Happy Birthday! … and a survey!

Today is Baseball By The Yard’s first birthday!  On December 12, 2010, I launched the site with two posts: First Impressions and By The Yard. Everyday since then (with the exception of a family vacation during the summer) I have tried to post something valuable for players, coaches, parents, and/or fans.  I hope you found them useful! […]

Fielding with two triangles

No matter what age you are dealing with, fielding a baseball starts with learning how to form these two triangles.  Virtually every fielding drill should include this basic foundation.

Reclaim your downtime

An iPod could be your off-season’s best piece of baseball equipment. One of the biggest challenges for student-athletes at any level is managing their time.  Juggling the time commitments needed to be the best student and best athlete you can be is no easy task.  Ironically, when I was a student in high school and in […]

Positioning a ball on a batting tee

Today’s video tip involves one of those little things that can go a long way towards improving your batting tee work. What other little things are good to do while working on a batting tee?  Leave a comment or shoot me an email!

Are your off-season baseball workouts clean?

Part of what makes a player successful in baseball is their ability to be very efficient with their skills.  Over time, they have been able, through training or just their natural abilities, to eliminate most of the unnecessary movements that prevent others from keeping up with the pace of the game as they get older.  […]

Batting tee drills: Using a stepper

Sorry to those who were missing the video posts.  I was waiting for the new banner and gear to arrive! Today’s tip involves using an aerobic stepper in a few ways to promote good mechanics and address some of the common problems hitters have.  Enjoy! Some t-shirt give-aways might be coming soon!   Do you have […]

Baseball books

Of course, being a school teacher by day, I always encourage reading.  If you are approaching the holiday season and not sure what to get that special baseball person, how about some books?  Below are some good choices.  All these books are linked in the upper right of my page.  Clicking on each takes you […]

Do you see yourself succeed?

 The title may sound like a strange question to ask a player but the answer can be very revealing about why a player may not be reaching his full potential.  I’m probably not going out on a limb here when I say all baseball players lie in their bed and dream of being in the […]

Scouts look at coaches too

As a player, there will always be people watching you.  Your talent and how you conduct yourself in good times and bad will not go unnoticed.  This is nothing new.  Coaches have been telling their players this forever.  But do the coaches realize that they are being watched also?   They are not just looking […]

The arrogance of organizations

Let me put my cards right out on the table.  I am not a football fan.  Especially not the NFL.  I could very easily go an entire football season and not watch a single game.  Even the Super Bowl.  I will admit that I have tried but usually I end up having to turn it […]

How to improve bat speed: A simple tip

To start,  let’s begin with a few questions.  When a bullet is shot out of a gun, does it gradually speed up as it exits the gun to reach its maximum velocity somewhere in the distance?  How about an arrow shot out of a bow?  Does the arrow travel faster as it moves farther away […]

Off-season hitting: Using wood bats

This time of year, more players at the high school and college levels use wooden bats as part of their off-season training.  This is a great thing to do for a number of reasons.  A few of them were listed as part of a previous post which dealt with using heavy bats.  Even though that […]