Tagged With "strategy"

Bernie Walter's Winning Edge Coaches Seminar is a dynamic informative coaching clinic by the University of MD Director of Baseball Operations. Coach Walter has been the USA Baseball National HS Director and has also led the USA Baseball Junior...

My 2018 RHP/OF is stuck sitting at 80 mph despite growing to 6'3"/175 since he broke 80 as a 13 year old. Living in the remote northwest without high school baseball, he attended one major showcase and did some guest pitching last fall (for a receptive southern travel team that has asked him back) have produced one serious D3 nibble for his arm and bat, and one WAC D1 "stay in touch" reach out. Past summers at home have always featured hi-level club ball from May-July where the kid played...

What kind of grades and SAT scores?

Sounds good. Be careful not to overdo it with the arm. If he is like most kids his age, even though he has hit a height spurt, there is still much maturing his body will likely do in the next few years. That, along with keeping mechanics in check, should help considerably with the boost in velo he is hoping for. It just might not happen on the "early D1" timeline that kids would like it to happen. Control what you can control and best of luck. As always, enjoy every step along the way.

LeftySS: unweighted 4.0 GPA.

Thanks Cabbagedad. I'm a newcomer and grateful for the sage advice here.

Train for bigger, faster, stronger. Will be a special summer for your son.

Figure out which schools fall within your target list. If your travels take you near any, visit. Add and subtract as you learn what your S wants/doesn't want. Prepare for standardized tests. Find a good PC. Find a good athletic training program. Play catch with dad. Stay on top of grades. (If summer, prepare a list of books.) Youve got a decent baseball approach sketched out.

Given his GPA and that he is not lighting up the radar gun, he/you may be thinking academics is his calling card to attract interest from non top tier programs. If high academic D3 and D1 schools in non-power conferences is the goal, I'd strongly consider HeadFirst Camp (probably Sacramento best for you) and/or one of the Stanford Camps. Lots and lots on this site (just use search button) and online on both.

I agree with everything that has been offered by others. Your son has time to develop his skills in his frame. You've mentioned he is a RHP/OF sitting at 80. What about batting and his speed....are these tools that he could leverage at the next level or does he prefer to pitch? I ask this question because many people at your son's age are beginning to decide between position player or pitcher. One of the best things we did when my oldest son was about your son's age was get him a pitching...

Another skill that opens doors is foot speed. A player can't steal first. But a lot of college coaches light up when they see top level foot speed. Given the 60 is often one of the first tests at a showcase foot speed is a great first notice.

MC, You have received a lot of great feedback. And you have some elements of a sound Summer plan already. Many families with a profile similar to your son's focus too much on playing games the Summer before the player's Junior year. Local leagues, travel tournaments, big showcases, getting seen by colleges, etc. That can be great if the rising Junior is ready for that exposure. But many are not... yet. I recommend to players at this stage to focus (as others have noted) on: standardized test...

MC, We have son's the same age and I'm thinking we live in the same general part of the country. My son is a LHP/outfielder sitting about 80 right now. He is a few inches shorter than yours and his velocity has shot up over the last 9 months or so (sat high 60s as an incoming Freshman). You've gotten a lot of great advice. After reading this site for a couple years and talking to my son's coaches, we've developed a plan for the summer that sounds similar to yours. I'll PM you with his plans.

Hi All: My son is getting ready to go to Showball at the end of this week. They start with a 1-1 count and the games are controlled. Any advice on how he should attack hitters? Should he just pitch like a real game or go in with a plan on showcasing his pitches? He needs to hit a velo number and showcase all his pitches. My thinking was go aggressive with fastball first batter, then fastball/change batter two and then breaking ball after batter two or some mix. I guess the strategy I'm...

May be off topic (apologies) but thought of a couple questions in regards to catching showcase games. For situations where you may not be catching with your normal team. Thought it was fitting here, talking about pitching strategy. Does the catcher normally call the pitches like in other games? (they would need to speak to the pitcher to see what pitches they have in all these cases) Do they work with the pitcher to determine what they want to throw? Sample: Son was helping out a team where...

No, I heard this too.

I say this knowing your profile says you were a college P. I also say this knowing that others may be inclined to advise differently. He should pitch to his strengths and stay within himself. (of course, hopefully, one of his strengths is velo ). He should maintain composure no matter what happens, like any good P will do. He should show all his good pitches but in the right counts/situations. Some will say ya gotta let it fly. I am a firm believer in having the thought process that you are...

We only did a couple of showcases, but at both of them the coaches behind the screen sometimes called pitches. It wasn't constant, but it seemed pretty routine. There are lots of people on this board with more expertise and experience, but it does seem like these showcases are not about outcomes. I'm sure if you're a pitcher and you give up a bunch of bombs that will hurt you, but coaches seem to be focused much more on mechanics and movement then situational wins or losses.

It took a fair amount of convincing to have my son switch strategy from "Game Mode" to "Showcase Mode". My guy just does not like to give up walks and pounds the zone. He loves the 1-1 because he just fools over-aggressive hitters on off speed. So for a long time he'd come out of a showcase with 0ER's and 7k's and wonder why he wasn't getting the love. At certain point I just advised him, "these coaches gotta know you can just flat out hurl" and he finally got it and made the adjustment to...

So then the advice is, at a showcase, throw what the catcher calls, if there are coaches behind the plate, even if you think it's the wrong pitch for the count or situation. And don't let it bother you if it gets hit, because obviously if the batter is expecting it, that's different than a true game situation.

I very vaguely remember hearing or reading that at showcases like Showball, if a coach who is sitting behind the plate wants to see a pitcher throw a particular pitch, he might ask the catcher to call it (obviously the batter will hear it, too). Am I just imagining this?

My son often had coaches ask to see specific pitches at showcases, although he never went to showball.

Unless someone involved in the showcase is calling the pitches the pitcher should be able to call his own. Catcher should talk to pitcher beforehand to discuss signs. In game situation C puts down a sign and P shakes until he gets the one he wants. P is the one being evaluated, and is the one responsible for the result, so it should be up to him what pitch to throw - and he should understand his strengths enough to know what to throw when. C is being evaluated mostly on how he catches &...

adbono, Got it, that is why I asked. Catcher would only have a general idea, based on what the pitcher tells him he has, how his warm up pitches go (hopefully showed all his pitches in warm up) and batter setup (unless he has seen the hitter before, like watched his BP or prior inning). It should be the pitchers decision on what to throw. So go with these two: Talk with the pitcher to determine what they have or want to throw. He should run through the signals for the pitches the pitcher has...