Even Though It’s a Game, Sizemore Really Works at It

Bill Sizemore, Thousand Oaks High baseball coach, smiles when people tell him to enjoy his summer vacation.

Some vacation. Sizemore’s annual tour of duty as a minor-league pitching instructor features 12-hour workdays and exhaustive analysis. The paperwork alone is enough to cause a headache.

“It’s not that bad, we get three days off,” Sizemore said of a season in which the Utica Blue Sox will play 76 games in 79 days in the Class-A New York-Penn League.

“But you tell people what you do and they think you show up at the park at game time.”

Sizemore, in his fourth season as a summer instructor with the Florida Marlins’ organization, begins his day with the Blue Sox by supervising 15 pitchers in their running and fielding practice.

He throws the team’s first round of batting practice and oversees 45 minutes of bullpen work before entering the dugout at game time to help chart everything from first-pitch strikes to velocity to the time it takes a pitcher to throw home from the stretch position.

After the game, Sizemore needs at least 45 minutes to complete paperwork on individual performances during the game. Every night he phones in reports to the Marlins’ personnel staff in Florida.

“This is one of the hardest-working organizations in pro ball,” said Sizemore, who previously worked for the Seattle Mariners and for major league baseball. “The Marlins want to prepare kids to play in the big leagues from the minute they put on a uniform.”

At the minor leagues’ lower levels, the emphasis tends to be on development rather than wins and losses. Sizemore, who recently completed his third season at Thousand Oaks, said that’s an approach he has tried to instill in his high school program.

“In high school there’s a little more pressure to win from the parents, because the kids don’t feel good unless they win,” said Sizemore, who is 42-34 at Thousand Oaks. “But I try to take a different approach. I want the kids to get better over four years.”

Sizemore and the rest of the Utica coaching staff spend much of their time indoctrinating players in strategies and habits unique to their organization. The Marlins have set ways in which defenses are utilized, pitchers are trained and fundamentals are addressed.

“This is these guys’ career now, it’s not just for fun,” Sizemore said. “We do fundamental drills before every game and I doubt a lot of people realize that.”

Sizemore, a junior high guidance counselor during the school year, dedicates his summers to baseball because he loves the game. But he is also constantly looking for ideas he can use at Thousand Oaks.

“Working like this gives me the perspective to be able to tell high school kids what won’t cut it at the next level,” Sizemore said. “And preparing them for the next level is what I want our program to be about.”