Youth Baseball Pitcher Tips For Coaches And Players

By Chip Lemin

As our long winter begins up north, my coaching buddies and I where talking about youth baseball pitchers along with some tips we all have used in baseball. I hope you may find some help in the following article.

Every kid wants to pitch in baseball it seems. Pitchers are learning how to throw pitches and are the center of the game. Young pitchers set the pace of the little league game. Young pitchers feel great when they strike out the No. 3 hitter in the lineup. They float to the dugout when after a one, two, three inning. They don't have to run off the field like everybody else. The baseball pitcher gets walk off after the third out. It is a rewarding position to play in baseball.
It can also be very humbling when you lose the strike zone, start getting hit, or your defense has trouble helping you out. The worst part is when you have to be taken out of the game or off the pitcher's mound.

Pitching is much more than just throwing the baseball past hitters. The top three rules for baseball pitchers are as old as baseball itself. Location, location location. At eight or nine years old you can get away most of time with just throwing heat past hitters. As you get older however, off unless you learn how to change speeds, and change location, hitters will begin to hit your fastball.

Young pitchers who are top youth baseball pitchers at 8 years old sometimes aren't even pitching at 11 years old for of a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons we will cover in later articles. The sooner the young baseball pitcher learns the necessity of changing speeds and location the sooner they will improve as a pitcher. Baseball pitchers 8-11 will have a wide variety of throwing motions. As a coach you need to present options to your young pitchers. Little league coaches should stress a compact wind up with as little unneeded movement as possible.You are not reinventing the wheel here. Please stress balance first to your pitchers. Arm position, rotation of the hips and balanced controlled follow-through are also recommended.

Pitch counts and no breaking balls of any kind are also strong recommendations. Youth baseball pitchers can begin to be introduced to breaking pitches around puberty is the view of some baseball coaches. Change ups will more than suffice until then. You can do a great deal of long term damage to your young athlete's arms by number one, not getting into a warm-up routine early in the career. Learning how to throw baseball pitches is a process, not an event. It's the habit that needs to be instilled early on by baseball coaches. At 8 years old they may not physically need to have a half-hour warm up routine. At 13 they do, so if it is not ingrained by then, all it takes is one incident to hurt the young pitcher's arm.

Pitch counts. Please abide by the recommended youth pitch counts per age group. We're talking long term here. It is your responsibility as a baseball coach to protect your players. It also teaches young pitchers a lesson or two. It teaches them to use pitches wisely if you want to go deep into the game. Young pitchers should learn get batters out by using location not just heat. Seven pitch innings using your fielders, keeps everybody in the game. It also keeps the pitch count lower and pitchers stay in the game longer. I know the younger age groups may have inning limits, it is still never too early to instill these basics. Youth baseball is too great of a sport not to give our young players the right instruction.

Thanks for your time 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 is something that really needs I feel. I have a free 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. I would like to help you.

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Baseball Pitching - Feeling Safe in Your Workplace

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By Larry Cicchiello

As a baseball pitcher, don't be bashful about inspecting or fixing a mound yourself before you even throw a warm up pitch. Two very important areas are where your landing foot will hit the ground and the pitching rubber area.

Don't hesitate to fill up a hole that quite often is present where most pitchers land with their landing foot. I've seen this landing spot sometimes a foot deep and that is unsafe. And your pitch quality will suffer also. You can easily get injured landing into this unsafe, deep hole.

The area that I have the biggest problem with is those deep holes just in front of the rubber where your pivot foot moves. Unfortunately, they are very common at amateur levels of play. They are very dangerous and risk injury to the pitcher's foot and also to his arm. Many baseball pitchers have injured their throwing arms by releasing a ball awkwardly and these deep holes in front of the pitching rubber are encouraging just that to happen.

When I was about ten years old, my father taught me how to deal with this hole that is right smack in front of the pitching rubber and does not belong there. He taught me to fill up the hole myself, using my feet to move the dirt from other areas of the mound. Sometimes if the mound is too hard you can't do this. It didn't happen often, but occasionally I would hold up the baseball game, spending close to five full minutes filling up this dangerous hole. It makes no sense at all to twist an ankle or possibly getting an injury even more severe.

I asked my father what should I tell the umpire if he says something like, "come on, we have to get this game going." He told me to very politely tell the umpire that this hole should not be there and I'm concerned about breaking my ankle. I must have delayed ball games on about a dozen occasions and not once did an umpire ever say a word to me because they all knew that this hole should not be present if the mound was properly maintained.

Don't hesitate to make sure the mound is safe and don't let anybody rush you when your are doing your maintenance. Don't allow anyone talk you out of it. The more intelligent umpires will be in total agreement with you and may actually join you while you fill up the hole, as was the case with me several times.

You are not entitled to a pitcher's mound that is perfect like professional levels of play. But you are very much entitled to a pitcher's mound that is safe and will not inhibit your pitching. Baseball pitching is tough enough on a pitcher's throwing arm and don't allow yourself to be put at even a higher risk of injury.

Don't ever hesitate or let anyone stop you from making your workplace safe!

Larry is the president of Larwenty Online Enterprises Inc. and also the author of "Excellent Baseball Coaching: 30 Seconds Away." If you are a baseball player or are involved in baseball coaching at any level of play or a parent who wants to help your child improve, you will be fully equipped! His baseball website offers several FREE baseball tips from his very informative and very fairly priced eBooks.

Larry's baseball website is http://www.larrybaseball.com/

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



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Where Has the Off Season Gone For Young Baseball Players?

By Mike Posey

Is there really an off season for young baseball players? Not too long ago, when I was growing up, we played whatever sport that was in season. When one season ended another started. Spring was always my favorite time and baseball was my favorite sport. But playing football and basketball help to keep us busy and in shape and they were fun sports.

Today, very few young players play more than one sport. We see a number of young players beginning to "specialize" by the time they are 12 or 13 years old. With the emergence of top travel teams and showcases, many young high school players play year round. Tournament play in late November or early December seems to be the norm these days. Tournament teams and showcases are making good money and there will always be parents/players that feel the need to play, even if on Christmas Day. For some reason, everyone thinks playing in the next tournament will help them gain an edge or competitive advantage over another player that might not be participating.

What does the future hold? Your guess is as good as mine. But I do know that young players are not meant to play baseball twelve months out of the year. I wish more players would play multiple sports, but even the ones playing two sports find time on a weekend to travel to a baseball tournament. I have never been a big proponent of fall baseball. It has some merits, but not many. If a baseball player is going to improve their skills they need the off season to help accomplish that goal. Let me give you a few reasons.

1. Rest - If a young player participates in games from February to August, it would be a good time to let the arm rest.

2. Conditioning - For high school players, I believe in a year round training program for strength, agility, flexibility, and conditioning. But let's be realistic. As a high school coach, you have a limited time during the season. After years of training our players in the weight room (or at least trying) we have come to the conclusion it would be better if someone (a professional) train our players. We try to convince our parents to invest in training classes that we set up. Twice a week from January to July and three times a week from September thru December. (A short break in August and one over Christmas may give the body a needed break)

This is not an easy sell, especially in the economy today, but for the ones that do it, the results are absolutely amazing. All of our top players have been involved in systematic training programs and we have seen a high percentage of them advance to play at the next level in college and/or professional baseball. We know for a fact that the best time to make strength gains are during an off season of intense training. If a player is involved in a fall or winter tournament team he will probably have plenty of reason to miss time in the weight room, time that is more valuable to his development overall than the games he plays in the fall.

3. Skill Development - The best time for a player to improve skills is the off season. It takes 21-24 days to change a habit or technique. Making a change while playing games is sometimes a little more difficult. Players will go into a game and revert back to an old habit due to comfort level. Working on changes to a swing in the off season is a lot easier if the player does not have the pressure of performing in a game. Taking ground balls several times a week during the off season will go a long way to help players develop their hands. (Players have quit taking ground balls or working off a wall to improve their skills. If you play in a travel tournament, there are usually multiple games on the field during the day and the directors will forbid teams from taking pregame infield. Very few travel teams take pregame infield everyday).

4. Gaining Arm Strength - The best way to improve your arm strength (velocity in throwing) is thru a systematic long toss program during the off season. A player should spend at least 8 weeks throwing three/four days in a long toss program. The long toss program involves warming up properly then throwing for 12-14 minutes from intervals starting at 75 feet, moving back each week to lengths of 270-280 feet (or more). This takes time and discipline to follow a good long toss program.

5. Improving Mental Training - The off season is a good time to work on mental training. There are a number of good books and videos out on improving concentration, focus, confidence, and overall mental toughness. For some reason players/parents think playing more games will improve mental toughness. Mental toughness is a process learned through adversity and training. Practice, Practice, Practice. What are you doing this "off season" to help your player improve?

Mike Posey "CP"
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Should Baseball And Softball Players Participate In Weight Training Programs?

Advanced Skills Tee


It's baseball season, and you are ready for it. You bought a new bat, dusted off the cleats, and oiled the glove. You drilled, grounder after grounder, only to follow it by fly ball, after fly ball. When the fielding drills were over, you moved on to the batting cages. You have hit so many balls that you could probably tag a slider in your sleep. So, what's next but to hit the field, right? Wrong!

What about your weight training? Yes that's right, lifting weights. Almost all baseball clubs, from high school to the majors, use weight training for injury prevention, rehabilitation of injuries and for strengthening individual weaknesses. One of the most important things a weight training program needs to do is to isolate certain muscles specific to the throwing motion and strengthen them to prevent arm injuries.

A combination of various forms of exercises tends to work best: isometrics, isotonic and is kinetic, plyometrics, (not just for tennis anymore), active resistive and especially flexibility/stretching exercises are all important in developing a well-balance program. Players at different positions need to emphasize different elements of the program, and different body parts.

For pitchers, you need to build cardiovascular endurance, and lower body strength and endurance. You also need to build general flexibility, and strengthen the shoulders and the elbows. For catchers, you need to emphasize leg strength, flexibility and agility. Building hand a wrist strength is also important along with building abdominal strength.
For Infielders and outfielders, a combination of building leg flexibility, hand and wrist strength, upper body strength and endurance is very important.

For all positions its important to add exercises that emphasize the rotator cuff complex, consisting of internal and external shoulder rotation, and front, rear and side elevation isolating the supraspinatus. Especially effective are lightweight shoulder excursuses stimulating the small muscles (rotator cuff) essential to the throwing motion.

When putting together a workout program for baseball, it is most effective if three programs are built. The first program should be the off-season program. The program should be designed to strengthen and balance all major muscle groups of the body. You should consult your coach or trainer about varying the exercises in the program to strengthen your particular weakness and/or correct muscle imbalance.

The second program should be the pre-season program. This program should be designed to build more strength. This program should be started 4-6 weeks before the season, this is also the time to start incorporating baseball-specific exercises in the gym or out on the field. This helps get your body ready to perform baseball skills again.

The third program should be the in-season program. This program should be designed to maintain strength levels acquired during the off and pre season programs. Abdominal, rotational and light weight work are essential parts of any in-season program. Pitchers should concentrate on light weight shoulder work such as deltoid raises.
As you can see, as much as we want to hit that chalk lined field, it's just as important to incorporate a weight training program, to insure a fun filled, and injury free season.

http://www.articlesbase.com/baseball-articles/should-baseball-and-softball-players-participate-in-weight-training-programs-516868.html

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Baseball Tips on Hitting - Are You Popping Up Or Grounding Out Too Often?

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By Larry Cicchiello

No matter how high or how low your batting average is, you should pay close attention to how your outs are being made. We improve by working on any weaknesses we have. Even if you are hitting.350, if most of your outs are either on pop ups or grounders, you should be looking to make an adjustment. If you take your baseball hitting seriously, you must make adjustments. Here are some baseball tips on hitting that should help you.

Grounding Out Too Often and Topping the Ball

You may be getting your stride foot down too late. This will not give you enough time to get the bat to the hitting zone because your bat will still be too high when the moment of truth arrives, thus topping the ball.

You may be trying to pull the outside pitch instead of going with the pitch to the opposite field. Your bat will have a slight drag to it and you won't be swinging through the ball.

You may be hitting too much off the front foot and not keeping your weight on your back foot. This will cause you to be "top heavy" and most likely hit the top of the ball.

You may be opening your front shoulder and/or front hip too quickly, causing you to pull off the ball and not swing through the ball.

Popping Up Too Often and Hitting Under the Ball

Pay very close attention to what your back shoulder is doing. If it is collapsing and dropping down below the front shoulder, there is a very good chance this is the problem. Basically, you are lowering your entire swing and you almost have to swing underneath the ball. The same applies to your back leg. If it's dropping down and "collapsing" too much, that can very easily lead to "uppercutting" the ball and popping it up.

Make sure you are not dropping your hands too low when actually swinging. This obviously will increase the chances of you hitting the bottom of the baseball. If your hands are too low, your bat will be too low and there is a very good chance you will hit the bottom of the ball.

Make sure the back of your bottom hand is facing the pitcher when you start your swing. Remember, it should be one palm up and one palm down only at the point of contact and not before.

Make sure that your front elbow is pointing downward at the very start of your swing.This is very possibly the most common baseball hitting problem you will ever see. The very beginning of the swing is a downward movement and is not level at all. Only at the point of contact should the front elbow be level and pointing toward the pitcher.

If you learn only this one thing out of all the baseball tips on hitting, you will see a major improvement in your baseball hitting immediately!

Larry is the president of Larwenty Online Enterprises Inc. and also the author of "Excellent Baseball Coaching: 30 Seconds Away." If you are a baseball player or are involved in baseball coaching at any level of play or a parent who wants to help your child improve, you will be fully equipped! His baseball website offers several FREE baseball tips from his very informative and very fairly priced eBooks.

Larry's baseball website is http://www.larrybaseball.com/

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


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Happy Thanksgiving to Our Baseball Parents Blog Readers

Happy Thanksgiving to Our Baseball Parents Blog Readers

The staff at Nedco Sports wishes you and your family a safe and Happy Thanksgiving Holidays.

Baseball Tips on Hitting - Baseball Hitting Tips Highly Recommended For Your Success!

By Larry Cicchiello

Not all baseball tips on hitting are etched in stone but here are several very good guidelines to follow:

A Balanced and Workable Stance

All good athletes are balanced almost all the time. It gives you a solid, comfortable foundation, which is where hitting begins. Some very good hitters find it useful to have a little body movement while in their batting stance. They may rock a little back and forth which they find relaxing. It's almost impossible to have your muscles tighten and tense up when your muscles are moving. You can then be quicker and shift your weight much better than someone who is just standing there like a statue. It's identical to a goalie in hockey. If he stands up straight like a statue, what chance will he have to move freely to make a save on a slap shot that's traveling close to 100 mile per hour? What chance will a tennis player have waiting for a serve in excess of 100 miles per hour? None of them will have a good chance and neither will a baseball hitter.

Striding With the Front Toes Slightly Closed

If your toes are slightly closed, it encourages you to keep your front hip and front shoulder closed as well. In other words, instead of having the toes pointing straight out away from your body when you take your stride turn them an inch or two inward, back toward your body. If you point the front toes out toward the pitcher, it will encourage you to open your front side too early which will create many baseball hitting problems.

Have the Bat Fully Loaded When the Stride Foot Touches the Ground

All good hitters have the bat in the "launching position" when their front foot completes the stride. You stride and then you swing. They are two separate movements that should happen very quickly and smoothly but they are separate movements.

Making an Aggressive Motion Toward The Pitcher

A lot of hitters do NOT do this but all the great hitters do. That is where the ball is coming from and that's where you should be going. Real good hitters go into the ball to hit it. It's a common baseball hitting problem to NOT go toward the pitcher when swinging. The reason it's such a common baseball hitting problem is because it is simply not natural to move your body toward a baseball that someone is throwing in your direction.

Having a Tension Free Swing

"Tension is a hitter's worst enemy," is a quote that's been around for decades and is still one of the best baseball tips on hitting. Tension destroys a fluid, graceful swing that's necessary for hitting the ball properly. Don't squeeze the bat too tightly and don't tighten up your muscles. Like mentioned above, many very good hitters have a slight waggle to help them relax.

Head Behind the Swing

The real good hitters actually see the ball a little longer than the weaker hitters. They literally lower and turn their heads when making contact. You simply can not keep your head facing the pitcher and look at the baseball out of the corners of your eyes when trying to make contact.

Hitting to All Fields

Rarely will you find a hitter with a high batting average who limits himself to hitting the ball to only one part of the field. Pay attention to the old expression, "hit it where it's pitched." In the long run, you will be much better off.

Hitting Through the Ball

Hitting through the ball is necessary to successful hitting. You should pretend that you are trying to hit three or four baseballs that are tied closely together with a piece of string, instead of hitting only one baseball. This will help you keep the bat in the hitting zone longer.

All of the above mentioned are definitely good rules of thumb to be followed.

Larry is the president of Larwenty Online Enterprises Inc. and also the author of "Excellent Baseball Coaching: 30 Seconds Away." If you are a baseball player or are involved in baseball coaching at any level of play or a parent who wants to help your child improve, you will be fully equipped! His baseball website offers several FREE baseball tips from his very informative and very fairly priced eBooks.

Larry's baseball website is http://www.larrybaseball.com/

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

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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!