ONE FOR THE TEAM
Whether they start or come off the bench, role players often hold the keys to a successful season. Developing roles starts with discussing and acknowledging their importance to the team.
By Nate Dougherty
Nate Dougherty is a former Assistant Editor at Coaching Management.
Trailing Mississippi State University by three runs in the bottom of the 11th inning in a game last April, University of South Carolina Head Coach
Ray Tanner summoned junior reserve outfielder Jon Willard from the Gamecocks’ dugout. With two outs and two runners on base, Willard, the team’s top pinch hitter, blasted a deep home run, propelling his team to victory.
Despite logging only 10 starts and 51 plate appearances, Willard was one of the Gamecocks’ most powerful hitters in 2006, finishing third on the team in home runs with seven. Playing behind three talented starting outfielders, most of Willard’s production came as a pinch hitter, a role
Tanner says Willard understood, embraced, and ultimately thrived at.
Whether it’s to provide a timely hit, late-inning defense, or a few strong innings at crunch time, having productive bench players like Willard often means the difference between winning and losing. Giving non-starters more opportunities to contribute to team goals also goes a long way toward improving morale and cohesiveness. The challenge for coaches is identifying these players, then training them to stay sharp for those critical moments when the game is on the line.
Filling Roles
For role players to be most effective, they must understand exactly what is expected of them. This starts with meetings and evaluations in the fall, when coaches decide who fills what roles on the team.
Rutgers University Assistant Coach Rick Freeman says his team identifies role players as those who excel in one area but need game experience to become more well-rounded. As a bullpen coach, Freeman uses pitchers who are still working to develop third and fourth pitches as specialty relievers who come in during short-relief situations to gain experience.
The same evaluation is made of Rutgers’ position players. A young infielder with plenty of raw speed but who’s unsure of himself in the field will see time as a pinch runner, and a promising outfielder who has not yet adjusted to college pitching will come in as a defensive replacement.
“Often with young players, the game moves too fast for them, and they have to learn to adapt,” Freeman says. “You can see that their motors are always running but you need to slow down the game for them, and once they’re more comfortable they can take on bigger roles.”
Some coaches let the athletes themselves have a hand in assigning roles. Each fall for the past 38 years, Mississippi State Head Coach Ron Polk has asked his players to rank everyone on the team—from starters to the last bench player—based on a stat sheet containing each player’s batting average, base-running times, and production rating, which tracks how hard the player hit the ball during fall games. Polk tallies the results and hands out copies during individual meetings in the fall.
After seeing exactly how their teammates evaluated them, each player talks about ways they can contribute to the team and what role they will be expected to fill. According to Polk, the peer rankings help players understand where they fit on the team, especially if roles will change.
“We had a situation where two veterans ranked lower in the evaluation than two new guys who were coming in,” Polk says. “Their skills hadn’t decreased, but the newcomers passed them by. Their roles became smaller than in the past, and seeing their ranking helped them accept that.”
Polk says problems can arise when a player enters the season believing he should start, but ends up stewing on the bench. By letting players know months in advance where they stand, they have time to accept and embrace their places on the team.
“Without these evaluations, every player would go into their off-season workouts thinking they’re going to start,” Polk says. “If a player knows where he stands after the fall, we can eliminate most of those problems. And if he’s not a starter, he knows what it will take for him to earn more playing time.”
Buying In
Trust between players and coaches is essential if players are to accept roles. When players fully understand that coaches have the team’s best interests in mind, being told they’re not a starter is much easier to take. Bill Holowaty, Head Coach at Eastern Connecticut State University, starts building this trust during the first meeting held in the fall.
“After I give each player his assessment in their individual meeting, I ask him if he trusts me,” Holowaty says. “They all say yes. Then I ask them if they think I trust, respect, and like them, and the answers vary. I want them to know that trust is a two-way street, and that means they need to accept my decisions about what roles are best for them and the team. I make sure they understand the area they’re responsible for, whether they’re a prime-time player, regular starter, or role player off the bench. I want to teach them how to do the little things well, like pinch hitters making contact and getting good at-bats. We’re not asking players to hit the ball out of the park, just to do the simple things. I tell them if they can do those, we’re going to do very well.
“Framing it that way gives every player the confidence that they’re not just some nobody on the bench,” Holowaty continues. “Everyone in our program is treated the same way. But they need to know that if they don’t buy into our team concept, they’re not going to make it.”
Once roles are established, coaches should continue to reinforce their importance throughout the season. To accomplish that, Jeff Janssen, sports consultant and author of Championship Team Building, suggests short, interactive exercises.
“One great idea is to have everyone sit down after practice early in the season and talk about a couple different players each day,” Janssen says. “Rather than the player himself standing up and saying what he means to the team, put it in the hands of his teammates and ask, ‘What do we need from John for our program to be successful?’ And everyone says three things the team needs from him. If the person’s a starter, it may be more obvious, but if the player is a reserve or a role player, now you’ve got everyone acknowledging exactly what John needs to do to help the team.
“For a pinch runner, they may talk about coming in and being aggressive and smart on the base paths,” Janssen continues. “For a relief pitcher, they may talk about the mindset needed to come into a tough situation with guys on base and get us out of the inning. Teammates say, ‘Whatever your role is, we need that for our success.’”
Training To Start
Just because a player is currently a pinch hitter or short reliever, that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t aspire to one day earn a starting position. Tanner says some of the best role players he’s ever coached viewed their limited playing time as a kind of audition.
“I tell my players they don’t have to just accept being backups,” Tanner says. “The best role players work hard in hopes of becoming every-day players, and keeping them in the proper mindset is the most important part. They need to think, ‘Okay, I’m not a starter, so the next best thing I can do is come off the bench and contribute. What can I do to make that happen?’ Even if they haven’t had a lot of at-bats or innings pitched lately, they’ve got to be prepared for any situation.”
Holowaty also tells his role players to view every play as a chance to make an impression. For instance, last season, Eastern Connecticut’s starting third baseman went down with an injury early in the year. To replace him, Holowaty called up sophomore Will Moran, a defensive specialist from the j.v. team who the coaches originally ranked last in the program in overall talent. He’d been providing nearly flawless defense while on j.v., so after other replacements didn’t work out, Holowaty hoped he could at least play solid in the field. But Holowaty says Moran ended up providing much more—the spark the team needed to turn its season around and make a deep postseason run.
“This was a kid who I never thought would play varsity ball for us, but he came in and did a great job and ended up being our most improved player,” Holowaty says. “He was a competitor, a hard worker, and he accepted his role. He was responsible for turning 16 double plays in the postseason.”
Preparing role players like Moran to perform when called upon begins in practice. Coaches who neglect their bench players during practice are making a big mistake, says Janssen. “There are some coaches who still hold starters-only practices,” he says. “That sends a terrible message to reserves and role players that they’re not even worth your time.”
Instead, Janssen recommends coaches write out specific practice plans for their role players. “Coaches have to first make a list of exactly what each player needs to work on to help the team,” he explains. “Then find time before or after practice to work with them on those areas. This is also a good time to talk about the skills they need to improve if they want to start or see more playing time.”
Not using role players enough early in the season or only calling on them in a few specific situations can leave them ill prepared for when games matter more, Tanner says. He believes it’s best to get bench players as much experience as possible early on in a variety of situations, even if it means less time for starters who are performing well.
“If we’re having a good game and winning by four or five runs, I’ll put in the guys who I know I’m going to need to call on later in the year,” he says. “I’ll even put them in when the situation doesn’t necessarily call for a change. If a starter is 2-for-4 and coming up for his fifth at-bat, I might sub in a pinch hitter who I know I’m going to have to count on later in the season. I’ll let my starters know beforehand that I’m doing it to help our role players get ready for when we really need them.”
At Sheehan High School in Wallingford, Conn., Head Coach Matt Altieri makes sure bench players have an opportunity early in the year to face high-pressure situations. The strategy served him well during the 2006 state semifinals, when his number-one pitcher fell apart in a game against the top-ranked team in the tournament. With his ace faltering, Altieri turned to his bullpen for a junior reliever—a junk-ball pitcher—to come in and stop the bleeding. The reliever pitched three strong innings and picked up the win.
“There are times early in the season when I’ll throw our fourth starter or a reliever into a tough situation even if I’m not positive he’ll have success,” Altieri says. “You’ve got to have the guts to put those guys in against a good team and tell them, ‘We’re going to depend on you later in the season, now go out there and just give it everything you have.’ If you don’t call on them until the league championship game, they won’t be prepared to handle the pressure.”
When a certain situation calls for a specialist, Tanner says you can’t simply look down the bench, point to a player, and expect him to be prepared right away. Instead, he tries to think a few innings ahead, letting players know when he might call upon their skills.
“I try to keep them abreast of what I’m thinking throughout the game so there are no surprises,” Tanner says. “I’ve got some older guys on the bench who I’ve called on often enough that they understand and look for those situations themselves. I’ll see them starting to stretch or warm up before I even call on them.”
Tanner also keeps his role players ready by involving them in his coaching process. While contemplating upcoming moves, he starts a dialogue with the players he’s considering putting in the game.
“If I have two left-handed hitters due up fourth and fifth in an inning during a close game, and the other team has its bullpen cranking, I’ll start to talk with my pinch hitters about the possibilities,” Tanner says. “If they have a righty and a lefty going, I’ll tell my right-handed pinch hitter that I’m probably going to call on him if they go to the lefty for that four and five spot. I always try to give him a heads-up so he has time to prepare.
“It’s the same with a pinch runner,” Tanner adds. “At the start of an inning I’ll tell the pinch runner that if a certain batter reaches base, he’s going to run for him. I’ll say, ‘When you get on base, you’ve got the green light—steal on the second pitch.’ It should never be a cold call to your role players. You should try to anticipate when to use them as much as you can.”
Freeman says while playing time is the best way to forge role players’ skills and confidence, it’s not always possible to give them as much as they need. So at Rutgers, the team does the next best thing—re-creating game situations as closely as possible in practice.
“While nothing can take the place of an actual game and there’s no substitute for when your heart is racing and the fans are in the stands, we try to simulate as much as we can,” Freeman explains. “During our bullpen sessions, we’ll have them work on things like getting ahead with the first pitch in an at-bat, what they would do facing a righty or a lefty, set-ups, and put-aways. We script all of our bullpen sessions so they know what pitches they’re going to throw. We tell them to visualize the mental imagery of a given situation. That way, when they do face a situation where they need to throw a good 0-2 pitch, they can think, ‘I’ve practiced this so many times. I’ve been here before.’”
Working For Chemistry
Looking back on his 39 years of coaching, Holowaty has been at the helm of some powerful and talent-filled rosters. But his teams that went the deepest weren’t the ones chock full of all-conference superstars—they were successful thanks to those players who were willing to fill the under-the-radar roles. That’s the atmosphere he tries to create each year: a group of players who would just as soon lay down a perfect sacrifice bunt as hit a home run.
“I’ve been around a long time and won four national championships,” Holowaty says. “Our best teams, talent-wise, never won the World Series, but some of our weaker teams did simply because all the kids accepted their roles.”
Tanner has a favorite saying with his players: “You play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.” And while he knows it’s important for all players to put team success ahead of personal achievement, he’s found that his words don’t go nearly as far toward fostering team chemistry as the examples set by good role players.
“That attitude permeates throughout the team, and when a player is a little too focused on himself or his accomplishments, he’s almost embarrassed when he looks around and sees how unselfish the other players are,” Tanner says. “Our role players are the consummate team-first guys, and that’s infectious.”
