"Big Thoughts Lead to Big Swings"

Hitters should work on hitting balls hard, far happens by accident and is a byproduct of pitch selection,  good swing mechanics and accuracy with the barrel. One of the worst phrases in baseball is "just put the ball in play" however on the other end of the spectrum if I am having thoughts in my head about hitting the ball 500 feet my brain forgets that my eyes need a chance to evaluate the individual pitch. A tense muscle is a slow muscle and the eyes are the most important muscle in baseball. Work as a hitter to find the mind set that allows you to have accelerated swings with a calm mind so your eyes can work. When you go to swing think about being quick and explosive not big, wild and slow. The comparison I make is think about how a professional boxer throws a punch, compared to an amateur in a street fight. The professional boxer gets paid to be explosive and accurate where an amateur in a fight usually swings wildly hoping to land a punch. As a hitter i encourage you to push the limit to where you can generate great bat speed without losing the accuracy of your barrel. When you do over swing, recognize your mindset on that pitch and reel yourself back in. Through trial and error find the self talk, thinking patterns and mindset that create a calmness when the pitcher releases the ball.

First Move in Swing

I want to look at the initial move that elite hitters make to begin the forward move to hit the ball. Most hitters have heard the term "get on plane with the pitch" or "keep the bat in the zone for as long as possible." You can see in the Miguel Cabrera video that he stays in the zone a long time which allows him to not have perfect timing and still have a chance at solid contact. It is very easy to see that most great hitters stay in the zone a long time. However, how to do this is very difficult to feel initially. I do not want to get into the details too much at this time but I want you to watch the clips and try to feel that movement the next time you are in the cage.  When you go to swing try to take the tip of your back elbow and drive it into your back hip or belt line. You won't be able to do this but that mindset may allow you to feel the initial movement that elite hitters do. We will revisit this topic over and over in this blog in the coming months.

Creating a Foundation

The toughest thing for young hitters to do is consistently create a base to hit from.  When I am in the cage hitting with young players the number one mechanical flaw I see is that hitters do not create a base for themselves to hit from. Most hitters are just trying to master the first swing that was taught to them. Many hitters never experiment with other ways to load. Next time you are in the cage I challenge you to try these three simple ways to create a base for yourself. Tall and fall to landing like Tullo, Hip movement in a no stride base like Goldy and the gather and go by Miggy. FEEL how your body reacts to these ways of generating momentum which ultimately create timing in your swing.

Two guys on the same base. What to do

This play only comes up maybe once or twice a season. The rule is not taught by coaches correctly.  However, if you do end up there just stand there until the umpire sorts the situation out. If you are on defense and this situation comes up do exactly what the Mariner's catcher did create confusion by tagging both runners. You can see that the blue jays 3rd base coach knows the rule and is telling the trail runner to return to second. As the trail runner if you can see that the defenders are just going to run the runner back to the base you will be out if you just stand on the base so you should go back once you are 100% sure that the defense is going to just run the lead runner back to the base. Don't let this strange play cost your team a game. Coaches educate your players on the rule and if all else fails just stand on the base and let the umpire figure the situation out.

Heads up Defense. Ways to confuse the opponent.

On Defense you've heard over and over again the importance of knowing the situation and knowing where to throw the ball. However, here are 4 videos of big league players playing the game inside the game on defense. These videos show 4 different plays where the baserunner was put in a tough position. Remember that the majority of base runners are scared to make a mistake and will therefore error on the side of caution. If you cannot make a play on the ball and have the opportunity to create doubt in a base runners mind take advantage of the opportunity. Let's quickly go through a few ways to do this.
1. Steal with ball put in play. Middle infielders can either bluff a double play turn or act like the ball was an infield pop up. The middle infielders need to work together to create confusion.
2. Outfielders: your number one goal is obviously to catch the ball in the air. If you are not going to catch the ball and there are runners on base with less then two outs if you can make it look like you are going to catch the ball it can hold the runner long enough so that he is unable to advance more then one base. Ichiro does this to perfection in these two clips.

There are a few more examples that I will revisit in a later post but these 4 videos show big league players being heads up. Remember that 99% of base runners are not great at running the bases and they can be easily mislead into making errors in judgement when running the bases.

Gedman Baseball Blog is back

I have decided to get back into blogging about the game of baseball. Back in 2012 this blog was designed as a platform to talk about pitching. I am going to expand the blog to focus on all aspects of the game.  I plan to post a new topic once a day and would love feed back on the topics discussed. Any questions or ideas for new topics can be shared in the comment section or by contacting me directly at mike@gedmanbaseball.com.