Baseball team is under new management
Skylar Blankenship
Sports Editor
Jabin Weaver was named head coach of Hudson Valley’s baseball team earlier this fall.
Weaver earned his Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from East Stroudsburg University where he also played baseball. As a freshman, he had a 3.96 ERA, finished with a 2-1 record and fanned 20 batters.
He then received his Master’s in Sports Science and Athletic Coaching Education from West Virginia University. Weaver also was a Graduate Student Assistant and the Director of Player Development with the university’s baseball program.
His coaching career began with his position as head coach of of the Morris J. Edwards Post 168 17U Legion team. Weaver held several other coaching positions afterwards.
Weaver also played baseball in high school at Dolgeville Central and Fort Plain.
Q: When did you start playing baseball?
“Probably about 5 or 6 first-year — little league tee-ball.”
Q: What do you really love about the game?
“I like the competition-type aspects. I like the life lessons. And just an added motivation piece to get me to do things unrelated to baseball.”
Q: Have you always been a pitcher?
“I played different positions in high school, but in college I was always a pitcher.”
Q: What’s your fastball?
“It was high 80s in college.”
Q: Do you have any plans for the program?
“I want to put a big emphasis on developing the guys to make sure that they’re leaving here better than when they came in. It doesn’t matter what level they play at. I want to make sure [the players] get their degrees and that they’re leaving here and graduating from their four year schools.”
Q: What are your goals for the season?
“Just competing. I won’t set goals too high. It’s basically up to the guys if they want to put in the work. We’re just going to put in the work that we need, one day at a time, so we can compete.”
Q: What do you expect of your players?
“They need to go to class. They need to get good grades. They need to graduate from here, and if they don’t, they need to have intentions to graduate from their four-year. That needs to be the top priority for them while they’re here,” said Weaver.
Weaver continued, “They still need to come in and do the things that we expect of them, as far as the weight room, strength conditioning, running and taking care of their bodies. Even if they don’t have the ultimate dream of going pro, they still need to have the desire and passion to get better while they’re here.”
Q: How have you and the team been preparing?
“We had a really good fall season. We had a five-game Fall World Series that the guys competed in. We split the team into two. They compete against each other. It was really good, really competitive,” said Weaver.
Weaver continued, “We had a lot of practices, about four or five days a week. Now we are lifting three days a week, making sure that we’re getting stronger, putting weight on and just taking it one day at a time. We’re working individually right now on our positions. Even though the fall season is over and the spring season feels a long way away, it’s not. It goes super quick.”