I have the advantage, not the pitcher

From the time baseball players are little, they hear the following … “Baseball is a game of failure.  You can fail seven out of ten times and get to the Hall of Fame.” “The best hitters only hit .300.” “Batters are ignorant.  The pitcher gets to pick the pitch, the speed, and the location.  The […]

Nose til leather

Baseball is a game with tons of sayings, phrases, and cliches meant to teach or remind a player about a component of the game.  The title of this post is a phrase I heard recently from a local college coach near me. “Nose til leather.” The purpose of this phrase to remind infielders to continue […]

A safety tip for covering first base

Today’s video tip is for pitchers to help them be safer when they have to cover first base.  Defense starts with good footwork and therefore, making this play effectively and safely begins with the feet being at the right place at the right time.   *To plan for the upcoming season, check out all the […]

Teaching players to see the game for themselves

A good defensive team does a lot of communicating.  They communicate with teammates before the ball is hit and when the play is ongoing.  They communicate between innings, before and after games, and during practice.  All good stuff. On the other hand, players can sometimes become too dependent on communication. I wrote a post about […]

Five common pitching mistakes & how to correct them

One of my favorite things to do is to speak at coaches clinics.  Below is a video of my latest coaching clinic presentation that I gave a couple weeks ago for some little league level coaches outside of Philadelphia.  I hope you find it useful.  If you’d like me to speak to your area coaches, […]

Balancing development with winning

One of the many challenges that youth level coaches face involves the balance between developing your players and winning games.  Many times the two go hand in hand.  The programs that develop better players tend to win more games. But what do you do when developing your players leads to losses? Here is an example […]

Base runners – Know the pitch and watch the flight

The best base runners on a team are often NOT the fastest.  That’s because base running involves so much more than speed.  It’s about taking good angles and turns around the bases.  It’s knowing when to take a risk and when not to.  It’s also about anticipating the play before it even happens in order […]

10 ways to improve your bullpen sessions

1. Have a game mindset.  A pitcher is going to have to do a lot of thinking during games so it’s in their interest to practice that same thinking during their bullpen session.  Run game-like scenarios in your head and pitch accordingly. 2. Location. Location. Location.  Be fanatical about hitting your spots.  If you are […]