Ep. 8 | Pat Day, Ranger College

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Host Ross Hawley sits down with Pat Day, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Ranger College in Texas — and a left-handed pitcher Ross coached years earlier with the D-BAT National Elite program.

Pat's playing career had four addresses. He committed to Texas Tech the summer after his sophomore year at Chapel Hill High School in Tyler, switched to Houston, then watched that plan fall apart two weeks before classes started. Stephen F. Austin was down the road and took him for two seasons. He finished at LSU Shreveport, where he grew into a closer and still holds the program's single-season and career saves records. Now he recruits for one of the deepest junior college conferences in the country.

The highlights:

• Why he left a Division I program for the NAIA, and what a winning standard did for his career
• What college coaches watch once they already know a player can play
• The advice he would give his younger self, in three words: listen to somebody
• A daily visualization drill that rehearses failure before it shows up in a game
• Why a 24/7 open door matters more than anything on the office iPad
• How to contact a college coach, and how to hear an honest answer about fit
• "Be where your feet are" — the line he borrowed from his college coach and uses daily

From a Texas Tech Commitment to a Closer's Role

Fit was never the problem at Stephen F. Austin. Pat simply wanted to win, something he had rarely done in high school, where baseball ran third behind football and basketball. LSU Shreveport offered the opposite environment: a top-five NAIA program with a long streak of conference titles, a turf field, and facilities nicer than plenty of Division I schools.

"Winning was the standard. Forty wins was a bad season."

He credits head coach Brent Lavallee with changing both his career and his outlook, and the arm did the rest. Pat became an all-conference and All-American bullpen piece, though he only closed for the final two weeks of his junior year and all of his senior season.

Why Players Sleep on the NAIA and JUCO Levels

Pat arrived at LSU Shreveport without a clear idea of what NAIA baseball was. He found out in a hurry: opponents rolling out starters at 91 to 94 miles per hour, wins over Division I, II, and III programs, and rosters full of grown men.

"Everybody on a college baseball roster was the dude at their high school. You've got to go be the dude there, too."

The takeaway for families chasing a level rather than a fit: college baseball is college baseball, and every roster spot is contested by someone who was the best player in his hometown.

The Advice He Would Give His Younger Self

At 29, Pat is blunt about the freshman version of himself — talented, confident, and not especially interested in being taught. He was the player who already had the answers, and he carried that into his first college locker room.

His advice to that kid is short: listen to somebody one time. He now sees the same posture in players he coaches, and he treats it as a relationship problem rather than an attitude problem. Trust has to be built before instruction lands.

People Skills Come First

Pat believes knowledge is table stakes — a coach who does not know the game gets found out quickly. What separates coaches is whether players buy in. Technology helps, but he argues that a coach who cannot teach with the iPad out of his hands will struggle.

He describes himself as a players' coach with a clear line drawn: close enough that guys will tell him the truth, never so close that they confuse him with a friend. Old-school fundamentals and new-school data both belong, in that order of priority.

Rehearsing the Bad Inning

Mental preparation, in Pat's view, is not optional, because baseball guarantees failure. Players who have only rehearsed success have nothing to fall back on when the game turns.

"If you're only mentally prepared for the good things to happen, this is going to be a long, hard career."

His staff runs a five-star drill inside the daily mobility circuit: players lie back, close their eyes, and listen while he narrates a smooth outing, then drops in a three-run homer and the best hitter in the conference stepping up. He speeds up his cadence on purpose so the breathing work happens under stress. Beyond that, the tools are simple and personal — assigned chapters from a mental-toughness book for the players who will actually read them, and a standing open door. He has taken a 1 a.m. call and driven to the office to sit with a player, and his guys now bring him things that have nothing to do with baseball.

How to Get Noticed at Ranger

Pat keeps his recruiting checklist to two items: play hard and be fun to watch. He can evaluate a swing or a couple of plays in one look, so the extra trips are spent watching everything else — the dugout, the sprint on and off the field, the jog to a foul ball down the line, the effort during base-running rotations in batting practice.

"Having the skill and having what it takes are two different things."

For players: email, X, and Field Level all work, and a personal note beats a mass email. He reads what he receives, and he wants to see a player compete in person before making a call.

An Honest Conversation About Fit

Ranger plays in Region XIV North, which Pat calls the SEC of junior college baseball — a league where the bottom of a rotation still sits in the low 90s and 85 gets hit over the fence. A pitcher throwing 79 to 81 is not a fit there, and Pat would rather say so and point him toward programs where he can play.

For families: look in the mirror before you send the email. Respect a coach's time, know the level you are writing to, and treat honest feedback as the fastest route to the right roster. Being told no by one program is not the end of a career; it is information about where a career actually starts.

Be Where Your Feet Are

The best baseball advice Pat ever received came from Lavallee, and he passes it along daily to players who are watching teammates get recruited instead of doing their own work.

"Be where your feet are. Don't worry about what you did before or what's coming next — take care of business right where you are."

His advice for the next generation runs in the same direction: play hard, play fast, have fun. Coaches notice the player they never have to wonder about.

Episode Timestamps

Tap any timestamp to jump the player straight to that moment.

• 0:00 — Introduction
• 1:24 — How Pat and Ross first worked together with D-BAT National Elite
• 2:43 — A recruiting road from Texas Tech to Houston to Stephen F. Austin
• 4:01 — Transferring to LSU Shreveport, where winning was the standard
• 6:37 — Why players sleep on the NAIA and junior college levels
• 11:51 — The advice he would give his younger self
• 14:27 — What actually makes a good coach
• 18:22 — Mental preparation and getting ready for the bad inning
• 20:59 — The five-star drill and a 24/7 open door
• 26:11 — How to get a college coach's attention
• 30:04 — Having the skill versus having what it takes
• 35:17 — Being honest about fit in the recruiting process
• 40:31 — Be where your feet are
• 43:06 — Speed round: toughest at-bats, biggest influences, and the game today

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Pat Day is an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Ranger College. Follow him at @stpattyday_6 and Ranger College Baseball at @RangerBaseball_. Subscribe to the Baseball Forward Podcast for more conversations with the players, coaches, and leaders elevating the next generation of the game.