Double Play Danger - Sliding at Second Base During a Double Play

By Mike Posey
I was recently watching a baseball game on TV between the Cardinals and Cubs. The Cardinal pitcher was running at first base with one out in the inning. A ground ball was hit to the second basemen in what looked like an easy 4-6-3 inning ending double play. But the throw from the short stop struck the runner in the hand of the pitcher as he was sliding into second base.
At first glance it looked like an inadvertent throw, but after the replay was shown several times it was evident that the pitcher extended his arm upwards with his palm out in an attempt to distract the throw. I was amazed at two things. First, that this occurred at the major league level and exposed the pitcher to injury. Second, that for some reason it was never called interference and ruled a double play by the umpires. In full speed it must have been hard to tell if the pitcher had his hand up on purpose or not.

I began to think about the hard slide at second base and how it's not taught properly at the youth level. There also is confusion about when interference occurs during the slide at second base. Youth players should be taught how to break up the double play avoiding injury or interference.

At the youth level the rule is simple. The runner must slide directly into the base. Sliding away from the base towards the infielder will result in interference and an automatic double play. Also, during the slide the runner can not interfere with the fielder throwing the ball by raising their hands or by popping up at the end of the slide. Doing this will also result in interference and the out at first is awarded regardless of the outcome of the throw.

Many coaches and umpires interpret this rule at the youth level to also mean no contact can occur. If the middle infielder turning the double play is in the middle of the bag when the slide is made there will be contact. A runner needs to slide hard directly into the base and expect the fielder to avoid the sliding runner by moving away from the bag or jumping over the runner.
At the college and professional level a little more flexibility is given in sliding away from the bag. Umpires will usually allow the runner to slide towards the fielder as long as the runner can reach the second base bag with their outstretched hand.

Youth coaches should not be afraid to teach the hard slide at second base. Teach your players to avoid raising their cleats up and to slide hard directly into the bag with their hands down.

Mike Posey "CP"Expert Baseball Tips Baseball tips from a championship coach's perspective and experience, offering creative insights into helping others learn the game of baseball.

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Tips to Choose a Youth Baseball Bat

By Mark Alter
One of the most important choices you have to make as a player is what baseball bat to choose. Check the Internet and you will come across choices ranging from inexpensive to expensive. Before deciding on a youth baseball bat, you must first compare prices.
Keep in mind that the bat you choose, should allow you to focus as much power as possible upon the baseball. This is in fact a guiding principle behind selecting a bat - as a player, you should be able to swing the heaviest bat without sacrificing on your batspeed.

So what is batspeed? Batspeed is the number one creator of power in a swing. Going by the law of physics, it would seem that you can swing a heavier bat with the same velocity as a lighter one, you will produce more power as per the law that energy equals mass times acceleration.
Check out the length, weight, and drop of the baseball bat. Keep in mind that there are three defining factors that apply to choosing the right bat. The first is length. The length of the baseball bat is measured in inches. Then there is weight, which is measured in ounces. Finally, you must calculate the drop, which is obtained by subtracting the weight of the bat from its length.
The size of the bat

To play well, it is important to determine the correct length of your player's bat first and take a look at weight and drop. Players usually prefer larger drops, which mean lighter weights. This is because the lighter the weight, the higher the batspeed. Another governing factor is how strong the player is. If you are strong enough, you would be able to handle a larger bat with ease.
Before buying a bat, it is important that you hold the bat by its handle and then stretch your arms out so that your body makes a lopsided "t" shape. If you cannot hold the bat level with your shoulder for at least a count of ten, the bat is too heavy for you and you should try another one.

If you are looking for custom baseball bats, you can visit XBATs website. The XBATs baseball bats are the finest bats chosen by the most discriminating Major Leaguer to the serious youth and amateur players.

Mark Alter, the author of this article, writes about the important issues while choosing a youth baseball bat. Want to know more about Xbats and youth baseball bat? Still lots of things remain to explore.

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Four Steps to Organize Your Little League Practice

By John R Di Nicola

The only chance you have as a Little League Coach is try and get yourself organized. I have listed out the very basic steps to organize your practice. You have so so many constraints on you it very difficult to get all the practice completely covered. The amount of practice time is limited maybe to 3 days per week. Getting practice fields is a major problem in most instances. The length of practice is another. You cannot hold marathon practices three to four hour practices. Using a planned schedule will enable you to have practice that are fun for the players therefore they will learn what what you trying to teach them.

Scheduling Practice -

You have a such a short time to prepare your team usually about 3 to 4 weeks. It is important you are organized your practices so that you may over come the constraints that come with being a Little League Coach.

Getting Practice Fields

number of times you practices: weather, all players can make to all practices.

practicing to much parents complain
not practicing enough

Fielding, Defense, Pitching and Hitting

Fielding

Outfield
Infield

Pitchers

Pick off - 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base, and covering home
Run downs

Out field: Cut off men, short stop, 3rd base, 2nd base, 1st base, Pitcher
Throwing to bases -2nd,3rd, home

Situations - Simulate a game situation with coach hitting and player running
Hitting Stations

Hitting off of a "T"

Soft Toss

Live Hitting - 10 swings

Bunting

Pitchers

Throwing a bull pen with catcher

You look at this say wow! You just have organize yourself. Make sure self a template (using Microsoft word) for your practice days. Plug in your dates. You can do A, B C, D and rotate them through your practice schedule. It is a must that you get parents to help. You will need at least two to help to run a practice. You will have to do two of these segments each day and possibly a third.

You will find defense is one of the most important segments you must cover everyday. You can never hit enough ground balls to your infield. So fielding must be done just about every day. You may want to have just your infield come and work on ground balls and going over where they positions themselves for cut off from outfield. You can do the same for pitchers. Bring the pitchers and catchers to practice their defense and working on their wind up and delivery.
Best thing a you can do is make sure you are organized! Stick to your schedule and make adjustments as you go. Please do not get frustrated and not follow an organized plan.
Practice Makes Prefect

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. If you would like further information on this topic or information you can E-Mail me at: jdinicola@easypitching.com

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Web site: http://www.easypitching.com
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Baseball Coaching Tips - Practice Hitting Vs Game Hitting

By Joe Brockhoff


Let's understand three important principles when we talk about how to hit a baseball:

1. Mechanics, which include form and technique
2. Judgmental principles
3. Confidence

When a player is hitting off of a tee or in soft toss, this involves only mechanics. There are no judgmental or confidence factors at all involved. Whereas, in the game, judgmental principles may be even more important than mechanics. This involves reading the pitch and taking appropriate action.

Here is one of my best baseball coaching tips. The player who does only short-toss and t-hitting misses out on a major part of hitting, and that is judging the pitch in space (trajectory). When we practice with soft toss, it is "pitch - hit". But when we hit in the game, the sequence is "pitch - trajectory - hit".

And no player can perform at his best unless he has confidence. Tension forces a player to do things he would not do during practice. So how do we make the transition from practice to the game?

Hitting is a conditioned reflex. A hitter must practice to "groove" his stroke, and then trust it. In other words, 'no stinkin thinkin' at the plate. It's see-ball, hit-ball, have fun!

Toss and tee hitting only provide practice of mechanics, and the hitter needs much more. Not only does he need to see pitching from a distance, but he also needs to have some pressure put on him during his practice sessions.

In our baseball hitting tips, we can add a measure of pressure on the hitter in a batting cage by using a Power-10 series, where he works to hit 8 out of 10 pitches hard. This puts pressure on him to get a high score. He can also run a series of power-10's using out youth baseball hitting drills. This will also increase his confidence level.

There is an old saying that is so true:

Play like you practice and practice like you play. This was never more important than in the game of baseball. So here are some ideas to help accomplish this.

1. Batters should have some practice where they get some distance from the pitcher, either a machine or live pitcher.
2. Put some tension in the practice.
3. In every batting cage practice session, include a "Power-10", 7 or 8 hard hits out of 10 to increase confidence level and a good feeling of performance.
4. Use practice that simulates game situations and encourages players to feel good about their performance.

Former Tulane Hall of Fame Baseball Coach, Joe Brockhoff, fully explains his baseball hitting drills with the Super 8 Hitting System, completely demonstrated with videos and hitting drills to help you hit with more power and raise your batting average.

http://www.LearnBaseballHitting.com

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