"5 Pitch Strikeout" with Coach Wes Brooks (AL)...

Coach Wes Brooks

Oxford High School (AL)

“5 Pitch Strikeout” Special Edition

The Balk Blog: Coach Brooks, we appreciate you setting down with us for our segment of “5 Pitch Strikeout.” I thought that because we released our “State by State” rankings this week for Alabama, and because Oxford HS was so well represented that it would be an honor to sit down with the Coach who is running what most consider to be one of the top prep baseball programs in the nation.

(Coach Wes Brooks (far right) and his team getting ready to play)

Pitch 1: We had four Oxford High School players represented in our “State by State” Rankings; Tucker Simpson, Zach Lovvorn, Jackson Stephens, and Mathew Goodson. As a former coach myself, this is something that come coaches can only dream in, four seniors, two are signed with SEC powerhouses, an ACC elite program, and Samford. This doesn’t include other seniors who will sign later, and your junior players. What kind of a blessing has it been to coach a group of kids like this?

Wes Brooks: Well, I am truly blessed to be a small part of their lives.  This is a special group.  The neat thing is that we have all developed great relationships throughout the process.  I enjoy coaching guys who want to get better every day, and this group has that attitude.  From top to bottom every player wants to get better at what they do.  We as coaches felt like this group would be a special group to coach since the 7^th grade.  The funny thing is if I could hand pick an all star team of high school players I would pick the ones we have on our team.  I really believe I could close my eyes, make out a line-up, and put them anywhere on the field, and we’ll go out and compete and play as hard as we can and come out a WINNER!

(The Yellowjackets are lead by "The Core Four")

Pitch 2: You have three guys that I know off that are at least 88-90, how many other guys do you have in the program that have velo like this? This is a very tough question, but who’s the “ace” on this staff? Is one of them a closer, or is it just a rotation of Lovvorn, Stephens, and Simpson?

WB:  I feel like all three could be our #1 on any given day.  They are all different and successful in their own way:  Tucker is our Power Guy with his low to mid 90s fastball, Stephens is our Athletic Guy with his different arm slots.  Lovvorn is our Sleeper because he has come along under the radar of Stephens and Simpson.  We are expecting him to have a great year.  Others to note are Frazier Taylor 83-85 with great mound presence and just pounds the lower third of the zone with strikes.  He finished last season with a 7-2 record.  Joe McGuire was Huge for us last year as a sophomore winning 7 games while only losing one.  He’s a mid 80s guy.  Trent Simpson, the brother of Tucker, will be in our closer roll we hope.  He has a cutter that gets tons of swings and misses to go along with his mid to upper 80s fastball.  Colton Turner will be our only lefty.  Turner is a rising sophomore with a good tailing 82-84 fastball. 

(Winning big games is nothing new to Oxford HS, or Coach Brooks)

Pitch 3: We nominated Tucker Simpson for The Balk Blog Preseason Player of the Year, Oxford HS as one of our Top 25 Preseason Programs in the nation, and you’re nominated for Preseason Coach of the Year. Talk about some of the things that are going on over there at Oxford, and all the athletes that are coming in and out each year? Also talk a little bit about Tucker and how special of a kid he is? Do you think he’s a better pitcher, or hitter?

WB: Our throwing program in the fall has helped us increase velocity over the last 5 years.  Our guys have bought into it and they love it.  We’ll start it up in November after football season is over so that we can get Stephens, McGuire and Trent Simpson involved from football.  We’ll then have 12 weeks of preparing our arms for the 2012 season.  Right now our guys our lifting in our new weight room at OHS and working our core with med balls.  The guys have plenty of outside resources to keep their skills up to par with Excel Baseball Academy along with a few others.  Those guys at Excel really have helped our program become one of the best in the state.  We are fortunate to have such quality guys in our community that can train our guys during the off-season. 

Tucker has always been a special player.  He went 6-1 as an eighth grader beating the then 2008 State Champs Hoover Bucs during their Spring Classic.  He led us to the state finals and 2009 going 6-1 again on the mound and started to prove that he could hit in the middle of our order.  Just recently he played in the Perfect Game All-American Classic in San Diego, CA which is a great honor.  He spends most of his summers over at the East Cobb Complex where he has won numerous championships with various teams.  He will have a huge impact on our success this year on the mound and at the plate.  Tucker has power to all fields.  He has hit over .400 in the 4^th spot in the line-up the last two years which, if you’ve seen our schedule, is a major accomplishment.

(Oxford HS stand out Tucker Simpson at the Perfect Game All America Game)

Pitch 4: We’ve talked about Simpson, Lovvorn and Stephens quite a bit, but there’s one other star at Oxford HS, in Mathew Goodson. He is a right handed hitting outfielder who is committed to Alabama, who has run as low as a 6.49 I have heard. Can you tell us how special it is to have a kid like Mathew in the outfield running balls down for you?

WB: Mathew is a complete 5 tool player.  He hit 22 homers and 12 doubles for us last year showing amazing power.  He has outstanding work ethic in the weight room.  He will be the strongest guy that I will ever coach.  Yes, he has run a 6.49 in the sixty, but he has also thrown in the mid 90s from the outfield in numerous showcases.  He loves the game and plays it the right way.  He is the leader of this team, and Alabama is getting a special player in Mathew. 

(Coach Brooks is known for getting the community involved)

Pitch 5: Ok coach, as I hate to say we are coming to the end of this interview. Take time to tell the readers to talk about how last season ended, and the expectations that are at Oxford HS for this coming year! I hear you have been invite to a special tournament to participate with some of the best high schools in the nation, speak on that as well. If there’s anything else you’d like to say, feel free to add it in.

WB:  We ended last year 31-7.  Unfortunately we ran into some solid arms in our area play that kept us from entering the playoffs.  Our hats are off to Grissom and Pell City.  Their pitching staffs were second to none last year.  The good thing is that we’ve basically got everybody back, and we’ll be a year older with more experience.  Guys that we haven’t mentioned are SS Tanner Gardner, Catchers Alex Muncher and Austin Jones, versatile players Taylor McCracken and Dakota Beane, outfielders Will Davis, Connor Graham and Gary Mason.  We look to add a few JV guys to finish up our 2012 roster during tryouts this November.  Our guys are hungry for another great run during the 2012 season.  USA Baseball and Baseball America sent us an invite during February of this past season to participate in the first-ever National High School Baseball Tournament in Cary, NC.  This is a great honor to be considered for such a prestigious tournament.  Thanks for having this conversation, and I look forward to chatting with you guys in the future. 

(Coach Wes Brooks)

Thanks coach for taking the time out to do this; I know that you are very busy. We here at The Balk Blog wish you and the Oxford HS program the best of luck this year. Get it back to me whenever you can, we will try to get it up online on Tuesday.

BB29