Summer School: Dillard's fast start can be traced back to Cotuit

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Mike Roberts admits he doesn’t have substantial flexibility at 68 years old, but he wanted to do backflips when Thomas Dillard called him during the fall.

Dillard won Ole Miss’ base running award during fall practice, and one of his first moves after was to tell his Cape League coach. Roberts, who has been the head man with the Cotuit Kettleers for 15 summers, is an industry-determined base running expert, currently in his fifth season as a base running instructor for the Chicago Cubs, in addition to some other tasks with the organization.

Dillard played in Cotuit last summer, and the many drills and repetitions turned into fall hardware. It’s also made a difference this season, as the surprisingly swift Dillard is 8-of-9 on stolen base attempts for the 16-1 Rebels. No other player has more than three success steals or four attempts.

The hitting is commendable, as well, as Dillard leads the Rebels in home runs, walks, runs and total bases.

“I’m not young anymore, but I was so excited when he told me about his fall with the acknowledgement,” said Roberts, who is currently in Arizona with the Cubs. “He is such a competitor and a great person. A fierce competitor that if all else failed the young man is going to compete like crazy. You have to love that.”

Roberts and Dillard exhibit mutual respect for each other in conversations. Dillard credits the lengthy running practices in Cotuit for his emergence as a viable threat on the bases this season, and Roberts appreciates the growth he witnessed during their summer together.

When the Oxford product went to the Northeast he had just finished a freshman season that went far from expected. The top-100 national ranking out of high school and nation-leading 16 home runs as a prep senior had been replaced with a .206 average, three stolen bases and strikeouts in more than a third of his at-bats.

“When I first met him he was kind of stubborn and still had a lot of freshman in him,” Roberts said. “Once we talked about what he hit last spring. How many bases did you steal? I think sometimes I want players to understand there’s so much room for improvement and little time to waste the the window to be outstanding because it is very short. He began to buy in.”

Roberts spent 1977-1998 as the head coach at North Carolina, and his teams participated in two College World Series and won nine combined regular season and tournament ACC titles. His son, Brian Roberts, was a two-time All-Star and played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball. He led the American League in stolen bases in 2007.

The elder Roberts has been on both sides of the the college coach-summer coach relationship and knows the typical summer goal is to adjust instead of change. He said you don’t want the coaches to not recognize their player unless that was agreed upon beforehand. Strides were made in multiple areas with Dillard.

Dillard’s 6-foot, 235-pound frame suggests slow, but he ran a 6.7-second 60-yard dash in high school and has an excellent first step. His 60 time was in the 94th percentile of all prospects in his class, measured by Perfect Game.

“The body can fool you,” Mike Bianco said. “He hits a lot of home runs and is a big, strong guy but he’s a good runner and has good feet. Out of all our guys he gets as good of a jump as anybody. He’s very confident and that’s a good mix if you steal bases.”

Roberts helped that jump to the point that Bianco gives Dillard an automatic green light to attempt a steal. Dillard said the pitcher’s delivery time dictates his decision. If the pitchers take more than 1.25 seconds to deliver to the plate, then Dillard is likely to run early in the count.

“As soon as possible,” Dillard said about when he likes to steal.

Roberts has written two books on base stealing and has appeared in numerous instructional videos. Knowledge to go with the fundamentals is what sets runners apart in his mind.

“The thing I try to teach, which most people don’t, is movement before the pitcher moves,” Roberts said. “The runner knows what the pitcher is going to do instead of the other way around. You’re concentrating on the front side of the pitcher and your mission is to be so intelligent about base stealing.

“There’s a difference between someone being given a sign to steal a base and a base stealer. You have to be intelligent to be a base stealer unless you’re a world class sprinter. We don’t have many of those in our game, so you better know what you’re looking at.”

Roberts and Dillard bonded over the running drills. Dillard has brought his name up to media multiple times following games this season, and while the running guru is seeing the profits of his labor in Dillard’s steals, he also had a hand in hammering home the hitting fundamentals that Ole Miss has worked with the switch hitter on since arriving on campus.

Dillard’s offensive success focuses on the ability to stay balanced and back long enough to recognize the pitch and hit to all fields. When slumps happen, the swing gets long, and there are swing and misses at breaking balls.

“Learn to sit still and let ball come to you,” Roberts said. “Don’t go get the ball. My son spent 14 years in the Big Leagues and I didn’t let him stride until he was 17 or 18 years old. He was trying to crush it by going to it. Let it get to him.

“His swing improved dramatically (during the summer. It was straight up when he first got here. I have tremendous respect for their entire staff at Ole Miss. We all were just waiting for things to click and players to mature — for that trust to be built so we could go to work.”

The Rebels are nearly one-third of the way through the season, and Dillard has spent all year in the four-hole of the lineup. He has an 1.172 OPS before making an impact on the bases.

He’s scheduled to return to Roberts and Cotuit this summer for a second season in the Cape. With familiarity and noticeable improvement from Dillard’s side, Roberts is excited about the opportunity.

“It’s a gift to have someone like him back for a second year,” Roberts said. “Hopefully it’s after a long, successful season.”