Better Men Better Ballplayers Podcast with

Mark Gibbs; St Johns DC

Sponsored By:

BIO

HC of St Johns DC
339–90–1 Overall Record, .788 Winning Percentage in 17 years
13, 20-win seasons
6 of the seasons St Johns has been nationally ranked
Before their 2008 season, St. John’s was on the cover of Baseball America, the first team from the mid-Atlantic to ever be profiled in the preview issue.
Gibbs has sent 124 players into college baseball from St Johns
17 players who were drafted by or signed to free agent contracts with professional teams.
The Cadets have won or tied for 1 regular season conference titles (2007, 2010, 2012–19, 2021),
8 WCAC tournament titles (2011, 2014–19)
3 DCSAA titles (2014, 2019, 2021).
Many Coach of the year awards (Washington Post, WCAC, USA Today, DCSAA)

NOTES

The experience that I feel is best for kids and the reality it is, we need to find what’s best for us
Staying together in the summer and fall has brought us bigger things that baseball
Outsourced a strength coach (sports performance coach)
The HC needs to monitor it all.
Bring in people that the HC can trust and let them work
A lot of what you are dealing with is not on the field
If you have good people and you trust them that is the best
Got to have good players and guys that are willing to work
The guy was just a worker! His work ethic stood out
They were very prepared in the whole system that prepared them for college
Pitching, defense and baserunning is what you do to win games
We prioritize pitching, not just fit it into practice
In the live stuff we do, that is the most live baserunning situations we can get
Play more live! Use the baserunners when pitching on mound
Using their eyes to run the bases
Base stealing and base running are taught in two different segments
Year to year we focus on certain things more than others depending on your team
You have to have guys that can do it (vault stealing/ new school leads)
You have to have the time to teach it and put it into your program.

127 - Mark Gibbs: St John’s College HS (D.C.)