mark flatten

Associate Head Baseball Coach at Arizona Christian University: Former Division 1 assistant, Major League Scout, amateur scout, MILB coach: Pseudo hockey player

[AWRE_Sports @AWRE_Sports]

🚨 INSTALL ALERT 🚨

Welcome to the #AWREFam @ACUBaseball1 🔥⚾️

Glendale, Arizona. The Firestorm are just getting started and the desert is heating up.

After five seasons playing off campus, the Firestorm finally came home in January, opening their brand new on campus field. After a historic run to the NAIA World Series in 2024, they finished among the final five teams in the country, and 8 players signed professionally in just the past two years. This program isn't building anymore. It's arriving.

AWRE's 6+ camera system is live at ACU every pitch, every swing, every moment of this next chapter captured in full on a field they can finally call home.

#LowHomeAppreciationPost @FlattenMark @EastonBabe

[Baseball IQ @BaseballIQ_App]

🚨 Team Defense + Bunting Circuit

1. Sac bunt to 1st
2. Pick/pitch reads
3. Sac bunt to 3rd
4. Scoring reads from 3rd

⭐️ Awesome way to get the whole team involved + work on skill development.

@HartnellBSB

[MLB @MLB]

Padres pitcher Mason Miller and Grogu starred in a new Star Wars promo 👀

And Mason got a little help from Grogu on a pitch 🤣

[Coach Dillingham @KennyDillingham]

“Bad leaders see smart people as threats. Good leaders see them as force multipliers. The strongest builders don’t protect their ego — they weaponize the experience around them.” #LIFERS

[Sports Spectrum @Sports_Spectrum]

After years of battling injuries, Angels star Mike Trout is finding his form again. He's also sharing about his faith.

“I put everything in the Lord’s hands. I know He’s always got a plan. I know that He’s put me in this situation for a reason." https://t.co/w05QVWfWni

[Jon Root @JonnyRoot_]

“The most important thing in my life is to share The Word, share The Gospel, live in eternity in heaven…”
- Pittsburgh Pirates & MLB’s #1 prospect Konnor Griffin

(🎥: CBNSports/IG)

[Brendan Dougherty @Brendougherty]

Infielders at the Highest Levels trust there training! They prepare during the week. They make plays in the biggest moments and games. Why? Because they practice with purpose. They play High Level Elite Catch and they make plays with athleticism and fearlessness!!

[mark flatten @FlattenMark]

Congrats Coach!!!

[Mitch Thompson @MThompy25]

@BaylorAthletics Blessed to be a Baylor Bear! Sic ‘Em!

[mark flatten @FlattenMark]

@AnaheimDucks Let’s go!!!!

[Ben Bizier @TheTruthFromBen]

I have around 20 players right now in pro baseball, from rookie ball up to majors

They’ve said, ‘Ben you should get in pro ball’

I say, ‘Have you met anyone like me in your organization?’

They say, ‘No.’

Me: ‘What do I provide that you guys don’t have?’

Daily Accountability

I would be fired from pro baseball in less than a month, I’m 100% positive of that. I am extremely unlikable on a personal level and that’s because your average person strolling society finds the truth very prickly. I present the truth in a raw way. It upsets the median because our instinct always has us seeking ‘comfort ability.’

The vast new wave of people in player development are younger non-experienced folks who are happy to have their job and one of their main goals is to keep their job.

This is why there has been such a massive shift in player development becoming cornered by the private sector. There is cache in affiliated baseball bc of the commercialization and history, but the player has complete and total control.

Yes there are good and strong leaders but they are rare and far in between. I used to pick apart my players, teams and staff when the standard fell short regardless of what area it fell in.

If you didn’t clean your locker room space - conflict
If you didn’t transition from the clubhouse to the dugout with intention - conflict
If you weren’t dressed properly - conflict
If you didn’t feed a double play by working the ball uphill - conflict
If you didn’t understand our pick system as a pitcher or catcher - conflict
If you didn’t treat service staff with respect before, during and after meals on the road - conflict

It wasn’t always nasty conflict… especially early on. ‘Hey this is how we go from the clubhouse to the dugout, baseball is a game of transitions and this is why it’s important to getting your day started properly and with focus on the field…’ if there was reoffending multiple times yea it got confrontational.

I asked my teams this at least 100 times during my career:

Do you want me to stop being like this? If you guys want me to stop being like this I will. I’ll pat you on the rear and give you a high five no matter what happens. Tell me if you want me to stop being like this.

Every single time they genuinely told me, often times in ways that strengthened our human connection to a very high degree: Ben please keep being that way

What did that tell me?

That even though I was this raging prick who never let any detail slip, they yearned for this level of accountability because they knew it was making them better

Baseball players have an internal system and that internal system has one major undying goal regardless of level

Get better!

They want this goal serviced and it can’t be serviced properly unless they have someone pointing out the areas where they are falling short (because we all do)

This is why we have the issues we have in Major League Baseball and now even college ball to a higher degree than 10 years ago. The promise we make to the player is about how we will help them reach their goals or dreams and what we will give them if they do good… but… we’re not kicking their ass enough or reigniting their flame when they fall short, they just become discarded

And that’s what happens with coaches too, especially in pro ball. Teams are hiring people who don’t have the ‘accountability’ capabilities.

The solution? I only know where to start:

If you’re reading this and you’re in a position of leadership and someone is continually falling short, go put your foot in their ass

[Randy Sullivan MPT, CSCS @RandySullivanPT]

1986 Senior year

I was hitting around .385 with 3 weeks left in the season

We're playing against Jack Leggett's Western Carolina team

They were good

1st inning, men on 2nd and 3rd, 2 outs

I hit a weak pop up to second base

I'm fuming mad as I put my catcher's gear on

Coach Port barks "@#%$ Sullivan! You lead the league in insignificant hits.!

The rest of the year, I'm fighting for every pitch to prove him wrong

Two weeks later we're playing the South Carolina Gamecocks

9th inning, tie game

I lead off the inning

As I dig in he shouts, "Come on Randy! You can do it!!"

It's the only time I can remember him saying my first name

My heart swells with pride and confidence

I hit a homer to win the game

Memory of a lifetime

Sometimes you gotta coach 'em hard

Sometimes you gotta encourage 'em

That's just good coaching

[Luke Falk @coachlukefalk]

Every training camp I had at Washington State University, Coach Leach would share the same story.
The story of two kids. The rich kid and the poor kid.

The rich kid has two choices. He can become spoiled, entitled, lazy, and expect everything to be handed to him because he has been given more. Or he can take every advantage of what he has been given—resources, coaching, opportunities—and use it to become even better.

The poor kid has two choices too. He can say, “I never had a chance. Nobody gave me anything. The world is against me.” He can feel sorry for himself and use it as an excuse. Or he can say, “I may not have what they have, but I am going to outwork everybody.” He can become tougher, more driven, and more relentless than everybody else.

It was a powerful message in a locker room full of people from different backgrounds, different families, and different life experiences. Some guys came from wealth. Some came from almost nothing. Some had every opportunity. Others had to fight for every inch.

But despite all of those differences, everybody still had the same choice.

You can take ownership and use what you have as fuel.

Or you can become victim-minded. You can look for excuses, blame your circumstances, become entitled, and convince yourself that because of what you have—or because of what you do not have—you cannot become what you want to be.

It is not about how you start. It is about what you choose to do with how you start.

The rich kid can waste what he has been given or use it to build something greater. The poor kid can use his circumstances as an excuse or as fuel.

In the end, greatness does not come from starting with more or less. It comes from which person inside of you that you choose to feed.

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[Los Angeles Angels @Angels]

60 years of calling The Big A "home" 🏟️

[Greg Berge @GregBerge]

The 10 Truths Parents Rarely See

1. Coaches lose sleep.
2. Decisions aren’t personal.
3. Playing time is complex.
4. Culture matters more than stats.
5. Accountability is care.
6. Coaches invest emotionally.
7. Development isn’t instant.
8. Hard feedback is intentional.
9. Wins don’t tell the whole story.
10. Coaches remember kids forever.

Perspective matters.

[Los Angeles Angels @Angels]

Thank you, GA ❤️

[BaseballHistoryNut @nut_history]

“Maybe Tomorrow We´ll All Wear 42, that way they won't tell us apart.” And they did wear number 42 for Jackie Robinson. Every MLB player on April the 15th of each year.

Peewee Reese told Jackie Robinson that he wanted his family to know who he was. Well, despite is diminutive nickname, Peewee Reese was a BIG man!