Since 2006, D1D Founder, Mark Helsel has had the pleasure of coaching many great players. In his own words, Coach Mark shares his own personal stories of coaching these amazing young men…..click on their name to read Mark's recount of coaching them.
When I think about Cole Young as a young player I think about a smaller athletic kid who was very quiet and extremely polite. Despite his obvious talent, he was also very humble. His hand eye coordination was exceptional. I used to routinely embarrass him by inviting the whole team to gather around when I threw BP to Cole. I wanted to point out to everyone how he could manipulate the barrel and hit the ball wherever he wanted to hit it. Even as a 12U player he could hit the ball equally well to all fields. He also rarely mis hit balls. He had an uncanny knack for getting the barrel of the bat on the ball. Cole was a hard working kid who never rested on his laurels. He just kept getting better and better and eventually became a first round pick in the 2022 MLB.
We always say, “you never know who’s watching”. Well, such is the story of Danny Lloyd. I was coaching one of our teams at the 15U WWBA in GA one year and we were playing a team from SC. I saw there starting pitcher warming up before the game and immediately noticed his loose easy arm action. After he sat us down in order in the first inning, I told my team, we’re gonna have trouble with this guy today. I was right. He dominated us. His name was Danny Lloyd. Throughout the game I just watched this kid go about his business in workmanlike fashion. After the game I had to tell him how impressed I was with him. I told him if he ever needed any help with recruiting to reach out to me. Two weeks later he did and I invited him to pitch for us in the PG World Series. I threw him against the number one team in the country and he shut them down. What I hadn’t told him was I invited a bunch of guys to come watch him pitch that day. Shortly after the game Clemson and South Carolina both offered him and he committed to South Carolina and had a great career there.
There are some players you never forget the first time you saw them play. Such is the case with Travis Blankenhorn. I was coaching a 13U team and we made it to the championship and were matched up against this team of studs, lead by, you guessed it, Travis Blankenhorn. This kid was big, fast and very athletic. He had a sweet lefty swing and he crushed us that day. He hit lasers all over the place and they beat us 12-0. Amazingly, their coach, the late, great Charlie Fritz, came over to our dugout after the game and complimented us and asked if his team could join our organization. I was speechless. They had just beat us 12-0 and they wanted to join us? I gladly accepted and by a stroke of luck, we got Travis Blankenhorn and a bunch of other great players from that team. Travis continued to improve and was a 3rd round pick out of high school. He passed up a scholarship to Kentucky and has had an amazing career, including playing in the show for the Twins and the Mets.
Chad was a local kid from Bellwood, PA. He recently told me that me pushing him hard as a youngster and telling him he was not strong enough or athletic enough really motivated him. Well, he said it a little differently. Regardless, some players need to be encouraged, but pushed a little to bring out their true talents. Chad was one of those kids. I could see the talent and work ethic at a very early age. He eventually got drafted out of high school, but opted to go to Nebraska instead of pro ball. He proceeded to win Big Ten Freshman of the Year and have a solid college career. Chad was one of the smartest kids I have ever coached and not surprisingly he is an engineer working on nuclear submarines. He was a kid I just knew would be successful at whatever he did.
Well, I kinda know this kid. He is my oldest son. Coaching him since he was 6 years old will always be one of my life’s greatest joys. He was a very easy kid to coach. He was a quiet kid, but nobody wanted to help his team win more than this kid. He was a gamer in every sense of the word. He took pride after every game of having the dirtiest uniform. That even started a team competition of our players getting dirty. At 12 years old Christian knew what he wanted. He told me he wanted to play in the SEC. So, we put a plan together and he learned early in life the difference between a dream and a goal. I helped with the plan and he did all the heavy lifting. When he was a sophomore in high school he committed to Ole Miss. As a freshman he started in 30 games at Ole Miss before an injury derailed his career there. He transferred to Penn State and helped build that program. After graduating from Penn State, Christian played two years of professional baseball in the United States Professional Baseball League in Michigan.
I was coaching a team in Jupiter, FL at the PG World Championships. While there I got a call from a dad in Miami who told me he had a very talented 13U son and asked if I would give him a tryout. Of course I said yes, so Sal Stewart, Sr. drove up to Jupiter from Miami and brought Jr. to the cage where I was throwing BP to our team. I gave him a workout by throwing BP to him and rolling him some ground balls. All I could think about was Manny Machado. He reminded me so much of a young Manny. Well, I invited Sal to play for our team, even though he lived in Miami and our team was from the northeast. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart were unbelievable and somehow they got him to all of our tournaments. To this day, they are some of the most committed parents I have ever met. Well, their efforts paid off. Sal Jr. was drafted in the first round of the 2022 MLB draft.
I’m not sure if there is a thing in travel baseball called a “franchise player” but if there is, Troy LaNeve is our franchise player. He had two older brothers come through our program so he was ready to go by the time he was 10 years old. I literally watched this kid grow up in our program. He was the consummate player in every sense of the word. He was a great player, a great leader and a great teammate. He was a winner both on and off the field. He was also a tireless worker and like Michael Jordan, he made everyone else around him a better player. By the time Troy was in 9th grade it was very obvious that he was destined to play at a very high level. I’ll never forget the night he called me crying on the phone telling me he had just committed to Vanderbilt. Wow, I still get chills thinking about it. That was Troy’s dream school and he made the most of it. His career as a Vandy boy was riddled with injuries, but even so, he managed to have a stellar career there and certainly one the respect of Vandy head coach, Tim Corbin.
You don’t hear too many people described as tenacious. Webster’s dictionary defines tenacious as persisting in existence; not easily dispelled or denied. But, that is exactly how I would describe Mason Ronan. I first saw Mason pitch as an athletic looking 14U kid. I immediately noticed his effortless delivery and loose easy arm action. The ball just came out of his hand perfectly. Well, except for one little detail. Most of the time, nobody, including Mason, had any idea where the ball was going. To say he struggled with control would be a slight understatement. I might even go as far as saying I have never seen a pitcher struggle with command as much as Mason did. Yet, he was undeterred. He kept on persisting, eventually earning a scholarship to Pitt. But, his struggles continued there, as well. So, he did what Mason does. He persisted on, eventually signing a professional contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Because Mason has a bulldog personality, and defies all the odds, I know he will be successful in anything he does.
Here’s another kid I know pretty well. Zack is my youngest son. My wife and I call him wacky zacky. He’s the most fun loving, funny kid I’ve ever been around. Unlike his older brother, Christian, Zack had no idea what he wanted to do. He didn’t even know if he wanted to play college baseball. But, by the time he was a junior we could all see his natural talent starting to emerge. He was a late bloomer. But, he had a nasty side arm delivery that hitters did not like. Liberty University saw him pitch and offered him a scholarship. But, like Mason Ronan, Zack also struggled with command and after two years at Liberty, he transferred to Miami Dade Junior College where he made a huge jump in command and velocity. About that time UCF saw him and offered him a scholarship. He got his velo up to 92 from a low ¾ before an arm injury basically ended his career. Like the trooper he is, he handled the adversity well and quickly flipped the page and set new goals. His star continued to rise after college and is now a very well known social media influencer and entrepreneur.
To this day, the talk I had with JJ and his parents as a 14U player will always go down as one of the most memorable talks I have ever had with a player and his family. I routinely sit down after the season and go over what I refer to as “the good, the bad and the ugly”. Its a time where I like to be really honest with players and let them know what I think is holding them back. Well, that day, I held nothing back. I told JJ I thought he was a “one tool’ player. I told him his bat was exceptional, but asked him what else he could do that was exceptional. Well, JJ took the bait. He got to work that off season and by the next season JJ was looking like a different player. He ended up winning the triple crown in the WPIAL and got drafted out of high school. He passed up pro ball to play for Arizona, where he lead them to the college world series. JJ was then selected in the 3rd round of the MLB draft and made it to the show with the Houston Astros. Every once in a while JJ’s dad, Joe, will give me a call and we still laugh about that historic meeting we had when JJ was 14.
I’ve coached lots of great athletes over the years and Kyle Datres is definitely in the top 10. He was a high school super star in three sports. Many times I have to encourage players to give up a sport, or two, in order for them to reach their goal of playing D1 Baseball. But, not Kyle. There was no way he was giving up his other sports, and to his credit, he didn’t need to. He was simply that good in three sports. UNC could clearly see the type of athlete and leader he was and offered him a scholarship. Kyle showed up in Chapel Hill ready to go and had an amazing career as a Tar Heel. Always a fan favorite because of how hard he plays, Kyle also got the opportunity to play professional baseball after college.
I’ve coached a ton of players who were just gifted athletes and their athleticism carried them a long way. I can honestly say, however, that I have never coached an athlete who got more out of his ability than Logan Mathieu. At 13U Logan was a big kid. He had austin slaughters disease, which caused him a lot of pain. To say Logan was not very mobile and not very fast would be an understatement. But, God blessed him with a sweet lefty stroke and serious power and pop in his bat. I’ve never seen a more obvious case of a huge talent and huge detriment in one player. Logan had a lot to overcome, and that’s exactly what he did. He got people around him that helped him develop his athleticism. He lost a ton of weight and packed on the muscle. You could say that Logan “morphed” his body, and his career. Liberty University saw that big lefty bat and envisioned bombs over their caboose in right field. And, guess what they got? Yep, bombs over the caboose in right field. Logan had a stellar career for LU and proved to a lot of doubters that hard work pays off.
Ever met a kid who is “wise beyond his years”? Ever known someone people call an “old soul”. Yep, Connor Larkin is that kid. He was super smart, super mature and super articulate….at 13 years old. He was the kind of kid you just liked the first time you met him. He had incredibly supportive parents so I kinda knew how it was gonna go. The great thing about Connor’s story is that he was undersized and a late bloomer. He played with some kids early on who were more physically advanced than he was at an early age. So, if you know of a kid like that, read on.
Connor had a live arm. That was easy to see. He was an athletic kid with a great work ethic and a competitor’s mentality. So, when I see a kid with all of that, I don’t care if he is a little behind with his growth spurt. I knew that would catch up. And, it did.
Connor accepted a scholarship offer to Penn State and put together a stellar career. So much so that the Toronto Blue Jays took him in the 9th round of the 2021 draft. When I think of Connor I just smile because he’s the kind of kid that makes everyone around him better.
Max was like having another coach on the team. Even as a 14 year old kid, his baseball IQ was off the charts. He was also extremely smart. He was another one of those kids with a 4.0 GPA and the talent on the field to play for a long time. He was a leader in our program and we just knew he would have a great career after he left us. And, he did.
UConn nabbed him and he had a fantastic career for the Huskies. Because of his natural talent and his incredible love for the game, Max got drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2015. He’s been a journeyman in the minor league system for several organizations.
In the off season, Max owns his own facility in Norwin, PA
Ryan was another one of those rare kids that the first time I saw him play I knew he was destined for greatness. The first thing I noticed about Ryan was how the ball came out of his hand. He had what I would call the perfect release. He was a catcher so every time he threw the ball back to the pitcher I could see the beautiful four seam grip and perfect backspin. When he threw down to second it was on a line, even as a 14U player.
I first saw Ryan when our team was playing against his team. I watched him compete and be a leader on his team. I felt this strong urge to meet Ryan and his parents. So, I drove to Punxsutawney, PA and had an “in house” meeting with Ryan and his parents. I simply told them that I could clearly see his talent and I wanted to help him.
Ryan played for our teams for a number of years. He was exactly as I thought he would be. He was the consummate gentleman, a classy player, a fiery competitor and a leader on every team he played on for us. He was also clutch. When we needed something big to happen, Ryan usually was in the mix.
He passed up a lot of offers out of high school to attend Penn State. There, he put together 4 solid years, and ended up getting drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Today, Ryan is giving back to the game by running his own travel program.
