Baseball Hitting Tips
By Guest Author: Justin Willman
In this article, I am going to be talking to you about the 3 most common things hitters do wrong and the 3 things you must avoid when hitting. If you avoid these things, you are definitely on your way to becoming a great hitter and smashing all your baseball hopes, dreams, and goals!
Alright, so the first thing in hitting that you must avoid at all costs is to become distracted. Distractions are common in everything you do in your day to day life, but as you probably have figured out already, they can really throw you off!
Distractions cause you to lose focus, and when you are hitting, you simply can't afford to do that. What I recommend you do to cure this is try and achieve zen and focus before you get into the batters box. Release everything else from your world. The only thing you need to focus on is the ball.
The next thing in hitting you need to avoid is getting frustrated when you fail. So many times I see kids come back to the dugout after a strikeout and throw their bat or helmet, etc. Do not let your emotions control you.
The last thing you need to avoid is not swinging at good pitches! Be ready on the first pitch, because a lot of the time that will be the best pitch you will ever see in the at-bat. The pitcher is trying to get ahead in the count, thus he will be trying to put the baseball over the plate.
I am a former pro baseball player, having helped hundreds of people to easy baseball success. I've recently developed a video training course showing you a step by step process for making your baseball training results come easier and faster. To learn how to become a better hitter without all the fluff, visit, http://www.DynamiteHitting.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_Willman
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5787921
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The Baseball Parent Guide Blog provides free youth baseball training drills and tips for helping young players succeed in youth baseball. Frequent post cover all topics related to baseball mechanics and fundamentals including how to hit a baseball and how to throw a baseball.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
The Secret to Helping Your Kid Be a Better Baseball Hitter in Little League or High School Baseball
Helping Your Kid Be a Better Baseball Player
By Franklin Watts
Is your kid in Little League or high school baseball? Is he or she hitting the baseball as good as you want them to? Does it drive you crazy when you know they could be doing better up at bat, but you don't know how to show them how to hit the ball better? Do you want to know how to teach them how to connect with the baseball more often?
My first tip that will help them hit better is to show them how to keep their eye on the ball. We've all heard that before, but it is really the best thing you can do to make them focus and make contact with the baseball more often. It is easy with all the noise on the field to stop looking at the ball. Talk to them about watching the pitcher. Tell them not to be afraid of the pitcher or the ball coming at them.
The second tip that will really help your kid hit a baseball better is to make sure they center themselves over home plate. You will see kids that don't center over home plate the right way and they never get a good hit. Standing in the right place makes a big difference to every hit. Try it with your kid when you get a chance to practice with them.
Watching your kid play baseball can be painful when you want them to do better. No parent wants their kid to strike out at bat. But you can help them be a better hitter. Unless you a hire an expensive personal baseball trainer to help them out, you are the one that has to help them.
So please take the time to get to know how to help them. Maybe one day when your kid makes it to the World Series you can say that you were the one that helped them get there!
Visit Baseball Hitting Lessons [http://baseballhittinglessons.info/] to make your kid a better baseball hitter [http://baseballhittinglessons.info/] today!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Franklin_Watts
By Franklin Watts
Is your kid in Little League or high school baseball? Is he or she hitting the baseball as good as you want them to? Does it drive you crazy when you know they could be doing better up at bat, but you don't know how to show them how to hit the ball better? Do you want to know how to teach them how to connect with the baseball more often?
My first tip that will help them hit better is to show them how to keep their eye on the ball. We've all heard that before, but it is really the best thing you can do to make them focus and make contact with the baseball more often. It is easy with all the noise on the field to stop looking at the ball. Talk to them about watching the pitcher. Tell them not to be afraid of the pitcher or the ball coming at them.
The second tip that will really help your kid hit a baseball better is to make sure they center themselves over home plate. You will see kids that don't center over home plate the right way and they never get a good hit. Standing in the right place makes a big difference to every hit. Try it with your kid when you get a chance to practice with them.
Watching your kid play baseball can be painful when you want them to do better. No parent wants their kid to strike out at bat. But you can help them be a better hitter. Unless you a hire an expensive personal baseball trainer to help them out, you are the one that has to help them.
So please take the time to get to know how to help them. Maybe one day when your kid makes it to the World Series you can say that you were the one that helped them get there!
Visit Baseball Hitting Lessons [http://baseballhittinglessons.info/] to make your kid a better baseball hitter [http://baseballhittinglessons.info/] today!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Franklin_Watts
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Baseball Parent Guide: One Player, One Season, Three Teams - How Much Baseball Is Enough?
By Guest Author:Dr. Warren Bruhl
Youth baseball is a pastime shared by millions. In virtually every town in America on a summer evening, a baseball game is probably played. Perhaps, 10,000 or more games may be played even simultaneously and the outcomes while important to the participants ultimately have little significance in world affairs. Still, many young people and their parents devote countless hours to the preparation, practice, transportation, and games of baseball because they enjoy the game. Dreams of becoming professional ball players abound for pre-teen and teen players. However, the reality for millions of these players is few will actually realize a big-league dream.
The talent and skills necessary to become a professional player are scarce and only found in a select few. Of these players with a chance at a big league dream, the way to realize the dream requires hours of practice and playing hundreds of baseball games during a youth career. The only way to improve at the game is playing it. Repetition is the secret to becoming better at anything. Playing baseball and practicing baseball makes average players become good players and good players become great players or even exceptional players. Playing time mixed with consistent practice is often a recipe for success. In warm weather climates, players usually play longer seasons and have a stronger advantage over players in cold weather climates. In order for cold-weather climate players to improve, they have to play more games in compressed periods of time. To improve, players seek the best competition during these compressed periods of baseball worthy weather. However, some argue there may be too much baseball if five, or six or even ten games are played in a week for an 8-12 week period in the late spring and summer.
How much baseball can a young player play? Does playing five or six days a week make a player better? Is there something to the mental toughness a player develops by playing the game everyday and even for more than one team? What other intangible attributes are learned, mastered, and developed when a player plays "a lot of" baseball? Does a player become more confident, exude stronger leadership, and maybe even have more fun through more involvement with his/her friends on multiple teams?
This spring and early summer, I discovered some of the answers to these questions while coaching my son in three baseball programs simultaneously. While my son and I did not originally set out to become involved in three programs at the same time, opportunity and whispers from divine places seemed to indicate this was a path to take at this time in my son's life in the game.
Another aspect related to this decision was my son's age and the milestone leap he was moving into and leaving in the game of baseball. As a twelve year old 7th grader, he has played with boys mostly a year or more older than him. Since the age of eight, he was playing 9U baseball and continued playing with older boys through his baseball career. When boys move on to 13U baseball, as many involved in the game know the field dimensions change to Pony dimensions with longer bases, 54-foot pitching distance and deeper fences. The game takes on larger proportions. The 12U fields are approximately 10-15% smaller on average and this can have notable outcomes on the players' effectiveness and contribution in the game.
Recognizing this time as a one-year window for him to play both dimensions and perhaps have some great experience being a mentor and leader on a 12U team while playing 13U baseball also, we decided to pursue the challenge to play on two travel teams in the spring and summer. Moreover, because of the rules of our village, my son would also be required to play on a house league team during the months of April, May, and early June. Therefore, he would be on three teams simultaneously while most boys would only play for two teams.
The schedule would be rigorous from early April to late June, playing over 60 baseball games in this short 10-11 week period. The average player would play 30-35 games. There would be a number of days he would play 3 games in one day for two different teams or maybe even all three teams. Some parents and coaches would question whether this is possible to do without too many game conflicts ensuing and conflicts would usually occur if some preplanning and scheduling did not happen. In order to make this happen, we examined the usual routine of our house league and the beginning and ending seasons of the two travel teams for which he played. While there was some overlap, we recognized most of his house league games would be played on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from mid April to mid June. Therefore, his travel games with his 12U team could be scheduled for Saturday and Sundays and some Tuesdays and Thursdays. He would have games 5-7 days a week on average with some double headers on weekends with tournaments etc.
To make this program of baseball work, we had to have agreement from coaches that my son would miss some house league games to play with his 12U team in travel games and also his 12U coaches would not expect him to make every practice scheduled during the playing season. Additionally, he had to make his 13U team a priority if they had a game and miss 12U games if there was conflict with a 13U game. In total, during the months of April, May, and June, approximately 8-10 game conflicts arose and the agreement was fulfilled by my son to play where he suppose to play.
One of the most interesting challenges in coaching him and helping him navigate this process was switching between different uniform and equipment needs for the different teams. Baseball in 13U uses metal spikes and 12U still uses cleats so he needed two pairs of shoes. He had four different uniforms, one uniform for house league, one for 13U, and two for 12U (one for home games, one for away games). Many times we had to pack three uniforms and head out the door. We had to make sure he had both pairs of shoes, both batting helmets from his two travel teams, and all his gloves.
As a parent and head coach for one of teams and an assistant for the other two teams, I also had to be very organized. I laid out all my equipment daily and prepared all my line-ups in advance. Communication via email was pivotal to the success of this endeavor. Using GPS to find travel games all over our region was also a necessary component. My wife and other family members showed patience while I participated with my son in these games. Getting rides from other coaches and parents also become necessary at times because of various work conflicts, which arose.
In assessing the value of the experience for my son, my conclusion is he benefited from the intensity of the experience and the repetition of the game. He was given great responsibility to help his 12U team and afforded the opportunity to play in virtually every position on the field because of his skills. For his 13U travel team he usually plays second base only and pitches occasionally. By playing all positions in the field, he learned the game from numerous perspectives and became a smarter baseball player. He also developed his defensive acumen of the game and became a stronger field general on the infield and outfield. He came to enjoy playing catcher; a position for which he had shown little interest in before and he showed great skill when given the chance by playing 12U baseball. His hitting improved in his house league over previous seasons and his confidence at the plate improved. While his overall batting numbers did not jump off the page, his quality at the plate improved by having a better ability to foul off pitches, make contact with the ball, and find ways to get on base.
There were some small consequences of playing so much baseball in that he had little time for some of his other friends or interest during this time. He also was tired at times and perhaps felt some reservation about throwing on the uniform and playing once again. However, he always moved forward and when he got to the field, he went about his business and gave his best on the field. I believe he learned a great deal about himself in this process. He learned he is capable of doing more than he thought. He realized he could be a leader on a team and others looked to him for leadership. He had enjoyment through his interactions on and off the field with 34 other players from three teams. Some of the core intangibles his 12U coaches shared with me are how his presence on the field inspired his teammates to improve their awareness and game skills. Having him around gave them more confidence.
My hope is the experience will translate for him to more success in the game of baseball and in his life. While it is too early to know if he has significant future in baseball, the odds are not likely, I know he has a future path in life. The lessons learned on the diamond this year, I am certain will translate into leadership in some future endeavor. I always like to think that we never know how far reaching something we say or do today may have on someone or something in our lives. This past baseball season is reminder of this belief.
Dr. Warren Bruhl is a practicing pediatric chiropractor in Glencoe, IL. Dr. Bruhl has coached youth baseball for 11 seasons and spent thousands of hours developing youth baseball players. Dr. Bruhl is available for questions and comments at dc4kids@aol.com.
Dr. Warren Bruhl
Dr. Warren Bruhl has practiced on the North Shore of Chicago for 21 years. He is board certified in chiropractic pediatrics through the ICA Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics. Dr. Bruhl has been featured on ABC News and Parenting Life. He is the author of, "The Chiropractors Exercise Manual." Dr. Bruhl practices a variety of soft chiropractic techniques that involve no cracking of the spine. He also offers his patients traditional cracking spinal methods. His practice is diverse and offers massage therapy, exercise rehab, physical therapy, clinical detoxification programs, and nutritional therapy. Dr. Bruhl is a practitioner who practices what he teaches. He is a former bodybuilder and triathlete. He loves to coach little league baseball and is highly active in the community. Dr. Bruhl is married with three children. He is available for public speaking and writing health related articles for publication. Dr. Bruhl may be reached at (847)835-4700 or contacted through his website at http://www.lakefrontchiro.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Warren_Bruhl
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6109620
Our Sponsors:
Baseball2u.com - The Ultimate Baseball Training Store
Hit2win.com - Free Hitting Drills, Tips & Articles
Youth baseball is a pastime shared by millions. In virtually every town in America on a summer evening, a baseball game is probably played. Perhaps, 10,000 or more games may be played even simultaneously and the outcomes while important to the participants ultimately have little significance in world affairs. Still, many young people and their parents devote countless hours to the preparation, practice, transportation, and games of baseball because they enjoy the game. Dreams of becoming professional ball players abound for pre-teen and teen players. However, the reality for millions of these players is few will actually realize a big-league dream.
The talent and skills necessary to become a professional player are scarce and only found in a select few. Of these players with a chance at a big league dream, the way to realize the dream requires hours of practice and playing hundreds of baseball games during a youth career. The only way to improve at the game is playing it. Repetition is the secret to becoming better at anything. Playing baseball and practicing baseball makes average players become good players and good players become great players or even exceptional players. Playing time mixed with consistent practice is often a recipe for success. In warm weather climates, players usually play longer seasons and have a stronger advantage over players in cold weather climates. In order for cold-weather climate players to improve, they have to play more games in compressed periods of time. To improve, players seek the best competition during these compressed periods of baseball worthy weather. However, some argue there may be too much baseball if five, or six or even ten games are played in a week for an 8-12 week period in the late spring and summer.
How much baseball can a young player play? Does playing five or six days a week make a player better? Is there something to the mental toughness a player develops by playing the game everyday and even for more than one team? What other intangible attributes are learned, mastered, and developed when a player plays "a lot of" baseball? Does a player become more confident, exude stronger leadership, and maybe even have more fun through more involvement with his/her friends on multiple teams?
This spring and early summer, I discovered some of the answers to these questions while coaching my son in three baseball programs simultaneously. While my son and I did not originally set out to become involved in three programs at the same time, opportunity and whispers from divine places seemed to indicate this was a path to take at this time in my son's life in the game.
Another aspect related to this decision was my son's age and the milestone leap he was moving into and leaving in the game of baseball. As a twelve year old 7th grader, he has played with boys mostly a year or more older than him. Since the age of eight, he was playing 9U baseball and continued playing with older boys through his baseball career. When boys move on to 13U baseball, as many involved in the game know the field dimensions change to Pony dimensions with longer bases, 54-foot pitching distance and deeper fences. The game takes on larger proportions. The 12U fields are approximately 10-15% smaller on average and this can have notable outcomes on the players' effectiveness and contribution in the game.
Recognizing this time as a one-year window for him to play both dimensions and perhaps have some great experience being a mentor and leader on a 12U team while playing 13U baseball also, we decided to pursue the challenge to play on two travel teams in the spring and summer. Moreover, because of the rules of our village, my son would also be required to play on a house league team during the months of April, May, and early June. Therefore, he would be on three teams simultaneously while most boys would only play for two teams.
The schedule would be rigorous from early April to late June, playing over 60 baseball games in this short 10-11 week period. The average player would play 30-35 games. There would be a number of days he would play 3 games in one day for two different teams or maybe even all three teams. Some parents and coaches would question whether this is possible to do without too many game conflicts ensuing and conflicts would usually occur if some preplanning and scheduling did not happen. In order to make this happen, we examined the usual routine of our house league and the beginning and ending seasons of the two travel teams for which he played. While there was some overlap, we recognized most of his house league games would be played on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from mid April to mid June. Therefore, his travel games with his 12U team could be scheduled for Saturday and Sundays and some Tuesdays and Thursdays. He would have games 5-7 days a week on average with some double headers on weekends with tournaments etc.
To make this program of baseball work, we had to have agreement from coaches that my son would miss some house league games to play with his 12U team in travel games and also his 12U coaches would not expect him to make every practice scheduled during the playing season. Additionally, he had to make his 13U team a priority if they had a game and miss 12U games if there was conflict with a 13U game. In total, during the months of April, May, and June, approximately 8-10 game conflicts arose and the agreement was fulfilled by my son to play where he suppose to play.
One of the most interesting challenges in coaching him and helping him navigate this process was switching between different uniform and equipment needs for the different teams. Baseball in 13U uses metal spikes and 12U still uses cleats so he needed two pairs of shoes. He had four different uniforms, one uniform for house league, one for 13U, and two for 12U (one for home games, one for away games). Many times we had to pack three uniforms and head out the door. We had to make sure he had both pairs of shoes, both batting helmets from his two travel teams, and all his gloves.
As a parent and head coach for one of teams and an assistant for the other two teams, I also had to be very organized. I laid out all my equipment daily and prepared all my line-ups in advance. Communication via email was pivotal to the success of this endeavor. Using GPS to find travel games all over our region was also a necessary component. My wife and other family members showed patience while I participated with my son in these games. Getting rides from other coaches and parents also become necessary at times because of various work conflicts, which arose.
In assessing the value of the experience for my son, my conclusion is he benefited from the intensity of the experience and the repetition of the game. He was given great responsibility to help his 12U team and afforded the opportunity to play in virtually every position on the field because of his skills. For his 13U travel team he usually plays second base only and pitches occasionally. By playing all positions in the field, he learned the game from numerous perspectives and became a smarter baseball player. He also developed his defensive acumen of the game and became a stronger field general on the infield and outfield. He came to enjoy playing catcher; a position for which he had shown little interest in before and he showed great skill when given the chance by playing 12U baseball. His hitting improved in his house league over previous seasons and his confidence at the plate improved. While his overall batting numbers did not jump off the page, his quality at the plate improved by having a better ability to foul off pitches, make contact with the ball, and find ways to get on base.
There were some small consequences of playing so much baseball in that he had little time for some of his other friends or interest during this time. He also was tired at times and perhaps felt some reservation about throwing on the uniform and playing once again. However, he always moved forward and when he got to the field, he went about his business and gave his best on the field. I believe he learned a great deal about himself in this process. He learned he is capable of doing more than he thought. He realized he could be a leader on a team and others looked to him for leadership. He had enjoyment through his interactions on and off the field with 34 other players from three teams. Some of the core intangibles his 12U coaches shared with me are how his presence on the field inspired his teammates to improve their awareness and game skills. Having him around gave them more confidence.
My hope is the experience will translate for him to more success in the game of baseball and in his life. While it is too early to know if he has significant future in baseball, the odds are not likely, I know he has a future path in life. The lessons learned on the diamond this year, I am certain will translate into leadership in some future endeavor. I always like to think that we never know how far reaching something we say or do today may have on someone or something in our lives. This past baseball season is reminder of this belief.
Dr. Warren Bruhl is a practicing pediatric chiropractor in Glencoe, IL. Dr. Bruhl has coached youth baseball for 11 seasons and spent thousands of hours developing youth baseball players. Dr. Bruhl is available for questions and comments at dc4kids@aol.com.
Dr. Warren Bruhl
Dr. Warren Bruhl has practiced on the North Shore of Chicago for 21 years. He is board certified in chiropractic pediatrics through the ICA Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics. Dr. Bruhl has been featured on ABC News and Parenting Life. He is the author of, "The Chiropractors Exercise Manual." Dr. Bruhl practices a variety of soft chiropractic techniques that involve no cracking of the spine. He also offers his patients traditional cracking spinal methods. His practice is diverse and offers massage therapy, exercise rehab, physical therapy, clinical detoxification programs, and nutritional therapy. Dr. Bruhl is a practitioner who practices what he teaches. He is a former bodybuilder and triathlete. He loves to coach little league baseball and is highly active in the community. Dr. Bruhl is married with three children. He is available for public speaking and writing health related articles for publication. Dr. Bruhl may be reached at (847)835-4700 or contacted through his website at http://www.lakefrontchiro.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Warren_Bruhl
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6109620
Our Sponsors:
Baseball2u.com - The Ultimate Baseball Training Store
Hit2win.com - Free Hitting Drills, Tips & Articles
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Baseball Pitching Grips: Throwing a Splitter
By Guest Author: Dan Gazaway
Yesterday I was approached by a gentlemen at a Baseball facility in Utah. He asked me to enlighten him a bit about the splitter and if his son should be throwing it or not. His son is not in high school yet and he is concerned about his son throwing the splitter because he has heard that it can cause damage to his throwing arm. Any pitch thrown without proper mechanics will cause damage to your arm eventually. The problem with the split finger fastball is that most pitchers throw it wrong and end up twisting their wrist at release of the baseball which I explain in a few moments.
Pitching Grip: This splitter is released just like a four seam or two seam with your palm facing the catcher. The wider the fingers the slower the speed. Make sure your thumb is centered below the baseball in between your index and middle fingers.
The toughest part about this pitch is the grip. When you release the baseball, it can feel like it is slipping through your fingertips. This is a normal feeling until you get used to the release. Because this is one of the only pitches your thumb and middle finger don't split the baseball in half, it is easy to "twist" the ball at release. You need to pretend that there is an imaginary middle finger splitting the ball in half with your thumb. Pitchers who tend to "twist" the ball at release are the ones who are prone to injury with this pitch.
Timing: Once you have established your fastball (meaning the hitter has seen it) you can throw your split finger. Anytime you have a fastball count, a splitter can be thrown. Some of the best counts to throw the pitch are a 3-1, 2-1, or a 2-0 count.
This is a changeup even though it is called split-finger fastball.
Here is Nate Barnett giving us a hitter's perspective of a splitter. Many of you may not know this, but Nate is a Hall-of-Famer at George Fox University and draft pick for the Mariners in 1999. Yes, he can crush the ball; just not against me.
"I was fortunate to avoid seeing a good splitter until later in my career. The split-finger fastballs I saw in college were usually mediocre at best. Those who threw one didn't have an overpowering fastball in the first place. And, if pitchers left this pitch up in the zone, it became a nice hittable pitch for me. Those who were able to get the pitch down in the zone had good success. It came in straight but then late in its flight it would take off and break downward quickly. It's a very tough pitch to pick up early and that's what makes it effective. It's never quite as fast as a four seam or two seam fastball because of the grip, but faster than a change-up. The guys who could throw it consistently low in the zone were annoying to hit off of because they would use it a lot. To my advantage, most could never keep it down in the zone all of the time and therefore they got hit hard.
It's is a good pitch to learn if you can mix this pitch into your bag of pitches semi-infrequently to give a hitter a glimpse of something new. Younger pitchers may have a tougher time gripping the splitter correctly, but if you can develop the knack, it's a good pitch to learn at any age.
Learn how to pitch with The Pitching Academy. Dan Gazaway has been a pitching instructor for ten years now and has taught over 3,000 great students.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Gazaway
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5730069
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