Coach Starts a New Wave

One by one, they sprint, shivering in their surfer shorts, from the locker room to the steaming pool, where they dive in like polar bears seeking refuge.

It’s 6:15 a.m. at Agoura High, and 43 students are working feverishly on their freestyle and breaststrokes.

Except these are no ordinary swimmers. They are baseball players.

For nearly 60 minutes, in a brisk but low-key workout, they follow the directions of their youthful coach, Zach Miller, who’s wearing a ski cap and holding a giant cup of coffee to keep warm.

“It’s the second inning,” Miller says to his players. “Go hard.”

Coughing and giggling, they splash away.

“It’s the bottom of the third. There’s been a leadoff walk. We have to defend it,” Miller says.

They push off from the wall, swimming in groups and acting as if they know what they’re doing.

“It’s the bottom of the fifth. Don’t let up. Nine outs to go,” Miller says.

Since the second day of school in September, Agoura baseball players have been rising at dawn three times a week to engage in swim workouts. There are no bats or balls in sight. Miller uses baseball terminology to remind his players what sport they are really focused on.

“It’s about work ethic,” Miller says. “We’re working on endurance, on the mental aspects. We’re working on breathing. We’re working on pushing our level of competition, the ability [to understand that] when you can’t go any more, you find a way to keep going.”

Last year, there were skeptics who wondered if Miller knew what he was doing by starting swim workouts for the baseball team in his rookie season as coach.

Few question his wisdom these days. Agoura finished 18-8 and took second place in the Marmonte League, a dramatic improvement over its last-place finish in 2000. This season, the Chargers are 4-0 and considered Marmonte title favorites. Miller has already accomplished his goal of building his team’s self-confidence and teaching that hard work can produce positive results.

“We almost feel like we need to do it,” outfielder Brian Grant said. “If we just stopped, it would hurt us.”

Said pitcher Brandon Canning: “It’s a little strange, but we feel it strengthens our arms a lot.”

Miller, 31, played baseball at Nevada Las Vegas and remembers early morning lifting workouts. His players lift weights on the days they don’t swim. The swimming workouts are not mandatory, but most attend because they know that not participating could give the edge to a competitor.

It’s doubtful swimming helps hitters hit fastballs or curveballs any better, but that’s not the point.

“I don’t think there’s anyone that’s going to outwork us in preparation for a game,” Miller says. “I’m about trying to be a champion and [develop] a champion’s work ethic. We’re just trying to improve every day.”

Miller’s father, Larry, is a football coach at Oxnard Hueneme High. You’d never guess they are father and son because their personalities are so different. Larry is calm and quiet; Zach can’t stand to be either.

Zach Miller has clearly made an impact. Agoura doesn’t have players who are 6 feet 3 and throw 90-mph fastballs, but they can score lots of runs. With senior Canning and sophomore J.T. Trelatsky, the pitching staff might be good enough to win a league title.

And the swim workouts are worth it, if only for the smiles they provide.

One time it was so cold in the morning that outfielder Casey McCarthy and pitcher Steve Crump showed up wearing wetsuits. By the end of their workout, they were so hot they could have stripped.

Then there’s the weekly fun of watching 6-2, 215-pound second baseman Bryan Huston perform a cannonball from the platform to see how big a splash he can produce.

“I guess I’ve been crowned champion,” Huston said.

The players benefit from the innovative approach.

“I’m giving them every opportunity to succeed,” Miller says. “There will be no excuses when they graduate.”

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.