By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Over 7,000 members of the American Baseball Coaches Association will make their way to Nashville, Tenn. this weekend for the 2016 ABCA Convention at Gaylord Opryland, the most in the organization's over 70-year history. And each one of them will have the opportunity to learn from Tennessee Tech's own Matt Bragga.
The Golden Eagle baseball head coach was selected as one of about 25 clinic speakers at the event, a tremendous honor for the coaching veteran entering his 13th season at the head of the Tech program.
"I'm humbled by the opportunity to speak to baseball coaches from across all parts of our great country," Bragga said. "This a great opportunity for myself as an individual as well as my staff. I believe this is a great representation of Tennessee Tech University because of who will all be there right on stage with me."
Joining Bragga as speakers at the ABCA's annual event will be the likes of MLB Hall of Famer John Smoltz, best-selling author Jon Gordon, three MLB coaches including John Mallee (Chicago Cubs), Andy McKay (Seattle Mariners) and Dave Jauss (Pittsburgh Pirates) and three 2015 national champion coaches including Brian O'Connor of Virginia, Joe Brown of SUNY Cortland and Jeremiah Robbins of Lewis-Clark State.
Clinics, the ABCA Trade Show, meetings and several awards presentations and honors will all be features at the 2016 ABCA Convention, with activities set to begin on Thursday, Jan. 7 with the first day of the ABCA Trade Show as well as committee and divisional meetings. The ABCA Clinics begin on Friday, Jan. 8 and run through Sunday, Jan. 10.
"When I was approached to do this, they requested I speak about outfield play," Bragga explained. "It wasn't a request on my part, but I'm glad they asked for my participation. I'm excited to represent our program and our university.
"The main point of my presentation will be about where to throw the baseball. It sounds basic, but more often than not, outfielder's mistakes occur with throwing. There are times where mishandling the ball will lead to an error, but for the most part, errors in the outfield take place when a player throws to the wrong base, allowing runners to go everywhere, or when a player makes a bad throw or misses the cut-off. So that will be the point of emphasis in my presentation."
And there's now wonder Tech's head coach was asked to speak about defense, with the Golden Eagles boasting multiple top 25 finishes in fielding percentage in his tenure. Three outfielders under Bragga's tutelage have heard their names called during the MLB First-Year Player Draft, including Jake New (2008), Chad Oberacker (2010 & 2011) and Brandon Thomasson (2014). In the past three seasons alone, six Golden Eagle outfielders finished the season with no more than one error, including four with perfect fielding percentages.
"We try to make sure our outfielders at Tennessee Tech are comfortable with knowing where they are going to go with the ball before it's even hit to them," Bragga said. "We want to take the thinking out of the play while it's happening, because when you're thinking when trying to field the ball, mistakes occur. We want our players on autopilot to avoid those errors.
"This is one of the strengths of our staff and Coach [Derek] Weldon, who works with our outfielders. He does a phenomenal job of making sure our guys are skilled and trained to know what to do with the ball when it's hit to them, no matter the situation. We can't afford for those guys to make mistakes. Those are difficult positions to play, no doubt, but in terms of fielding the ball, they have anywhere between 150 to 300 feet to get ready to field a baseball, so for us to be a top 25 program in the country on defense, our outfielders have to make their plays."
Bragga is scheduled to make his clinic presentation Saturday afternoon, featuring a 3 p.m. CST start time. The presentation is expected to run approximately 40 minutes, complete with video demonstration of many of the coach's talking points.
"Whether you're speaking or not, anytime you are at an event like this, you get the opportunity to represent your university and make connections with people you typically don't have a chance to otherwise," Bragg added. "I know this allows us to meet with high school coaches we may not already know, which gives us the opportunity to present the Tennessee Tech baseball brand even better than we already do."
