Coach Canavan

Head Baseball Coach
De Smet Jesuit HS

[Hoop Herald @TheHoopHerald]

“I’ve never been into Stars…the evaluation is important. You find the guy who’s got the right stuff, good habits, & wants to be great—you develop them.” - Curt Cignetti

It’s not about your ranking, it’s about production

(Via @CoachDanCasey 🎥)

[Dr. Jim Afremow @goldmedalmind]

“We’re down” is a situation. “We’re done” is a decision.

Thursday night, the Brewers erased a 4–0 deficit to beat the Dodgers and reach the World Series. They trailed in all four games. They won all four.

The mental game is knowing the difference between what’s happening and what you’ve decided it means.

[Ben Verlander @BenVerlander]

The Brewers are the ultimate OUTLIER

When I was diving in on the game and pitching matchup yesterday I found this. This is a statistic of the average degree of the barrel of the bat at contact point for each team.

Everything to the left is pull side contact point. Everything to the right is opposite field contact point.

29 of the 30 teams are to the pull side.

There’s just one to the opposite field. The Milwaukee Brewers.

This is wild to me. And speaks volumes to their team approach. It means the ball is traveling deeper which has a ripple effect on everything else you’re trying to do as a hitter.

It allows you to recognize off speed for a split second longer. Spit on pitches down and away. Keep pitches fair that you’re normally pulling foul. Foul line to foul line approach.

The team with the best record in all of baseball is the ONLY team doing something. And they’re not even particularly close to any other teams. That’s pretty eye opening.

Also shoutout Twins. Turn and burn, baby.

[Prep Baseball Scouting @pbtscouting]

‘29 | OF | Gus Wortham (@GusWortham32, @stllpa)

Ropes this one into LF for a base-hit❗️

90 off the bat, lean frame with room to add

@PB_Malzahn | @prepbaseballmo |#STLShowcaseSeries

[Parkway Central Baseball @PCColtsBaseball]

RIP - Sig #18

[Trey Hannam @TJHannam10]

Most hitters spend all their time on the swing. 🔽

Elite hitters spend more of it on everything around the swing

Here's how to start on each one this week:

Before you hit, check your stance and load in a mirror or on video.

If those are off, the swing will be too.

Pick one pitch, one zone or target on the field before every at-bat.

Give every round in the cage a purpose. Fastball timing, driving the ball the other way, two-strike approach. Pick one.

On days you feel off, simplify.
Find readiness and control, hunt the fastball, compete with what you've got.

After every game, write down one thing you learned. Then close the notebook. Tomorrow starts fresh.

Pick one and own it this week. Then another the next week, then again. After 5 weeks you should have all 5 of these traits.

Send this to a hitter who needs it.

[Augie Nash @AugieNash]

#OTD 1999 - Willie McGee is removed from his final Major League game and receives a thunderous ovation from the sold out crowd at Busch Stadium.

#STLCards

[Coach Canavan @CoachC_STL]

@jeremykohler Lol I don’t think I said it quite like that 😂

[Coach Canavan @CoachC_STL]

10 year reunion of the state champs. Great to see so many old friends.

[Diego @DeegsBaseball]

1B Drew Burns (DeSmet, 2028; @NickHerrinsAs) on the barrel for a loud single to CF, 101 mph EV.

#SCFall

@DrewBurns687706 | @ScoutConnectBB

[Joel Krato @coachkrato]

Looking for some new high school baseball coaches to come on The Coaches Roundtable Podcast!

If you or someone you know would be interested, send me a DM!

[Diego @DeegsBaseball]

RHP Damien Hinze (DeSmet, 2027; @NickHerrinsAs) pitching at 82-85 mph in a start this AM.

Uncommitted arm that also spun low-70s BB & mid-70s CH.

Throwing at the SC Fall Games on Tuesday at SIUE.

#SCFall | @ScoutConnectBB

[Perfect Game Midwest Baseball @PGMidwestBB]

Reece Merriweather ('28)
Lucas Ross ('28)
Mason Sykora ('28)
Matt Eshelman ('29)

Stellar performances landed each of them on the 2026 PG Missouri High School All- State GamesTop Prospect List. Check out their great performance below. 🔥🔥

See the full Top Prospect List here.
https://t.co/1QBMvwwtio

[Evan Furfaro @evanfurfaro]

Another swing from C/1B Patrick McClure (De Smet, 2029), a 2B to LCF (93 EV).

Showing easy juice to the pull side today for @stlredbirdsbase.

#SCFall | @ScoutConnectBB

[Tamar Sher @tamar_sher]

Loyalty.

That's the word @DeSmetJesuitHS alum Tony Vitello used to describe his high school community and St. Louis in general.

It's De Smet night at the ballpark for game two between the #SFGiants and #stlcards.

@KMOV | @MatrixMidwest

[Prep Baseball Scouting @pbtscouting]

‘29 | RHP/C/1B | Patrick McClure | DeSmet (MO)

Impressive day at the plate on Championship Sunday. Single smoked to RF and a pair of doubles 🔥🔥🔥

@PrepBaseballMO @PBTSTL @DeSmet_Baseball @stlredbirdsbase
#STLFallOpen

[Jim Koenigsberger @Jimfrombaseball]

A letter from Ted Williams.
From:
Ted Williams.
Washington Senators, Manager.
A four-page letter defining his theories on hitting, sent to Jay Johnstone, outfielder, California Angels, during the winter of 1968-69, in reply to a letter of request for advice on hitting.
"Dear Jay:
There are a few things I think are all-important to anyone, no matter how much ability a fellow has, no matter what style he has, and without ever seeing you, I know this is good solid advice.
It is impossible for me to say anything about your swing or how I might help you in this respect, so I am just going to outline what I consider most important in improving anybody's hitting.
When I was a young fellow, back in 1938, I had the great privilege of being acquainted with the greatest right-handed hitter of all times, Rogers Hornsby.
He was the only outstanding hitter whom I ever asked:
"What do I have to do to be a good hitter?" Rogers Hornsby said, and after playing professional ball for 25 years myself, I agreed:
With all the natural ability and talent in the world, it is impossible to be a really good hitter WITHOUT GETTING A BALL TO HIT!!!
Now, what does that mean?
It means a ball that is not in a tough area for you.
It means a ball you are not fooled on, and, of course, I mean this applies only up to two strikes.
With two strikes, you simply have to protect the plate.
I get a little impatient watching the good hitters today -- fellows with great ability -- who are not as good as they should be simply because they won't wait for the good pitch to hit.
I've been asked how often I got the ball I was looking for.
I would say that it was a good 70 percent of the time.
Certainly, you can't improve without practising the things you know you are weakest in, and the best place to correct them is during batting practice --CONCENTRATED BATTING PRACTICE:
NOT just swinging from your ass.
You should analyze what you are doing with every pitch.
If you find that you pop up the high pitch, then your thought on the next pitch should be:
"I have to be quicker," because, as a rule, when you pop up a pitch, your bat has been slow.
So you say:
"I have to be quicker," and you also have to think about hitting down on the ball.
No matter what type of pitch it is, if you haven't hit it solidly, you should immediately think of the correction you have to make.
Whenever I went into a slump, I went back to fundamentals.
Wait on the ball, be quick, use a light bat and choke up.
I'm an advocate of the light bat, and I'm sure that of all of the home runs I hit, at least half of them came when I was choking up slightly.
Just one more thing.
Do not try to pull the ball.
If you have figured the pitch properly, you are going to get enough pitches that it should be just like batting practice.
I'm sure you pull a reasonable amount of balls in practice, so you should never make an effort to do it.
It should come naturally.
The point is that anybody is a better hitter when he is not pulling the ball.
Take an imaginary swing as if you were trying to pull.
You can see that the angle decreases your hitting zone.
It becomes a more critical way of meeting the ball solidly.
I certainly wish you a lot of luck and I am glad to know that Jimmy Piersall has been helping you."
Sincerely
Ted Williams.

[Ryan Ripken @ryanripkenshow]

Everything was done for a reason with Eddie Murray, even the way he approached batting practice before games.

Pretty easy to celebrate Eddie and all he accomplished.

[Gateway Sports Venue @GSV_Acct]

SOPHOMORE TIMMY RECKER DRILLS A 41-YARDER TO WIN IT AS TIME EXPIRES FOR DE SMET
FINAL
CR 48
DE SMET 49