- 2022 Spotlight
Personal Statement
At my coach’s recommendation, I have been playing baseball with high school kids since 7th grade. I have done travel trips with Gamers to Arizona and California over the past few years. I am interested in recruitment and in playing baseball full-time.
Here are three letters from my coach Jamar Hill:
Shane Stephan 2022 Spring Break Player Evaluation:
Thanks for allowing Shane to participate in our 2022 Spring Break Event. Below is an evaluation of Shane as a player based on his performance during the event:
Batting – Shane has a great batting approach. He has simple actions that allow him to produce consistent line drive contact. Over the past couple of years, Shane has developed the habit of rushing his swing which results in him starting to run before he’s contacted the ball. This habit is making it difficult for Shane to drive the ball to the deeper parts of the park. Shane will get more impactful hits in games as he relearns to stay in his legs during the swing until the swing is completed
Pitching – Shane is a competitive player and has been a very reliable pitcher for us over the years. I would like to see him improve his pitch count over the next year so that we can rely on him to throw more innings for us in the future.
Like batting, Shane has not learned to load into his legs (coil) while throwing. I suspect that Shane will experience less arm pain as well as a throwing velocity spike, once he is able to consistently accomplish this skill.
Fielding – Shane is a very valuable and versatile defender. He does a great job for us in the middle infield as well as in the outfield. He is a very situationally aware player, which offers us as coaches, the opportunity to offer him increasing responsibility as a player. I believe that football is directing him to play with added physicality. I’m excited to see how he is able to add this to his game in baseball.
Base running- Shane is very quick! I consider him to have above average speed. At the same time, he has a somewhat cautious temperament. I believe that Shane has the speed to be a very impactful player if he can learn to play more aggressively on the base paths.
Summary – Shane has all of the tools to be a very impactful player that is worthy of opportunities to play past high school. To do so, he is going to need to polish a few of his skills and commit to a higher level of discipline to the sport if he wishes to make this a reality.
Thanks again for allowing Shane to participate on our spring break trip. Good luck in your upcoming season. I’d love to come to a game if you can think of inviting me.
Respectfully
Jamar Hill
Gamers Baseball Alaska
www.gamersalaska.com
(907)231-5056
July 31, 2019
Thank you for allowing your player to participate on our 14U USA Baseball National Team Championships travel team. I was very pleased with the talent level of this team and look forward to seeing this team develop. Below is an evaluation of your player based on what I was able to gather from the event.
Shane Stephan- I really enjoy the experience of getting to coach Shane. Shane has a lot of intangible skills that add to our baseball teams. Shane is an excellent communicator and is very social. In addition, he has a strong desire to be a part of well performed baseball games. This really helps as a coach because players like this set the precedence of an expectation to work hard and give a good effort amongst the players. He has the highest baseball IQ of any player that I coach in this age group...
I have witnessed a small fear of failure in Shane. This is to be expect as he sincerely wants to perform well. This shows up in close games defensively, and when hitting deep in counts. Shane is still able to function with this type of pressure, but he tends to miss opportunities due to being overly cautious when he doesn’t need to be.
Defense
Shane is a strong defender. He is a fast runner with great footwork combined with a strong arm. Shane really invests a slot of energy in anticipating how situations are going to unfold and this serves as a strength with him defensively. We talked at length about defense during the trip. My evaluation was that I would like to see Shane keep his body in taller positions to allow him to be more mobile. Shane’s greatest tool as a defender is his feet. He needs to stay taller like a tennis player or boxer to be able to move his frame to the optimal position to receive a batted ball.
Hitting
Shane has a great swing. It is very compact and very repeatable. Shane, at times, appears to be swinging to avoid striking out more so than swinging proactively to drive the ball and influence the game. This results in him changing him posture and hand position during at-bats. Shane has his best leverage and approach when he stays tall and keeps his hands up. He will need to mature emotionally to not allow the changing of the count or situation to move him off of his strongest athletic positions.
I hope you find this feedback helpful! Thanks again for allowing Shane to participate in our summer travel event. I hope that you can share this information with Shane for him to apply it to his personal training regiment. I look forward to continuing to work with Shane during future training a travel events.
Respectfully,
Jamar Hill
Gamers Baseball Alaska
President/Owner/Instructor
www.gamersalaska.com
[email protected]
(907)231-5056
October 2018:
Shane
Thanks for participating in our Freshman Travel Event. Shane was a great addition to our ball club. Below is a brief subjective evaluation based on having the opportunity to coach him during the tournament:
Strengths- Shane, as always was a really instinctive player. He did a great job of playing shortstop and showed a lot of maturity in managing his emotions while being challenged against older players.
What needs work
Hitting- Shane has a great hitting approach and an innate ability to put the bat on the ball. He struggled a bit with his timing. He seemed to swing at the pitches that he wished to swing at, but he was consistently late on balls as well. This could also be part of adjusting to swinging a wood bat.
Fielding- Shane did a great job at the shortstop position for us. He should continue to get better, especially with increased footwork and arm strength.
Throwing- Shane has a good throwing action for his skill set. He does a great job pitching. His arm will get stronger with added flexibility and balance.
Overview
Shane has a really high baseball IQ and I expect him to develop into an exceptional player. His hitting pitching and fielding will improve with added strength. His biggest area for potential improvement will be base running. I would love to have Shane as our shortstop at this same event next year.
Again, thank you for allowing Shane to participate on our travel team. I look forward to continuing to help him improve over the winter months. Feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions.
Jamar Hill
(907)231-5056
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Jamar Hill
Gamers Baseball Alaska
President/Owner/Instructor
www.gamersalaska.com
[email protected]
(907)231-5056
