Baseball Coaching Tips - When to Put on a Defensive Shift

Baseball Coaching Tips - When to Put on a Defensive Shift
By guest author: Jim Bain

Baseball players have their "Normal" fielding positions which are designed to provide the greatest amount of area coverage in which one fielder will be able to reach and field a hit baseball. These positions are tried and true from tens of thousands of ball games.

However, these "Normal" positions are just that, Normal. There's nothing set in stone as to not being able to vary the defensive set depending on the situation. Let's look at a few of these situations which could dictate you moving your defense into a shift.

The very first and most used shift involves the corner infielders. Once again depending on the score, the manager must determine if his best bet is to put the odds in his favor as far as the third baseman or first baseman fielding the ball for an out, or increase his odds of not allowing an extra base hit.

With the score close, within 2 or 3 runs of each other, and the game being in the late innings, 6th and 7th of a 7 inning game, 8th and 9th of a 9 inning game, the coach will position his corner infielders very close to the base.

The reasoning for this is quite simple. A ball hit through the infield to the left side of the 3rd baseman or the right side of the first baseman, will result in a base hit, as the outfielder will easily be able to field the ground ball and get it back into the infield, holding the runner at first base.

However, a hard hit ground ball to the right of the third baseman or left of the first baseman, which gets passed the infielder, will most likely result in a double for the hitter, placing him in scoring position. The reason for this huge difference, is a ball hit like this will have a natural spin which will take the baseball in direction towards the foul line and away from the outfielder.

Instead of waiting for the ball to reach him, he will have to go and retrieve the ball which allows the runner more time to reach second base.

Another type of shift utilized is an Over Shift, in which either the second baseman is shifted to behind second base or slightly on the shortstop side of second, or the shortstop is shifted behind second or slightly to the right field side of the base.

The reason for utilizing this shift, as we will see, is actually two fold. This shift is implemented when there is a Pull hitter, with power at the bat. Some hitters are capable of pulling (hitting) any pitch, whether it be outside or not, into a specific field, most likely left or right field.

The extra infielder is placed on the side of the field the hitter will 99% hit the baseball, giving the defense an advantage of fielding the ball for an out instead of a base hit.

Secondly, the shift is also implemented in order to induce the hitter to hit the ball to the open side of the infield, which will be his Non Power side. The team in essence is saying "I'll allow a free base hit in order to prevent a home run or extra base hit."

In a pitcher's duel, this shift and the results it produces, could have game winning or losing implications.

Jim Bain - Former Minor league baseball player, who since retiring has dedicated his life to teaching baseball to youth. Visit his exciting info packed website: http://www.Learn-Youth-Baseball-Coaching.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Bain

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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

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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.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon

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