Balk No Seriously Balk

If you want to pick off runners the best way is to balk. Now there is a way to do this. Baserunners are told two key things with pitchers. Right Handers: when you raise your left heal. Left Handers: Once the pitcher's right foot crosses the rubber he has to go home. That just isn't true. They never call balks for this. The only time they call balks is if you don't come to a stop and if a lefty steps to home and then throws it to first. That's it.

WS 2009 Gm1: Lee makes two plays look easy

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One of my favorite clips of body language. Talk about being confident and in the moment on baseball's  biggest stage. Most players do not appreciate the significance of the message you send to your opponent during a game. 

The Basics

Infield:
you field the ball off your left leg with one hand, you only use two hands if you are turning a double play. You read where the ball bounces in front of homeplate. If it hits in the dirt it will have different spin than the grass. you want a short or long hop everytime. You bring the ball right to your ear and then you reach out and try to touch the first baseman glove.
Outfield
catch it before it hits the ground with one hand (more catch area radius) you hit the cutoff man every time. throw the ball firm but to the cutoff man, if he wants to let it go let him make that decision. If it is a can of corn make it look like you are bored when you catch it
Pitching
Pressure on fingers is way more important than actual position of fingers on ball. you break your hands as late as you can and swing your arm as close to your body as you can, behind you. When you break your hands kick your foot forward. when you land your front shoulder should still be pointed at the target for separation. You hold onto the ball as long as you can and when you finish you try to punch the dirt at the bottom of the mound because that makes you throw the ball down hill not reach out to the catcher because that makes your pitches flat.

Don't step closed

Most amateur players step closed, try stepping even or open, just keep your front shoulder on the ball. You need to use your hips to maximize the turn of the barrel. The picture above is from the Allstar game and even though the ball is away, Springer rotates his belt buckle to the pitcher at contact which maximizes the use of the lower half to generate speed into the barrel. One exercise to use is the step over stretch, where you lift your leg as you walk, over an imaginary rope around your waist. Do this forward, backward and side ways to help build flexibility in hips. The less flexible you are the more you should step open during your load. If you are going to step closed you need to stand off the plate so that there is no strike that is actually in but with high school and college strike zones I don't recommend this because the ball of the plate away is consistently called a strike. Focus on striding straight forward or even open while keeping your front shoulder on the ball as long as you can. Striding closed is #1 thing I consistently see in amateur swings that is hurting the development of the swing but with focus can be relatively easy to fix. 

Baseball is 99% mental

Confidence is #1

Game of failure, mentally have to deal with the inevitable failure. Don’t ignore it, figure out how you are going to deal with it. Your ego needs to accept it, its part of the game.

Consistency is #2

If you do your work consistently your body learns how to repeat the action

Your stats only matter at the end of the year, 

Learn how to compete on that pitch WIN, “What’s important now”

Be the dominant person in the relationship/matchup by how you act. When you succeed act like it was inevitable, when you fail act like you did it on purpose.

Play Screw it baseball, allows you to play without fear of failure. “Getting the outcome you want increases when you let go of the need to have it.”

Baseball is 99% mental, can you stay confident through failure. You can act like you hit a homer your last ab every time you go up to hit. “Act like the player you want to become until you become the player you act like.”

Have to control your thoughts to be good at baseball

Have to play baseball with an internal quiet edge that allows you to compete against another guy with a reason. Ask yourself, “why do you play baseball, what are you trying to do in the game?” 

Train to make your muscles quicker and more explosive

Everything in baseball is relaxed to quick so you should train that way in the weight room. Slow down, quick and explosive up. The same change that needs to happen in baseball. You can train your fast twitch muscles. The change in tempo from slow to quick is the most important action in baseball. You should do everything you can in the weight room to train those patterns.

Swing at strikes and take balls

Its sounds extremely simple but its the hardest thing to do in baseball. You have to deal with the pitcher executing and trying to make strikes initially look like balls and  balls that at first look like strikes. You have to figure out the umpire's strike zone and how he decides on balls and strikes. The home plate is just for show but the umps home plate needs to be figured out and approach adjusted according to that particular umps strike zone. Each one is different but I know for sure the if the ball bounces the ump calls it a ball. Try to take all of those and be upset when you don't. IF YOU TAKE THE PITCHES THAT BOUNCE BEFORE THE CATCHER and swing at everything else over the plate that you can hit the barrel you make the pitchers job difficult which is the goal with hitting.

You have to play with an edge in baseball

Baseball is an individual sport in a team setting and the matchup between the hitter and the pitcher is the game. It takes balls to win in this matchup cause you know the guy on the other side wants to ruin your day just like you want to ruin his but the key is to establish your dominance. When one Buck walks up to a doe to mate and another Buck shows up 95% of the time one Buck walks away cause he knows it would be bad for his health to stay. Every once in a while you have Sale v Altuve and its a showdown. The pitcher or the hitter knows he is in trouble even though nothing is said. Have dominant body language on the field at all times.

Failure is Inevitable.

Learn how to deal with and accept that you will fail more than you succeed. The great ones realize this and plan on how they will react when they inevitably fail. When you fail act like you did it on purpose. It's not your helmets fault and its a joke when players act like babies when they fail. If you are able to improve your ability to deal with failure and learn from your mistakes you will evolve into a drastically better baseball player because baseball is 99% mental.

Learn to compete

Baseball is a weird game in terms of the matchup between the hitter and the pitcher, the score is irrelevant. However, many players determine their focus by the score. That's ridiculous, they all count the same. If you hit a homer down 10-0, good for you. You should be happy about the fact that you won that ab, even though your team is getting smoked. Baseball is an individual sport in a team setting. Take care of your ab. Be selfish, they all count the same.

You're not tired

You're not tired in baseball unless you are pitching or catching. Tired is a mental excuse to justify failure. You have to focus for less than a second at a time from the moment the pitcher throws the ball until the hitter hits it or the catcher catches it. Playing in the present is the hardest thing to do in baseball but it is vital to getting a good jump, seeing the ball well and executing. You need to stay relaxed during that time the ball is in the air so your actions can be quick and explosive when its time to go. Everything in baseball is relaxed/slow to quick. If you 1. develop the quick twitch muscles in your body 2.learn how to relax 3.learn how to deal with failure 4. consistently work on your game you will be great.

Hunting Pitcher Mistakes above the knees

You're gunna chase pitches, its inevitable and part of the game. A cookie is a mistake the pitcher makes from middle away to middle in above the knees. You should limit your takes on these type of pitches. Your numbers are a direct reflection on how you do on these pitches. Be on time for these good pitches to hit. Obviously the cookie total is random each ab but be ready to hit these pitches because your barrel can do a ton of damage in these spots if you are accurate. You are more likely to get a cookie in plus counts but remember that 0-1, 1-2, the pitcher tries to "make it nasty" which sometimes makes them muscle up and throw cookies. I hate the word approach cause its too vague. Just pretend the count is 1-1 each time and if they throw it over that white house shaped thing above the knees swing and try to ruin the pitchers day if not just don't swing and wait for the next pitch, Easy game.

Be Consistent

 Consistently, do the work. Most just want to get rich by winning the lottery cause its easy. Decide what you are going to do and do the work to make it a reality. Don't say it, Prove it. Victory happens when 10,000 hours of training meet one moment of opportunity. "The fight is won or lost out there on the road and in the gym long before I dance under those lights"--- Mohammed Ali. Baseball comes down to one simple fact, whether you want to admit it or not, if you are good/bad its your fault, most just want to be good, but it takes consistent work to maximize your potential. Don't let anyone ever tell you you can't do something, if you want something go get it period.

Swinging until you aren’t.

Treat each pitch like someone is throwing you bp, swinging until you aren’t. You know the pitch is a good pitch to hit until your eyes tell you to shut the swing down. You are making the decision to take not swing. If you don't see the ball well and you don't have two strikes its a take every time.

The score is irrelevant

The ebbs and flows of a baseball game are all artificial. When you are winning you think you will win and same with losing. There is one time the score matters at the end, that's it....period. But the hitter gets 3 strikes and the pitcher gets 4 balls, a hit's a hit and an out's an out and every 3 outs you switch.

GOOD V GREAT

For position players, one more hit a week changes your batting average from 300 to 350 in a major league type schedule. In college or high school it changes your average more then 50 points. Remember that, bunt for a hit, run hard to beat out an infield hit, appreciate the bloopers, they all count the same. A hit's a hit.

Win that Pitch

 They all count the same. The homer you gave up in the 8th of a 11-1 game counts the same as the walkoff homer you give up and the same thing for the positive stats. A hits a hit, an outs an out. Do not let the score determine your focus on that pitch.

Play in the Present

What's important now? WIN. The hardest thing to do in baseball is play in the present the whole game. Its actually impossible but the best players just play the most pitches in the present. You can only control what you can control but many let things they can never control like the umpire take them away from their thoughts on executing on the next pitch. You either win or lose that pitch. Add them up at the end of the game and if you have a winning record you helped your team win. Many get lost in the score in the 4th inning but the only score that matters is the one at the end of the game. Attack the next pitch with confidence and presence because that is all you can control. When you fail act like you did it on purpose and when you succeed act like it was inevitable. You get a Win or a Loss on every pitch. On defense you have to prepare for the pitch like its one of the 5/6 pitches that decides the outcome. The video is from spring training, they lock it in and take care of this pitch over and over again until the game ends.

Up to Down, not back to front. Kevin Brown swing evolution.

 Kevin Brown was a 22nd round pick by the Cubs that got up to AAA. If he was drafted by not such a loaded organization he would of got to the big leagues. Kev was a good college player. Freshman all-American and a solid Sophomore and Junior year, The first video is of his junior year where he had a good college swing, the rest of the videos are from his senior year when he had a pro swing playing college baseball and his numbers showed that. Kev wanted to learn the pro swing and I taught it to him. However, he is still my favorite hitter I've ever coached because of his consistent work. He was the same everyday in the cage and always had an intent to get better. He wanted to be uncomfortable, because he knew that meant he was trying something new that might help him in the game. The best cage hitter I've ever coached name is Who Givesashit. Brownie understood that and was always trying to prepare his swing for the game when the pitcher is 60 feet away.

Kevin's swing evolution took a consistent daily focus in the cage. Most hitters are trying to perfect the first swing that was taught to them. That's what Kev did for 3 good years at Bryant. In Kev's senior year I asked him if he wanted to get drafted and Kev said, " I'm getting to the big leagues and getting drafted" and I said, "well you gotta start loading the barrel and preparing for the incoming pitch like a pro. Pros make the decision to swing or take way later than amateurs and pros can drive balls within their body cause their swing path is longer." Amateurs need to hit the ball out front to drive it." Brownie just said, "ok lets do it." Kev was obsessed with making his swing pro, he spent tons of time working on his craft in the cage with and without me. By the time the spring rolled around he had a pro swing. When you have a pro swing in college the numbers you put up are a joke. Brownie led our team in everything that year but the most impressive thing to me was if you didn't throw it over to Kev he just walked. He broke the NCAA record for most times on base in a row with 19. 9 of those plate appearances were walks. Brownie understood that it's about the pitches you take to set up pitches you will get later in the AB. If you swing at a 1-0 ball and roll it over, the 2-0, 3-0, 3-1 pitches are lost in history. When the pitcher executes and you don't have 2 strikes take it, because 99% of the time the amateur pitcher can't do it again.

Below are Kev's swing from Junior, where he hit "back to front" like almost every amateur hitter. If you time it up perfect you can hit it a long way. Kev had 9 HRs that year but only hit 280 because he would chase the ball down because he made his decision to swing at the amateur level so the pitches that ended up bouncing look liked strikes to his eyes when he made the decision to swing. For another post, you should go back to front, only in a plus count when you are cheating to a fastball.

 Your body can move the barrel better if your foot is away from the ground, it opens space for the body to store energy.

 Leaning on the back leg to load BACK 😞

 land like you are stepping on ice to see if it will break with most of the weight still on the back leg.

finish forward with most of the weight on the front leg.

Below is Kev's absolute bomb off a good pitcher from Ohio State early in his senior year. Illustrates the adjustments he made to his swing to make him pro. He loaded up not back and he is storing energy in his back groin but his knee is still inside his back foot. 

When he lands he has "separation" of his lower and upper body, his shoulder is pointed at the ball and his belt buckle is pointed at 3rd base. 

He TURNS his back shoulder down into the zone to start the movement of the barrel and as he starts to rotate to contact his weight is even and his head is in the middle of his body. The pro swing is up to down to rotate, once a pro lands he doesn't go forward any more HE JUST TURNS.

He makes the pitcher do his job which is to throw the ball the distance to the catcher not to home plate. The amateur umpire calls balls and strikes based on the location of the pitch when the catcher catches it. If it bounces before the catcher they can't call it a strike. 

Out front the right way, not going to get the ball and his back arm is still connected to his body. Once the arm starts to straighten the barrel is decelerating. 

The back shoulder is pointed to the pitcher at the finish, "replace the shoulders"

And as a pro when you know its out, you flip your bat 😎

Kev's transformation from a good college hitter as a junior to a professional hitter still playing in college was really fun to watch. He dominated and obviously cause he paid his dues to the Baseball Gods throughout the year with his work, Kev had the biggest hit in Bryant University's history. Jelen Beeks who is on the 40 man for the Boston Red Sox right now came in to pitch for Arkansas in a 1-1 game and threw a 97 FB on the black in and Kev trusted his pro swing that was late but had good enough bat path that he hit a line drive over the SS head to win the game in the NCAA regional to beat an SEC team. Weird how shit works out when you pay your dues and love the work that makes you a STUD.

If you want to be a pro you gotta act like a pro and WORK LIKE A PRO ON A SWING THAT A PRO WOULD HAVE. You can do it, so save the excuse that you can't because those guys are just naturals. That's bullshit, decide what you want to do and do the work to make it a reality.