KC Royals Coaches Eiland, Sveum Teach Baseball To Youth With App

KC Royals coaches Dave Eiland and Dale Sveum are doing something truly exceptional: they are reaching out to young players through a new Apple app named Coached that brings professional-level instruction to users through their iPhones or other iOS devices.

As the son of a 5’1″ 105 pound physician from the Philippine Islands, I remember trying to figure out how to swing a bat in my backyard by imitating Royals players that I had seen on television.

With Coached, no little kid will ever have to do that again. Instead, they can develop basic baseball skills with the confidence that comes from knowing they’re learning the right way— because men who coach the 2015 World Champions stand at top the instructional pyramid.

Coached Provides One On One Baseball Instruction From The Best Teachers In the Game Through An  App

Coached allows users to take video of themselves performing basic skills with mobile devices and upload them for review by instructors vetted by Coached. Prices range from $10 to $60 per session—depending on the instruction level—and includes one-on-one feedback and frame-by-frame analysis within one to three days. Instructors are experienced youth coaches, ex-players of every level, and professional major-league coaches, which include both pitching coach Dave Eiland and hitting coach Dale Sveum of the KC Royals.

Former All-Stars Kevin Seitzer, Brook Jacoby, Omar Vizquel, and Gregg Jefferies are also members of the Coached staff.

But, Coached is about more than chasing what will be, for most, a remote dream of playing professional baseball. By connecting young players with instructors whose names they might have heard on TV, or through playing video games, Coached can make baseball real in way that only a personal connection can allow. Before, that was only possible if a young fan was fortunate enough to know a major-league player.

Not many kids are that lucky. Coached changes all of that.

So how did baseball lifers like KC Royals coaches Dave Eiland and Dale Sveum become instructors with a tech startup? Now that’s an interesting story:

Next: How Baseball Instruction App Coached Came To Be

How Coached Came To Be

Coached is the creation of 28-year-old entrepreneurs Robin Allemand and Will Ellis, who met each other as teammates on the same high school baseball squad. After their high school days, Robin went on to play collegiate baseball at Williams College while Will gave up the game and attended Brown University. But the two remained in contact as they continued through school.

After college, Robin and Will remembered all of the poor mechanics and fundamental mistakes that they had seen from many players coming up in youth baseball. Robin said:

"“The problem is most people don’t have the right coaching for their kids, and it doesn’t end up being successful—or a fun thing—for the kids. And they don’t reach the pinnacle.”"

Since Robin Allemand had the good fortune to have made contacts in the baseball world through his collegiate career, the two hatched a plan to create an app to solve the problem.

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After struggling to get exactly what he wanted from application designers in an earlier startup, Will Ellis taught himself to code in Swift—a programming language specifically created for Apple iOS devices. Meanwhile, Robin worked his contacts to see if he could recruit baseball men that might be willing to participate as instructors.

Word of Robin and Will’s project worked its way up the chain, carried by baseball lifers captivated by the possibility of connecting developing players with proven coaches. The pair caught a break when their idea reached 16-year major league veteran, and current Detroit Tigers hitting coach, Wally Joyner. Joyner, who played four seasons at first base with the KC Royals from 1992-95, proved to be the Pied Piper that helped carry news of Robin and Will’s dream to baseball men at the highest-level of the game.

As often happens with truly innovative concepts, qualified people quickly jumped on board. When Kansas City Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland heard of Coached from Joyner, he thought it was a great idea. Eiland said:

"“We [Eiland and Dale Sveum] were approached by Will and Robin, and we were hesitant at first because there’s a lot of different things out there on the internet and these different gurus and this that and the other thing and people are getting tricked buying these things. We called these guys and they wanted to get the right people involved. We thought it was a tremendous idea and we were all on board.”  “Father’s coaching can only take them so much, and Little League coaches can only take ’em so far, and we thought this was a great idea to help kids out: not only in the immediate area, but around the world.”"

Two months after Robin and Will committed to the project, they released Coached for free download from the Apple store. The pair are also working on an Android version.

Next: The Benefits Of Coached

The Benefits Of Coached

As a teacher, it pains Kansas City Royals coach Dave Eiland to see so many youth players using defective mechanics. Not only can such mistakes hurt their development, it could lead to injury. Dave said:

"“They don’t have the basic foundation of a proper throwing delivery, just throwing a baseball off flat ground and then off a mound. You can obviously help someone, number one, prevent injury throwing the ball the correct way, delivering a pitch the correct way, so help their command, and help them build arm strength if they’re doing it the correct way.” “They can send this video in, and it’s almost like being right there with them.”"

For most, Coached will be a way to help kids experience the joy of playing youth baseball with enough skill to feel a part of the team. Those experiences could turn a young person into a baseball fan, or they could begin friendships that transform their lives—just like Robin and Will.

Robin said:

"“We had a user the other day after buying a lesson said, ‘This is amazing, I’ve never seen my kid be so engaged and get so excited for one lesson.’ So he bought a four-pack the next day. And just seeing the difference between that kid’s first swing and the next swing. And then his dad coming back and telling us his kid went 3 for 4 with two doubles.”"

Coached is the 21st century way to pass on your love for the game to the next generation.

For the fortunate few, Coached could be the first step of what could become a major-league journey. For those with the gifts to grow in the game, Coached could prevent poor fundamentals from obscuring their talent when the precious opportunity to advance comes.

How many Bryce Harpers, Mike Trouts, or even role players like KC Royals outfielder Paulo Orlando never develop because they didn’t get the opportunity to learn the game? Coached is trying to cut down what must be a world of lost talents that miss out on a major-league career because they lack the basic instruction needed to succeed.

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You can make sure that doesn’t happen to any young person in your life by telling them to download Coached from the Apple store. You could be opening the door to more dreams than you can imagine.