With an abundance of baseball and softball facilities popping up around the country I fear one thing.  I fear most people view these as hitting facilities and that is where the problem begins.  A true indoor facility should have enough space to work on your entire game.  If the indoor facility you attend allows for this it becomes your responsibility to take advantage of it.  Kids love to hit, but you must become a complete player and it feels like people forget this.  I know this because I have seen it with my own eyes, people come into our facility and take about 300 swings and leave, come back the next day and repeat.  This is great I love seeing kids work on their game but you must remember to work on your defense as well.  I know hitting is more glamorous then defense and it is more fun to work on as well, but you must remember every line up only has one spot for a DH, everyone else has to go out in the field and make plays.  Think about the big leagues, Adam Everett of the Detroit Tigers would be out in the real world with a real job just like the rest of us but because he can field 97% of the balls hit his way, teams don’t care about his .245 batting average.  This isn’t just true about the big leagues either, coaches from high school and college will be a little more tolerant of a guy who doesn’t hit for a high average if he can pick everything, especially up the middle (C, SS, 2B, CF).  Some positions will give a little more on defense but you really have to be able to crush the ball, you can’t just have a little power.  It is much easier to make a team as a complete player.  People love it when they find a guy who can hit for average, move guys around with bunts and hit and runs, then they see him play defense and he makes all the routine plays.

Defense is important, and you must work on it just as much as you work on hitting.  For all you young guys out there dreaming of playing college baseball or making it to the big leagues, if you work on your defense as much as you work on your offense you will have an edge on the competition because most kids simply will not do this.  Become the best defensive player you can be and show everyone you are a complete player.  I will touch more on this subject from the angle of how the game is changing and why good defensive players will become a commodity.