Four Changes That Would Improve Youth Baseball

I have a few people who like to give me a hard time if I do not put a post up for them to read each day. So while I am working on Part 2 of The Art Of Communication I will give you another question you can comment on. This is yet another passage from Bob Cluck's Think Better Baseball: Secrets From Major League Coaches And Players For Mastering The Mental Game.

He suggests that four changes would improve youth baseball.

The 4 Changes

1. Using a pitching machine below the major league level.

2. Do away with All-Star teams. Instead, play a month longer for all of the kids. Then we don't have to tell 90 percent of the kids in June, "You're not good enough, see you next year."

3. Give rewards for attitudes, not athletic ability. Have an "all-attitude team" instead of an All-Star team. Reward nice kids who are team players and improve the most because they listen to coaches.

4. Rotate positions in games so every player gets to play his favorite position. This way, players would learn to play baseball with a better understanding of game situations, coaches would be responsible for teaching baseball to all their kids, and players would enjoy the experience so much more.

When I read this I knew it would be a controversial topic so have at it everyone. Leave a comment and make your argument. I am very curious to hear all your responses.

The Art of Communication: Part One An Introduction

Number three on my list of things I want to establish in my program behind trust and processes is communication. Now in implementing communication you have to build processes for it so I guess it all ties together.

I believe very strongly in team building. I believe coaches should put the majority of their time in building team related concepts. I do believe you can make players better and that is important but over the course of the two and a half months you spend with them there is only so far you will take them.

However, you can build the team aspect much further in that short period of time. One of these team aspects that is critical to us is the art of communication. We want everything verbally communicated before it happens. Then we want strong verbal communication while it is happening. The combination of these two concepts can elevate a teams play as quick as anything !

In part one I am going to explain why it is important to communicate as a team.

Pre-Pitch Communication

As I said earlier we want everything verbally communicated before each batter. Even though players should know where to be without being reminded communicating this way does four things to improve your ball club.

First, it's a check and balance system like the government only it works much better. It reminds players what they need to do. They are either saying what to do to someone else or someone is saying it to them.

Second, when mistakes happen. A ball is kicked, a batter is hit, whatever the case may be, they have a process they must follow before the next hitter. It actually does help the eye rolling, dirt kicking, feel bad for me type behaviors.

If they are not communicating because they are feeling bad or being a baby then you have grounds to take them out of the game. Your not even sitting them because they blew the ground ball but because they didn't follow protocol.

Instead of all that nonsense and self-defeating behavior they have a job to do! Because they are talking more, your players will also do a better job of picking each other up after mistakes!

Third, because players are communicating they get a sense of playing the game the right way. Their knowledge of the game goes way up. They begin to think about what they are going to do with the ball before it is hit to them. They have to because they need to communicate it before the pitchers first pitch.

When they know what they are going to do with the ball then their confidence level goes way up. If they are indecisive about what they are gonna do then the chance of them fielding the ball goes down.

This is what you will begin to see in your players. They will begin to build an air about themselves. They will take pride in themselves and their ball club because they are playing the game the right way. They will know it, feel it, and most importantly learn to love it.

Fourth, it is extremely intimidating to opposing teams. All teams constantly watch their opponent. You know whether or not the opposing team is any good by the way they take infield/outfield.

Communicate and let them hear you communicate. Let them see you have your act together. Baseball is as mental a sport as anything on earth. As human beings were are always judging those around us. This is no more true then in baseball. Let them hear you play the game the right way and put a chink in their armour.

After The Ball Is Hit Communication

Once the ball is put in play it is essential that you can communicate where to go with the ball. This usually falls mainly on the catcher but other players need be involved as well. What this allows you to do is eliminate runs.

The catcher communicating where to go with the ball stops you from throwing the ball around and giving up free bases. Free bases will kill your ball club as quick as anything. Even though we want to be aggressive on defense there are many times we need to just concede the run and stop other base runners from moving up.

Another serious part of communication is between the players themselves. We do not want balls dropping between players because they are unsure of who has it or if they will get run into. We don't want players missing balls near fences because they are worried about getting hurt.

We can eliminate those situations if we can communicate effectively so the player catching the ball can focus only on the ball without any other fear factors going through their mind.

In conclusion

By verbally communicating we will be able to eliminate runs. It has never been our goal to shut teams out only to eliminate as many runs as possible. We were very successful in doing just that and it led to some great baseball.

In part two we will discuss the system we used for pre-pitch communication. I will give examples of how we called everything and how we practiced it.

In part three we will cover after the ball is hit communication.

Why Players Can't Throw Anymore

This is another passage from Bob Cluck's book Think Better Baseball: Secrets From Major League Coaches And Players For Mastering The Mental Game. This is a great read to get you thinking. I do encourage you check it out.

This passage is entitled Why Players Can't Throw Anymore. Basically what he is saying is, although there are more guy's throwing 90 MPH the average high school players ability to throw has gone downhill. He credits the decline with kids throwing ability to batting cages.

His point is that because of all the batting cages of today's world that players don't throw enough so they don't develop their throwing arm. He gives an example of the way it used to be to illustrate his point.

"Three kids went to the park with one or two baseballs. Player one was the shagger, player two was the hitter, and player three was the pitcher. The pitcher threw a pitch, the hitter hit it, and the player way out by the fence caught it and threw it all the way back to the pitcher if he could."

- Bob Cluck Major League Coach and Scout

Basically what he was saying is a lot more fielding and throwing by players improving their throwing. He is saying that in today's world of batting cages players are not throwing nearly as much. He also goes on to add that to much emphasis is being placed on hitting and not enough on throwing and fielding.

Before I open it up to your opinion let me throw in my two cents. I am not one of those guys who always talks about how the past is better then the present. I am not a back in my day we did things better kinda of baseball guy.

I do have to agree with his idea however. Now I am 37 years old so I don't know way back when so I will base my belief on what seems to make sense to me. I do believe players play more organized baseball now then at any other time in history. But somehow I do suspect they throw less. I do believe the batting cage plays a role in this.

I will also add this to strengthen the idea of not enough throwing. I think our country, as I have mentioned before, has become so organized and at such an early age that players aren't throwing enough. Think about it, even though they play more organized baseball everything is so controlled that the players really don't throw all that much.

There are so many hitting aids out there that do not require throwing and most batting practice is thrown by a coach. Is that a possible reason in the decline of throwing? I think it makes logical sense. Combine the batting cages with today's organized practices and players are throwing less. Thus it naturally effects their throwing ability.

Which brings me back to my original question: Has players throwing ability declined? Truth is I don't know the answer. I can guess but for sure I can't be absolute. The logic makes sense!

What do you think?

Are You An RBI Man?

I was recently re-reading the book Think Better Baseball: Secrets from major league coaches and players for mastering the mental game. It was written by Bob Cluck was a major league coach and scout. He wrote a short passage entitled: Are You an RBI man?

In this passage he is asking a great question regarding a hitters mindset in RBI situations. The question is should guys go out of the strike zone in RBI situations to drive in the runs? The hitters he is talking about is your middle of the line-up guys. He is not referring to your 7,8,9 hitters.

He is basically saying they should go out of the zone in order to drive in runs. He uses guys like Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, and Ted Williams as examples of hitters who would not stray away from the strike zone but would instead take their walk and leave it to the next guy.

He asked the question is this being selfish or showing respect to their teammates? He then mentions hitters such as Edgar Martinez, Manny Ramirez, and Juan Gonzalez as hitters who will consistently go outside the strike zone if necessary to drive in runs. After all, they are getting paid big bucks to drive in runs not walk.

The questions is who is right? My personally opinion is I would prefer my RBI's Guy's to expand their zone, as long as it is a pitch they can put a good swing on, to be as aggressive as possible to drive in runs. Certain players in your line-up have a knack for it and to me it is in your advantage if you they are more aggressive to drive in runs.

I am curious what our readers philosophies are on this question. This is something I talk to my hitters about. We have certain guys in our line-up who are coached to be more aggressive in those situations and others who should continue to look for the ball in certain zones they are waiting for.

Which Pitching Guru Is The Best

I recently read a comment made about my post on Teaching Youth Players To Throw. The post made reference to me being way off mark. I also mentioned Tom House and how I like Dick Mills philosophy on pitching in my comment. The comment he made was Dick Mills has changed his pitching philosophy over the years and wrecked his sons arm.

I thought rather then comment back I would just write a post. Let me start by saying I am not offended or upset by his comments. I want this blog to be an expression of our ideas and philosophies. I encourage everyone whether you agree or disagree on anything to write a comment. It is how we develop our own beliefs. My response is this.

Over the years I have come to realize a few things that have helped me teach players to be successful. The first and foremost is the fact that all players are different. I believe all players have a natural ability and the key is to use what they have and improve it.

For example, I can remember when the drop and drive was the way everyone should pitch. Then it was tall and fall. One instructor says hold a curveball this way and another instructor says his way. I have heard guys preach about arm angles like everyone should throw from the same slot.

I have researched guys who preach straight arm glove hand while others are adamant about it being bent. Some tell you to pull the glove back and others say take your chest to the glove. I won't but I could go on and on about every single little detail of pitching and all the different philosophies.

My take on the whole thing is this. I don't believe there is one right way. I know some of you are believers in certain systems but to fit every player into one box is easier to teach but not the most effective. I'll say it again I have learned that lesson the hard way.

For the few differences I mentioned above there are pitchers who threw in the major league all-star game using that approach. Pitchers who pitched in world series using different styles. Baseball has become such a buy my system sport it's left the players heads spinning. It has left them confused and screwed up. We are doing them a disservice. Let me explain further.

Players can now play organized ball year round. They play their season, summer ball, fall ball, then spend the winter with their instructor. Sounds like a great way for a kid to really develop. It absolutely is if it is done right. However, very rarely is it done right!

Instead what happens is every coach wants to put his stamp on the player. The poor kid, who wants to please everyone, is left changing his fundamentals and approach every 3 months until he gets to the point where he can't get comfortable. If you think that's not happening and causing problems then you are fooling yourself.

Last point, my friend who played in the big leagues for over 10 years was struggling one day with his hitting. We were talking and he said he couldn't hit the ball the other way. I was dumbfounded. The reason is when he was in high school I was so jealous of the way he could drive the ball into right center.

When I asked him why he couldn't hit he response was, I can't remember how to hit. He had gone from high school, to college, to rookie ball, to single A, AA,AAA, and to the bigs. Every stop a hitting coach teaching his philosophy. I am not implying that any of these coaches were not good baseball guys. Nor am I implying that they weren't experts at teaching hitting. I am just saying change is good but too much change and you aren't comfortable anymore.

A went to a game one day when he was playing the Yankees on Yogi Berra day at Yankee stadium. It was an awesome experience. Yogi Berra came back to the Bronx Zoo after a long absence. Don Larsen threw out the first pitch to Yogi in honor of their perfect game in the World Series.

David Cone pitched for the Yanks that day. He threw a perfect game! Can you imagine being the pitcher that day and throwing a perfect game! What made it even more amazing is that he was able to do it with a drop and drive motion. The so called wrong way at the time. There is no right and wrong way in my mind so long as you hit a few base fundamentals.

Baseball has become about pay money for my new system. They make outrages claims like gain 10-15 MPH on your fastball in two weeks. Parents are so eager to hand over their money to these carnies. I tell you what for just $500 I'll guess your weight and hook you up with the bearded woman.

If you are going to pay someone to work with your kid, I am not against that by the way, just make sure he is in it for the right reasons. If they start making big promises stop writing the checks. You want a guy who is there to be honest and teach your kid, not sell his system.

What I like about Dick Mills is his philosophy on keeping it simple and getting away from pitching drills. As far as mechanics go I don't subscribe to one school of thought anymore but rather take what the pitcher brings to me and try to develop it from what he naturally does. If he stays tall fine. If he drops and drives fine. If he is three quarter arm slot fine.

I will simply work to develop base concepts and his mindset. What I totally agree with Mills is the fact that pitching drills have made pitchers robotic. I also agree that some drills are so awkward it retards pitching rather then help it. I believe they are overused and over coached.

I disagree with him on throwing flatground. It is the only pitching drill I will use but I do use it to get comfortable from the wind up and stretch more so then a breakdown drill. Flat ground goes against his belief of explosive movements. I have no scientific research to say why it is effective. I can tell you however, I believe in it. It has worked well for us over the years.

In Conclusion

Every pitching coach out there including Tom House and Dick Mills have changed their philosophies over the years. Some will claim it's the nature of progression while others will say it is to sell a new book. To me I don't know and I don't care. The base concepts will never change!

Also, for every pitching coach out there, there is a pitcher who has a tremendous success and a pitcher that hurt his arm in that system. It all depends on who is telling the story or should I say selling their approach on which they highlight.

I think all the pitching gurus make valid points but to say one way is better then another all depends on who you are working with. Keep the comments coming! I appreciate it!

The Process Of Playing Catch Effectiviely

If you haven't been able to figure it out by now I am a bit of a control freak. But, I am a self admitted control freak. Truth is I am more of a process freak then a control freak. I believe in every ounce of my being that everything has to have a process or things will not get accomplished the way they could.

I stated in earlier posts having processes builds comfort and confidence into players. Again process is simply the way we go about our business. It is little routines we follow for everything we do. It's not focusing on the end result but instead how we got there.

Playing catch is certainly no different. Growing up I used to always say "having a catch" but I played for a coach who thought that was taboo and taught us to say "playing catch". To this day I have to say play catch. That might seem like a bit of useless knowledge but it illustrates how if you do things over and over the same way on a daily basis, they become part of you!

Most teams when they get ready to practice will send their players to the outfield for a stretch and to play catch. Players will throw the ball back and forth talking about Suzy from science class and how pretty she looked today. Although, they are getting the arm stretched some and loosened up it always seemed like a waste of 15 minutes to me.

If we have 15 minutes we do not want to waste it. There is no way to cover every little aspect that we would like to over the course of everyday practice. We might be able to fit in throwing pick-offs one day and maybe relays another but to include everything everyday is very difficult if not impossible.

We are not going to waste 15 minute so we want every throw to have a purpose. We set up our throwing routine with the following process: (I will not cover it in the post but we also throw pick-offs everyday as part of our flatground routine)

Players are broken into three categories. Infielders, outfielders, and catchers. They may all play catch down the outfield line or set-up in various parts of the field.

The first thing all our players must do when playing catch is show their hands to the ball. They will always show both palms to the player throwing to them. The hands will be shown in front of the chest and all players are instructed to hit their partner center mass.

This gives them a clear idea of what they are trying to accomplish. Second, when you are on defense you should always be showing your hands to the ball whether it is a ground ball, double play feed, cut-off, etc... Show your hands to the ball and respect the game for how it is supposed to be played.

Infielders Throwing Process

1. Play catch for 10 throws at a very short distance approximately 30ft.

2. Play quick catch for 10 throws a piece at 45ft. Quick catch is simply catch and throw the ball as quick as possible to your partner 10 times.

What we are looking for here is that the players are learning to move their bodies before they catch ball in order to be quick back out with the throw.

Second, that they are learning to catch with their throwing hand up by the glove so the instant it hits the glove they are pulling it back out. Players will learn to not close the glove very much to make it even quicker.

Third it forces them to make good feeds to one another in order for them to get into that rhythm so they are quick. Repeated repetitions everyday allow them to get extremely good at this critical skill.

3. 5 x Short Relay Throws at 60ft. Short relays is practicing a short relay throw to a partner. Yes we practice relay throws with just two people playing catch. This is how we do it.

First, the player with the ball will turn his back to his partner and hold up his hands like he is receiving a throw from an outfielder. He will then make his appropriate footwork pretending he is receiving the throw and relay it to his partner.

Second, his partner will then work on his footwork as he is receiving an actual relay throw. He will use his footwork, catch the ball, and fake a relay throw. Each player is working on both receiving and throwing a relay throw. It is broken into two parts and allows them to focus on one aspect at a time learning this skill.

I am not going to spend a lot of time in this post talking about how to make relay throws but a short relay throw to us means this: This is a right handed player we are using as an example. He will make a short step to the ball with his right foot as he catches and quickly get it back out.

This is a relay throw from an outfielder to an infielder who is throwing to second or possibly third. It is not a long throw so we want to cut down the distant of the throw from the outfielder by stepping to it and being quick.

4. 5 x Long Relay Throws at 90 ft. Again same as short relay throws as far as what the players are doing with one exception. This is a throw from an outfielder to infielder who has to relay to the plate. It is a longer throw which will require more strength.

The footwork here will be the right foot moves to towards home plate as he catches the ball and the throw will come out a slower because it is a longer throw requiring the player to use his body to help the throw.

5. Finally from here will throw out until the players feel loose or they have run out of time.

Outfield Throwing Process

1. Players will make 10 throws at 30ft showing their hands to the ball and hitting the partner center mass.

2. Play quick catch for 10 throws at 45 ft. This is an important skill for outfielders as well.

3. Ground ball charge play x 5. The outfielders will be approximately 60 to 70 ft apart. One outfielder will roll 5 ground balls to his partner. His partner will treat each of these ground balls as a charge play do or die type situation.

He will practice fielding and throwing imagining he is throwing out a runner at the plate. After 5 reps they switch assignments.

4. Fly ball do or die x 5 at 90 -100 ft. Same drill as before except now the ball is being thrown in the air and the outfielder must get behind it and through it to make a throw back to his partner. After 5 they switch assignments.

5. From here they will throw out until loose or times runs out.

Catcher Throw Process

1. Players will make 10 throws at 30ft to loosen up. Same rules apply show hands hit partner center mass.

2. Play quick for 10 throws at 45ft. We know how important this is for catchers to develop.

3. T-Work x 10 throws at 60 - 90 ft. The catchers will draw or create a T on the ground they are standing on. They squat down so they are sitting on the top of the T and the line running straight down the center of their body. The will work on popping up and getting their body in the right spot using the T as a guideline. They are not receiving a throw before they pop up. They are pretending they just caught the pitch and then pop up from there.

4. Using the same principle as #3 they will make 5 snap throws to first. Obviously the must turn sideways when setting in their crouch before the throw.

5. Using the same principle as #3 they will make 3 throws on an inside pitch to 3rd base and 3 throws on an outside pitch to 3rd base.

6. From here they will throw out until loose or times runs out.

In Conclusion

The idea here is simple. Don't waste time at practice! If you are going to play catch then lets get something out of it. Let's give our players clear ideas to focus on and they will become better players.

We do not have time as coaches to work all of these skills everyday if we try and do it during team time. So work them in during catch time. They are the skills I believe are important to us. You can be creative and use your own philosophy as to how you want to set-it up or what skills you want to practice. Just don't waste that time!

One more thought here. If at times I want to change things up for the catchers and infielders for couple of days I will set up four cones around the infield like they were the four bases. I will set up a set of four at 40ft, 65ft, 90ft, 120ft. Then I will split the players even at all the cones.

Then throwing to their left they must go around the horn 5 times without missing a ball. If there are 3 players to a cone they will keep alternating in order. Once they make it 5 times they will have to do it going to the right.

Once they have completed 40ft, they go to 60ft, and so on until they have completed the challenge as a group. We will use that as our sole warm-up. They will not go to the outfield and flip the ball back and forth without any real direction. It is amazing how good they can be when they are focused on a tasked. Another note here: This is a great teachable moment drill because as players mess up you can instruct them on to how to handle it as a team. I.E. pick up your teammates!

The distances I used were for high school players. It goes without saying (although I am about to) you can adjust them for younger players. Best of Luck!

Is Youth The Baseball In America Focusing On Properly Developing Players

While I am working on some other posts I thought I would throw this questions out there. The reason I ask is because I have had a number of people approach me about youth baseball. I am talking about ages 5 - 14. My oldest kids are 4 years old so I am not immersed into youth baseball/softball just yet.

Everything I hear though seems to be very negative. I shouldn't say everything because I have people who tell me the good stuff as well but it does fall much more on the negative. It really made me start thinking if as a country we are developing our kids the right way.

I am reserving judgment here because like I said I have no first hand knowledge of what our kids are doing at that level on a daily basis. I am not on a witch hunt nor am I looking to bash youth baseball. I am simply asking your opinion. To be honest I am hoping to hear that's things are going well but I am asking for an honest evaluation whether it is positive or negative.

What I am looking for here is for our players, parents, and coaches in youth baseball to give their opinions about what they see. I would also like it if you would vote on the poll on this page about youth baseball.

I am going to write a series of articles on what I believe should be taught in youth baseball. My hope is I can help some of the players, parents, and coaches focus on the things that are most important to our players. I look forward to your responses!

Special Note: I am adding this after I have already posted this for about two hours now. After reading it again I am very concerned that it is coming off like I am questioning parents and coaches. That is not at all what I am doing here. I am simply trying to fill in my curiosity about some things I have heard.

I respect people who volunteer their time and trust me you can easily find people who don't like some of the decisions I have made. I am in the business of trying to be helpful with this blog.