Daily Log

Daily Log:

Day 1

There is a stigma in the Lehigh Valley and the Northeast in general when it comes to the lack of quality baseball at the amateur level. That lack of quality baseball in the Lehigh Valley is further exacerbated by the lack of quality coaching going on at every level. EVERY level. From little league right through high school and even the collegiate level in some instances.

Baseball just isn't taught the same in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas as it is down south or in Texas, Arizona and Southern California.

And this is why it was incredibly refreshing when I looked around Lehigh Valley Baseball Academy today and was amazed at what I saw. I saw Mark Angelo (currently in the Seattle Mariners organization and head coach of our 10u team last fall) giving a hitting lesson in Cage 4. Next to him in Cage 3 was Craig Muschko (currently in the Chicago Cubs organization) giving a pitching lesson. In Cage 2, Mike McDaniel (who was the full-time hitting coach at Arkansas Fort-Smith last year and long-time hitting coach at DeSales University) was in the middle of a hitting lesson.

I start to walk down the hall and see Matt McBride (currently in the Cleveland Indians organization) working out at FASST, and adjacent to the FASST portion of the facility was Aaron Fuhrman (formerly with the Detroit Tigers' organization) doing a pitching lesson in the tunnel. I walk further down the hall and see Jeff Bittiger (Oakland A's scout and former major league pitcher) and Dylan Dando (Los Angeles Dodgers' scout) working out a pitcher on the LVBA 18u Elite team, a team that had an outstanding fall season in 2009.

All I could think of was, "Wow, where else can you find this many professional instructors under one roof in the Lehigh Valley?"

Answer: Nowhere.

And the amazing part is: From December through February and part of March, this kind of scene happens almost every day at LVBA.