By Phil Jensen
Special to Chabot Athletics
New Chabot College head baseball coach Paul Wiebens has a simple baseball philosophy.
"Be you," said Wiebens, a Chabot asistant coach last season. "I don't need you to be someone else. … I don't need you to be Babe Ruth, I need you to be the best version of you. That's perfect."
The team is evidently responding to that message. The Gladiators are 15-8 overall after a 5-0 shutout of Cañada on March 19. A major strength of the team is its offense – it is averaging over 9.5 runs a game after the Canada victory.
"We do a really good job of pitch recognition and laying off the junk that's not in the strike zone. And we steal a lot of bags," Wiebens said. "We're creating offense at a pretty good clip."
Previous to last year, Wiebens was an assistant junior college coach for nine seasons – three each with Los Medanos, Napa and Diablo Valley. He also been a NorCal Baseball summer coach, and was the head coach at Alhambra High School in Martinez in 2014, when it reached the North Coast Section Division III championship game.
Wiebens described his first season as Chabot's head coach as a learning experience.
"I've learned what I need to do and what I didn't need to handle as an assistant coach," he said. "There's never a point in baseball when you know everything. If you think you do, you're already beaten."
He also realizes that the team members are dealing with a lot outside of the field.
"Baseball is a game when the outside world can affect your performance, so you are dealing with a lot of psychological things outside the field," Wiebens said. "It's a lot to deal with and sometimes it can affect you. It's how you get out of the bad days that creates the better athlete. You can press through and put things to the side."
Wiebens decided to come to Chabot after the hitting coach at that time, his friend Dylan Tashjian, reached out to him. Tashjian was about to take a position as a scout for the Minnesota Twins.
"I met Will (Tavis, the previous head coach) … and the amazing staff they had here. It was so fun," Wiebens said. "It makes it easier that you have a group that really knows the game and loves to compete and wants the guys to move on."
In its first 23 games this season, Chabot leads the Coast-North Conference in hits (230), RBI (204), on-base percentage (.435) and slugging percentage (.491), and is second in batting average (.289).
Sophomore outfielder Raoul Fabian Jr., who is San Jose State-bound, is tied for third in the state in stolen bases (18) and leads the Coast Conference-North in home runs (seven) and stolen bases and ranks fourth in the CC-North in batting average. (.390).
Teammate Emmitt Phinney, a sophomore first baseman/designated hitter, ranks second in the conference in batting average (.405). Noah Morton, a freshman designated hitter/first baseman, is tied for second with six home runs. Freshman second baseman Daniel Behrmann is tied for third in stolen bases with 14.
Chabot also has made its mark on the mound. Isaac Lucas, a freshman lefthander, leads the conference in strikeouts (50), and freshman righthander William Aviles is third in earned run average (2.10) and fifth in strikeouts (33). Xavier Marquez, a freshman lefthander, is tied for third in wins with three.
"We have a really good history at Chabot of players making their way in baseball," Wiebens said. "I think it starts with Chabot. The school wants to be good, the school wants to support their athletes. Not all JC's do that."
Wiebens pointed out the jobs that assistant coaches Jack Delmore, Charlie Konstantinos and Frank Mathews have done this season.
"My assistant coaches are doing an amazing job," Wiebens said. "I think what they are doing is helping us become a winning baseball club."