hander Nolan Sanburn, now in the Washington Nationals system.

Weir was recruited to Ball State by Greg Beals and played for Alex Marconi his first two collegiate seasons and Rich Maloney his last two. Before Linklater, his pitching coach at BSU was Jeremy Plexico.

“It was cool to be able to hear from both of them,” says T.J. “They came from two very different experiences. (Plexico) is tall and left-handed. (Linklater) is a short righty.”

Weir went back and forth from believer to starter at Ball State. He was primarily a starter his senior season, when he was selected in the 17th round of the 2014 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Padres.

Of his 124 minor league appearances, all but 20 have come as a reliever.

“I’ve found a rhythm and a routine I like in the pen,” says T.J., who usually pitches two innings per outing and has yet to pitch on consecutive days.

He has also learned much from San Antonio pitching coach Jimmy Jones.

“He’s great,” says T.J. of Jones. “We relievers listen in during starter’s bullpens. He’s always dropping knowledge.”

Jones has conveyed the importance of control over the body — even when tired from the long season.

“You learn how to play catch the right way,” says T.J. “You can get in so many bad habits. We play six months straight. You learn how to conduct yourself as a professional and take every rep seriously.”

T.J. will be seriously busy once the 2017 season ends.

Giving back to his hometown, he will conduct a free kids baseball camp Sept. 30 at Kokomo Municipal Stadium.

On Nov. 18, T.J. is to marry former Ball State volleyball player Kati Vasalakis in Muncie and then move to Cincinnati where she is now working.

After recovering from the 2017 season, Weir begins ramping up his throwing program in preparation of 2018 in December.

T.J. Weir delivers a pitch for the 2017 San Antonio Missions. The Kokomo, Ind., native is in the San Diego Padres organization. (San Antonio Missions Photo)