Keeping Your Arm Healthy

Hey Guys,

I will have an extension of this post coming soon, but I'm going to talk about how to keep your arm healthy throughout the season.  The secret is BANDS!  If you're not doing them, you need to start.  I know you've heard it a million times, but its true.  They will help to rebuild what you lost in a day of throwing and they will  help to strengthen your arm without actually throwing.  I will have a post coming soon on certain exercises to do.  Some of them are very common and others are a little different and target the muscles that protect your arm.

Tip of the Day: When you're throwing to get loose before practice or a game, increase your distance with an arc on your throw, and come back in on a line.  This will allow you to see what you have in your arm that day, and also allow you to throw at your pique velocity day in and day out.

Until Next Time!

The Five Tools

Hey Guys,

This post is for all of you out there who are either serious about baseball and playing at a high level, being recruited to play in college, or have a kid that wants to play in college.  I want to put to rest all of the, quite frankly, bull crap that is fed to parents and kids when it comes to recruiting.  I have talked to many college coaches at a very high level and studied the tools of many top recruits of all time, so I'm pretty confident that these are correct. (100% confident)  What the scouts like to look at is the five tools; speed, arm strength, defensive ability, hitting for average, and hitting for power.  I'd like to go through all of them and explain where your kid needs to be.

Speed- Regardless of what you are told, there is no leniency on your time based on your position, except for pitchers and a STUD catcher.  Otherwise, you need to be able to run.  To get a lot of good looks from coaches and scouts you need to be below a 7.0 as an outfielder and it really depends on how you are as a player for the other positions.  I have seen shortstops that run 7.3s playing at D1 schools and catchers who run 7.9s playing at D1 schools.  It just depends.  This dependency does not mean leniency.  It's not, "Oh well he's a catcher so he doesn't have to be fast," it's, "he's an awesome defensive catcher, so we will sacrifice some speed to have his glove."

Arm Strength- When looking at your arm strength, they are looking at carry and velocity.  It is possibly the single biggest killer of kids getting recruited.  D1 pitchers are normally throwing in the upper 80s and higher, but there are exceptions due to how good of "stuff" a guys has.  Catchers need to be able to put it down to second at 76mph or higher.  Infielders need to be in the mid 80s or higher across the infield, and outfielders really need to be able to throw it.  Most guys you see are bringing it upper 80s and higher out of the outfield.

Defensive Ability-  This speaks for itself.  You need to be able to make the routine plays and the spectacular plays.  What nobody ever talks about, however, is that you need to look smooth.  Too many players say, "I make way more plays than Johnny, and he's going to a D1 school and I'm not.  It's not fair."  Well, odds are you are lacking the other tools, and you probably look like a robot while making those plays.  You have to make it look easy at whatever position you play.

Hitting for Average- The scouts aren't looking for a guy who can bat .600.  They're looking for the guy who can consistently put balls in play with authority.  In a game this speaks for itself,  but at a showcase it doesn't.  Too many kids at showcases go and hit 300 foot fly balls and think they're impressing everyone.  If you're that person, stop it!  Coaches want to see line drives  and gap shots, not fly outs.

Hitting for Power- This is a very subjective tool, and it's always based on how the player plays the other parts of the game.  But, for the most part the scouts are looking for a guy who can drive the gaps consistently, and contrary to popular belief they do like to see a guy who can hit the ball out of the ballpark.  You don't have to be a home run hitter, but the coaches will be more impressed with the kid who can do it.  It's just a fact.  That doesn't mean stand up at the plate and take donkey hacks and try to hit home runs every time.  Just hit it with authority and things will work out.

Pitchers- Location, location, location.  Unless you're a 90s guy, you better be able to throw the ball through a dixie cup.  If you are in the 90s, then they're a little more lenient, but you still need to throw strikes.  Also, you need to make sure that you have two effective off speed pitches.

Many kids don't like to hear about the five tools, because it makes them feel like a bad baseball player, but that isn't the case.  It's rare to see five tool guys.  If you're not a five tool guy focus on making your strengths as polished as possible, and make your weaknesses your strengths.  If you guys are interested in knowing about divisions 2 and 3 comment on this post and I'll gladly put out a supplement to this post.  I just wanted you guys to have an idea about where you should strive to be.

Tip of the Day:  During training, try to stay away from football type lifts.  They produce strong, but slow muscles that are not beneficial to baseball.  Make sure that you are doing explosive workouts, and you'll be shocked to see how much all five of your tools improve.

Until Next Time!

"Spark": A New Hitting Term?

Hey Guys,

Today I've got an awesome new hitting drill for you.  I do a lot of video studying to try and figure out the best ways to hit with power and consistency.  While watching the videos, it's always fascinating to me how some of these guys can hit the ball the way they can.  Recently, I was watching a video of Babe Ruth hitting and was shocked at how he stood with his feet together.  It begged the question, "why did he stand this way?"  I thought about it for an entire day, and here's what I came up with:

I think that his stride that he took got his hips moving towards the baseball and due to the laws of physics they were able to explode quicker, because they were already moving. (An object in motion tends to stay in motion)  Think about this.  Who are the guys that don't stride?  Pujols, Mcgwire, Edmonds, maybe some others.  What do those guys all have in common?  They are all freakishly big and strong.  The guys who are not as big and strong have to get their hips moving before they actually begin the rotational part of the baseball swing, because they aren't strong enough to start them up without a "spark" as we will call it.

Think about Ken Griffey Jr.  He's one of the greatest home run hitters of all time, and the man was NOT strong.  He squatted only 300 pounds, and could only bench about 200 pounds, but he could hit 500 foot home runs.  Why?  He was able to "spark" his swing by going from a narrower stance with a stride to let his fast twitch muscles and hips work with more efficiency.  It's really an amazing thing.

So here's the drill:  We are going to call it the "Sultan of Swat" drill.  Stand with your feet together in your stance, then take a stride and take your swing.  You can do it off the tee, in batting practice, or anywhere you want.  It seems too simple, but you'll be shocked at how this gets your hips into your swing, and how much more power it will produce.

Moral of the story is, unless you are unbelievably strong and quick, you need to "spark" your swing with a stride, a leg kick, or a toe tap, or something of that sort.  We need to get away from the no stride theory.

Tip of the Day: The reason many kids and players are attracted to the "no stride" plan is because, quite honestly, it's easy to time up the pitch when you're not doing something with movement.  Get in the cage and get the timing down to have some sort of spark in your swing.  It will not fail you.

P.S. This completely contradicts one of my earlier posts where I endorsed "no stride" as one of the load styles.  I no longer think that it is effective.  This may go against what some coaches think, but I think that the laws of physics speak for themselves.

See how Ruth stands with his feet together,
and Griffey has his feet slightly wider than
shoulder width?  They use a "spark"
(a stride for both of these hitters) to get their
hips moving into the swing.  I think that the
results for both speak for themselves.












Until next time!

Dealing with Frustration: Focal Points

Hey Guys,

Some of you may have heard of this, and some of you probably haven't, but this is another piece of valuable information regarding the mental game.  It's called a focal point.  You may see it commonly used by many major league baseball players.   That split second where they step off the mound or out of the box and look what seems like off into the distance, they're actually focused on something.  When you feel yourself tightening up with frustration, find something that you can stare at.  Think of only that thing.  It may be the logo on your bat, the top of the center field fence, or your shoelaces.  Whatever it is, make sure it is taking your mind off of the adversity.  Many people who try to read sports psychology think, "Well, if I just learn this one technique I'll be fine, because all the techniques do the same thing."  My opinion on that is, you're right.  Sports psychology does try to do one thing; help you deal with adverse situations, so that you can get the most out of your performance.

Let me pose this question.  There are two baseball players.  One has three major league tools, and the other has four.  Which player is the better baseball player?  Seems like a pretty simple question right?  Well it's the same thing with these mental techniques.  The player who has the most mental tools will be able to resort to different ones when they just don't have what it takes to perform one of them.  For example, let's say you've been struggling on the mound so badly that you can't even visualize yourself doing well.  It will happen.  And if you think it won't or that it doesn't, then your visualizations aren't as realistic as they need to be.  Anyway, when you're at that point with the game, you need to be able to turn to another arrow in your mental quiver to lock you into the game mentally.  Do you see what I mean?

Baseball is a reactionary sport.  You do not need to be thinking about the task at hand to hit a baseball, or throw a pitch.  You should've have done it enough in practice that your body knows how to do it.  The problem is that as humans, we like to think of the worst things that can happen.  So the next time you get those thoughts, or frustration step away and focus on something else that takes your mind off the task at hand. Then, get back into the game and REACT.

Tip of the Day: Focus on something that is at every ball park.  The human brain/body does better with routines.  If your focal point is different every game, your mind will begin to wander.  For example, Evan Longoria focuses on the top of the foul pole in left field every time he needs to get away during the game.

Thanks!

Mental Game: Visualization

Hey guys,

So let's talk about a very important part of the mental game today: visualization.  Many people view visualization as a lie, so let me first tell you some of the athletes who use, or have used it.  Jack Nickalus, Mark Mcgwire, and Albert Pujols are just a few that use or have used this technique.  It works.  You hear too many times that baseball is 90% mental, but then little to no time is spent practicing the mental part of the game.  If you truly want to be good at this game then you need to spend time working on the mental part.  Today I wanted to give you guys a routine that will allow you to do things you never though possible.

Here it is:

You're all familiar with the showcase workout.  You know, catchers throwing to second, blocking balls, and receiving pitches, then taking BP?  Or outfielders throwing to third, then home, and then taking BP.  Well here's a secret: Before you go to sleep every night, go through one of these showcase workouts in your head.  I'll give you a more specific catchers' example:

First, throw 3 balls to second base, then 3 to first and 3 to third.  Then go ahead and block your balls, and receive.  Now, move on to your batting practice.  Make sure that all of these things in your head go perfectly.

However, that is not it.  If you are a position player, take at-bats off any pitcher you can think of.  If you are a pitcher, face the toughest lineup you can face.  Put yourself into adverse situations, but don't even think about failure.  Overcome all adversity with all of the confidence in the world.

This all seems very simple, but it really does work.  Your mind is the most powerful thing in sports.  It can either take you to the major leagues or end your career.  My next few posts are going to be about different parts of the mental game.  I hope you enjoy them.  Please let me know what you think!

Tip of the Day: Make your visualizations as realistic as possible.  See yourself going beyond things that you have done before.  You truly can add distance and miles per hour to your ball, just by seeing it happen over and over in your mind.  You will begin to believe that it's routine, if you do it enough.  The more vivid your visualizations become, the more benefit your game will see.

Thanks!

The Lost Art of Bunting

Hey guys,

Today let's talk about something that people either really love, or really hate: Bunting.  Whether you like it or not, it is a skill that needs to be taught, and can win you baseball games.  Most of the coaches out there right now will say, that the game has changed due to the new bats, and they're right.  Here's where they are wrong; You can still increase your batting average and score more runs than you did in the past with the new bats.  You must be able to incorporate the threat of small ball into your offense.  I didn't say that you have to play small ball, you have to have the threat.  Now, of course this means that yes you will have to play some small ball to plant that seed in the other teams mind, but hear me out.  As a team, you can kill a teams will with a well placed bunt.  It can start a rally, it can force an error, or it can even win a game.  Moving runners through the means of bunting is way more effective than trusting your team to mash the whole season.  If you bunt during bunting situations, and have guys that can bunt for a hit, it will move the defense up in the infield.  Whether the coach tells them (he probably will), or not they will subconsciously move forward in the infield to make the play on the bunt.  This will raise your team batting average and allow you to take bases on teams that shouldn't be taken, because the team is out of position.  And here's where I get the, "small ball is for babies" and "I want my kids to have fun" stuff.  Well first of all, my team is still going to hit the hell out of the ball, and second of all your kids will have fun when they're winning and scoring runs.  How can my team still crush the ball if I'm playing small ball?  Because, it's just like anything in life.  The more things that you have to think about, the more likely it is you'll mess something up.  If you can put the threat of small ball into the defense's mind, now everyone is watching for it, including the pitcher, who will in turn throw more dead red fastballs than normal, because he isn't 100 percent focused on the job at hand.  If you have the chance, watch Vanderbilt play baseball.  They do a perfect job of this, and in turn score a lot of runs, and play a very fast paced game.  The quicker your offense moves, the quicker the defense moves, and the quicker errors, bad pitches, and bad throws happen.  Try this philosophy.  You'll be surprised at how quick the game gets going, when you're running all over the other team, and if you're a guy who loves hitting (like me) you will see a lot more mistakes that you can hit out of the yard because of it.

Now let's talk about how to bunt.  There are three key things to remember:

1. Start with your bat high in the zone, so that all you have to do is bend your legs to get to a lower pitch.

2. Keep the bat flat.  The old "keep it at angle theory" will result in too many missed bunts.

3. Divide that bat into thirds for maximum bat control.

Notice that in the above picture, this batter is doing all of these things.  He is also playing for a major league team.  This is how they do it, so this is how every player should do it.

This topic angers a lot of coaches, so I apologize if you disagree with this theory, but it will work.  You will score more runs, and you will hit for a higher average.  Baseball is changing, and if you don't evolve with it, you will die out.

Tip of the Day: The more players that you have that can bunt and/or bunt for a hit, the better the above philosophy will work for your team.  Make sure that every kid is able to bunt, even if he is your four hitter and will probably never bunt.

Until Next Time!

Outfield Made Simple

Hey guys,

So here's a question I get all the time, and the people who don't ask it really don't know how to teach it anyway.  "How do I make my outfielders better at their job?"  Now, obviously this applies to the people living somewhere they can't be outside in the winter.  Much like throwing to get better at throwing, there is no better way to get better at outfield than to take outfield practice.  But, there are many ways that we can make our kids better outfielders.  I find that the most successful way to train an outfielder when you don't have access to a baseball is to make the kid a wide receiver.  That's right, throw him a football.  After learning that Giancarlo Stanton was a wide receiver, I never have changed my method and it works.  My team tracks down everything.

Here's the deal:  You have to challenge them athletically.  Make them do things that they aren't comfortable doing.  Put them in positions they aren't comfortable in.  When you do this, the game will come to them much easier.  I like to use a progression:

1. Play regular catch but throw it at the kid hard and move his hands around.  Really challenge him.  Make the catches as hard as you can make them without making him move his feet.  He should be standing in an athletic position not moving.

2. Now move them out in front of you in a punt returning position.  Throw/kick the ball up to him and move him side to side.  DO NOT LET HIM CATCH IT LIKE A PUNT!!! MAKE HIM CATCH IT OVER HIS HEAD!  During this one keep everything in front of him so he's moving in to catch it.

3. Now have them stand ten yards in front of you with their back turned.  As you throw the ball at them, say "ball" and have them spin around and catch the ball.  Have them spin to both sides.  We are now getting to the part of the progression now where it's time to make them uncomfortable.

4.  This one is awesome.  Put them on their butts facing you, and throw the ball high and reasonably far, according to how athletic they are.  Right when you throw the football, they must get up and track it down.

5. For the final part of the progression just have them run routes, but challenge them.  Don't try to hit them with a perfect pass every time.  Make them run, dive, and jump.  Make it a point that if they can get under the ball and not catch it on the run to do so.  Even though we are using a football, it's still baseball practice.

Don't make it militant.  Have fun with it.  Make it a competition, things of that sort.  Another thing that will make this the most fun with them is to do it in awful weather conditions.  Take them out in the snow, the mud, and the rain and let them go nuts.  They won't even think of it as practicing baseball.  It's one of the old "back yard" ways of getting better at baseball.

Work on their speed too.  They won't like this as much, but it's something that has to be done.  A sub 7 sixty runner will never hurt as an outfielder.  Also, a cannon arm won't hurt either.  Get them on the bands, and actually throwing the football if it's too cold for baseball.  It won't put the same stress on your arm.

Guys, nobody likes to go out into the elements and practice baseball, but that's where THE PLAYER (not the parent) needs to decide how far he wants to go in this great game.  The guy who wants to play in the big leagues and means it when he says it will be out there running, and catching the football when it's ten degrees.  That's just a matter of mental toughness.

Tip of the Day: Expect to catch every ball as a player.  Don't get into the excuse game of, "I couldn't get there" or "I slipped".  Catch everything.  Don't let anything drop!  It's unacceptable and games are won and lost in the outfield many times.

Until next time!

What Are You Focused On?

Hey guys,

Let's talk a little bit of pitching today.  What do you guys focus on while your pitching?  Most guys are only focusing on the glove, but I say that to be as accurate as possible you need to become even more focused.  According to Psychologists, the more laser focused on the task at hand you are, the more successful you are going to be.  That being said, you need to be able to have that focus, and still be able to play the game around you (base runners, signs, etc...).  So the question then becomes, what do you focus on?  The answer is very simple.  Focus on one of the letters on the logo of the catchers mitt on the inside.  Focus on throwing it through that target, and you will be shocked at how much more accurate you will be.  This was a very short post, but one of the more valuable ones.  Try it in your next throwing session and let me know what you guys think.

Thanks!