The underrated push bunt

In my opinion, one of the most underrated plays in baseball is the push bunt from right handed hitters.  Someday I’ll make a video demonstrating how to do it properly but today we’ll just get into the benefits and the purposes of it. First, the benefits. It confuses the 1st baseman and the pitcher.  The […]

You only “pitch” when you are in the stretch

How many times have you seen a pitcher warm-up before a game or throw a bullpen between starts and never (or almost never) throw any pitches from the stretch?  I lost count. Think about it … when you are pitching in a game and you are in a jam, that means runners are on base, […]

Improve the last warm-up pitch before the inning

We’ve all seen it a thousand times … the catcher yells “Comin’ down!” before the last warm-up pitch by the pitcher.  At the higher levels, the catcher just puts his throwing arm out to the side and doesn’t yell anything.  The extended arm alerts the middle-infielder to be at the bag after the next warm-up […]

Three ways to quicken your transitions from catching to throwing

The photo on the right is my son about to throw a ball to a teammate in this year’s SE Pennsylvania 10u Ripken State Tournament Skills Night.  The event they are participating in was the Around-the-horn competition.  The ball starts at home plate and is thrown to third – second – first – and back […]

The importance of being aggressive early at the plate

As all of my readers know, baseball is a very cerebral game.  The difference between winning and losing & succeeding and failing at the game often is more about what is going on between the ears and not in the physical things you can see.  No area of the game is immune to this either. […]

The shortstop’s priority when holding runners on

There are a boatload of little things that shortstops should do in order to effectively hold runners on at second base.  However, one stands out as the top priority and that involves getting the runner (and third base coach!) comfortable with you being just off the runner’s left shoulder. Unfortunately, many shortstops position themselves here […]

Sometimes you have to pack the parachutes

I recently heard an inspiring true story from a friend/coach.   It goes like this … Captain Charlie Plumb was a fighter pilot in the 60’s during the Vietnam War.  While on a mission, his jet was shot down.  He was able to eject but unfortunately for him, he had to parachute down into enemy […]

Good outfield jumps are mental

One of the things I always stressed to my players, especially the outfielders, is that on every foul ball, I should see all seven fielders behind the pitcher move in the direction of the foul ball.  For example, if the batter fouls a pitch down the right field line, all seven fielders behind the pitcher […]

Happy July 4th week

Hi everyone! No posts this week.  I hope you and your families have a relaxing and fun 4th of July week!   Next post will be Monday.  Good luck if you are playing this week!   Coach McCreary