Swingbuilder, I am done with you because your ego is going to stop you from getting better. You feel as though you have figured it all out. I know I have not, but what you are saying is not what is happening, so I choose to not put what you say into play with my hitters.
My ego (which I have, like everyone else) does not get in the way, because I continue to learn, I am open to new knowledge. I let it in, process it, then either accept or reject it. I am rejecting your notion of hands powering the swing. This is not personal
I have however learned a lot lately and even learned a new way to explain things yesterday, just not from you. But my mind being open to other ideas allows me to grow. I became a better coach yesterday from new knowledge that I picked up, again not from you or even on this forum, but I got better and learned something. If you would allow yourself to get out of your own way you will not only become better the kids you work with will benefit more as well.
Remember this as you go through coaching. It is not about you, it is about the kids.
I will state this one last time, I did not create, invent, or start any idea of hitting, I learned and continue to learn how the swing works. I then pass that information off to people and they become better for it. This is why I have had success as a hitting coach with High school and College players. It isn’t because of some Idea I came up with, it is because I have learned and here is the KICKER, I have worked with guys who were able to process and then put into practice what I teach. I could be great but if I work with kids who cannot put into action what I teach, then I would be considered awful.
Think about Joe Torre, was he a bad manager before he got to the Yankees or did he just not have the horses to get him to the World Series.
I am not comparing myself to Joe Torre, it was just an example.
I have gone on the record many times saying that if you give me the option for my team to swing at 1st pitches and hit .400 or for my first 10 hitters to strike out but each hitter gets 10 pitches out of the pitcher I will take the strike outs.
Why?
Because the pitcher has thrown 100 pitches through 3.1 innings and he is sure to be out of the game quickly after that. A good friend of mine and a division 1 pitching coach agreed with me and added that “there is no team that has a good 4th inning guy in their pen because the 4th inning guy is their starter”. He said he would take option 1 of the scenario which makes perfect sense because hitting .400 does not mean you score any runs but he knows that 100 pitches puts his pen to work early which puts his team at a disadvantage.
This also makes sense because a pitching coach and hitting coach should want the opposite things to happen when it comes to hitting.
For example a pitching coach wants his pitcher to keep the ball down in order to induce ground balls because 80% of ground balls turn into outs. As a hitting coach I want my hitters to get a pitch up in the zone (not up out of the zone, just up) in order to drive it in to the gap and possibly over the fence. I do not like ground balls because exactly 0% of them go over the fence or over the infielders head in to the gaps and 8 out of 10 of them turn in to outs, so the upside is very limited.
“The only time I really try for a strikeout is when I’m in a jam. If the bases are loaded with none out, for example, then I’ll go for a strikeout. But most of the time I try to throw to spots. I try to get them to pop up or ground out. On a strikeout I might have to throw five or six pitches, sometimes more if there are foul-offs. That tires me. So I just try to get outs. That’s what counts - outs. You win with outs, not strikeouts.”
At all levels of baseball one of the most important things to do is make sure your practices do not drag on. A lot of times coaches go into practice with an idea of what they want to do but they do not assign a specific order or time frame to each task. I know this because this is what I used to do and some of the practices I would run would drag on or spend way to much time on one area.
A clearly defined practice plan will make life easier for a coach and his assistants, at all levels. One thing I have learned over the past 8 years of being in business and coaching is that organization is the key and a thorough practice plan will allow you to be organized.
Below is a sample practice plan we used this season for extra players who were not in the scrimmage game we were running. We thought having the kids actually working on fundamentals and getting extra swings until we made position switches would be more beneficial than sitting on the bench. This practice plan allows you to move from one drill to the next with very little lag time between drills. As always make sure the kids are hustling between each fundamental, and the most important thing to do is stick to the time frame.
September 27, 2010
“Perfection is possible if you accept nothing less”-Lou Holtz
Fundamental 1: 6:00 minutes
C/1B:catcher fielding bunt throwing to 1st (2:00min) catcher fielding strike 3 in dirt, working inside and outside with 1st baseman (2:00min) 1st baseman half force plays and half tag plays at home (2:00min)
SS/2B/3B/OF: Fly ball communication (coach throwing from behind pitchers mound) 6:00min
Fundamental 2: 6:00 minutes
C/3B: catchers fielding bunt and throwing to 3rd 1.5 minutes force 1.5 minutes tags, 3B 1.5 minutes force plays at home and 1.5 minutes tag plays at home (hit catcher in left knee)
SS/2B/1B: Double Plays (coach rolling hitting ground balls from side of mound all flip plays) 3:00 minutes 4-6-3/3:00minutes 6-4-3 (2B use proper footwork around bag. Left foot to bag, step across with right while catching the ball.
OF: Fence Communication (coach throwing ball)
Fundamental 3: 6:00 minutes
3B/C/1B: Double Plays 5-2-3 and 3-2-3Coaching hitting from home plate
SS/2B/OF: Outfield throwing to 2B. Hit ball to all fields work on lining up cut off man and throwing through him
Hitting- Cage work (Split in to two groups)
Hitter and thrower need a helmet on
Seated Front Toss
Round 1
*7 swings oppo
Round 2
*6 swings middle
Round 3
*6 swings Gap to Gap
Tee Work:
2 Rounds Each Hitter
6 High Tee
6 Low Tee
2 Rounds Each Hitter
5 Out
5 Middle
5 In
