The stride—movement of the front leg before contact—might be the most over taught aspect of the baseball swing. Personally, I don’t care how a hitter strides, as long as they stride to balance. Some hitters, like Juan Gonzales, kick up their front leg as if they were pitching. Other hitters, such as Chipper Jones and [...]
Rotational movement is any type of movement in a circular motion. Ultimately, it is this type of motion that generates the speed and power hitters need. Once the hitter strides to his balanced position, he needs to rotate his hips towards the pitcher. Another way of feeling this motion is to turn the belly button [...]
If you ever played with dominos, you know that all of the pieces need to be lined up correctly for the chain reaction to occur causing every piece to fall by simply pushing over the first one in line. Failing to think properly or not having the right mental approach before each at-bat is similar [...]
Ted Williams was quoted as saying that “hitting and pitching are the same” when it comes to teaching and coaching those skills. Who am I to argue with the most gifted hitter in baseball history?! I will however try to explain that statement. Let’s start with the hitter’s back foot pivot. Every professional hitter digs [...]
Most high school hitters slow down their swings when they try to hit the ball to the opposite field, usually on a hit and run play or on an outside pitch with no play called. It happens because they were taught the wrong technique such as stepping with the front foot toward the delivery. Not [...]
As a youth baseball coach, you should never teach any advanced pitches like the circle changeup, palmball, forkball, split-finger fastball, or cut fastball. Instead, focus your players on mastering the eventual fastball and natural changeup grips—the two best pitches in baseball. In youth baseball all grips are straight ball grips. I hesitate to say fastball [...]
Hitting off-speed pitches is the biggest problem for high school hitters because they change their approach and slow down their swing to the speed of the pitch. They also try to go around the pitch and make contact behind home plate, not realizing that the pitch is a ball and usually not hittable. If the [...]
Our youth baseball coaching manuals contain proven methods to help you develop your players faster. Professional Coaches ManualHow do you organize an effective practice or motivate your players? We’ll teach you how and much more. Baseball Curriculum ManualWe’ll show you how to coach fundamentals like the proper way to throw to advanced skills like pitching.
In this age of ESPN Sportscenter, instant internet baseball highlights, and fantasy baseball leagues, youth league players are consistently bombarded with images of three-run homers, diving plays, big strikeout performances, and offensive statistics. Rarely, if ever, are baseball fundamentals highlighted. Unfortunately, young players get the impression that walk-off home runs and diving plays win baseball [...]
If coaches use position players to pitch and they can’t warm-up before relieving, performances will obviously suffer. Sometimes, when we have the foresight to warm-up a position player he has to bat, so either he does not get enough time to get loose or he gets cold by being on base. Very few high school [...]