See you soon!

Hello everyone! With summer coming to a close and school starting up soon, I will need to take a break from posting for a little while.  I hope you are enjoying the posts and are finding them useful.   As you might have seen in my bio, I have been fortunate to have been surrounded […]

Breaking up a double play

One of the many jobs of a first base coach is to tell every runner at first base to “break up a double play” if there are less than two outs.  How it is done depends on what level the player finds himself on but the main idea is that going hard to second base […]

Disney World USA

Just got back from a week at Disney World in Florida.  I don’t know which is tougher:  hitting a Justin Verlander fastball or corralling three little kids at Disney for a week.  I need a vacation from my vacation.

Track the ball all the way

Here is the video form of a post I first wrote about and explained HERE.

“Ball to the ear” myth

Part 2: Pitching tip to get the ball out

Part 1: Pitching tip to get the ball out

Video: The best bunting drill

This drill for bunting was another one done in written form previously.  I received some requests for a video so here it is.

Outfielders: Step in to catch

This video post was also explained in written form a while back.

Hands inside the baseball

I believe the concept of “keeping your hands inside the ball” is one of the most important aspects of successful hitting.  In this video I explain what it means and provide four reasons why it’s so important.

Finding the seams (Part 2)

In a previous video post linked HERE, I promised to do another video on what specifically each finger on the throwing hand does in order to get the proper grip on the ball as an infielder.  Today’s post shows how it is done.

Curse of the little things

When you are obsessed with the finer points of baseball, it sometimes makes it difficult to watch a game.  The other night I took my five year old son on a “guy’s night out” to watch an American Legion state tournament game.  My son was wide eyed and attentive.  He watched the game like any […]

“Calm”

The last relaxation technique of this series involves what some people would consider a little bit of meditation.  To look at the previous three posts on helping players relax in the moment are HERE, HERE, and HERE.  Like the other techniques mentioned in this series, this one can be adjusted for lengthy sessions on down […]

A good sigh

This is the second post in a series dedicated to helping players relax in the moment.  The previous posts on the subject are HERE and HERE. Another breathing technique that can help a player relax in the moment is a good “sigh” on the exhale.  To do this one, a player breathes in normally through […]

Three part breathing

In yesterday’s post, I explained how athletes need to develop the ability to relax and withdraw either temporarily or completely depending on the situation.  Today’s post starts a series of posts dedicated to techniques that can help athletes accomplish all this. In stressful situations, whether they know it or not, most people’s breathing undergoes some […]

Relax and withdraw

For an athlete to be at his best, he will need to develop the ability to relax and withdraw from his environment completely as well as temporarily.      Although John Kruk once said “I’m not an athlete, I’m a ballplayer”, baseball players certainly need it too.  The ability to withdraw from all the distractions […]

Congratulations to Coach Manero

Congratulations to Coach Kevin Manero, a good friend of mine who was recently inducted into the Pennsylvania American Legion Hall of Fame.  If you have been an avid visitor to Baseball By The Yard you have heard this name before.  He was my only guest post writer so far with a fantastic article on the […]