Just curious--how much time during games do you as coaches spend talking to players about little things in the game--what I call fine tuning a players game
TRhit
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Trhit
My coaching philosophy was always do the little things right and the big things will take care of themself. I demanded they do the little things right and when they did not I let them know about it. My assistant and I were once told we were too tough on the kids. too demanding. Old fashioned. Unfortunately today some try to reinvent the game. Get good pitching(throw strikes) pick up the ball(do not give them any extra outs) be in the right place on defense( be in the proper position on cut offs etc etc) score a few runs(run the bases well make contact bunt to move runners over when needed). You will win more than you lose.
My coaching philosophy was always do the little things right and the big things will take care of themself. I demanded they do the little things right and when they did not I let them know about it. My assistant and I were once told we were too tough on the kids. too demanding. Old fashioned. Unfortunately today some try to reinvent the game. Get good pitching(throw strikes) pick up the ball(do not give them any extra outs) be in the right place on defense( be in the proper position on cut offs etc etc) score a few runs(run the bases well make contact bunt to move runners over when needed). You will win more than you lose.
TR,
I always work with kids on the little things. Not only is it very important but it is usually the most fun.
I always work with kids on the little things. Not only is it very important but it is usually the most fun.
I agree with my partners on this one. I have always told my players that one of the things that separates the good from the great teams is the WILLINGNESS (not the ability - a coach can force a kid to do it!) to do the little things. I think that players feed off their coaches, and when a coach shows a determined commitment to teaching and having his players work on the little things, they understand how important those things must be to success.
Do you all go into pitch counts--for example the pitcher just walked two batters in a row with 8 pitches--do you remind the batter of the situation ?
TRhit
TRhit
Little things are what separates players and teams. Ability to lay down a sac bunt on the first try. Ability to defend ist and thirds. Ability to defend bunts and execute offensive ist and thirds. Holding baserunners close. Hitting the cut off man. Turning glove side when receiving a cut off throw. ETC ETC ETC. Throw strikes and make the routine plays. Be solid as a rock in the little things. If you do this consistently you will win alot of games. And you will almost always be in the game with a chance to win regardless of the quality of the opponent. We have beaten alot of teams over the years that were more talented than us by doing just that. You can tell how well a team is coached by the way they do the little things. Little things put together add up to big things that end up making the difference so many times.
"take care of the little things, and the big things will take care of itself"
also heard a good one
"in order to become a good baseball player, you must have the abiltiy to overcome the boardom of repetition"
i think most of us do go over the little things, the mental game and fundamentals. that is the difference of being a coach and a game manager.
ps. happy new year to all. since i am computer stupid and don't have internet at home, i haven't been on here since school was out.
also heard a good one
"in order to become a good baseball player, you must have the abiltiy to overcome the boardom of repetition"
i think most of us do go over the little things, the mental game and fundamentals. that is the difference of being a coach and a game manager.
ps. happy new year to all. since i am computer stupid and don't have internet at home, i haven't been on here since school was out.
TR,
If the P walks the previous batter on 4 straight pitches, the hitter better be taking unless it is his dream pitch.
If the P walks the previous batter on 4 straight pitches, the hitter better be taking unless it is his dream pitch.
RED
You would be surprised how many kids come to us who have no idea about what happens in that situation--no comprehension at all
The same thing happens with batters reading pitchers--they don't even try to focus on what a pitcher throws for the first pitch
TRhit
You would be surprised how many kids come to us who have no idea about what happens in that situation--no comprehension at all
The same thing happens with batters reading pitchers--they don't even try to focus on what a pitcher throws for the first pitch
TRhit
Always being in a back-up position if the ball is not hit to you, not throwing the ball around on senseless attempts at baserunners and aggressive baserunning (coming out of the box like your going for a triple on every at bat) are just some of the little things I preach.
Those 3 itmes alone will make a 1-3 run differential in every game.
Knowing you can go for 2 on a ball hit down the 3rd baseline easier on a lefthanded outfielder than you can on a righthander are the truly fine points that set players apart.
There are certain absolutes in baseball that the better players will know without thinking.
You'd be amazed at the number of high school players that don't know what a good count is to run on and why.
Fundamentals win baseball games and you don't need great skill players to perform them, you need disciplined players who have the willingness to learn and execute them as was previously mentioned.
Seadog
The choices we make dictate the lives we lead.
Those 3 itmes alone will make a 1-3 run differential in every game.
Knowing you can go for 2 on a ball hit down the 3rd baseline easier on a lefthanded outfielder than you can on a righthander are the truly fine points that set players apart.
There are certain absolutes in baseball that the better players will know without thinking.
You'd be amazed at the number of high school players that don't know what a good count is to run on and why.
Fundamentals win baseball games and you don't need great skill players to perform them, you need disciplined players who have the willingness to learn and execute them as was previously mentioned.
Seadog
The choices we make dictate the lives we lead.
I make the hitters watch the pitchers. I tell them if they watch long enough pitchers will get into a pattern. When are they comfortable throwing the off speed pitch, when do they like to throw it? Is he throwing it for strikes or not? What does he like to throw when hes ahead...behind? What counts are they consistently getting too. If you can find this pattern and touch him up for a few runs before he can adjust to what your doing it might be too late. Find the pattern early and the bats will come alive.
Get a good pitch to hit!!!!
Get a good pitch to hit!!!!
dewill,
amen..the 6th batter should have had 5 mental at bats one coach wrote. I agree. What do you do with the guys that do not start but keep the dugout stirred up and not paying attention?
amen..the 6th batter should have had 5 mental at bats one coach wrote. I agree. What do you do with the guys that do not start but keep the dugout stirred up and not paying attention?
I tell them that if thats where they want to stay, on the bench, then goof off. If they want to get into the game they better pay attention. I sometimes ask a player on the bench what the count is, or how many outs we got Junior, they know if they cant answer correctly, or have a good reason, they will be on the bench for that day.
Get a good pitch to hit!!!!
Get a good pitch to hit!!!!
To add to their mental training I sometmes sit back in the dugout with the players when we are at bat. I watch the hitter and pitcher with them and as the counts unfold I ask, whats coming, what would you think the pitcher will throw here. You would be suprised at the number of times they are right. I then tell them take that same thinking into the box. Its okay to guess sometimes whats coming. Anticipation of a certain pitch is the ones you can get good wood on. I tell them look for a certain pitch when you get in the box. Go in there looking for a ie: a fastball away and up (belt high) in the zone. With no strikes, if its not there, take it. I try to instill in them that you want to hit a pitch you are looking for with less than 2 strikes. I also tell tehm that any pitch up (belt high) whether its in or out is a good pitch to swing at. Even curveballs up are good to swing at. I see so many kids go to the plate with no plan. Hacking at everything close. Its a recipe for failure. Ted Williams book, the Science of Hitting is a fantastic book. If you all have not read it go get it. Its really a mental approach to hitting. It puts you in the mind of one of the best hitters ever to play the game. I learned so much from that book its unbelievable. The mental aspect of hitting is being neglected at all levels of baseball. Williams had his whole zone mapped out. He knew what pitch he could handle and the ones he didnt handle so well. He would go to the plate looking for the pitches (mistakes) what he called them, that he could handle well and when he got one he didnt miss much because he said "I was anticipating the pitch there". He said anticipation is a hitters best weapon, not the bat or mechanics. He said its easier to hit what you were looking for.
Get a good pitch to hit!!!!
Get a good pitch to hit!!!!
I think the little mental things mean so much. Usally every inning something happens or something could happen and when my team comes off the field I meet 1,2 or 3 of my players in front of the dugout and talk about the situation or what could have happened. They really seem to pick up on things that way.
Dwill,
We put a protection screen just right of 2B at practice taking Bp sometimes. We try to pitch middle/away and everybody has to hit to the right of the screen. As soon as you pull a ball you come out. We place a high premium on opposite field gap power.
Some of our best hitting games have come after these marathon RC to RF hitting sessions. Watching kids yank BP down the 3B line all day drives me crazy.
Like you say... setting up for an away pitch is mental preparation.
We put a protection screen just right of 2B at practice taking Bp sometimes. We try to pitch middle/away and everybody has to hit to the right of the screen. As soon as you pull a ball you come out. We place a high premium on opposite field gap power.
Some of our best hitting games have come after these marathon RC to RF hitting sessions. Watching kids yank BP down the 3B line all day drives me crazy.
Like you say... setting up for an away pitch is mental preparation.
I'm with you swingbuster. Watching coaches let kids destroy themselves by allowing them to pull every bp pitch is sickening.
Those same kids will go to the plate in the game and pull off pitches on 80 or 90 percent of their swings.
But how could we expect anything different. That's what they practice.
Those kids have a false impression of where power comes from and how it is generated. They are hitting the ball with what should be their follow through in an effort to generate distance in bp.
And adults let it happen.
Those same kids will go to the plate in the game and pull off pitches on 80 or 90 percent of their swings.
But how could we expect anything different. That's what they practice.
Those kids have a false impression of where power comes from and how it is generated. They are hitting the ball with what should be their follow through in an effort to generate distance in bp.
And adults let it happen.
Lamber,
Just got through with my 17 yo hitting wiffle balls in the den. We were working on not letting the elbow beat the hands to the slot. It seems to happen when his hips fail to open and fire ahead of the hands. Great point to watch . Thanks again.
Just got through with my 17 yo hitting wiffle balls in the den. We were working on not letting the elbow beat the hands to the slot. It seems to happen when his hips fail to open and fire ahead of the hands. Great point to watch . Thanks again.
Not getting a solid (against the ribs) elbow slotting is what I find is a major cause. Probably not the only cause but a major one. And this is often times caused by the arms pulling the bat through the zone rather than good torso turn.
The elbow can and will get away from the slot in any given swing but it has to get there first, attach itself to the torso and rotate with the torso while the forearm becomes horizontal (pitch location will determine how horizontal).
If this is done it's very hard for the elbow to lead. The hitter in question never slots the elbow. Kind of lowers it to his side but you can see a lot of daylight between elbow and torso throughout swing. I think one of your first comments was about the quality of his elbow slotting. You were right on track.
Steve Garvey used to talk about hitting with short stubby arms. I take that to mean keep them in. If they are in it's hard for the elbow to lead.
Others have talked about maintaining the box formed by the arms and torso through contact. Hard for the elbow to lead if the box is maintained. A typical distortion of the box is the arms getting away from the body and when this happens the elbow can lead.
Connect the arms to the torso (slot the elbow solidly; maintain the box) rotate hard using the large muscles of the legs and torso and the elbow will not lead.
To me, the leverage provided by the horizontal forearm with the slotted elbow, is a key to bat quickness.
In Jack Mankins terms, the horizontal forearm, (hand in particular) provides the oar lock for the bottom hand to pull the bat handle against as the lead shoulder rotates back toward the catcher. This solid slotting provides a stationery fulcrum for the body to angularly displace the bat. If this stationery fulcrum does not exist (because the hands, arms are moving) the angular displacement is delayed until the hands stop moving forward. This delay is very common in young hitters. It's the main cause for them not cathcing up to good pitching.
The barrel needs to arc or angularly displace immediately on decision. The time it takes the hands to move forward in the typical amateur swing, before stopping for angular displacement to take place, is valuable wasted fractions of a second. Time that you need to make good decisions.
The best thing a hitting instructor can give a hitter is more time for better decisions.
By the way, my 17 yr old came to me after basketball practice and said...."Can we hit tonight?" He's referring to wiffle balls in the basement.
The elbow can and will get away from the slot in any given swing but it has to get there first, attach itself to the torso and rotate with the torso while the forearm becomes horizontal (pitch location will determine how horizontal).
If this is done it's very hard for the elbow to lead. The hitter in question never slots the elbow. Kind of lowers it to his side but you can see a lot of daylight between elbow and torso throughout swing. I think one of your first comments was about the quality of his elbow slotting. You were right on track.
Steve Garvey used to talk about hitting with short stubby arms. I take that to mean keep them in. If they are in it's hard for the elbow to lead.
Others have talked about maintaining the box formed by the arms and torso through contact. Hard for the elbow to lead if the box is maintained. A typical distortion of the box is the arms getting away from the body and when this happens the elbow can lead.
Connect the arms to the torso (slot the elbow solidly; maintain the box) rotate hard using the large muscles of the legs and torso and the elbow will not lead.
To me, the leverage provided by the horizontal forearm with the slotted elbow, is a key to bat quickness.
In Jack Mankins terms, the horizontal forearm, (hand in particular) provides the oar lock for the bottom hand to pull the bat handle against as the lead shoulder rotates back toward the catcher. This solid slotting provides a stationery fulcrum for the body to angularly displace the bat. If this stationery fulcrum does not exist (because the hands, arms are moving) the angular displacement is delayed until the hands stop moving forward. This delay is very common in young hitters. It's the main cause for them not cathcing up to good pitching.
The barrel needs to arc or angularly displace immediately on decision. The time it takes the hands to move forward in the typical amateur swing, before stopping for angular displacement to take place, is valuable wasted fractions of a second. Time that you need to make good decisions.
The best thing a hitting instructor can give a hitter is more time for better decisions.
By the way, my 17 yr old came to me after basketball practice and said...."Can we hit tonight?" He's referring to wiffle balls in the basement.
Swingbuster, I agree with Lamber about getting a solid slotting of the elbow. I feel that the clearing (rotating) of the hips allows you to get the elbow into the slot properly and you should do it aggressively and keep it there to the best of your ability for as long as you can. Getting the elbow into the slot along with good hip rotation allows you to stay palm up, palm down for a longer period of time, and to ........as they say, stay inside the ball. If you can do that, you can learn to pull the ball, get it in the air, hit it hard and not hook it very much.
The problem I see with most young players is that they want to pull, but don;t know how. As a result we just teach them to let it get deeper and go the other way with the ball. When a player learns how to turn on the ball with success, he will take off as a hitter. He will scare the other team and they will then throw everthing away, and when you can zero in on location, you become a much better hitter. If you can't pull properly, you will get buried as you go into higher baseball, and the slotting of the elbow along with a proper hip turn can help a hitter turn the corner towards success.
The problem I see with most young players is that they want to pull, but don;t know how. As a result we just teach them to let it get deeper and go the other way with the ball. When a player learns how to turn on the ball with success, he will take off as a hitter. He will scare the other team and they will then throw everthing away, and when you can zero in on location, you become a much better hitter. If you can't pull properly, you will get buried as you go into higher baseball, and the slotting of the elbow along with a proper hip turn can help a hitter turn the corner towards success.
BBSouct and Lamber
Anybody that doesn't copy/paste those post is missing an opportunity.
My son is blessed with great quickness but it can be a curse. In his early years, a coach taught him "top hand through the center of the ball" and had me do soft toss in the house at night . With the light metal bats he could release his hands on a ball in a flash. Worse thing I could have been doing as it turns out.
Now as we work on shoulder load, I try lots of things to keep his hands back and last to the ball. Yes , Scout, we worked for weeks on hitting everything to the right side of the batting cage netting, trying to learn to " get the feel for taking the ball out of the catchers mitt"( letting it get deeper).Getting the hands inside the inside pitch is a difficult move too but I agree.
I understand now why Ted Williams said "there is no such thing as quick hands ; just quick hips". We have had a hell of a time getting those hands slowed down and behind the rotation of the torso.
Lamber ..we too are in basketball season but I know this can't wait .........
Anybody that doesn't copy/paste those post is missing an opportunity.
My son is blessed with great quickness but it can be a curse. In his early years, a coach taught him "top hand through the center of the ball" and had me do soft toss in the house at night . With the light metal bats he could release his hands on a ball in a flash. Worse thing I could have been doing as it turns out.
Now as we work on shoulder load, I try lots of things to keep his hands back and last to the ball. Yes , Scout, we worked for weeks on hitting everything to the right side of the batting cage netting, trying to learn to " get the feel for taking the ball out of the catchers mitt"( letting it get deeper).Getting the hands inside the inside pitch is a difficult move too but I agree.
I understand now why Ted Williams said "there is no such thing as quick hands ; just quick hips". We have had a hell of a time getting those hands slowed down and behind the rotation of the torso.
Lamber ..we too are in basketball season but I know this can't wait .........
I just started working with a HS team last night. In watching them hit, almost everyone of them yank every pitch regardless of location. The one kid that I have been working with can drive the ball the other way but he is the only one. They have never been taught how to hit to the right side of the field.
I think all of you would get a kick out of watching my 10U team play. We do the little things VERY well. It is amazing to see them pick up a guy who hits a hard groundball to the right side on an outside pitch down in the count to score the runner at 3rd when we are +2 (to go to +3) late in the game. All of them jump off the bench to congratulate the runner who scored and the hitter.
We teach our kids to pay attention when they are in the dugout. They do not sit down but stand at the fence to watch everything. On hot days, the P and C can sit but everyone else is watching for the slightest advantage - what type of move does the P have? What do the mid IFs do on a steal? Can I pick up the C's signals? When does he throw his CU?
Very interesting to see 10U's do things "naturally" (actually nurtured) that HS players don't think to do.
I think all of you would get a kick out of watching my 10U team play. We do the little things VERY well. It is amazing to see them pick up a guy who hits a hard groundball to the right side on an outside pitch down in the count to score the runner at 3rd when we are +2 (to go to +3) late in the game. All of them jump off the bench to congratulate the runner who scored and the hitter.
We teach our kids to pay attention when they are in the dugout. They do not sit down but stand at the fence to watch everything. On hot days, the P and C can sit but everyone else is watching for the slightest advantage - what type of move does the P have? What do the mid IFs do on a steal? Can I pick up the C's signals? When does he throw his CU?
Very interesting to see 10U's do things "naturally" (actually nurtured) that HS players don't think to do.
We always strive to have at least one coach in the dugout when we hit--he will be talking to the players, asking questions etc
We find it teaches the kids and at the same time keeps them in the game mentally til it is their time to go on the field-- the guy slated to pitch the next game is always charting
TRhit
We find it teaches the kids and at the same time keeps them in the game mentally til it is their time to go on the field-- the guy slated to pitch the next game is always charting
TRhit
TRhit posted:We always strive to have at least one coach in the dugout when we hit--he will be talking to the players, asking questions etc
We find it teaches the kids and at the same time keeps them in the game mentally til it is their time to go on the field-- the guy slated to pitch the next game is always charting
TRhit
Went back to the last topic in this forum and this is what I found.......
One of the best things you can do is have a great bench coach to teach during the game. Some years I have had that, but at my current school that is not an option, but it is one of the main reasons we have the 3rd base dugout so I can talk to them while I am in the 3rd base coaches box.
During the game I spend very little time because I want them to be focused on playing. On the flip side we film all of our games. We will then cover the game in a class room setting and I pick out "Little things" and go over them there.
How do you film your games? What kind of set up do you use? I'm trying to find an effective way to film games that doesn't break the bank, but allows me to get defensive footage, especially, since I never know when the ball will be hit my son's way (outfield). I'm okay with separately filming his at bats, but I don't want to have to react to every pitch panning the camera.
IEBSBL posted:During the game I spend very little time because I want them to be focused on playing. On the flip side we film all of our games. We will then cover the game in a class room setting and I pick out "Little things" and go over them there.
100% agree there. You will not find me coaching a hitter in the box or a fielder on the field about technique/mechanics. This game is hard enough without having to listen to someone in your ear the whole time.
We have a unique situation here. Our student population is not one that grows up playing baseball, but we are contenders for state finalist nearly every year in football and basketball. So, that means I have pretty good athletes that I have to take every opportunity to teach the game when I can.
That's such a tough situation, D8. There are so many small things (we always use the term "nuance") to baseball that are so hard to teach without the kid having lots of innings.
I know where you are and who you play (more or less). How are the other schools in your district with things like baserunning, approach at plate, general baseball IQ, etc.? Are they way ahead of your kids? Or they similar since they likely have a lot of 2- and 3-sport kids? I'm guessing they definitely start younger than your kids do.
