The Braves Baseball Club offers player development
in a competitive atmosphere. The club organizes teams at the U13,
U14, U16 (JV), and Varsity levels. The coaching staff is comprised
of coaches with experience playing or coaching collegiate-level
baseball. It is the Braves philosophy that the youth teams are best
prepared for high-school baseball when coached by non-parent, experienced
coaches. Professional coaches provide an objective view of all players’
abilities and development needs and will be responsible for all
decisions involving position and playing time. The professional
coaches are overseen by the directors for player development to
ensure that both parents and players are receiving quality instruction.
The depth of our coaching resources provides players the opportunity
to work with a variety of coaches and to participate in high-school
and college style practices. Practices stress core skill development
(hitting, throwing, and base-running) as well as a better understanding
of more sophisticated team defensive strategies and techniques used
at the high-school level. Teams will play 20-24 games during the
season, weather permitting. Practices begin in late August. Teams
will have access to indoor training sessions at DST during inclement
weather or when fields are unavailable. While some may want to play
more frequently, our philosophy is that practices provide the best
opportunity to teach and develop the skills necessary to play competitive
teams. Games are the reward for practice and provide the opportunity
to apply what has been worked on in practice. We also are cognizant
of building arm strength and want to avoid injuries that tend to
occur from overuse.
Fall Team: The Braves U13/U14 teams will hold
a 2nd tryout for fall 2010/ spring 2011 teams on July 29
at Herndon HS beginning at 5:30pm. Coaches from the Braves organization
will conduct the tryout to assess hitting, fielding, throwing skills.
Parents are encouraged to attend an organizational meeting to discuss
the objectives of the program, meet some of the coaches, and discuss
options for fall and winter activities. If you are unable to attend
the tryout and would like to participate in the fall please send
an email to wrightlb@yahoo.com. We will attempt to make other arrangements.
If you are playing a different sport this fall but want to be considered
for the spring season, please attend this tryout so that we can
plan appropriately.
Spring/Summer team: Tryouts will be announced
at a later date.
Players that are interested in playing next spring/summer but are
not going to play baseball in the fall should send an email to and
indicate their interest in trying out for the spring season. This
will also be sure you are included in future communications.
Staff/Coaches
Our professional coaching staff is drawn from the Braves
Collegiate coaching staff as well as area high-school coaches. The
selection of coaches and players is based on input from the Co-Directors
of Player Development to ensure that the coaching staff provides
a consistent teaching approach across each age level. This approach
prepares the player to easily transition to the next level of competition.
This process is overseen by Greg Miller, Chris Smith and Jason Bagby.
Co-Director of Player Development – Greg Miller
Greg is the Head Varsity Baseball coach at Herndon High School.
Greg graduated from Herndon High School in 1997 after leading the
Hornets to District and Regional Championships in 1995 and 1996.
He was a first team All-Met selection in 1997 and set the all time
record for hits at Herndon. Greg went on to play for James Madison
University where he was first team All-CAA (Colonial Athletic Conference)
in 1999 and 2001. He graduated with the record for hits in a season
with 100 as well as the all time hit leader at JMU, in the CAA,
and the state of Virginia. Greg was drafted by the Atlanta Braves
in the 20th round and spent three years in their organization, reaching
AA Greenville. In 2002, he made the South Atlantic League All-Star
team and was named MVP of the game. After retiring from baseball,
Greg began coaching at Herndon High School and has also spent a
couple of summers as the manager of the Herndon Braves Collegiate
team winning back to back titles.
Co-Director of Player Development - Jason Bagby
Jason grew up playing baseball in Loudoun County. He was part of
the first State Championship team in Lower Loudoun in 1987. He attended
Broad Run High School and was a member of their first State Championship
in 1991. He was a first team All-State selection that year. He went
on to play middle infield for James Madison University. After graduating,
Jason ended up back at Broad Run as a varsity assistant coach. For
four years, he was responsible for the offense and infielders. Since
his time at Broad Run, Jason has been working with players in individual
and small group settings as well as coaching travel teams ranging
from ages 12 to 16. He has also spent a couple of summers coaching
the Herndon Braves, a wooden bat summer league for college players.
Jason heads baseball operations at Diamond Sports Training.
Co-Director of Player Development - Chris Smith
Chris is the General Manager of the Herndon Braves Collegiate team.
His previous coaching experience includes coaching seven years at
Herndon High School, one year with the collegiate-level Silver Spring-Takoma
Thunderbolts, three years at DeMatha Catholic High School, two years
at St. Vincent Pallotti High School, and one year at Bowie St. University.
Chris has been a part of two Herndon Braves collegiate championship
teams (Clark Griffith League - '06 and '07) and a Herndon High School
district championship team ('02). Chris heads the social studies
department at Centreville H.S. and resides in Herndon with his wife
and two young children.
Coach - Jonathan Sidilau
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