Missouri Bulls Baseball

The Missouri Bulls held  their annual Player/Parent meeting on Sunday January 8th at the Oran high school gymnasium.   In attendance were players from all the Bulls teams ages 11u through 18u, over 75 players were on hand along with their parents.

The players and parents were able to buy some new Missouri Bulls apparel and were treated to some great advice our four guest speakers.

Former Sikeston standout and current Chicago Cubs player, Blake DeWitt, was the first to step to the podium.  Blake was drafted in the first round of the MLB draft in 2004 out of high school by the Los Angeles Dodgers.   His advice to the kids and their parents was to work hard, enjoy your high school years and play mulitple sports if you are able.  "Playing more than one sport can actually make you a better, more well rounded athlete,"  DeWitt said.  At 26, Blake is an inspiriation to anyone who dreams of playing professional baseball.  

Next to the microphone was former Scott City standout, Scott Little.  Scott was a three sport, All-State athlete in highschool.  He went on to play for Missouri and Mineral Area Colleges before being drafted by the New York Mets in the 7th round in 1984.  Little made it to the pros with the Pittsburg Pirates and ended up coaching and playing for over 17 years in professional baseball at all levels.   He moved back to the area five years ago where he has been a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.

Scott's message was spoken from his heart and from personal experience with his ups and downs in the game of baseball.  "Stay focused, concentrate on your studies and work your butt off!!"  Don't do what I did and try to skate through classes.  I was lucky that I made it in baseball with the path I chose.  If you're not focused, not disciplined, school and other things can get away from you in a hurry and turn your dreams of playing baseball upside down.  I know, I lived it,"  Little said.

Coach Joe Scarano, assistant baseball coach and recruting coordinator for Three Rivers College was our 3rd speaker.   Coach Scarano played baseball at Massachusetts State College where he was a 4 year starter.   He has coached at the college level the past seven years and landed in Poplar Bluff last year.  He spoke about some of the differences between Junior College and Division I baseball programs as far as scholarships and recruiting.   He spoke to the importance of grades and how starting at a junior college is a great opportunity for kids and a stepping stone to move on to a division I school or even the pro's. 

Closing out the program was Southeast Missouri State Universities baseball coach Mark Hogan.  Coach Hogan is starting his 17th season at Southeast and his 30th in total as a Division I head coach.   He has amassed over 800 total wins, 502 of them as skipper of the Redhawks.   As always, coach Hogan had some great advice as to what he looks for when he looks for players.  "I like to get to the ball parks early and watch players get off the bus or out of their cars.  You can tell almost as much about a player watching him get off the buss and warm up as you can when they play.  I already know a kid can play if I'm there watching him, I am looking for the intangibles that you don't see in the stats," said coach Hogan.  His advice to parents, "Stay out of it!  Enjoy the game from the stands and stay out of your kids ear.  The game of baseball is stressful enough without the parents being in a kid's ear every time he does something."

The Bulls also had all of their coaches on hand as well as their board of directors.  The coaches for the Bulls in 2012 will be:

18u--Todd Pennington, Kody Campbell

16u--Matt Wagner, Drew Pixley

15u--Joe Bickings, Jeff Graviett

14u--Matt Bucher, Ben Walters

13u--Scott Siebert, Tim Rodgers

12u--Jeff Shively, Eric Priggel

11u--Trent Wise, Paul Lynch

The board of directors:  Glenn Campbell-President, Mitch Wood-Vice president, Ryne Wood-Secretary, Matt Bucher--finance, Jeff Lack, Chris Janet and Jeff Graviett.

Thanks to all that attended and to our guest speakers for a great afternoon.  A great way to kick of the 2012 year as the Lids Missouri Bulls will field eight teams this summer, up from five teams last summer.

I know many of you bought apparel and other items at the player/parent meeting a few weeks ago but there is still a few things left.   Please email me at glenn.campbell@lids.com or call my cell and stop by my office/Bulls office and pick some up.  

Let me know if you have any questions. 

Also have Tervis Tumblers and Can Koozies with Bulls logo.