Find out if they are bunting

It’s the last inning and the score is tied.  The lead-off batter gets on first base.  If the following batter is not a good hitter, what will happen next is pretty clear cut – a sacrifice bunt.  But what if the next batter is a pretty good hitter.  Will he bunt or swing away?  Knowing […]

Arm strength vs Arm action

I believe the hardest thing to fix/change about a baseball player is the way he throws.  Young players who have poor arm action rarely are able to change that.  It can be done but it usually takes some extensive intervention. When I watch young teams play, there is almost always a player/pitcher who stands out […]

The Long Hop Drill

Most coaches and infielders have heard of and probably participated in a short hop drill.  In a short hop drill, two or more players stand in fielding position roughly 10-15 feet apart and toss short hops at other players.  It can be done bare-handed or with a glove, with baseballs or bouncy balls, and/or can involve […]

Saving baseballs

A while back I wrote a three part post about the various Cardinal Sins of Baseball.  The other day I identified another:  Throwing out baseballs.  I was walking around in a park during one of my son’s soccer practices and saw a couple baseballs in a trash can next to one of the baseball fields.  I shook […]

Contact points for hitters

In yesterday’s post about two strike hitting, I mentioned that looking away allows a hitter to wait a little longer on the pitch.  In relation to that, I thought it would be appropriate to show where the various contact points are depending on where the ball is thrown.  The diagram below is what it looks […]

Looking away with two strikes

One of the most valuable things my father taught me as a young player was how to hit with two strikes.  This post HERE and this post HERE get into a number of the adjustments he pounded into me.  This post will deal with a common mental adjustment. “Looking away” with two strikes is a […]

Random thoughts about Fall Ball

Fall Ball has become quite the rage in many different age groups.  My first experience with Fall Ball wasn’t until college.  Our baseball workouts started the first day of classes.  I was in heaven!  For all my years prior, the fall meant soccer and for many years, winter meant wrestling.  There was basically no such […]

Moving catchers around

I once played with a catcher who, whenever a runner got on first base, would call for an outside fastball on just about every pitch.  I, along with the other pitchers on the staff, caught on pretty quickly to what was going on.  An outside fastball would benefit the catcher in his ability to throw […]

How can that not be a hit?

I was talking to a mother the other day whose son has just begun to play on a regulation field – 60′ mound / 90′ bases.  It has been quite an eye opener for the players.  After an at-bat, a player was heard saying, “I hit that so far!  How can that not be a […]

Injuries: One week or one month?

About 10 days ago one of my daughters got a horrible gash on her leg that required an emergency room visit and five stitches.  She is fine but her experience since then has caused her a lot grief.  Because of her injury and the stitches, she has been unable to start up her new dance […]

The coaching attitude

In the world of science there is a phrase called “the scientific attitude” which has three components: curiosity, skepticism, and humility.  Here is what they mean for scientists: Curiosity – Always having a passion to explore in order to learn something new.  As John Wooden said, “what matters most is what you learn after you […]

Training captains

Scenario #1: Congratulations kid!  You were selected by your teammates to be the team captain.  I expect you to be a good one.  Good luck.” Scenario #2:  “Congratulations kid!  You were selected by your teammates to be the team captain.  I expect you to be a good one so I am going to send you […]

The command bullpen: Fixing a wild thrower

Every coach has dealt with a kid who just struggles to throw the ball over the plate.  Some of those kids, based on their mechanics, velocity, etc., are just shifted to other positions and promptly labeled “not a pitcher.”  But some kids show extreme promise with regard to their throwing ability.  These are the players […]

Seasons of strength (Part2)

Fall may not officially begin until late September but basically, when school starts the Fall begins. Below is a reprint of the first post I wrote called Seasons of strength.  Read it or review but either way … It’s a new season.  What adjustments are you making?   Seasons of strength This time of year, baseball players should start […]

Back to the bag in the air

There were three MLB games I watched in recent days where a runner on third totally screwed up a tag play on balls hit to the outfield.  I guess it bothers me so much because these are mistakes that I could not even accept from my high school players.  Here is what happened in all […]

Because you just never know

Here is a story about a former player of mine that should be a lesson for all young players.  This player had a good high school career but even though he went to a Division I college, it certainly was not a top-teir one.  That’s because he wasn’t the 6’3″ blue chipper with the 90+ […]

Matt Szczur: Score one for the good guys

My father always said “sports (especially baseball) makes good people.”  It’s unfortunate but too often the bad guys in sports get all the attention.  Through my time in baseball, there have been so many great human beings that I’ve come into contact with and very few of them have ever gotten the notoriety they deserve. […]

Flat ground work for pitchers

I heard a college coach at a convention say that throwing off a mound adds six times the stress on the body/arm as compared to throwing on flat ground.  Unfortunately, most young pitchers think that if they are not throwing off a mound then they aren’t really pitching. If you have ever attended a pro […]

One hop or line drives

One of the more common phrases I heard growing up was “hit ground balls and line drives.”  For the most part, this is sound advice.  Keeping the ball out of the air (fly balls) tend to improve a batter’s swing as well as his average.  But a problem sometimes develops because of the phrase.  Some batters […]

I field with my feet

Whenever I played, I made it a habit to watch the other teams’ pre-game infield/outfield routines.  You can learn quite a bit about what the other team can and can’t do just by watching those 10-15 minute warm-ups.  For selfish reasons, I also paid close attention to the other teams’ shortstops.  Because that’s what I […]

Off side errors

As a coach, defense was always my main priority.  I certainly believed in the maxim, “Offense wins games, defense wins championships.”  Every year I would remind my players that being good on defense is not about making Web Gems.  It’s all about making the routine play.  When the other team hands you an out, you […]