By Nick Dixon
Batting cage batting practice is a great way to improve batting skill, bat speed and batter confidence. Coach Dixon discusses three Hitting Drills That Make Batting Cage Work More Productive. The three drills are the MOVE UP, COUNT ADJUSTMENT and LINE DRIVE CONTEST. These drills are great ways to get maximum benefits from your baseball teams batting cage workouts. The three drills are:
Move Up Batting Drill
Purpose: Used to improve bat speed, visual concentration, and batter confidence.
Description: The MOVE-UP hitting drill: The batter learns to see and hit the ball quicker out of the machine or batters hand. Before the drill begins, 4 spots are marked on the floor, in measured distances of 40, 35, 30, and 25 feet. The machine or pitcher should maintain a safe medium speed velocity during this drill. The accuracy of your pitching machine must be checked and rechecked during the drill for safety purposes. The spots are the locations at which the batter will take a certain number of swings. The batter hits 4 balls at each spot and then move closer to the machine or pitcher at the next spot.
Procedure: The batter hits 4 to 6 balls at each spot, then moves to the next spot closer to the machine or pitcher. The machine or pitcher should not deliver the next pitcher until the batter assumes a proper stance, triggers or loads to the proper launch position, and has visual focus on the pitcher or machine. The batter starts the drill at 40 feet and hits at all spots until he has hit 4 to 6 balls at each spot, ending with ball hit at the closest spot to the pitcher, 25 feet. Distances can be shortened or made longer to meet the needs of your players.
Coaching Points: Sometimes you may have the player hit two balls at each spots moving toward the machine and then hit two balls at each spot moving away from the machine, until two balls are hit at each location or distance. This process makes the batter adjust to varying changes in pitch speed. This drill is great for teaching batters to stay-back and let the ball in.
Count Adjustment Drill
Purpose: The drill is great for teaching young hitters to make adjustments in their approach at the plate based on the current count. Batters learn to be properly aggressive for the following counts or situations 0-0, 2-0, 0-2, 3-1, runner at 3rd with 1 or less outs, and hit-in-run.
Procedure: We have 5 batting cages at our facility. Batters are always hitting in all cages. In a normal situation, the players would be hitting every pitch that they can reach to a location based on the pitch location. To change the approach, a coach calls a count such as 2-0. For the next two pitches, the batter will be properly aggressive as he would with that count in a game. Of course in this situation, the batter is looking for a pitch in that perfect spot. If the ball is at that anticipated location, the batter attacks, the ball. If the ball is not in that spot the batter will hold off the pitch and adjust to the new count of 2-1 or 3-0. If the coach calls, Runner at 3rd, the batter is looking for a pitch up to drive deep enough for a score or tag and score. The batter will try to lift the ball and drive a deep fly ball to the outfield. If the coach calls, Hit-n-Run, the batter will execute a hit-in-run approach at the plate.
Line Drive Contest Drill
After a session of batting cage workouts, we often end the day with a line-drive hitting contest. An assistant coach will do the pitching. The coach is protected by a L-screen. The player should only swing at great pitches. The contest is to see which player hits the most line-drives in a row. A line-drive is a ball that hits the side walls, back wall, or pitchers L-Screen hard and directly off the batters bat. The hit ball can not touch the top of the cage in front of the pitching protective L-Screen. As long as the batter hits line-drives with each swing, the batter continues to bat and his TOTAL COUNT increases. This drill tends to put pressure on the hitters making them learn to hit under pressure.
The CoachesBest Baseball Store has a great selection of BASEBALL HITTING, COACHING and TRAINING DVDs
Check out BattingCagesDirect.com for top quality batting cages at discount prices. They specialize in complete batting cage kits with net and frame included for one low price.
Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, the "Hit2win Company". Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Dixon is widely recognized as an expert in the area of baseball training, practice and skill development. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of several of baseball and softball's most popular training products such as the Original BatAction Hitting Machine, SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, Original Hitting Stick, Hit2win Trainer, SKLZ Target Trainer, SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, Batting Cage Builder, the American Baseball Directory and the Hit2win Baseball Coaches Monthly Newsletter. Dixon has 5 blogs related to baseball training including the BaseballCoachingDigest Blog, CoachesBest Training Blog, Hurricane Machine Training Blog, Batting Cage Buyers Blog, and the Bat Action Training Blog.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
How To Explain A-Rod's Behavior to Kids
This is a tough one. You have the greatest player of our time who is idolized by kids in a situation where he has "cheated". Add to this his less than upfront way of handling it with the media. I've even heard stories of parents calling up baseball leagues demanding that #13 be removed from uniforms... other players had that number too.
Let's look at this as an opportunity to teach kids some important life lessons. Keep in mind that younger kids probably won't understand the gorey details.. nor should they be exposed to them. Here are some thoughts about how to explain this to kids (depending on age).
1. On illegal drug use.... Drugs of any kind are only good for you if a doctor recommends them to help you. Any person that takes any drug without a doctor's permissions is not doing the right thing or possibly breaking the law. A-Rod did the wrong thing by taking those drugs and he knows it now. He wants his fans to know this... especially kids.
2. On telling the truth... Life can be complicated for adults. Some adults have a difficult time being honest with themselves and others. You can learn from this... make a commitment to yourself that you will always be truthful with yourself and others.
3. On being a good teammate... When your part of a team it's part of your responsibility to be a good teammate and help your fellow players. The other Yankee players were there to support A-Rod not because they agree with what he did.. but because he is going through a tough time. He is working on apologizing and that is what his teammates are supporting.
4. On his baseball stats and records... While records are cool to talk about, they are not what baseball is all about. A-Rod has probably learned that having good teammates behind you and playing the game are the most important things about baseball.
5. Is A-Rod still a good players... A-Rod is a great player. He is fun to watch play the game and you can learn a lot from watching him play. He made a mistake, he's trying to say he's sorry and he wants to move and play baseball. He wants all kids to know that what he did was wrong.
I hope these suggestion will help both coaches and parents deal with explaining this to kids.
Coach Bob
Let's look at this as an opportunity to teach kids some important life lessons. Keep in mind that younger kids probably won't understand the gorey details.. nor should they be exposed to them. Here are some thoughts about how to explain this to kids (depending on age).
1. On illegal drug use.... Drugs of any kind are only good for you if a doctor recommends them to help you. Any person that takes any drug without a doctor's permissions is not doing the right thing or possibly breaking the law. A-Rod did the wrong thing by taking those drugs and he knows it now. He wants his fans to know this... especially kids.
2. On telling the truth... Life can be complicated for adults. Some adults have a difficult time being honest with themselves and others. You can learn from this... make a commitment to yourself that you will always be truthful with yourself and others.
3. On being a good teammate... When your part of a team it's part of your responsibility to be a good teammate and help your fellow players. The other Yankee players were there to support A-Rod not because they agree with what he did.. but because he is going through a tough time. He is working on apologizing and that is what his teammates are supporting.
4. On his baseball stats and records... While records are cool to talk about, they are not what baseball is all about. A-Rod has probably learned that having good teammates behind you and playing the game are the most important things about baseball.
5. Is A-Rod still a good players... A-Rod is a great player. He is fun to watch play the game and you can learn a lot from watching him play. He made a mistake, he's trying to say he's sorry and he wants to move and play baseball. He wants all kids to know that what he did was wrong.
I hope these suggestion will help both coaches and parents deal with explaining this to kids.
Coach Bob
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
20 Points For Coaching Baseball Catchers
By Nick Dixon
There are many skills and much knowledge that baseball catchers must have to be successful. A good baseball catcher is the foundation of a championship baseball team. If you have a skilled catcher that can field, throw and talk the game, you are well on your way to building a strong team. Here are 20 coaching points we teach our catchers.
We will always have at least 4 catchers in our program each year. Two Junior Varsity catchers and 2 varsity catchers make up our catching staff each year. Here are 12 basic things that we teach our catchers to know or do. There are others things but here are the basic 12 we start with.
1. Wear your chest protector loosely. Do not strap it on too tightly. If the chest protector is too tight to the chest, the ball will bounce farther away from the body on a block. A loose fitting chest protector deadens the energy of the ball on impact allowing the ball to fall closer to the plate.
2. With no runners on base, keep the bare had behind your back. With runners on base, depending on the level of play, the catcher may position the bare hand behind the mitt.
3. The correct blocking position requires that you drop immediately to you knees. Learn to drop to block. Kick your feet back from under your body and get the knees on the ground as soon as possible.
4. The correct blocking position has the mitt in a flattened out or vertical position to block the hole under the crotch. The mitt must be flat and vertical to prevent a ball from ramping or deflecting upward off of the mitt.
5. The correct blocking position has the chin tucked, the upper body slightly leaned forward, and the elbows slightly out from the body.
6. The correct blocking position has the bare hand behind the mitt.
7. If you see that pitch is going to be in the dirt assume the blocking body position immediately. Learn to react quickly. Do consider catching it, you job is simply to keep the ball in front.
8. If time allows use a circling or rounding technique to get around the ball and direct it back to the plate. This is possible with slow pitches but is impossible to do with high velocity pitchers. Keeping the shoulders square is the only alternative when your pitcher is throwing the heat.
Know where the breaking ball in the dirt will bounce and position yourself a shade in that direction when you drop to block.
9. Know how to hide signs when you give them. Keep the legs as close as possible. Keep the sign hand as deep as possible and high enough that the fingers are in the crotch and not visible below. Put your left forearm your left thigh. Turn your arm so your mitt palm is in the hand-shake position off the front of your knee. This will prevent the 3rd base coach from stealing signs.
10. Establish a good rapport with the umpire. Keep the climate positive around the plate. Should he ask you a question, always respond with a Yes, Sir or No Sir. Do not turn around on any calls and never shake your head in reaction to an umpires call. Making an umpire mad is easiest done by two players on the field, the catcher and the pitcher. Do not dig a hole for you team by showing negative emotion.
11. When a ball needs to be retrieved near home plate. There are two people that can go get it, the catcher or the umpire. If you are lazy and make the umpire pick it up, you are asking for trouble. Hustle and get every ball and hand it to the umpire.
12. Run out to the plate between innings. Walking out sets a bad tone. Make quick crisp throws back to the pitcher during warm-ups.
13. Talk and communicate on every play. Make loud calls that everyone can hear.
14. Move slightly outward during the game to see how far off the plate the umpire will call a pitch a strike. If you move so far that he calls it a ball move slightly back in and know where that magic spot is so that you can use it to get the call on the outer half of the plate.
15. Keep the mitt low. It takes more effort to keep the mitt at a low target spot but you must do it. It is important to keep your pitcher down in the zone.
16. On pop-ups do not remove or discard the mask until you know exactly where the ball is. If you throw the mask too early, you may trip or stumble over it as filed the ball.
17. On a passed ball or wild pitch learn to execute the slide-by and pick up technique with your throwing hand. As you slide by the ball, you pick it up, come up on your left knee and make the throw to the pitcher covering home. The throw must be low and at a tag high spot to insure that the tag can be quickly applied to the runner.
18. When making throws to the bags stay low. Learn to get the ball up as soon as possible. The action requires getting the elbows up and even as if they are on a table. Step directly toward the target. Drive the hips through on the throw. Do not take unnecessary steps, catch the ball and fire it. Get on top of your throw and learn to throw hit a tag high spot at the base every time.
19. When making you throw to 2nd between innings, take it serious, and make a solid throw. Lobbing the ball down there is useless.
20. Learn to discreetly frame. Meaning that you should learn to frame with making it so obvious. Always try to get outside the ball and catch it coming back toward the strike zone. Do not hold the catch spot too long because that will only agitate the umpire.
I know that there are many other things that catchers must know, but this was as many as I could think of at the moment. I hope that this information is beneficial to you and your team.
Good luck till next time, Nick Dixon
The CoachesBest Baseball Store has a great selection of BASEBALL HITTING, COACHING and TRAINING DVDs. Check out the BatAction Hitting Machine baseball pitching simulator. This high speed training machine is 100% Guaranteed to raise Batting Averages and has a full year warranty.
Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, the "Hit2win Company". Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Dixon is widely recognized as an expert in the area of baseball training, practice and skill development. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of several of baseball and softball's most popular training products such as the Original BatAction Hitting Machine, SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, Original Hitting Stick, Hit2win Trainer, SKLZ Target Trainer, SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, Batting Cage Builder, the American Baseball Directory and the Hit2win Baseball Coaches Monthly Newsletter. Dixon has 5 blogs related to baseball training including the BaseballCoachingDigest Blog, CoachesBest Training Blog, Hurricane Machine Training Blog, Batting Cage Buyers Blog, and the Bat Action Training Blog.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon
There are many skills and much knowledge that baseball catchers must have to be successful. A good baseball catcher is the foundation of a championship baseball team. If you have a skilled catcher that can field, throw and talk the game, you are well on your way to building a strong team. Here are 20 coaching points we teach our catchers.
We will always have at least 4 catchers in our program each year. Two Junior Varsity catchers and 2 varsity catchers make up our catching staff each year. Here are 12 basic things that we teach our catchers to know or do. There are others things but here are the basic 12 we start with.
1. Wear your chest protector loosely. Do not strap it on too tightly. If the chest protector is too tight to the chest, the ball will bounce farther away from the body on a block. A loose fitting chest protector deadens the energy of the ball on impact allowing the ball to fall closer to the plate.
2. With no runners on base, keep the bare had behind your back. With runners on base, depending on the level of play, the catcher may position the bare hand behind the mitt.
3. The correct blocking position requires that you drop immediately to you knees. Learn to drop to block. Kick your feet back from under your body and get the knees on the ground as soon as possible.
4. The correct blocking position has the mitt in a flattened out or vertical position to block the hole under the crotch. The mitt must be flat and vertical to prevent a ball from ramping or deflecting upward off of the mitt.
5. The correct blocking position has the chin tucked, the upper body slightly leaned forward, and the elbows slightly out from the body.
6. The correct blocking position has the bare hand behind the mitt.
7. If you see that pitch is going to be in the dirt assume the blocking body position immediately. Learn to react quickly. Do consider catching it, you job is simply to keep the ball in front.
8. If time allows use a circling or rounding technique to get around the ball and direct it back to the plate. This is possible with slow pitches but is impossible to do with high velocity pitchers. Keeping the shoulders square is the only alternative when your pitcher is throwing the heat.
Know where the breaking ball in the dirt will bounce and position yourself a shade in that direction when you drop to block.
9. Know how to hide signs when you give them. Keep the legs as close as possible. Keep the sign hand as deep as possible and high enough that the fingers are in the crotch and not visible below. Put your left forearm your left thigh. Turn your arm so your mitt palm is in the hand-shake position off the front of your knee. This will prevent the 3rd base coach from stealing signs.
10. Establish a good rapport with the umpire. Keep the climate positive around the plate. Should he ask you a question, always respond with a Yes, Sir or No Sir. Do not turn around on any calls and never shake your head in reaction to an umpires call. Making an umpire mad is easiest done by two players on the field, the catcher and the pitcher. Do not dig a hole for you team by showing negative emotion.
11. When a ball needs to be retrieved near home plate. There are two people that can go get it, the catcher or the umpire. If you are lazy and make the umpire pick it up, you are asking for trouble. Hustle and get every ball and hand it to the umpire.
12. Run out to the plate between innings. Walking out sets a bad tone. Make quick crisp throws back to the pitcher during warm-ups.
13. Talk and communicate on every play. Make loud calls that everyone can hear.
14. Move slightly outward during the game to see how far off the plate the umpire will call a pitch a strike. If you move so far that he calls it a ball move slightly back in and know where that magic spot is so that you can use it to get the call on the outer half of the plate.
15. Keep the mitt low. It takes more effort to keep the mitt at a low target spot but you must do it. It is important to keep your pitcher down in the zone.
16. On pop-ups do not remove or discard the mask until you know exactly where the ball is. If you throw the mask too early, you may trip or stumble over it as filed the ball.
17. On a passed ball or wild pitch learn to execute the slide-by and pick up technique with your throwing hand. As you slide by the ball, you pick it up, come up on your left knee and make the throw to the pitcher covering home. The throw must be low and at a tag high spot to insure that the tag can be quickly applied to the runner.
18. When making throws to the bags stay low. Learn to get the ball up as soon as possible. The action requires getting the elbows up and even as if they are on a table. Step directly toward the target. Drive the hips through on the throw. Do not take unnecessary steps, catch the ball and fire it. Get on top of your throw and learn to throw hit a tag high spot at the base every time.
19. When making you throw to 2nd between innings, take it serious, and make a solid throw. Lobbing the ball down there is useless.
20. Learn to discreetly frame. Meaning that you should learn to frame with making it so obvious. Always try to get outside the ball and catch it coming back toward the strike zone. Do not hold the catch spot too long because that will only agitate the umpire.
I know that there are many other things that catchers must know, but this was as many as I could think of at the moment. I hope that this information is beneficial to you and your team.
Good luck till next time, Nick Dixon
The CoachesBest Baseball Store has a great selection of BASEBALL HITTING, COACHING and TRAINING DVDs. Check out the BatAction Hitting Machine baseball pitching simulator. This high speed training machine is 100% Guaranteed to raise Batting Averages and has a full year warranty.
Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, the "Hit2win Company". Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Dixon is widely recognized as an expert in the area of baseball training, practice and skill development. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of several of baseball and softball's most popular training products such as the Original BatAction Hitting Machine, SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, Original Hitting Stick, Hit2win Trainer, SKLZ Target Trainer, SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, Batting Cage Builder, the American Baseball Directory and the Hit2win Baseball Coaches Monthly Newsletter. Dixon has 5 blogs related to baseball training including the BaseballCoachingDigest Blog, CoachesBest Training Blog, Hurricane Machine Training Blog, Batting Cage Buyers Blog, and the Bat Action Training Blog.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Babe Ruth & Cal Ripken Lauches Youth League TV
I personally think that next to changing the eligibility date, this is the most ridiculous idea Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken has come up with...
What happened to youth baseball being a laid back activity for kids to enjoy. Now they want to put them on internet TV? I can just see parents of baseball leagues fighting over which games get put on the internet on a busy Saturday.
Broadcasting the Cal Ripkin or Babe Ruth World series or even regional championships is where I would draw the line. I sincerely hope this idea of making every town league game available for broadcast dies on the vine.
Coach Bob
TRENTON, NJ – February 2, 2009 – Babe Ruth League, Inc., a
premier amateur baseball and softball program in the United States, has entered
into an agreement with Youth Sports Live, the company that pioneered streaming
youth sports content via the Internet. In launching BabeRuthTV.com, the
agreement brings players, coaches, family, friends and fans across the globe
access to local Babe Ruth baseball, Babe Ruth softball, and Cal Ripken baseball
games in streaming, replay-on-demand and DVD formats. “Partnering with Youth
Sports Live sets the future of BabeRuthTV.com in motion, and streaming local
Babe Ruth League games to parents, grandparents, extended family and friends, as
well as providing our boys and girls the ability to watch replays of their
games, is an exciting development for our organization,” said Steven F.
Tellefsen, President and CEO of Babe Ruth League, Inc. “We look forward to
working with Youth Sports Live to provide innovative access to our top-quality
amateur baseball and softball leagues.” Designed to provide youth sports fans
the opportunity to watch their favorite youth baseball and softball players in
action, the agreement provides viewers the opportunity to view replays of games
at a time and place that is convenient for them. By simply logging on to
BabeRuthTV.com, fans can view games at a later date by purchasing the games
through the website’s replay-on-demand library, or ordering a DVD of a single
game or entire season. “Youth Sports Live is very excited to partner with Babe
Ruth, Inc., to bring Babe Ruth Baseball, Babe Ruth Softball and Cal Ripken
Baseball an unmatched youth sports experience.” said Greg Centracchio,
Co-Founder and CEO of Youth Sports Live. “Babe Ruth League and Youth Sports Live are at the forefront of modernizing youth baseball and softball by putting every
player in the spotlight, an experience formerly reserved for the select few who
were fortunate to make it to a World Series.”
What happened to youth baseball being a laid back activity for kids to enjoy. Now they want to put them on internet TV? I can just see parents of baseball leagues fighting over which games get put on the internet on a busy Saturday.
Broadcasting the Cal Ripkin or Babe Ruth World series or even regional championships is where I would draw the line. I sincerely hope this idea of making every town league game available for broadcast dies on the vine.
Coach Bob
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