Seven Innings: Caesar Alvarez OC Batbusters 16U
Caesar Alvarez always has his OC Batbusters 16U team ready to compete on the field. Coach Alvarez’s team had a top 20 finish last summer at the PGF Nationals. They went 4-1 at the PGF Thanksgiving Showcase this Fall and looked sharp doing so. This Batbusters team is a real threat to compete for a PGF national title this summer with balance up and down the line-up. Coach Alvarez will have his team ready for their trip to the IDT in Colorado this summer. Key Players include pitcher Dani Alvarez (Providence), shortstop Lauren Nunez (Providence) and Amanda Valle (Uncommitted).
Coach Alvarez recently had a conversation with FPN’s Brandon Pannell.
Brandon Pannell: What made you decide to go into coaching?
Caesar Alvarez: What made me go into coaching was I hated daddy ball, I helped on a team that was run by a major daddy ball club and I swore I would never run a team like that plus being a player myself I felt I had a lot to offer.
Brandon Pannell: What is your coaching philosophy?
Caesar Alvarez: My coaching philosophy is simple, be loyal to your players and every time you step on the field give them the best version of yourself and demand the very same out of them!
Brandon Pannell: How important is winning?
Caesar Alvarez: Winning is important but not so much that it defines us as a team, at the end of the day it’s still a game and I don’t want my ladies ever forgetting that. We play ball hard with no regrets that’s why we train. We take no pitches off and we make no excuses win or lose we don’t hang our heads give it all we have till the last pitch.
Brandon Pannell: What would you say your strengths and weaknesses are as a coach?
Caesar Alvarez: My strength is, I play the same game my girls play except it’s against men and my weakness is, I play the same game my girls play…. I sometimes think like a player and not like a coach but that’s why I have two other coaches that help keep me grounded.
Brandon Pannell: What role do assistant coaches have on your team? Do you consider yourself a micro or macro manager?
Caesar Alvarez: I would say macro there are three of us and we all have specific roles on the team according to our strengths. I don’t overstep my boundaries and I don’t make any decision without consulting my coaches first, the biggest thing on our staff is accountability….We own our decisions both as a coaching staff and as players.
Brandon Pannell: Who are your role models in coaching and why?
Caesar Alvarez: I have three, my old football coach I admired the way he motivated us I still use a quote from him to this day to my girls I have no idea if that was his quote or not but it goes, “The difference between a good player and a great player is heart, today on the field decide which one of those players you want to be”. The other is a man named Joe Salcido (Papa Joe) he was a men’s fastpitch pitcher for 45 years, he competed at various levels and he was also the man that taught my daughter and I how to pitch, the stuff he could do with a ball was amazing. The last is Mike White of the Oregon Ducks I got a chance to meet him a while back when I was throwing live at our Batbusters organizational camp. Great coach a ton of knowledge he has a way of simplifying pitching mechanics and breaks it down very well. A technique that I use to work with my own pitchers not to mention the man knows the game well, after all, he was a men’s USA national pitcher!
Brandon Pannell: What is your philosophy on Strength and Conditioning in your program?
Caesar Alvarez: My philosophy is to build bigger stronger faster athletes period! That is why all of my players have to participate in EM strength and conditioning a minimum of 2 days a week. It is included in our organizational dues so I just make sure they are participating. EM has some of the best trainers and programs available, it helps keep them strong, fit and cuts down on injuries.
Brandon Pannell: How do you score runs in softball? Offensive philosophy?
Caesar Alvarez: You’ve got to hit and be able to put players on base and once they get on base you have got to be aggressive at running the bases. Sounds simple right? The truth is my team spends a lot of time hitting live we don’t use pitching machines. We either front toss if we are working on something but mostly, I along with other male pitchers throw live to the girls. There is no woman that my players will face that spin the ball as hard as us or throw as hard as us at least not until they get to the college level and even then it’s just a handful of pitchers. It’s definitely an advantage for my girls to see live pitching. As for base running we play a lot of games and unless they are tournaments we treat them as scrimmages and RUN a lot but we also get thrown out a lot, but that’s how we progress you can’t do it when it counts if you never practice it when it doesn’t.
Brandon Pannell: Defensive/pitching philosophy? What is it?
Caesar Alvarez: MAKE ROUTINE PLAYS… I can’t stress that enough fundamental softball that’s what we practice a lot of, lots of ground balls lots of fly balls, lots of glove work and we reinforce mechanics from fielding to throwing. I truly buy into the three BBB’s of baseball (Ball, base, Backup) everybody is doing something every pitch it keeps the game simple.
Pitching philosophy…..I tell my pitchers to relax and remember what the most important pitch is, “the next one”!!! a loose arm wins games so I try and calm my pitchers as much as possible we spin the ball a lot because that’s what we work on. I will take spin over speed any day of the week.
