Bluegrassrivals

Does anybody know anything about the Shelby Valley Baseball Program for the upcoming year? Do they even have a coach?

Last I heard, they do not yet have a coach. I have heard rumors of Ron Wright making a come back as coach but thats just hear say. I do know they will be very weak. They basically have no feeder program other than Pikeville's Babe Ruth League and Virgies little league is a joke nowdays.

They need a coach over there who will take baseball seriously! I'm surprised Varney still has an arm.

They'll never get a coach that takes baseball seriously because the school doesnt, nor does anyone in area. Im sure Alfus can verify that. The coach last year was a joke. I applaud him for stepping in when no one else would. He just doesnt know the game very well. The year before, Coach Osborne has a great conditoning ethic and knows the game pretty well as did his assitant Tackett. Kids just dont come out for baseball at the Valley due to other sports and what not. Coach Wright is a great guy, and a decent coach. He's just too easy on his players. The wildcats will be very down this year, just like the past few years, but this year is basically due to talent.

They've had some talent in the past few years their 1st baseman 2 yrs ago was good and Varney is talented.

they had a decent team last year dont know what they will have this year though.

cd1180 Wrote:They'll never get a coach that takes baseball seriously because the school doesnt, nor does anyone in area. Im sure Alfus can verify that. The coach last year was a joke. I applaud him for stepping in when no one else would. He just doesnt know the game very well. The year before, Coach Osborne has a great conditoning ethic and knows the game pretty well as did his assitant Tackett. Kids just dont come out for baseball at the Valley due to other sports and what not. Coach Wright is a great guy, and a decent coach. He's just too easy on his players. The wildcats will be very down this year, just like the past few years, but this year is basically due to talent.

The last few years have been very tough on Shelby Valley baseball, and would have been a great challenge for even the brightest coach or baseball mind.

The feeder systems in the area have turned into a pure joke. I'm not even sure if Virgie still has a little league program, and if they do they don't have anybody up there that can teach the fundamentals.

These kids come to the high school level of play straight out of little league, and to be honest it is a shock to most of them. They never adjust, and when you have to teach basic fundamentals and rules to high school players you're always going to be a step behind other programs.

Coach Slone last year did give it a good shot, but like somebody mentioned he honestly just didn't have a clue about baseball, and from the couple of games I watched he had zero control over his team as well.

Coach Osborne stuck with it a couple of years, and he instilled some discipline and hard work into the program, but there was a lack of talent and depth which led to him resigning. It is one of the toughest jobs to take a program that nobody cares about and turn them into winners.

I had never seen anyone say Coach Wright was easy on his players, but he did relate well to his players and had a lot of fun in his 8 seasons there. He resigned the job, not because it was too difficult or he saw it going downhill but because it wasn't fun to him anymore after his son graduated. His first couple of years were as difficult as those that Coaches Osborne and Slone had, but he stuck with it and had some great success. (Winning district, 20 win season, very competitive with top tier teams his last couple of years)

But to get that success you have to stick with it, and learn along the way like Ron Wright did. The first couple of years will not be easy.

As far as this season goes, Ron Wright did consider taking the job back but in the end decided against it.

As far as I have heard up to this point, Shelby Valley has hired a coach that has nothing to do with Shelby Valley or their feeder schools, which is something that I have a difficult time understanding.

I'm pretty sure they've hired former East Ridge junk ball pitcher Tyler Ratliff, but it will be interesting to see how he can run a program having nothing to do with the school or the kids there. I feel that they should have asked around a bit more. Anthony Hampton would have been a decent hire as he would have made the kids work hard and he already knows the majority of the kids there.

It will be an interesting year, but I don't think it will be much different from the last 3 seasons. It is difficult to start fresh with a new coach each year and expect to compete with anybody.

Shelby Valley needs to bring in somebody that will stick with the program for years (Much like Ron Wright did) and knows the game of baseball. Until then, I don't see much changing.

Maybe instead of saying he was not hard on his players I should have said his players took him for granted. I played for Coach Wright as well and liked him alot.

Shelby Valley does have a coach I believe. 23 yrs old or so...

Anyone for sure on who he is?

cd1180 Wrote:Anyone for sure on who he is?

Brandon Ratliff I believe.

Dont think I know him ..I wish him and the players luck.

alfus21 Wrote:I'm pretty sure they've hired former East Ridge junk ball pitcher Tyler Ratliff,

As I mentioned earlier I think they hired Tyler Ratliff who played for Millard/East Ridge and graduated in 03.

Does he teach or have any experience at all? Or is this his first coaching experience?

Afternoon_Delight Wrote:Brandon Ratliff I believe.

Yeah his name is Tyler Ratliff....I dunno why I said Brandon.

Ron Wright coached when the players(Terry Wright,Brandon Stevens,etc...) he had actually had good teachers in little league and it showed by their play. The little league right now is at its lowest point ever. The new coach needs to get involved right away with the younger kids as well as his high school kids. Thier is a great deal of talent in some of the lower grades but lack of instruction has really hampered their progress.

IMO before a school like Shelby Valley can really succeed in baseball they need to try and implement some kind of team for schools not close to Pikeville where most of the teams are. I mean that's why basketball is so strong in the area, it's everywhere. If it could get a strong backing and the parents get behind it then it would really introduce kids to baseball help them learn skills before they reach the high school level, which is a problem there right now. I believe Shelby Valley will eventually turn it around, but it needs to start with the younger kids before they can reach the success they want.

Things have been tough for SV baseball lately, for sure. One thing to remember, though, is that this being "coach-less" not planned. Coach Slone had been an assistant the year before and planned to stay - however, being a young teacher, he was one of the unlucky victims of cutbacks in the county. He had no plan for leaving - I think he's at Pikeville now, but he's not involved with baseball. I know he hadn't coached before, but I think going from 6-19 to 12-14 for a first year coach is pretty good, especially with an "untrained" group like he had. Osborne was a good coach and great guy, but he had other priorities - his own kids (very understandable there). Maybe things will look up for SV, but it doesn't look good at all this year and if a feeder program of some sort doesn't come about, its never going to look good.

For the baseball program to get on track at Shelby Valley someone needs to get proper control of the little league programs. The Virgie program needs to be cleaned up and Dorton needs a little league program, they have a great spot at the new park and the kids need to be exposed to the sport.

THE SOURCE Wrote:For the baseball program to get on track at Shelby Valley someone needs to get proper control of the little league programs. The Virgie program needs to be cleaned up and Dorton needs a little league program, they have a great spot at the new park and the kids need to be exposed to the sport.

I think Dorton may be throwing the idea around of a little league team. Not 100% on this but who knows...The park looks pretty good and the baseball field looks to be coming around nicely.

Virgie used to have a real legit little league about 10 years ago.But I umpired a few games for them back in 06 and it was ridiculous...I think they had around maybe 4 or 5 teams with every good player on one team.

Any word on how things are going at Shelby Valley with the new coach?

They have a some practices and had about 14 to 18 out. I have heard, and it is just hear say that he is getting some of the better atheletes out. I know nothing about him, but he seems like a great guy.

SV will never have a program until things change at the little league. Some Dorton parents looked in starting a program but couldn't because of the red tape involved.

Good luck!

hootie Wrote:They have a some practices and had about 14 to 18 out. I have heard, and it is just hear say that he is getting some of the better atheletes out. I know nothing about him, but he seems like a great guy.

SV will never have a program until things change at the little league. Some Dorton parents looked in starting a program but couldn't because of the red tape involved.

Good luck!

There is a ton of red tape in setting up a little league program. Everyone may not be aware but the former Pikeville Little League is now Big Sandy Babe Ruth and is open to all children in Pike County, not just the children of Pikeville. Babe Ruth boundaries are the county. Players have come from the Virgie, Phelps, and Johns creek areas to play in that league. Good Luck to the Wildcats and Tyler. He is a nice young man who was a good player himself in high school.

The little league is down

shelby valley has been down the past couple of years but they do have some good athletes. if the new coach knows what he is doing they should have a pretty decent year. and he needs to get the younger kids involved like saunders has with football.

Tyler Ratliff was an ok player, but I just don't know about him being a coach. I think SV will be pretty bad this sesaon.

Well, something that I thought about with this situation is..Is that it all starts with the little league programs. And for someone to even consider to take this coaching job, the school would have to give them 5 years AT LEAST. Valley usually fires coaches very quickly which would be TOTALLY unfair as far as the baseball program goes. That job would take sometime before they see any success at all. Use to be a very respected program and is almost rock bottom right now. School shows ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST IN THAT PROGRAM WHATSOEVER and it IS A SHAME!

I Agree The School Does Not Show The Interest In Baseball That It Shows In Basketball Or Football. The Main Problem In The Little League And Middle School Team Both Need Attention. Virgie/dorton Both Play In Virgie Little League And Have Some Good Athletes. They Just Need Some Direction And Attention From Higher Ups. It Is Very Unorganized From T-ball Thru Middle School... The People Who Ran The Little League A Few Years Ago Did Not Know What They Were Doing.