Kansas University baseball coach Ritch Price watches over practice on May 15, 2014, at Hoglund Ballpark. Price has led the Jayhawks to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in his 12 years as KU’s head coach.

Kansas University head baseball coach Ritch Price watches over practice on Thursday, May 15, 2014.

Baseballs hang from every branch of the Price family tree.

Ritch Price is in his 12th season as Kansas University’s baseball coach. His son, Ritchie, is the third-base coach. Ritchie and his brothers, Ryne and Robby, also played for KU.

Ritch’s grandfather was a high school and American Legion baseball coach and Ritch’s father, a Korean War veteran, was a high school baseball coach and so were Ritch’s uncles.

“From the time I could walk, I followed my father all around the baseball field,” Ritch Price said before a recent practice, standing in the dugout, where he also has been known to pace, but never sits. “The only thing I wanted to do was play in the big leagues, and when I was done playing, I wanted to coach.”

Ritch never made it to the big leagues, but his third son, Robby, is a phone call away, batting .299 with a .413 on-base percentage for Triple-A Durham of the International League.

So often, the pressure of having a coach for a father — or a father’s crowded schedule during baseball season — conspires against a son’s chances to enjoy the sport. Not the case with the Price family.

“I think the best thing I was told was by my dad: ‘When you coach for a living, you look at so many coaches across the country that will tell you they cheated their sons.’ When Ritchie was born, my dad told me, ‘Don’t cheat your own son.'”

So he didn’t.

“I would coach their teams,” Price said. “I would never be their manager. I didn’t want to be the guy upsetting people in town when their son wasn’t playing on the All-Star teams. I would go from my practices at De Anza College or (Cal Poly) San Luis Obispo and sit in the (Little League) dugout and pump the kids up.”

And, no matter how long a day he already had been through, Price said he never said no to his sons when they requested extra instruction.

“All three of my sons would come and hit as soon as their high school practices were over,” Price said. “They weren’t done. His sophomore year in high school, Ritchie’s team won the state title at Dodger Stadium. I’d spend four hours on the field and then I’d be in my office and I’d get a phone call, ‘Hey, Dad, can I come hit?’ I think that’s the greatest thing I did was never tell my sons no if they wanted extra groundballs, extra BP. I spent that time with them to help them chase their dream.”

Price’s days of coaching his sons are over, but to hear his players tell it, he’s not done blurring the lines between father and coach.

“He’s just a great guy, kind of like another father to you,” KU shortstop Justin Protacio said. “He really stays true to his word and just has fun with us. It’s awesome.”

Price drills his players constantly on defensive fundamentals, but doesn’t do it with a drill sergeant’s bark.

“He’s all positive, all the time,” Protacio said. “It doesn’t matter if you just 17-0 or won 17-0, it’s ‘Get back, go to bed, get some rest. We’ve got another game tomorrow.’ It’s that fresh approach, and he always ends things on a positive note. I think that’s really good to have because I’ve played for coaches in the past who could be on the negative side and it’s not the best.”

When one of his players is down, Price extends a hand, not a steel-toed foot.

“I try to be the complete opposite from the guy who beats players up when they’re struggling,” Price said. “I try to pump players up and try to be positive every day, let their skill set take over, understand that failure’s part of the game. And I think as baseball coaches, we can’t coach the same way football and basketball guys do. If we did that to our players to make them better, you’d make them worse because of the failure within the game. I try not to be that guy.”

His verbal darts aren’t tied to results.

“When I get on somebody it’s when they’re not doing things the right way,” Price said. “If they’re hanging their head, they’re not competing, their body language is bad, that’s when I get on guys. I expect you to respect the game and understand how hard it is to play. And you grind and you compete and you be professional. Those are the three cornerstones of our program, those three terms right there. That’s my coaching style.”

He chooses his tough-talk moments carefully.

“You can’t be positive every day,” Price said. “There are times things aren’t going good, you have to get after your guys, but in baseball you have to be really careful how you handle the mental aspect with players.

“The harder you try, the worse it gets in our game. Like Yogi says, ‘You can’t think and hit at the same time.’ You do your drill work and your preparation, but when you step in the box, you compete. That’s the best I ever heard it explained. That guy who thinks about his mechanics, where his back elbow is, those kinds of things, he’s buried himself before the pitch is even thrown.”

Price takes the Jayhawks to the NCAA Tournament for the third time (2006, 2009). The school went twice (1993, 1994) before Price came to KU.

Price built this team the way he builds most, by identifying potential in several players not heavily recruited and then developing them with the help of his staff. Nobody bats a thousand in evaluating talent. Unlike many college baseball coaches, Price does not hit the reset button when he swings and misses on a prospect. His decision not to send players packing leaves him with less money to offer in scholarships to future prospects. On the plus side, it makes families trust him during recruiting visits and it helps players to develop. Struggling baseball players have enough factors to block their paths to improvement in a game of failure without having to worry that their spots on the team and money for their educations are on the verge of vanishing.

“When I go into a house, I tell them we make a four-year commitment, whether you’re a starter or a backup, we’re going to treat you first class, and that’s why we traditionally have good teams when we have juniors and seniors and then we start all over again,” Price said. “That’s how I was brought up as a Division I coach. It was about guys graduating, guys developing and your program being consistent. It wasn’t about taking money away and running guys in and out if somebody isn’t playing well. To me, it’s still not pro baseball yet. That happens in the minor leagues — you don’t play, they release you.

“You come to KU to graduate, make lifelong friends, prepare to be successful in life and compete at the highest level.”

The Jayhawks have competed well enough this season to face Kentucky in the opening round Friday.