Video on Position of the Feet When Throwing

Bunt Defense

Here is a link to my video for a bunt defense.

Great Site for Watching Video for Pitching

I was looking for video to explain the mechanics of pitching and I found a great site that supplied videos that I could pull and breakdown for my players. The site is http://www.pitchingclips.com

Hitting Tip

Core Video #3 Five Great Exercises to Do

Core Strength #2

Core and Strength Training

Strength and core training is the new buzz in baseball. Players have transformed their game and body taking this approach. I will be posting on my blog some great exercises to start putting in workout and practice routines.

Catcher Drills Part Three of Three

Catching Part Two

Blocking Drills

Catching Video Part One of Three

I recently found some great drills for a catcher that I am going to implement into my routines.

When Making Decisions About Tryouts

When a coach is making a decision about players at tryouts it is important to speak to your staff about the philosophy behind your decisions. First, is your decision on players based on building a team for your local high school? Is it to be the best team that you can be each year or are you going to take on kids that project well down the road? Answering these three questions are going to make your life as a coach alot easier down the road when it comes to parent expectations and playing time. Remember, be upfront with your parent group about playing time and your expectations of each player. In my opinion, it is better to carry less players and have them play more than carry more and play less.

Best of luck!

Catching Throwing

Catcher's Throwing

Some people say to a catcher that they should " throw from the ear." This can be somewhat misleading because if a catcher cocks his arm directly back to his ear then they will lose power thus causing distress on the elbow joint.

Many coaches teach that the arm motion is similar to a circle "thumb to thigh." The same is true for a catcher however, a catcher's circle should be done above the waist. The shorten motion allows for maximum power, quickness and accuracy.

Back in Action

After a long season, I am back at posting helpful tips. My team of eleven year olds at one point won 13 in row after a slow start. I really think the success is due to having a teaching philosophy and practice organization.

A Catching Tip

Coaches when you are helping your catchers, you want to make sure that their receiving arm is located outside their left leg and not inside the leg. This enables them to have greater range trying to catch the ball to their left without having it obstructed by their left leg. The key is the elbow. The elbow should be outside the left leg or on top of it when giving a target. Furthermore, their target should be in the middle of their body and at the height of their knees/shin guards. Often times, a catcher will give a target that is too high and it becomes difficult for them to frame a pitch that is down in the strike zone. In addition, most catchers will drag the pitch out of the zone when they have to reach down to get it and it looks bad to the umpire.

Front Shoulder Flying Out Too Early in Your Swing

When your should flies out too early, a hitter needs to adjust quickly to fix the problem. A coach can tell when a hitters shoulder is flying out too early when the following occurs:

• The hitter's head and eyes move with the front shoulder and pull away from the ball
• A hitter's hands trail their shoulders, causing the barrel to be too late
• Swing gets too long
• Swing path will move towards and the ball and then away from the ball instead to and through the ball
• Because your front shoulder pulls up and out, your front shoulder on your approach to ball will tilt upward instead of downward

If you are not great at analyzing a swing the following will occur:

• The hitter will swing through a lot of pitches
• Weak fly balls and pop ups, most often to the opposite field as the hitter is spinning off the ball
• The sweet spot will rarely find the ball
• The hitter will have trouble hitting the outside pitch

A good tip to correct this is to have the hitter drive the rear shoulder forward and downward to the ball. This will keep the front shoulder from tilting upward. Sometimes you have to over emphasize a technique to get a desired result. This can be done by hitting off a tee emphasizing keeping your chest over the ball. If your hitter is still struggling, set up an L-screen approximately 25 feet in front of the hitter. As a coach, toss the ball on the outer half of the plate while having them practice hitting the outside pitch to the opposite field.

Short Hops for First Baseman

Here is a Defensive Video for You

This Is What Its All About!

One of my members had sent this video to me. Thanks JT. I hope this video is as inspirational to you as it was to me. It sure makes life a little easier to deal with.

http://www.heraldleaderphoto.com/2008/05/31/adam-bender/

When Do You Tell a Hitter to Pick Up the Pitch?

One of the things that I have struggled with as a coach is when do you tell a player to start tracking a ball when they are hitting. Some say a box over the shoulder and others are all over the board. I would like to hear from you. Email me at teachingcoaches@gmail.com

Greg

Backhanded Flips

Make Sure Your Hands Are Not Too Close

When hitter sets up in their stance they ideally want to start their hands just in front of their back shoulder, approximately 5 or 6 inches away from their body. A coach can help by placing a strip of athletic tape around a hitter's bat. Therefore, when their hitter sets up they can place their bat's tape mark on their shoulder to ensure that they have their hands in the right place and distance.

Here is an Infielders Position Tip for You

Hip Rotation

One tip that I want to review regarding hip rotation is for coaches to check the direction of a hitter's feet. If your hitter turns their toes outward and not straight forward, then your hitter will have a hard time rotating their hips. Just stand up and try it.

Watch the Backside Release

When watching this video make sure you pay attention to the backside release of the pivot foot. The pivot foot does not drag on the ground but actually releases as a pitcher's arm comes forward.

Catchers: Setting Up Target

Defensive Help

First Base Play and Drills Revised

Uploaded by Mississippi-Workforce-University on WiZiQ Tutorials

2nd Baseman Footwork

Defense Help Again

Stride or Not to Stride When Hitting?

When teaching hitting one method that seems to be effective is teaching no stride. The rationale for teaching no stride is that the stride is simply a timing device. With so many young hitters having issues with their stride being late or poorly why not introduce a stride in the later stages of their development? I had this article in my coaching notes so I thought that I would share this with you. The author was not indicated but, who ever did write it made some great points.The following is even further rationale for those who teach a no stride method:

• No one hits the ball with their front foot in the air.
• The front foot must be down before the hitter swings.
• The stride is one movement that creates the most havoc with the swing. A hitter can be tardy which causes indecision, foul ball or miss; too early causing weight to go forward before the swing or on time. Two or three are bad!
• The three musts in hitting that every hitter must be able to do are 1) Balance 2)The ability to rotate body inward and outward 3)Limited head movement. The stride simply negates the musts. It often causes off-balance, no rotation and head movement. A stride is a tradition but not a must.
• By spreading your feet twice shoulder width and maintaining balance, the no stride ensures that the three musts in hitting are much more consistent in each swing.
• No other sport takes a step when striking an object ex. golf. Hitting is still the most difficult athletic skill to do in sports therefore, consistency is key to being successful.

Take Our Pitching Test

Want to take a test on pitching?

Here is what we send to our players and coaches.

http://www.wiziq.com/online-tests/1114-pitching-test

Check Out Front Leg of Pitcher

In the video you will find how a pitcher shall lift their stride leg straight up and not pass the pitching rubber.

Example of an On-line Personal Lesson Only $9.99/month

If You Have A Hitter Opening Up To Much

Baserunning: Taking a Lead

Good Video on When to Transfer Weight and Stride

Watch Backside of Pitcher

Take a look at Carlos Marmol's backside how it comes with you as you throw. Furthermore, notice how the pitcher gets over their front leg.

When Pitching Take a Look at the Front Leg

When teaching pitching take a look at the front leg of the pitcher. Note the knee comes straight up and the toes point down so that they don't open up too fast on the front side. This is a picture of A.J. Bunnett.

Infield Tag Plays

Here is a Hitting Test for You

http://www.wiziq.com/online-tests/529-hitting-test

Very Good Advice For Parents of Players

I am always searching for new information and I thought when I read this article it was right on the money. I posted excerpts of the article below:

After coaching, I moved onto working in the field of college baseball recruiting, which a completely different level of dealing with high school baseball parents. Between the two experiences, I have certainly developed a solid list of do's and don't to help parents out with following their young athlete, and hopefully assisting him in advancing to the next level, whether it be as a collegiate student athlete, or even as a pro.
As a coach, I really only had one rule for the parents, and it was rule I stole from my high school coach who now coaches a DI in Florida. That rule was, "you can talk with me about anything except playing time. If playing time enters the conversation, the conversation is over." For some reason, when a player does not start or play an entire game or play their position of choice, a parent can twist this into the coach having an "agenda" against their child. That is almost never the case, especially the higher up you go. When coaches are paid to win games, they are trying to do just that. Sometimes a player may be in a slump, sometimes a coach plays a matchup, sometimes he may simply feel another player is better, but it is almost never because the coach doesn't like a given player or parent. Keep in mind that a good coach will communicate to his players why he makes a certain decision, and what they player can do to improve and get more playing time. Invariably, players understand these things better than the parents. Here are few other general principles to go by:
• Be seen and not heard - Especially at games. Cheering on the players is the best thing you can do. Yelling at a player, coach, or umpire is not going to have a positive impact. Don't coach every pitch from the stands. Players become distracted by what their parents are up to in the bleachers and it absolutely affects their play. Practices are the time for coaches to be vocal, games are for the players.
• Don't try to "pitch" your son to a high school or college coach -- It is extremely difficult, if not impossible to view your own son's play objectively. That is for the coach to do! If your son has talent, the coach will see it. That is what they are paid to do. Believe it or not, coaches see just about everything that happens on the practice or playing field and it doesn't take long to get a feel for a player's skill set.
• Coaches aren't perfect - Keep in mind, that coaches will make mistakes. I do realize that many coaches carry themselves as if they don't, but I can speak from experience and say I have mis-evaluated a player, especially early in the season. Some times a player simply improves, but sometimes he may have been better than the coach thought all along. Either way, coaches will usually correct their error and adjust the lineup accordingly. Even if they wont admit they were wrong, the lineup will show it.
• Be careful when you "angle yourself" in - Many parents volunteer their time to help with practices, concessions, scorekeeping, etc. Be sure that if you do this, you maintain the proper boundaries with the coach. Often times, parent that have additional responsibility feel it is acceptable to overstep and volunteer their input on how the team should be coached.
• Encourage and empower! - As much as a parent wants to help because they know best, whether it be on the playing field or in the recruiting process, the ultimate goal is to make the player self sufficient as a young man. If a player wants additional playing time, or wants to play a different position, he should simply go to the coach in private and ask what he needs to do to accomplish that goal. This will go miles longer than if it came from a parent. If a player shows the initiative to stay after a practice and do the extra work, coaches will reward the good example if possible so that it is seen by other players. You also want to empower your son when it comes to the college recruiting process (there will be following articles on this). Many parents feel this is their time to get more involved, however, a player is perfectly capable of initiating contact with college coaches by phone or email. Our website has detailed step-by-step instructions for them on how to do so. Coaches will seek out the parents when it is time.
In short, do your best to empower your son as a young man and high school athlete. Work with them to develop their skills, but don't be overbearing. Teach them to carry themselves with proper etiquette and work ethic, and when in doubt stay out of the coaches way.

Defensive Help

I saw this article on Defense and Conditioning Drills and I thought I might share it with you.

1. When we take infield (13 - 14 year olds) I usually do it by playing “Follow the Ball“:
Put a baseball player at every position of the infield except pitcher. Have the rest of the baseball team line up at short. Hit a grounder to the first guy in line at short to him to make a play at first. He then “follows the ball” by running to first and taking the first baseman’s position. The first baseman throws to second and “follows the ball” by running to second and taking that place.
Second baseman throws to third and runs there to take the third baseman’s place. Third throws home and takes the catchers place. The catcher puts the ball in a bucket and runs around to short and gets in line to receive a grounder.The nice thing about this baseball drill is that it moves very quickly and it keeps the players moving so it works on fitness and stamina. It also looks really cool when done correctly and everyone is making good throws.
2. To teach the proper way to go back for a fly ball, we have the outfielders literally run football pass patterns - typically a simple slant pattern - either to the left or right. While running the pattern have the baseball coach throw a long fly ball far enough behind the player so that they have to run to catch it. They sometimes will have to attempt an over the shoulder catch or, if they get there in time, they can stop and catch the ball in proper position to make a throw to the infield. The drill is designed to teach them how to turn and run for a deep fly ball rather than back peddling.

Here is a Hitting Tip for Coaches

Defensive Help For All My Coaches

Single to right field with a man on second and third.

A Great Point Made by Hal McRae Hitting Coach

Hal McRae was an outstanding hitter and great hitting coach for many years. He made a really great point that I thought that I would share with my coaches. Hal was speaking about using key phrases and points when talking to hitters. He said that he only uses a few of them so he doesn't as he says "go all over the map". He goes on to say "the time to educate the hitter and break things down are during soft toss drills or in the cage. Give them one thing to work on and not five or six things to do because they will become counterproductive."

What a great point for all of us. Sometimes we throw things at our players that is not the right time or contains too much information to process and eventually it becomes counterproductive.

Work on one point at a time and once the player masters it and builds confidence, throw another thing at them. That way they can attack the ball without self doubt or hesitation.