Saberhagen learns that rebuilding a sports program is a full-time job

By Kyle Jorrey jorrey@theacorn.com

NEW JOB-CHS first-year head coach Bret Saberhagen has taken his lumps early thanks to an offense that ranks last in Marmonte.

Anyone with doubts about the commitment first-year head coach Bret Saberhagen has to the Coyote baseball program might want to take a drive past the newly refurbished Calabasas varsity field some weekday afternoon.

If you do, chances are you’ll catch a glimpse of the former Cy Young Award winner tending to the role of groundskeeper and caring for the school’s new picture-perfect baseball diamond like a grandmother cares for her blue-ribbon rose garden.

Just a few years removed from having pitched in front of crowds of 50,000 or more, Saberhagen works alone on the diamond at least five days a week, sometimes six. He arrives hours before his players are excused from their final class to work on the field he helped create, listening to music and just enjoying being back in a baseball setting.

"I take a lot of pride in anything I do, anything I put my name on. I want it to be top-notch," Saberhagen said. "Sure, we’ve got a beautiful field, but it’s a matter of keeping it that way as well. It takes work, and I‘m the guy here to do it."

In the same way that he nurtures the field’s vibrant grass with just the right amount of water and care, Saberhagen hopes to plant the seeds for future baseball success at CHS.

The first step in that process, he believes, was giving Calabasas players the tools to compete. And that started with the new field and new batting cages.

"The coach before me, Rick Nathanson, he had some talent come through here and had some good years, but the facilities he had to work with were substandard. I mean, he was sharing his practice field with both soccer teams and the football team . . . neighbors used to come up and chip golf balls in the infield," Saberhagen said. "The Marmonte League is one of the toughest leagues in all of Southern California, so for Calabasas to really be a top-notch program we really needed to have the facilities to work with these kids and make them better. They needed a place to call their own."

While Saberhagen has begun to see his goals accomplished off the field, on the field is a different story.

The Coyotes, despite some good pitching, are off to a disappointing 2-11 start due to a serious inability to produce runs. They have scored fewer than two runs in 10 of their 13 games and have recorded a total of just 32 runs, 20 worse than any other team in Marmonte.

"We’ve had the pitching to keep us in ball games, but when you’re scoring less than three runs a game it makes it tough to win a lot of games," Saberhagen said. "We haven’t been out of too many games. We just haven’t gotten the production from our hitters."

The new coach said the lack of numbers isn’t due to a lack of effort. He said the Coyotes are spending entire practices just to work on hitting—in the cage, on the field, or with the machine.

"I tell these kids we’re going to work on things we’re weak at," Saberhagen said. "I’ve tried to give them days of nothing but hitting."

To try and derail their offensive nightmare, Saberhagen is constantly retooling his lineup, even sending down some varsity kids down to junior varsity and calling others up.

"I can’t remember putting in the same nine in too many games," Saberhagen said.

Whatever the situation with the lineup, Saberhagen said he stands behind one philosophy.

"I always try to field the best nine guys," he said. "I try to look at what’s best for the team now and what’s best for the team in the future."

The Coyotes showed some promise in a 12-2 win over Lakewood in the Anaheim Lions Tournament during spring break, but their new coach wants to see that kind of win in the Marmonte League, too.

Tomorrow Calabasas is at home to get its first taste of the Thousand Oaks Lancers.

Known for his fierce competiveness on the mound during his playing days for the Kansas City Royals and others, Saberhagen seems content to stay positive and let events take their course.

He knows part of creating a successful team is creating a strong bond of respect and understanding between player and coach. That bond is still being forged at Calabasas.

"It’s a learning experience for me—it’s my first year coaching—but it’s also a learning experience for my players," Saberhagen said. "Right now they don’t know what I’m thinking, what I want . . . but that’s going to change. In the future, instead of having to ask them to do something, like run out a pop fly or stand up and support their teammates, they’re just going to know."