Quickly developing pitchers.

As a Little League coach at the now AAA level, AA last year, it is extremely hard to develop pitchers in 3 weeks and 6 practices.  Especially when our league rules (all of LL?) only allow for other players to catch for them AND they must have a helmet and catcher's glove.

We only have 1 glove and helmet, so it's hard to give it the dedication pitchers deserve.  And we all know that throwing strikes is the most important thing for this level.  Not speed.  Strikes limit pass balls.  Strikes get weaker kids out.  Strikes produce playable balls in the field.

So there are many drills that can be done without the catcher's gear.

My favorite is simply throwing from one knee.  They can practice arm position, follow through and balance.  Keeping proper form throughout the motion.  Have them throw a bucket of balls at a target or to another player on their knee before throwing bp or a bull pen session.  30-40 softer throws using proper technique prior to getting on the mound helps re-enforce proper form when throwing hard.

Here is a video from youtube.. Even though I hate Expert village..

Too much information.

Speaking to the lower levels here (AAA, AA, A etc..).

All too often, coaches over coach.  We tell them something every swing at batting practice.  Every play in the field.  Every throw.  All the time we are giving them tips, instruction, reminders..  Too much.  We need to shut up.  Let them play.  Encourage them every play.  Then the next inning, maybe a tip.

If you correct your players every play, they will be reliving that play the next play.  Thinking about that last play instead of the next one.

Get your kid's head in the next play, not the last one.

Chipper Jones in slow mo..

Talk about your weight behind the ball.   You can see the torque he gets when he straightens his right leg and launches his hands at the ball.



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Wood fungo for coaches.

I recently won a 35" fungo bat from Superior Bat Company on Checkswing.com.

Last night I finally got to use it and it was sweet. One handed infield practice and soft swings launched fly balls to the OF.

If you have a chance visit their site.  A fungo bat is a one time purchase that you can use for the rest of your coaching career.

I highly recommend this product.

http://www.promaplebats.com/

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Two Strike Approach

This is a post by http:www.CoachLisle.com  Check out his page and happenings going on at www.bayareabaseball.com.  Good stuff.

"As coaches we always talk to our players about 2 Strike Approach (meaning what we do at the plate differently when we have 2 strikes). As coaches we teach our hitters to spread out, get the front foot down early, get as close to the plate as possible, and to take away the outside pitch.

The advantages of this are: By being spread out and getting our foot down early our concentration is on making contact and not getting beat by a fastball. By getting close to the plate, we might get lucky that the pitcher makes a mistake and goes too far inside and we get a free base by getting hit by the pitch. Also by getting close to the plate and looking outside we are gambling on the fact that statistics show at younger ages most 2 strike pitches are on the outside part of the plate. If you make these adjustments at the youth and high school level, you will have more success with 2 strikes.But here’s some food for thought…

Carlos Lee, Alfonso Soriano and many other major leaguers have said that they’re 2 strike approach is to look for the high inside fastball instead and adjust otherwise. Now if the pro’s approach is High and Inside and the youth approach is the opposite (low and outside), should we change our approach? is our approach wrong? Or not as effective? Or does the traditional youth approach work because it applies to youth/high school level baseball and the pro’s approach applies to pro pitching? Something to think about…http:www.CoachLisle.com

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