Baseball By The Yard Updates

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying your summers.  I wanted to pass on a couple updates about the website. 1. The next post will be early next week.  I will be enjoying the July 4th holiday in a super-secret baseball location. 2. A good friend who is a pro scout and I are […]

Five foot what?

Just a few players among the MLB stat leaders as of today …  Troy Tulowitzki, 6-3, 215 lbs., currently batting .352 Miguel Cabrera, 6-4, 240 lbs, .325, 64 RBI’s Matt Adams, 6-3, 230 lbs., .328 Mike Trout, 6-2, 230 lbs, 58 RBI’s Adam Wainwright, 6-7, 228 lbs, 2.01 ERA Giancarlo Stanton, 6-6, 240 lbs., 21 […]

Little kids SHOULD imitate major leaguers

When you were growing up, how many times did you play Wiffle ball or stick ball and pretend to be major leaguers?  It was a daily occurrence for me and my friends.  If I was the Phillies I would try to bat exactly like Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose, Gary Maddox, Larry Bowa, and Manny Trillo. […]

Is it ok to take the top hand off the bat after the swing?

The other day a high school player asked me, “Is it ok to take the top hand off the bat after the swing?”  My answer was YES.  In fact, virtually every time a player asks that kind of question, my answer will be YES.  As I’ve said before, as soon as you say NO to […]

Random tips for summer ball

To me, there was nothing better than summer ball.  I woke up and other than some chores around the house, the day was just about baseball.  No school and no homework.  Just baseball.   Although every level of summer ball was fun for me, it wasn’t always easy.  The heat and humidity along with multiple […]

Underhand and backhand flips to second base

You would think a ten foot underhand or backhand toss would be a gimmie but of course, anytime a throw is made you never know what will happen. The success of a double play largely depends on how fast and how accurate the feed to the guy at second base is made.  There are certainly […]

Hey base stealers, steal early in the count

When I played in college and pro ball I was a stereotypical two hitter in the line-up.  I switched hit, had descent speed, used the whole field, and could sac bunt, base hit bunt, and hit and run pretty well.  I also didn’t mind taking a pitch or two.  And as you get to the […]

Ways that pitchers can stop wasting time

The length of major league games has gotten out of hand.  And it’s not just the players’ fault.  TV commercials play a huge role in lengthening the games because innings are not allowed to start until the time for commercials is finished.  That’s why it takes forever for MLB players to get out of the […]

Things pitchers do that drive their teammates nuts

Pitchers are a different breed.  Lefties are a whole different species but that’s for another post. You wouldn’t be able to tell below the college level because most pitchers at those younger levels play other positions besides just pitch and therefore still have a little bit of “normal” in the ole noggin.  But something clearly changes when […]

Why I still love the Twins

I’m watching highlights on the MLB channel a couple days ago and they show the very end of the Twins-Tigers game.  The Tigers won the game on a walk-off sac fly after a botched catch in the outfield put a runner at third base.  As always, when the runner touched home plate the camera showed […]

What’s with all the shifts in baseball?

This year seems to be the year of the defensive shifts in Major League Baseball.  There have been a number of articles written about the topic.  Some have gotten into the stats as to whether it actually works.  Others have focussed on which teams do it more often.  My take on it is that it […]

A tip on catching the ball for beginners

The easiest way I have found to teach little kids how to catch a baseball is to explain the difference between and high-five and a low-five.  You “high-five” the ball when it’s above your waist like this … and you “low-five” the ball when it’s below your waist like this … When little kids are taught […]

The fingers go between the head and ball

Changing the way a young man throws a baseball is probably the hardest thing to do when it comes to private instruction.  However, if there was one thing I could adjust with every young player’s throwing motion it would be to make sure his throwing fingers were on top of and/or between the ball and […]

Keep your hands strong

Up until about the 1980’s, weight training was considered to be not very productive for baseball players.  Old time players felt lifting weights tightened up their bodies too much and didn’t prepare them for the functional flexibility required for running the bases and throwing a baseball.  When you look at all of today’s arm injuries […]

Baseball Hardware vs Baseball Software

The 2014 MLB Amateur Draft has ended and hundreds of young men are probably thrilled beyond belief.  I know I was back in 1989.  When I got the call from the Twins organization that they had selected me, I hung up the phone after the conversation and just stood there in silence for a few […]

Recognize abnormal

When a coach or player is said to have good instincts, there are many things one can point to as proof.  In my opinion, most of it involves good “situational awareness.”  In other words, a good sense of what is happening around them.  A mother “with eyes on the back of her head” is an […]

The 20 yard dash

The 60 yard dash has been a pretty standard event at virtually every showcase and tryout for many years now.  How fast a player can run for that distance is not a bad indicator of overall athleticism but in my opinion it has some functional problems.  A player can go his entire career and not […]

What is your “fast average” ?

If a batter with no speed bats .300 and a batter who can fly hits the same .300, who is the better hitter?  My answer would be the batter with no speed.  That’s because virtually none of his hits are going to be a result of running speed.  He must hit his way on base.  A fast […]

Should I basehit bunt to 1st or 3rd?

When deciding whether or not to try a base hit bunt, hitters have to take a number of variables into account.  The score, the number of outs, the inning, where you are in the line-up, how many runners are on base, who is pitching, and where the first and third basemen are playing all play […]

Bump your glove if you are a beginning pitcher

My son recently finished his first year of kid-pitch baseball.  Actually, it was a mixture of coach and kid pitch depending on how many kids pitched and how many strikes they threw.  The two most common tips I gave our pitchers (and the other teams’ as well) was to bring the leg kick up higher […]

You shouldn’t be getting thrown out of games

A few weeks ago I was chatting with a few higher-ups of a local little league organization.  They were lamenting about the intrusive role of some parents in the organization.  They felt something more needed to be done to temper their behavior during games.  The conversation eventually swung around to umpires and one of them […]