Steve Bieser can speak intelligently about any number of topics, but the only subject Missouri’s second-year baseball coach has trouble opening up about is Steve Bieser. It doesn’t come naturally to him to bring up the road he’s traveled — it’s one not many have taken. A native of St. Genevieve, Missouri, he went from a junior college baseball standout to the 32nd-round MLB draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies, the 818th player selected in 1989. He went from career minor leaguer to a player who finally saw action in 60 games at the major-league level primarily as a catcher and an outfielder, a height that few prospects drafted in his position reach.

As a coach, Bieser went from the high school level to an assistant and then head skipper at Southeast Missouri State. Then in June 2016, he became the 14th coach in the history of the Missouri baseball program.
He’d rather talk about something else, though. But he’s getting a little better at it.

“I’ve had (former players) tell me they never heard me once talking about my playing days,” Bieser says. “I would never share as much because I didn’t want to make it about me. I don’t really look at that as ‘Steve Bieser made it.’ I look at it as just a blessing. I was given an opportunity, and the only thing I controlled was being ready for that opportunity. I wasn’t really given anything. But I wasn’t going to quit, wasn’t going to let anybody tell me that something can’t be done. I was going to keep working hard and believe that good things happen to good people.”

As he finishes his second year leading the Tigers, Bieser continues to instill his values into the program. His outlook encompasses concepts as complicated as tracking launch angle, exit velocity and pitch recognition for Missouri’s hitters and as simple as working hard, staying humble and getting his athletes to believe they’re capable of eventually getting to the College World Series in Omaha, where the Tigers haven’t been since 1964.

But that’s getting a little too far ahead. At the beginning of the season, Bieser and his staff had more pressing matters. New pitching coach Fred Corral had to figure out the right combination of arms to replace the quality innings recorded by drafted aces Tanner Houck and Cole Bartlett. Bieser has always run his team’s offensive strategy, but he had to take on more day-to-day hitting-coach responsibilities after former assistant Dillon Lawson left to work for the World Series champion Houston Astros.

It’s no wonder then that Bieser’s desk is uncharacteristically cluttered. “Last year, when you get the job, you hit the ground running,” he says. “And it doesn’t feel like I’ve come out of a sprint yet.”

Last year, Missouri was 2-5 in one-run games in SEC play during a season in which it went 36-23 overall and 14–16 in the league. Bieser points to the series against national powerhouse Florida — three one-run losses — as an indication of how big a difference the little things can make. A couple more one-run wins could have put the Tigers in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. “We were just as good as (Florida) on the mound, but they were a little better offensively, just from execution,” Bieser says. “Not from standing in the box and driving the baseball, but they executed. As our program continues to evolve, those are the things we have to be able to do: win one-run ball games against really good clubs.”

Even though he considers himself old-school, Bieser has been quick to incorporate the wave of analytics that has swept the sport. The players are eager to know their measurables and how their games can improve, Bieser says, but he also has to be wary of giving his hitters too much to think about during at-bats. For example, if you point out how often a hitter is swinging at pitches out of the zone, he may become too cautious and start taking pitches he should be driving. “It’s what information do you share and what information do you use to help yourself manage a game?” Bieser says. “It’s really nice when your gut is the same feeling as what the numbers back up.”

It all comes back to the players believing in the plan, presented to them by a coach who has plotted out his own meticulous path to uncommon success. “This group has really bought in,” Bieser says. “It’s probably been one of the best groups I’ve ever coached as far as showing up daily with a focus and intent, getting locked in and giving it their all every single day. That’s what has been so pleasing about Year 2. And to have that so quick, that’s saying something 
about our guys.”

This weekend, the Tigers will close out their season with a series against Tennessee, with TJ Sikkema, Michael Plassmeyer and Tyler LaPlante taking the mound in their last regular-season starts. To qualify for the SEC Tournament and strengthen their resumé for the NCAA Tournament, they’ll need to show up.

Photos courtesy of Mizzou Athletics

The post A Whole New Game appeared first on ZOUNation Magazine.

Gene McArtor has a dark secret about the sport he has carried with him since childhood.

“I have to admit: I grew up a Philadelphia Phillies fan.” Let that set in. The Webster Groves, Missouri, native who left an indelible mark on Mizzou baseball as a player, coach and administrator, did not bleed Cardinal red. “I got caught up with the Whiz Kids when I was growing up in the 1950s. Those were the prime days of players — Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn and Johnny Callison.”

If it’s any solace, the Cardinals were always a close second, but something that was never doubted: Gene McArtor is by definition ‘Missouri Made’. Baseball fans in St. Louis and across the state undoubtedly forgave McArtor for his youthful indiscretions when he helped lead the Tigers to two College World Series under legendary Coach John “Hi” Simmons, and they continued their adoration when he posted 733 career victories as the head baseball coach at Mizzou. The Missouri-made man continues to call Columbia home.

Field of Dreams

When a St. Louis kid in the 1950s said he played ball, it could mean just one sport. Baseball was king,  McArtor was a first baseman, and the area was not short on top-notch competition. One such fierce competitor was Cardinals legend and broadcaster Mike Shannon.

“American Legion baseball programs, both in North and South County, were very strong at that time; We were always competitive,” McArtor says. Yogi Berra played for Post 245 in St. Louis. Albert Pujols wore a St. Louis Post 340 Legion uniform. And McArtor’s post team advanced to the national American Legion tournament.

From his Legion roots, Division I college baseball became a draw, but despite being so closely associated with Missouri, McArtor began his college career at the University of Cincinnati because of an appreciation for its co-op engineering program.

“I looked at those rows and rows of desks and realized being indoors all the time was a long way from my first love.”

That love: baseball.

“I still say I have never been chewed out or cussed out by anyone as much as him over the years,” he says, laughing. “But that was part of the expectation. We were part of a program that was capable of winning the Big Eight Championship and, in any particular year, of going to the College World Series to compete for a national championship.”

The teams on which McArtor played won the conference title from 1962 through 1964 and played in the College World Series twice. Major League Baseball had no draft at the time, and although McArtor had a few opportunities to play in the minor leagues, his future, as he always understood, was in teaching and coaching. His big break would come from his alma mater.

“When I first got out of school, I taught and coached in the St. Louis area for seven years before coming back to Missouri. Dan Devine was part of the process. I really wanted to come back and get my Ph.D., but I didn’t have coaching out of my system. So I talked with Coach Devine, and he said, “Come on, we’ll make you a graduate assistant and find something for you to do.”

Taking the Reins

That something turned out to be an assistant baseball coaching position in 1969. Five years later, in 1974, Simmons retired during a time of significant change in college baseball, including the introduction of aluminum bats, the designated hitter and … polyester uniforms.

“Of course, Coach Simmons told me on numerous occasions that neither the aluminum bat nor those kinds of uniforms had any place in baseball,” he says. Those changes also meant McArtor would replace his mentor as the leader of the team, a double-edged sword as he recalls.

“At one point, we’d just had a terrible double-header against Oklahoma and been spanked twice. He called up and said, ‘Mac, tough one today. I’d like to relate a little problem to you’. Boy, was I all ears. I was going to get some advice from the master to get me out of my doldrums. And he said, ‘You ain’t got any pitching.’ I said, ‘I know that, Coach. I need somebody to tell me what to do about it’. ”

McArtor figured it out soon enough and compiled a career record of 733-430-3, which topped Simmons’ mark for career victories. He sent a number of players to the Major Leagues, including Phil Bradley, Dave Otto and Dave Silvestri. McArtor won league championships in 1976 and 1980, led six teams to the NCAA tournament, coached 13 All-Americans and 41 All-Big Eight players.

“Coach McArtor was one of the deciding factors for me coming to the university because he allowed me to play baseball,” says Phil Bradley. The two-sport player was one of best to play for McArtor, starting for the Tigers from 1979-81. “I was a football guy when I got there, not part of the baseball program. During my first spring, he told me I was good enough to play but that it wouldn’t be fair to the other guys, because I had been with the team only for two months.” Much to the benefit of McArtor, the program, and Bradley’s future Major League Baseball career, he made it on the field the following season.

While they racked up wins, Oklahoma became the who’s who — Missouri’s biggest foe. They were conference champions and often winning with players who came from Missouri. “We knew that for us to be competitive in the league, Oklahoma was the team we would have to catch up with. They were always the target,” McArtor says. “I don’t want to dismiss the visceral rivalry with KU, but from a purely baseball standpoint, they were not the program we were trying to beat.”

The Tigers fell just short of playing on a national stage with two teams, McArtor believes, that were capable of playing in the College World Series. One of those teams — in 1980 — was in position to win the regional against California. But gravity had other plans. In the 14th inning, McArtor says, one player fell down running the bases. “It cost us the win.”

McArtor retired from coaching after the 1994 season. And not too soon after someone asked him to list his 10 most memorable baseball games as a coach — he hated to lose as much as he enjoyed winning. “When I got to seven or eight, I realized that every one of them was a loss. They have a way of sticking with you.”

Like the memorable games that are hard to shake, so too was the university. McArtor soon found that Mizzou, like the Hotel California, allows for “check out anytime you want, but you can never leave.” Athletic directors Joe Castiglione and Mike Alden welcomed his managerial skills in the athletic department. He retired from the university twice — in 2003 and 2008 — and soon took another position working with umpires for the NCAA.

Throughout his career, McArtor helped steer college baseball through a period of rapid growth and change, serving as president of the American Baseball Coaches Association and chairman of the NCAA Baseball Committee at the same time. “At one time, the coaches were upset at the NCAA about something — I don’t remember what — and wanted to notify the NCAA. I wrote the letter, signed it and sent it to myself.”

His impact grew from the field. “I was a clone of Coach McArtor,” Bradley says about his career in coaching. “I found that I believed in doing and teaching the same things as he did. The best thing I can say about him is that he was always straightforward and truthful with me from the day we met.”

Photos: Travis Smith

The post Gene McArtor Defines ‘Missouri Made’ appeared first on ZOUNation Magazine.

Major League Decision

Is Tanner Houck the next Max Scherzer?

Tanner Houck peered from behind the steel bars of his catcher’s mask and held out a mitt twice the size of his hand. The 2-year-old stood in the front yard of their Collinsville, Illinois home.

He was ready.

His mother, Jennifer, would toss her son a tennis ball,and Houck still remembers how, even then, the feeling of the ball in his mitt gave him a sense of peace, that everything was where it was supposed to be. The moment would pass, and he’d throw the ball back, hold out his mitt and adjust the mask. Ready, once again.

As he grew older, Houck’s coaches taught the budding pitcher how to visualize success. When he closed his eyes, he would picture the ball landing perfectly in the corner of the strike zone. He would see himself standing on the mound at Busch Stadium — home to his beloved St. Louis Cardinals — winding up and throwing strikes as fans erupted into cheers.

“There’s no one moment in my head that sticks out as the time I knew I wanted to play baseball as my career,” Houck says. Watching Major League baseball religiously, he found role models in the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright, the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, now of the Red Sox, and the hometown man, Max Scherzer. “I looked up to all of those guys and thought, ‘I can’t wait to play in the Major Leagues one day like them.’ ”

That opportunity came for Houck in 2014, when he was just 17 years old. A standout pitcher in high school, Houck was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 12th round of the MLB Draft. At the time, his scouting report said, “Some scouts look at his frame and high-effort delivery and see Max Scherzer.”

Little did they know how fitting that comparison would become.

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Scherzer, also known as a two-time Cy Young award-winning pitcher, grew up in Chesterfield, Missouri, about 40 miles from Collinsville. Like Houck, he seemed born to play baseball. At just two years old, he’d pull out his ball and bat and ask his dad to pitch to him.

“I always believed playing in the major leagues was a possibility,” Scherzer says. “But I also knew I needed a backup plan.”

That backup plan came in a few forms. Scherzer was a stellar student, and a standout on the football, baseball and basketball rosters at Parkway Central High. But it was his baseball skills that captured the most attention. In 2003, when he was 18, Scherzer was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 43rd round of the MLB Draft.

Playing for the same team that once rostered Stan Musial, Bob Gibson and Ozzie Smith was a dream. But Scherzer decided to sign with a different Missouri team — the Tigers.

“I come from a family that puts a high value on education, and I knew life in the minor leagues was rough,” he says. “So I really had no hesitations about going to Mizzou. Even though St. Louis was the hometown team, there was very little the Cardinals could do to get in the way of me getting an education.”

Scherzer comes from a long line of Tigers as well. His parents graduated in the mid-70s, and many aunts and uncles attended the university. The 6-foot, 3-inch pitcher, recognized for his fastball as well as his different colored eyes — one brown and one blue — decided to major in finance as he had always been good with numbers.

“I thought I was one injury away from never stepping on the field again. So I made sure I did all the homework and got good grades while I was there,” Scherzer says. “The odds said that I was gonna have to use my degree.”

Only pitching 20 innings with a 5.45 ERA, Scherzer had a lot of time to focus on his studies his freshman year. He looks back on that season as one of the hardest of his life. How could he pitch in the Majors if he couldn’t even pitch at the college level? Scherzer knew that if he were to ever step on a Major League mound, something had to change.

****

Houck didn’t come from a long line of Tigers. But his history with Mizzou was ripe. He began attending the program’s baseball camps when he was in 7th grade, and fell in love with it.

“It just hit me when I got there,” he says. “I thought, ‘Dang, this place is awesome!’ ”

It’s a feeling he never forgot. During his junior year of high school, he was debating between pitching at Mizzou, Missouri State or Mississippi. Then, he had a dream.

“I was pitching in the College World Series, and the only thing I remember is seeing that I was wearing a jersey with black and gold on it,” he said. “I knew it was a sign.”

Houck committed to Mizzou in December of his junior year. But the following year, he was a 12th-round pick by the Toronto Blue Jays, No. 354 overall. Houck had a decision to make, so he turned to the one person who taught him almost everything he knows about baseball today — his mom. He says she’s even more “baseball crazy” than he.

Jennifer was the one who introduced him to the sport. He knew he wanted to be a pitcher by the time he was five, and Houck says his mom signed him up for private lessons so he could improve. When he was old enough, he made a select baseball team called the Troy Thunder, and the pair bonded during what Houck remembers as car rides that lasted anywhere from two to 10 hours while traveling to his games. He and his mom, he says, are now the “closest human beings ever.”

That’s why he trusted Jennifer when making what was then the toughest decision of his career. As a learning behavior specialist, Jennifer had always stressed the importance of education to her son. But when it came time for him to determine whether to sign with the Blue Jays or the Tigers, Jennifer left the decision up to Houck.

“She said ‘it’s your life, and your choice,’ ” Houck says. “If I wanted to go and play, she was going to support it.”

Three days after the draft, as he was still deciding, Houck got a tattoo on the left side of his wrist that said, “RD12/PK354/BLUEJAYS’14.” He wanted to forever remind himself that, in 2014, there were 353 people who were better than him. He ultimately decided he had more growing up to do, both mentally and physically, before he could play in the pros. Like Scherzer, he was ready to play at Mizzou and do what he could to work his way up that list.

****

During his freshman year at Mizzou, Scherzer could throw at 90 miles per hour, and the aftereffects of reaching the speed seemed to tornado through his body. His leg would whip around, and his hat would occasionally fly off, as if Scherzer were swept up in the very force he created.

His coaches, especially Tony Vitello, now a former Mizzou pitching coach, helped him perfect his delivery. Scherzer developed a mantra, repeating “chin over toe,” to help himself stay balanced. He also started working on maintaining physical control. Scherzer says the team “beefed up” — not like football players — but in a way that allowed them to become stronger and more aggressive on the field. Slowly, Scherzer became less swept up in the speed tornado of his pitch. That sense of control allowed him to work his way into the rotation. Things began to click.

It was April 1, 2005, at Taylor Stadium, the first start Scherzer, a sophomore, had made in the Big 12. That game against Texas Tech is now the game, he feels, when he cemented himself as a top-tier pitcher. The Tigers won 25-0, and Scherzer pitched a combined no-hitter with teammate Michael Cole. It was the first no-hitter at Missouri since 1981.

“I was thinking about what Coach Vitello told me,” Scherzer says. “It’s just having the right mindset and aggressiveness of attacking hitters.”

The lessons he learned from Vitello became part of Scherzer’s DNA as a pitcher. That season, he led the Tigers to an NCAA Regional, was the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and was also an All American. The following season, he led the Tigers to their first-ever NCAA Super Regional.

One year later, Scherzer gave Mizzou another first. The Arizona Diamondbacks chose him as the 11th-overall pick of the 2006 MLB draft, making him Mizzou’s highest-ever selection at the time. The rest, some might say is history — except Scherzer keeps rewriting it.

He was named Arizona’s Rookie of the Year in 2008, and later moved to Detroit when he was traded to the Tigers. There, he pitched Game 4 of the 2012 World Series against the Giants, and even though the Tigers lost, Scherzer came back the following year with a momentous season that included becoming the first pitcher to start a campaign 12-0 for the Tigers. He was also the majors’ only 20-game winner that year, with a league-leading 2.90 ERA and 240 strikeouts. It was no surprise, then, when he earned the 2013 American League Cy Young award.

But Scherzer has only grown since. In 2015, he had not one no-hitter, but two. The first came in June, against the Pirates, when he missed a perfect game by hitting a batter in the ninth inning. In October, he threw a total of 17 strikeouts against the Mets for his second no-hitter, becoming only the fifth player in Major League history to throw two no-hitters in one season.

This season, Scherzer went 20-7 with a 2.96 ERA (141 ERA+) in 2281/3 innings. He led the league in wins and innings, as well as all of baseball in strikeouts with 284. He won the Cy Young award once again, this time with a landslide vote, and he is only
the sixth player in history to win the award in both leagues.

“I appreciate it even more this time around because I understand the history, and the accomplishment and season that it takes to win that award,” he says. “I pinch myself and think, ‘How is this happening?’”

When he looks back, he says it was his training as a Tiger that prepared him for these record-breaking seasons.

“At Mizzou, I learned how to handle adversity and how to handle failure, as well as the mindset it takes to achieve success,” he says. “I learned confidence is a choice, and that’s certainly something I’ve carried with me.”

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Every time Houck looks at his wrist, he is reminded that in 2014, 353 people were “better” than him. Much has changed in three years. Houck has gone from a tall, gangly teenager to a strong star pitcher who did something Scherzer didn’t — crack the starting rotation his freshman year.

That year stands out to him for many reasons, and includes the most memorable game of his Mizzou career thus far, when the Tigers played Florida. He woke up at 1 a.m. and ran to the toilet, and then spent the next few hours hugging it, sick with the flu. The onset migraine topped it off as he lost fluid.

“I called my trainer and said, ‘I think I’m dying.’ She was like, ‘Get to the field. I’ll be there in an hour.’ ”

He hopped on his trusty moped around 7 a.m., rode over and met his trainer, who gave him flu medicine. He also drank Coke — not water — the entire game to make it through. And in that game, against a Top 6 team, he allowed only four hits in eight innings to help the Tigers win 10-1.

Besides the occasional Coke, his other secret to success is a little greasier. Houck once ate an entire Little Caesars sausage pizza before a game, then pitched well, so he’s repeated the tradition before every game since.

It seems to have worked. In his sophomore season, Houck started 15 games and compiled a 2.99 ERA in 105.1 innings. He was named SEC Pitcher of the Week twice, and, just before the season began, was part of a combined no-hitter against Cuba, tossing four perfect innings as part of Team USA. This year, he moved into fourth place in Mizzou history in career strikeouts at 292. That mark ranks second among three-year players and trails former first-round pick Kyle Gibson. Throughout the year,  Houck has been consistently named a first-round overall prospect for the 2017 MLB draft. But, every time he looks at his wrist, he questions whether it’s true.

“Honestly, I don’t believe a lot of that stuff,” he said. “I just gotta go out there and play the game I fell in love with at age two. I see it as a great opportunity, and it’s a great feeling to be recognized, but ultimately I want to do what’s best for the team to help us succeed.”

And this time, no matter what comes next, Houck knows one thing for sure: he’ll be ready.

Photos: Travis Smith; Washington Nationals

The post Major League Decision appeared first on ZOUNation Magazine.