Wright State’s Talarico takes big stage at ABCA Convention to talk base stealing

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

An Indiana native was a presenter on the big stage at the 2019 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Dallas.

Matt Talarico, a graduate of Fort Wayne (Ind.) Bishop Dwenger High School and Manchester University in North Manchester, Ind., and an assistant coach/player development coordinator at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, presented Base Stealing: The Link to Developing the Complete Offensive Player.

Talarico, founder of StealBases.com, talked about developing well-rounded threats who score, making development a No. 1 priority, the run scorer cycle of on-base percentage to stolen bases to slugging percentage, the systematic approach of base stealing (Old School, New School and Hybrid) and the application of these methods.

In three seasons at Wright State, Talarico has watched the Raiders swipe 101 bases in 128 attempts in 2016 and go 130-of-161 in 2017 and 110-of-128 in 2018. Eleven different WSU players pilfered at least one bag last spring. In Talarico’s five campaigns at the University of Dayton staff, the Flyers copped 509 bases in 685 tries. In one season at the University of Toledo (2010), Talarico saw the Rockets purloin 74 bases in 96 attempts.

When Talarico got to Wright State, he and his players decided they would make the commitment to get on base in any way they could. That would lead to more stolen bases and runs scored and — in turn — a higher slugging percentage.

“What does a Wright State player look like?,” said Talarico. “If you look at us, I’d like a couple of things to be said about a Wright State offensive player. “We want to keep the main thing, the main thing. We want to work on physicality. I don’t know if we played a bigger, stronger, faster team (in 2018). It’s a culture thing.”

Proper nutrition, strength training and recovery/sleep is a priority for the Raiders.

In getting on-base in 2018, Wright State hitters walked (268) or got hit by a pitch (81) more than they struck out (325).

“That was a pretty big adjustment,” said Talarico. “We got rid of drills we didn’t think worked and we stuck with one or two drills that helped our guys recognize pitches.

“Our guys have a great, great feel for the strike zone. Good hitters have adjustability. They can hit the ball early. They can hit the ball late. They can adjust.

“All of our players have to be able to bunt for a hit.”

That even included Gabe Snyder, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound slugger who was selected in the 21st of the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Minnesota.

Even at his size, Snyder was able to put pressure on the opponent with his ability to run the bases.

Talarico noted that some stolen base chances are high risk and others are low risk.

“We’re talking about pressure,” said Talarico. “We want to make the pitcher make a good throw.”

Talarico is trying to build speed in his runners.

“To build speed, you have to run fast,” said Talarico. “That seems so obvious.”

This is done by taking advantage of the player’s competitive nature, keeping the sprint distances short and getting the players striving for their best reps.

“You call out a winner,” said Talarico. “If call on them to race, they’re going to run fast.

“We don’t want to go into survival mode. We make most of our sprints 15, maybe 30 feet. We’re always competitive and we’re always recovering.

“Then we have what I call the ‘Coach, can I get one more? zone.’”

Players develop a mindset to get better and faster.

Talarico loves it when upperclassmen speak up and show the proper way to perform a drill.

“When it’s important to them, it’s important to everybody,” said Talarico.

The base of the whole system is Old School lead-off — Right. Left. Shuffle. Shuffle. Secondary. Shuffle. Shuffle.

“If we can do that, we can get fancier,” said Talarico.

New School involves a relaxed, athletic position. Hybrid is a mix of the two.

“If we do this right, we only have to create a little momentum to get going,” said Talarico. “Once the technique gets good, anything can happen.”

After Talarico’s players know the rules and skill set, it becomes about tempo. He teaches them what to do then steps back and lets them figure it out.

“It might start out scientific, but this is an art,” said Talarico. “It’s not about what I know. It’s about what they believe.”

To Talarico, there are three types of game plans.

“There’s the right game plan that players believe 100 percent. That’s the best,” said Talarico. “There’s the wrong game plan that players believe 100 percent. That’s the second-best option.

“No. 3 is the worse. It’s no game plan or not really believing what you’re saying. Now we don’t have confidence.”

Matt Talarico is an assistant coach/development coordinator for the baseball program at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. (Wright State Photo)

Matt Talarico participates in a question-and-answer session after his presentation on base stealing at the 2019 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Dallas. (Steve Krah Photo)

Matt Talarico presents on the big stage at the 2019 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Dallas. The graduate of Fort Wayne (Ind.) Bishop Dwenger High School and Manchester University in North Manchester, Ind., and an assistant coach/developmental coordinator at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, talked about Base Stealing: The Link to Developing the Complete Offensive Player. (Steve Krah Photo)

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Love of teaching helps Wright State’s Talarico guide basestealers and more

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Matt Talarico has a zeal for teaching.

The graduate of Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger High School and Manchester College (now Manchester University) is the grandson of longtime Fort Wayne educator Sam Talarico Sr., and holds a masters degree in education from Heidelberg University.

Sam Talarico Sr. was a defensive tackle at Indiana University and drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1952. An injury caused him to come back to Fort Wayne.

“To help out a priest, he took a temporary teaching job,” says Matt Talarico. His grandfather went on to teach for decades at St. Jude Catholic School.

It was between the 2008 and 2009 seasons at NCAA Division III Heidelberg in Tiffin, Ohio, that Matt Talarico began to craft a teaching method for base stealing.

It started with two Heidelberg players — one who had speed but would not run like Talarico wanted.

“What I was doing before wasn’t really working,” says Talarico. “Simple cues like watch for this on the pitcher (were not hitting the mark with the player).

“Ultimately, it wasn’t giving him any confidence to go. He couldn’t see what I was seeing. So I had to think outside the box.

“That’s kind of how it all started.”

By the end of his second year at Heidelberg, Talarico was convinced he had something different than what everybody else was doing.

Talarico went to to use his system at the D-I level — first the University of Toledo (2010), University of Dayton (2011-15) and since the 2016 season Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Wright State went into play Friday, May 4 tied for 22nd among D-I schools with 73 stolen bases (in 86 attempts). The Horizon League-winning Raiders swiped 101-of-128 in 2016 and 130 of 161 in 2017.

During Talarico’s time at Dayton, the Flyers stole 117-of-163 in 2011, a nation-leading 164-of-198 in 2012, 81-of-118 in 2013, 91-of-118 in 2014 and 52-of-83 in 2015. Toledo runners pilfered 74-of-96 bags in 2010.

“I like all development and I love teaching,” says Talarico, who serves as hitting and infield coach and helps members of the RaiderGang with physical training and nutrition. “For me, it’s all teaching I have passion about.

“Basestealing has gone to the front not because I think it is more important than anything, it’s more teachable than anything,” says Talarico, who founded the StealBases.com website and has been a presenter on the subject at the American Baseball Coaches Association Convention, been featured on an ABCA podcast and addressed the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association State Clinic. “You wouldn’t guess that.

“It helps score runs and it helps teams that might not be on. We might not be due for 15 hits and eight runs, but it gives us an avenue (to offensive production).”

His website has many subscribers with teams also employing their brand of aggressive running.

“We use it as a way to create pressure, hit better and score more runs,” says Talarico. “If you look at our offensive numbers all-around, they are better than they’ve ever been. The threat of us running makes you throw fastballs and give us pitches to hit. It’s cool how it’s spread through baseball.

“I encourage guys to coach base stealing. We never coach it. It’s always something you recruit. The more you coach it, the better they get at it.”

While he has created a small business around his findings, he does not consider his methods proprietary.

“I don’t know that it’s something I can reserve for my own and say you can’t take it,” says Talarico. “If you can also teach it, you can do it.”

Talarico counts renowned coach and baserunning expert Mike Roberts among his mentors. Roberts coached at the University of North Carolina and is the father of former big leaguer Brian Roberts.

The coaching staff at Wright State — led by head coach Jeff Mercer and also including Nate Metzger, Alex Sogard, mental skills development coordinator Diamyn Hall, director of operations Denton Sagerman and volunteer Jacob Burk — is way into innovation and learning.

“We talk about it a lot — what’s the best way to learn? What’s the best way to teach?,” says Talarico. “Let’s do that. We want to be leading the way when it comes to how we talk to our players about development — hitting, pitching, basestealing, defense.

“We’ve got guys who are obsessed with social media — Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and whatever — and we want to communicate with them like that.

We want to be able to talk to them about things that can help them develop in ways they want to learn. We’re not trying to get them to go back to encyclopedias and the Dewey Decimal System and all that stuff we had to learn growing up.

“We want to communicate with them like social media — quick and out front. We’d like to think we have some success stories because we’re able to adapt.”

Talarico played for at Larry Windmiller, a member of the University of Saint Francis Athletic Hall of Fame and Northeast Indiana Baseball Association Hall of Fame, and his son Brett.

“Brett Windmiller was a big influence on me,” says Talarico of the man who is now on the coaching staff at Carroll High School in Fort Wayne. “I was impressed with how knowledge he was and how passionate he was. He was the the first guy I got close to on that level.”

More knowledge was gained playing at Manchester from Spartans head coach Rick Espeset. Talarico got his undergraduate degree in history.

Matt and Jasa Talarico have two daughters — Callie (18 months) and Lia (less than a one month).

Matt Talarico, a graduate of Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger High School and Manchester College (now Manchester University) has helped turn the offense at Wright State University into a dynamic offensive force with his basestealing methods. (Wright State University)