Archives for Baseball skills category
In reading about Kevin Correia, baseball pitcher for the Padres, I felt both sad and angry. It’s a story that we find all too often regardless of the team or league. After what can be considered a good season last year and a good start this year, he is now struggling.
This in itself is sad but my frustration and anger comes from the inability of the team and coaches to find out what is wrong and get him back to his winning ways. The knowledge and methodology is already available. It only needs implementation! Read more… »
The hype and stories regarding Stephen Strasburg seem to be getting bigger and more outlandish every day. Much of it is deserved and earned as his feat of striking out 14 players in his first major league game was a fantastic accomplishment.
Major league baseball and its many fans find his feat hard to believe, and as a result, they talk about it as the greatest thing that has happened to baseball in decades. They believe that he will be able to duplicate, or come close to duplicating, this feat in all his future games. Read more… »
“You could field a pretty good team with the injured players sitting out opening day.” This statement caught my attention when I read about all the baseball stars who will not be playing on opening day.
But, as I have brought out in previous blogs, this is indicative of three factors. First, the players are not in very good physical condition, second, the players are not doing skill specific strength exercises, and third, the teams are still continuing in their old ways when it comes to injury prevention and enhancement of performance. Read more… »
Posted on Mar 13, 2010 under Baseball, Baseball skills, instruction |
As I continue to work with baseball players I have become convinced that the instructional programs in the minors, professional leagues and what scouts say has no semblance of coordination. It appears that individuals from each of these categories tells an athlete to do something that is completely opposite from what the others say.
I can understand some deviation when coaches have a preference for one technique or another, but not when they tell the athlete to do something that is opposite of what they were told by the previous coach. A little of this is understandable but it is rampant. Read more… »
There have been quite a few articles in the papers about young baseball players. Some of these players, aged 9-10, play for travel baseball teams that often play for a national championship, as for example the under 10 title. According to the coaches, these experiences will help them grow as baseball players.
The articles bring out that there are now hundreds of such teams that do extensive travel –which is often quite expensive for the parents. However, they believe it is well worth it as this is a great way to to have their son not only become recognized, but also develop into an outstanding player. Thus they rejoice whenever the team does well and especially when their youngster does well.
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All teams that play the Yankees and non Yankee fans will probably give a resounding yes to this question. At the same time, they will also ask how you can beat them when they have so much money to buy the best athletes.
The answer is very simple; train the players to perform better. This is not a “well duh” response mainly because most people believe that this is already being done. But it is not, and can be proven very easily. Read more… »
To ask what is player development may appear to be a silly question. However it is not; this term is often either misunderstood, misinterpreted or has completely different meanings.
For example, the new owners of the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres have stated that player development is a high priority. In Chicago’s case they feel that the team already has sufficient talent while San Diego is more interested in great scouting. Read more… »
I have purposely waited until now before writing about the West team and their great accomplishment in the Little League world championship. The team rightly deserves all the accolades given them as this was truly a fantastic accomplishment.
When I watched some of the games I didn’t just cheer them on, hoping for a hit or a home run or double play etc. I looked at how they threw the ball, how they swung the bat and how they ran when running the bases. In essence, I looked at their technique and how well they executed these all-important baseball skills.
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It is not uncommon to hear pitching coaches say that they work with pitchers on their mechanics. But they rarely if ever spell out what the mechanics are. In general, they use the term mechanics in place of technique. It can refer to certain actions of the total technique or to the entire throwing motion.
Mechanics should refer to throwing technique since the limbs and muscles act as lever and pulley systems which can be evaluated in a very scientific and precise manner. However, instead of determining the exact actions or movements that are in need of improvement, we instead usually hear general terms such as they are working on full extension of the arm. When this occurs or why it is even needed, is not mentioned. Read more… »
To find the many baseball swings lost in a season, it may be time to bring in a detective like Sherlock Holmes. It appears that the teams and their coaches are unable to help the players find their lost swings.
The number of lost swings seems to keep increasing since it is common to read about another player spending countless hours swinging the bat in order to find his swing. And it is not unique to any team or league. The concept that you should keep swinging to find your swing appears to be the only method that the teams use. Sadly, it is also the poorest way of resolving the problem. Read more… »
To get an answer regarding which bat you should use, it seems logical that you would go to the team coach. However, this does not appear to be standard operating procedure in the major leagues. For example, Adrian Gonzalez of the San Diego Padres, talked to Ryan Howard of the Phillies and NL home run leader two of the past three years, regarding his use of a bigger bat.
He liked what he was told, tried it for himself and found that it definitely helped. According to Gonzalez, “the leverage you create with a 35 inch, 33 ounce bat is going to be far greater than with a 34 inch, 31 ounce bat, which is what I used to use.” Read more… »
It was sad to read about baseball player Allan Dykstra and his hip problems, which may prevent him from moving up to the major leagues. According to him there’s a possibility of the injury occurring again. Rather than dwelling on the injury I was disappointed in that the reporter did not report information that could be of value to up-and-coming players.
For example according to Dykstra, since there’s nothing that he could do about it except try to prolong the injury from appearing again. To that end, he is doing stretching with extra work. However, the kinds of stretches or what kind of extra work is being done is not brought out. But yet, this is important information. Read more… »
There was an article in the local papers the other day describing what batting coaches teach to minor leaguers as well as to the pros. They are all in accord with the statement that “you’ve got to hit it … {the ball} … with backspin. That way it skips through the infield.” It was also brought out that a ball hit with backspin carries better.
There’s no questioning the fact that the ball will carry better if it has backspin. But this also means that the ball stays in the air longer before it makes contact with the ground. Yet, at the same time, the coaches tell the players to “hit through the ball”, “smack hard line drives” and “hit hard ground balls with backspin.” Read more… »
I have talked about the lack of player development on collegiate and professional teams in many of my blogs. According to the teams player development implies teaching the athlete what to do in his position and/or in particular situations. It does not include improving the player’s technique and developing his/her physical abilities specific to their technique.
Most people find this hard to believe especially in view of the salaries that players get and the amount of money involved in the sports. It is analogous to buying a fleet of the most expensive cars available and then not knowing how to fine-tune or maintain them in order to have them perform as best as possible. An even better example may be buying a top racing car and then not having the mechanics capable of fine-tuning it or getting it ready for a race.
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There was an article in the paper the other day describing the opening of a new Frozen Ropes facility for baseball player training. It’s great to see such facilities being constructed as they give many ballplayers, both young and old, a great opportunity to practice and improve their skills.
However, the title of the article bothered me greatly. It was stated that, “At this center, it’s basics loaded”. They may deal with basics but is the instruction accurate and effective? I have never been at one of these facilities nor do I know of anyone who presently works that any of these facilities. But I feel confident in saying that even though they may deal with basics, they are not affectively teaching basics. Read more… »
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