Baseball Coaching Digest - Teach Batters to Use Their New Brain When Batting

Baseball Coaching Digest - Teach Batters to Use Their New Brain When Batting
By guest author: Nick Dixon


To me the hitter's brain is his eyes. If you literally try to think yourself through every at-bat, you are in trouble in today's game. The hitter must let his eye's do his thinking at the plate. I consider the eyes a batter's new brain. They must learn to properly use it. This article discusses several coaching points, tips and details related to this approach to hitting.

Teaching young hitters to swing at what they see, not what they think they see or what they think that they are going to see is one of the most important coaching responsibilities as a youth coach. What I mean about this statement is that players have to step into the box realizing that they "never know" what the pitch will be. They should not guess pitches but rather learn to keep the hands back and see what the pitch is and then react.

Several coaching points come to mind when I discuss this process. Many of these are saying that you should teach or convey to your staff and players. Those points are:

1. Always set yourself up physically to hit the fastball on the outer 3rd of the plate, and adjust to hit the fastball in. Notice, I said "physically" set your stance at the plate. I did not say, "Convince yourself that the next pitch is going to be a "fastball away". The key is getting in a position to hit it and being able to reach. Batters should always be ready to hit the fastball away first and then adjust to the fastball in, curveball away, or pitch on the middle 3rd of the plate. The batter must let his "eyes control his hands". The decision to hit or swing comes from the eyes, not the brain. Therefore, the eyes are the hitter's brain.

2. Always set yourself up physically to hit the fastball and adjust to hit off speed pitches. The batter must be able to hit the soft stuff on the outer 3rd of the plate at all times. The batter should always be ready to hit the fastball, but should keep the hands back, and adjust to hit the off speed pitch. The key here is that to be a confident batter, a batter must have confidence in his "hand or bat speed". He must know and realize that if he keeps his hands back, he can still catch up with the fastball, but if he "leaks or cheats his hands forward", he will be incapable of hitting the away fastball and the way off speed pitch. He must learn to keep his hands back and allow his eyes to do his thinking. He must see a pitches location before he reacts. Assuming a position that allows you to see, react, and hit all pitch locations is the key to hitting success.

3. The hitter should never guess. Guess hitting makes a hitter an easy target that will fall victim to good pitches. Hitting is a process of see and reacting, not guessing and swinging. The hitter must see the pitch location before he swings, not guess a pitches location before he swings. The difference is that when you guess, you start too early. When you guess, you have a tendency to start the swing prematurely. The guess hitter may be able to get it right sometimes, and crush the fastball with power. But, more times than not, he will lunge, jump or get out to quick and strike out or pop the fly ball into the air.

4. The only thing a hitter should know is that you "never know" what the pitch is going to be. The key is to trust you eyes as your brain to allow you to be a "see" hitter and not a "guess" hitter. I know that count awareness can give you the edge as a hitter in many situations. If you are ahead, you are more than likely going to get a fastball. If the pitcher is ahead, you are more than like going to get his best out pitch, which may be a breaking ball. But, more and more in today's game, we are pitching batters backwards. So, the absolute best way to hit is to make batting a "seeing, identifying and reacting process" that allows the swing to be triggered, controlled and executed by the eyes.

I hope that you found this article to be useful and informative. You can find more like it at Baseball Coaching Digest, Youth Baseball Digest, Little League Digest, and the Baseball Parent Guide. I thank you for taking the time to read this article. I wish you and your team the best of luck in the coming season. Have a great day, Nick

The CoachesBest Baseball Store has a great selection of 1400 Baseball Products. 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, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.

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The Categories they have are: BatAction Hitting Machines, Hurricane Hitting Machines, Batting Cages, Pitching Machines, Jugs Equipment, Game and Practice Baseballs, Protective Practice Screens and Nets, Portable Pitching Mounds, Baseball DVDs & Books, Clearance Items on Sales, NEDCO Bataction Replacement Parts, Baseball Training Equipment, Youth Baseball Training Equipment, Training Bats, Pitching & Throwing Trainers, Defensive Trainers, SKLZ Hurricane Replacement Parts and Much Much More! Visit Baseball2U.com today!

Baseball Coaching Digest: Helping Your son overcome fear at the plate.

I recently received the following comment from Paul concerning helping his son to regain his confidence and swing quality. Below is my comment.

Hello Nick: My son is 10 years old. Last year he broke his thumb on an inside pitch. Since that incident, he began bailing out on every pitch. His once solid swing has gone to crap! We have made some progress, he has unbelievable hand eye coordination which has saved him from complete failure. He now tends to almost sand up during the swing resulting in a tremendous loss of power! Not to mention changing the swing plane. What can i do?

Paul,
I understand your frustration and concern. I also understand the feelings that are causing your son the problems. There are several suggestions that I have.

1) There is a drill called the "Step-in-and-hit" drill (see below)
that is often used to correct or elimintate the bad habit of stepping out.

2) If he is standing too tall, I would have him widen his feet or stance and go to a no stride or simple load-lift-lauch technique that involves very little travel of the front foot. This stance should force him to be lower throughout the swing.

3) A last alternative would be to open his stance and to have him step in on very pitch. The open stance will make him feel that he in seeing the ball better. An open stance requires the batter to close and step in on the pitch. I would resort to this tactic as a last resort.

4) You may want to consider purchasing a front arm guard and padded batting glove to give him a feeling of being protected.

I hope that these suggestions help. I wish you are your son great luck in the approaching season. He is lucky to have a father that cares and that is committed to helping him become a better player.

Have a great day, Nick

The Step-In-And-Hit" Batting Drill

The "step in and hit" drill is a good remedy to this problem. This drill has the player move back one step farther of the plate than normal. The players will step in first with the back foot. The step is taken straight toward the plate. Then the front foot step is taken at a 45 degree angle toward the plate. The step is almost toward the second baseman. (For a right handed batter). When the front foot lands, the batter will attack the ball. This teaches the batter to step into the ball and prevents him from stepping back. This drill is best done with a hitting stick type training aid.

4 Baseball Pitching Drills For Little League Players

4 Baseball Pitching Drills For Little League Players
By guest author: Nick Dixon

Teaching, training and developing young baseball pitchers takes a lot of time, patience, and practice repetition. Many young pitchers need to practice pitching skills daily. To keep the interest level high, it is best to use a variety of drills on alternate days to prevent boredom. Here are 4 baseball pitching drills that can be used to train youth and beginner pitchers.

Drill #1 - Up & Out Foot Drill Objective - To help pitchers perfect the proper back leg action. The purpose of this drill is to stop foot drag and prevent over striding.

Equipment Needed - A brick, block or wood or other suitable object. The object will be placed at a location just in front of the pivot foot of the pitcher. The pitcher will be working out of the stretch. The pitcher should be reminded to roll and pick his back foot up so that it clears the object.

Procedure - The pitcher throws using his normal motion and delivery. If the pitcher fails to clear the object, then his back foot is "dragging" or he is over striding. Young pitchers should be coached to step out of the "hold" and up and over the block.

Drill #2 - Dot Spot Drill Objective - The purpose of this drill is to build confidence, to teach young pitchers to hit their spots and to teach young pitchers to have great control.

Equipment Needed - Good balls, Catching equipment, and glove.

Procedure - The catcher has 4 dots on his gear. The 4 dots or spots are different colors or they each have a number on them. The dots are taped to each knee on the shin guards and one to the left shoulder and right shoulder. The catcher or coach calls a color or a number. The pitcher must hit the dot called. The pitcher has 6 pitches to hit all 4 of the dots. All dots should be called in different orders each time. If the pitcher fails to hit 4 dots correctly, the pitcher must do 10 push ups. Two pitchers can compete to see which finishes first. The dots may be placed lower on the catcher to stress keeping the ball low or down in the zone.

Drill #3 Long Toss - Power Building Drill - Pitchers should long toss several times a week to build strength and endurance. The two players should warm-up as usual and then move back a few steps after each 4 throws. Pitchers should be able to increase their strength and extend their distances within weeks. Pitchers of all ages should work out to a distance at least 3 times their normal pitching distance. Some coaches allow players to "crow hop" at the farthest distances. That is up to you.

Drill #4 - Front Side Drill Objective - This drill is used to teach and reinforce the proper front shoulder action during delivery.

The drill is performed as the pitcher kneels on the pivot-leg knee. The pitcher will begin the drill with the throwing arm in the "T -position" and the stride foot aimed at the plate. The pitcher begins the throwing motion by pulling and tucking his front arm and glove. At the same time he is bringing his throwing arm and shoulder around and toward the plate. The drill should be performed many times to give the pitcher the feel of proper mechanics and front shoulder movement. The front elbow should be used as the guide for the front side. The glove should be extended out and tucked as the pitcher rolls his lead shoulder and pulls it in. This deceptive move is used to distract and deceive batters. The drill should be finished with the throwing arm in proper finish position outside the stride leg knee.

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Are You a Good Youth Baseball Coach?

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Youth Baseball Coach
By Chip Lemin

Hello Coaches,

Are you ready for another season of watching your youth baseball team make tons of errors? Well, if your not,check out a few drills you can use winter work outs or spring training. These drills are fun for youth baseball players, along with helping them learn fielding fundamentals lacking many of today's youth baseball players.So print them up for for better results fielding the ball this year.

Outfield Bucket Drill

Place a large garbage can (clean one please) on its side, on home plate so that the opening faces second base

Players make 2 lines in right and left field. Coach is at 2nd base with bucket of balls. * Have the first two players in each line break away from their groups and assume a normal ready fielding position

Throw a soft pop fly into the air for the fielders to catch. * After the catch, they crow hop and throw the ball at cutoff-height to home plate. Instruct them to throw the ball into the bucket with the ball bouncing once or twice prior to home plate. Players rotate after each throw, and then
Change lines after 2 throws. Add grounders to the mix, showing them how to field balls along
With making proper strong throws home.

Throwing skills include aggressively squaring the body to the target, the crow hop; correct arm extension with fingers atop the ball and pointed straight back; grip the ball across the seams; hip roll and follow through.

Emphasize proper fielding techniques. The players should be catching the ball with there
Momentum taking them towards home plate or the base they are throwing to. Show them
How to run to the spot, step back some, and then come in on the ball. Receive the ball above the bill of their hat, slightly toward the throwing shoulder; glove fingers are pointed to the sky (not turned SIDEWAYS.

To improve focus of the players in this drill, make it a contest between 2 or 3 evenly matched groups. Make up scoring rules, and watch the focus improve. This always adds fun to a work
Out as long as the teams are even. Our Advanced course goes into drop steps, crossover steps, fielding grounders on the run, and much more.

Call out the Number Drill

Take 12 to 24 balls and put the number 1 or 2 on each ball, evenly divided as possible. Have players line up at shortstop, 2nd base, 1st base, and home plate with their gloves. Divide them evenly as possible; you can have whole team in on this drill if you want.

The thrower at home plate picks a ball out of the bucket, and rolls a pretty hard grounder to player at short. The player fielding the ball at short will call out the number on the ball, and throws it to 1st or 2nd base.

After ball is thrown to 1st base, that player will then throw ball to second base, where that player will run ball back to a bucket by shortstop. Each time a throw is made, the player must tag that base before the next throw is made. Errant throws must be retrieved and that base tagged before next throw is made. Any of the 3 players can go get the poor throw, but the throw must go back to the right base before the next throw is made.

The players rotate while ball is being put in the bucket (fielder goes to first, first baseman goes to second, and second baseman goes to end of line), or they can go to home plate and be a thrower. Thrower then would go to short to become a fielder.

The drill can be turned into a competition by splitting up into teams and simultaneously conducting the drill (other team starts in between home and first and throw to third for #1 and home for #2) or timing each team on how long it takes them to complete 12-24 balls. Emphasis should be put on setting the feet to throw to the proper base, along with a quick release with out taking an extra step, and that making good throws will avoid lost time chasing after wild throws. As players advance, make sure proper footwork for tagging a base and throwing to the next base is taught. Players should be taught to stay in low crouching position while making quick throws to 2nd base from shortstop

Circle the Bucket Drill

Helps player to use proper footwork (shuffling and rounding of ball) by circling the bucket before fielding ball. This will help them to use footwork that will square them to target, and provide momentum for their throws.

Need bucket of balls along with extra bucket.

Players line up at shortstop with a bucket 5 feet in front of them. The coach sets up at pitcher's mound with bucket of balls.

As the coach rolls slower speed grounders at the bucket, the player circles the bucket from the 3rd base side and fields the ball, keeping his footwork right, and momentum moving toward 1st base.

The speed of the grounders will increase, as players get better at this drill. This drill is about proper form, not how fast we do it. Increase speed only as players do drill correctly. To add more difficulty have players circle ball from first base side.

Have each player do this 5-6 times. You can have players be the rollers also, and then rotate back to fielding line.

I hope you find these drills helpful.The key to a good practice is that the kids have fun while they learn.You really don't have yell and shout if the team doesn't do it just right.Just look first for the effort.

Thanks Coach Chip

Hello My name is Chip Lemin. I'm a long time youth baseball coach who loves to promote this great game of youth baseball. Promoting sportsmanship in this game of youth baseball is something that really needs I feel. I have a free e-course that will give you some solid coaching information along with great help on the inter-personal relationships we must have to be good youth baseball coaches. Things such as parents, travel baseball, getting parents to help out, how to communicate better to parents and players, just to touch on a few. This course will help to organize practices like an elite coach. How to motivate players and other coaches with your positive attitude. It really is not very hard to be a great coach when you know what to do.Best of all you will learn how to have fun with these great kids that you have the privilege of coaching. Do yourself a favor and check it out, it's free,you will get 1 part every couple of days in your e-mail. Coaching can be fun and rewarding if you have a plan in place first, and you have an idea what you are doing.

http://www.baseballecourse.com

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Youth Baseball Digest - 4 Important Factors That Can Help New Little League Coaches Be Successful

Youth Baseball Digest - 4 Important Factors That Can Help New Little League Coaches Be Successful
By Nick Dixon

The 4 Most Important Rules that all New Little League Baseball Coaches Should Follow

Coaching Little league is a great way for baseball and softball players to give back to your community. Every baseball player remembers his first t-ball coach, coach pitch coach, little league coach, and high school coach. Baseball coaches have a profound effect on the lives of the players they coach. Being or becoming a great youth baseball coach requires a high level of commitment and dedication. There are 3 important rules that every new little league coach must always follow. Those rules are:

1. You must be a student of the game. To be a good youth baseball coach, you must have a good knowledge of how the game is played, how the rules are applied, and how certain skills and drills are performed. If you feel uncomfortable about a certain position, skill or fundamental, look for help. You may ask another coach. You may go to your local library or book store and find a book on how to coach baseball. You have access to an enormous amount of information about every aspect of the game through your computer and the internet.

2. You must have good help. You can never have too much help when coaching a youth team. Ask your parents and friends to find other volunteers to help you coach your team. It is best to have a parent meeting. Ask for parent volunteers. The parents that volunteer to help should choose a specific area in which they concentrate their effort. You will need at least 2 good assistant coaches. One needs to have enough knowledge and patience to be the pitching coach. One should be the hitting coach.

3. You must remediate your weaker players. In you draft, you may find that you must pick children that are good at certain skills but extremely week in other areas.One often overlooked and neglected aspect of coaching is remediation/ Remediation is special attention and help given to those players that need it. This is a job for what I refer to as the remediation coach. The coach that takes one or two players to the side and works on specific areas of the game in which they are too weak to compete. They may need help with swing mechanics, throwing mechanics, or simple footwork. These kids will master these skills easier and faster when they receive one-on-one personal attention. These "tutoring" lessons pay back huge returns if you can have enough help. The theory is that you must bring every player up to a certain level or much valuable team time will be lost to working with them during team drills. It is best to take these kids aside and work them separately from the team until they get their skill levels up. These lessons should be done in such a way to not embarrass the child or players involved.

4. You must work hard and set a good example. A willingness to work hard may be the most important trait of a successful coach. They work hard at planning, organizing, and executing individual and team drills for both offense and defense. They have high energy levels and are always willing to put forth that little extra effort to make a practice or game run smother.

I hope that you found this article to be helpful. Good luck to you and your team. Have a great day, Nick

The CoachesBest Baseball Store has a great selection of 1400 Baseball Products. 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, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.

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Baseball2u.com/CoachesBest.com is the ultimate online baseball training and coaching store. With over 1400 products organized into categories Baseball2u.com makes finding that baseball training product easy and simple. Order securely online or by phone. Baseball2u.com is a fully licensed company and has a full time staff available from 8:00 to 5:00 CST. Their toll free customer service number is 1-877-431-4487.

The Categories they have are: Baseball Training Equipment, Youth Baseball Training Equipment, Training Bats, Pitching & Throwing Trainers, Defensive Trainers, Batting Cages, Pitching Machines, Jugs Equipment, Game and Practice Baseballs, Protective Practice Screens and Nets, Portable Pitching Mounds, Baseball DVDs & Books, Clearance Items on Sales, BatAction Hitting Machines, Hurricane Hitting Machines, NEDCO Bataction Replacement Parts, SKLZ Hurricane Replacement Parts and Much Much More! Visit Baseball2U.com today!
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Free Youth Baseball Drills - 3 Great Ways to Improve the Youth!

By KC Andrus

Youth baseball is a deep tradition, certainly in the American culture, and has always filled kids and parents live's with an amazing get away from the redundancy of normal life, as well as a way to channel children's energy (and hopefully wear them out, right parents? *wink* *wink*). But whether you're a parent, coach or player these six simple, free youth baseball drills are sure to get you and you're team going in the right direction, which is having fun, of course...and winning:

1. The first difficult transition in a baseball player's life is making the jump from tee ball to coach pitch (or machine pitch) whatever the case may be. A drill that makes this transition easier is to get a big, nerf soccer ball and have them hit that for a while just to get the feel of hitting a moving ball.

2. Baseball Ready Position Drill- this drill is great to teach kids the value of being in "ready position" when the ball is delivered to the plate. Have the infielder's line up at shortstop for ground ball practice just like normal, but BEFORE you hit them a ground ball make sure they get in a good athletic position so they can get a good jump on the ball.

3. Double Leg Kick Drill- This drill is for when the youngster's start pitching. Have the child stand in the outfield and pitch from the stretch the same as he would off the mound. But when he gets to his leg kick and his leg reaches it's highest point have him pause briefly, and then put his leg back down and leg kick again. This makes sure the pitcher is keeping his weight back and using his momentum toward the plate.

There are so many more great, free youth baseball drills. that will help your children improve and reach their true potential. It is wonderful for children to improve, and it is highly likely that the better they get the more fun they will have. It's just natural. Make sure to gather all the resources you can. The following site is one that I like a lot:

free youth baseball drills.

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