|
E-Mail: mcfieldb@samford.edu
Mick Fieldbinder enters his sixth year as the pitching coach at Samford. In addition to directing the pitching staff, he handles the team's game scheduling, coordinates travel and assists in recruiting. "From our first year here with the staff he inherited, Mick's contribution to this program has been tremendous," Head Coach Casey Dunn said. "He has the consistent ability to improve every individual pitcher each year we have been here. Our guys have been well prepared have always gotten dramatically better from August to May." In the 2007 season, Fieldbinder's pitching staff set a new Samford record by holding the opponents to a .270 batting average. Despite losing several key members of his staff with nagging injuries at times, he guided the staff to a third-best ERA while developing depth with just a second recruiting class. He also furthered the development of Joseph Edens, the team's closer that saved 23 games over the past two seasons and was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the Major League Baseball Draft. In 2006, the pitching staff had the lowest ERA in the Ohio Valley Conference in league games. Under Fieldbinder's guidance, Josh Ehmke set a school record for strikeouts, and was named the OVC's Pitcher of the Year and an All-American. Ehmke's All-American selection was the first for a pitcher in Samford's history and he followed it up with pre-season All-America honors before the 2007 season. In his first season, Fieldbinder led the pitching staff to a third-place finish in earned run average in the conference for 2005. Fieldbinder guided Parker Gargis to a top-10 finish in ERA despite starting at shortstop for the Bulldogs on non-pitching days. Chandler Tidwell finished only three strikeouts away from leading the con¬ference on the season. Before beginning his coaching career, Fieldbinder spent five seasons playing professional baseball. He began his pro career with the Milwaukee Brewers before heading to the Minnesota Twins organization. He was a 1997 California League All-Star and was named to the All-League team for the California League in 1997. A 1996 graduate of the University of Montevallo, Fieldbinder spent three seasons as an assistant to Head Coach Casey Dunn at Spain Park High School. Fieldbinder's 2004 pitching staff posted an ERA of 2.81, and he coached the Area 6 Jefferson County Player of the Year. He took a young staff of freshmen and sophomores and helped develop a consistent pitching staff that produced three Division I pitchers. Before his time at Spain Park, Fieldbinder was the pitching coach at the University of Montevallo from 1999 to 2000. His 2000 staff had an ERA of 3.88, the third best mark in the country that season. The pitching staff helped lead the 2000 Montevallo team to a national ranking on the season and at one time was ranked as high as fifth in the nation. Fieldbinder played collegiate baseball at Montevallo, posting 22 wins in two seasons. He was named to the All-Conference team both seasons. Fieldbinder is married to the former Kim Glenn of Birmingham, and the couple will be married this September. She has a son, Jaxson (10). |
||||||||||||||||||
