Off Season Training

Off Season Training

We are getting to that time of year again, and players need to be doing the correct training to make sure we are prepared for the upcoming season. March will be here before we know it, and if you are not getting better, then you are getting worse. But what should young baseball players be doing?

Now is the time to begin working on several things to make sure that you are at your best come Opening Day. First things first, get back to basics with your pitching, hitting, and fielding mechanics. Make sure that you iron out the bad habits that you fell into throughout the season, and start building some consistency. Start by running through all of your drills, and try to figure out where you need the most work. All players should be doing things like taking swings off of a batting tee, working on soft hand drills, going through their pitching motion, as well as some type of strength training. You can’t cram to get ready for the baseball season, it needs to be a gradual process. Start with small steps and eventually build up to midseason form. If you wait until a few weeks before your first game, you will find yourself overwhelmed with all that is needed to be done, and far from prepared for the season. Get your practice schedule set now, and begin accomplishing your offseason goals.

Ice or no ice? That is the question.

There are two different thoughts on what pitchers should do after they throw in a game- put ice on your arm or not.

Theory one is that when you pitch, muscles tear in your arm and then they begin to swell and bleed. If you put ice on your throwing arm it is supposed to stop the bleeding faster and help pitchers get ready for their next outing. Some would say that it significantly shortens your recovery time.

Theory two is that ice will stop the bleeding, but also freeze the blood and lactic acid, making it more difficult to flush out the muscles. Theory two believers think pitchers should run or workout after pitching to get the blood pumping which gets the blood and lactic acid out of your arm helping to heal things faster.

I’ve tried both methods, and feel that there is a right time for both. If you throw a lot of pitches and know you are not going to pitch for a while, I say why not ice? If you have not thrown many pitches and think you may pitch in a day or so, skip the ice. Either way pitchers should be on a strict conditioning program, and do a fair amount of running and strength training throughout the week. To make this easy, do what makes your arm feel best and do whatever you need to do to be ready for your next outing. Only the pitcher knows what makes his arm feel good.

Little League Coaching Tips

5 Little League coaching tips

1. Have weekly team practice to keep the kids sharp and fresh. With all the rainouts this year teams must continue to practice. If the kids go too long without playing they tend to get rusty and forget the basic fundamentals.
2. Whether you are just having a practice or your team played a game, you want all the kids to leave in a good mood and with a positive attitude. Try to do something at the end to build team spirit and make all the players feel good about themselves. Every kid should feel like they have an important role on the team.
3. During practice, work on the big things first. With the younger kids we are looking for three things: throw strikes, put the ball in play, and make as few mistakes as possible. The team that does this consistently usually wins. You should also spend time on things like relays and knowing who covers what base, but try to focus on the big picture.
4. With the younger kids, I know you want to give them all the opportunity to play different positions, but when the team is in a tough situation play your strongest players in the middle of the field. This means pitcher, catcher, second base, and centerfield. Chances are they will get the most action.
5. In little league pitching is a must! You don’t necessarily need a pitcher to strike everyone out; you need pitchers who can throw strikes. Have as many kids as possible working on getting the ball over the plate preferably down in the strike zone. We all know that a walk turns into a triple, so walks must be kept to a minimum.

If your team concentrates on these specific tips you should be in for a good season. Remember your job as a coach is not only to teach the kids the proper way to play the game, but to motivate them to play the best they can. If you stay positive so will your players, and that is what we are after here. Point out mistakes in a positive way, and try to make every situation a learning experience for your team. Also, don’t forget to tell the kids how well they are doing and how proud you are of the team not matter what. This will ensure that the kids always stay loose, play hard, and most importantly have fun!

Over use or under use?

Are pitchers these days throwing too much? It seems like there are more throwing arm injuries these days then ever before. Why is this happening? Is it from too many pitches? Curveballs? I’m not totally sure myself but my theory makes sense to players, parents, and coaches. The throwing arm is a group of muscles, not just one. If the muscles are not stretched, worked, and used, they will get weak. It’s just like lifting weight at the gym, what happens when you take three months off? I’m not implying that a pitchers arm should be over used, but it must get the proper workload. How much is that? Well, I feel like players should throw a baseball at least four times a week; two of which should be hard. Long toss builds arm strength, so I recommend that be done twice a week and the other throwing sessions can be working on location or different pitches. If you go out and throw twenty to forty long throws, as far as you can throw it, your arm strength will increase (start at 120 feet and increase distance every few days)! My old college roommate Jeremy Accardo, currently with the Toronto Blue Jays, threw long toss four times a week from the time he was in little league to the present. When he first came to college he was a 5 foot 10, 145 pounds, but could jump on the mound and throw mid 90’s whenever he wanted. He would tell you that he credits long toss for all his velocity. Now, if you want to take some time in the off season to rest your arm fine, but once you get your arm in shape for the season you must keep it in shape. Its good to take a few weeks off here and there, but the idea is to be increasing velocity and arm strength not losing it. You can do all the weights, rubber bands, or stretches you want but there is no substitution for a good throwing program.

The other thing that leads to arm injury is obviously poor throwing mechanics. Everyone throws a little different, but the mechanics must be good to prevent injury. More information on mechanics is to come (see archives for other throwing mechanics articles).

As always your questions and feedback are much appreciated and I look forward to hearing from you!

Coming next week, coaching strategies!

2 Seam vs. 4 Seam Fastball

There are a lot of mistakes that can be made by a pitcher; it’s going to happen no matter what. If you could eliminate mistakes all together you would be pitching in the show, but that’s not realistic. I am going to talk about minimizing the biggest mistake of all, leaving that fastball of yours right down the middle.

The best way to keep your fastball out of the middle is to throw the correct fastball to the correct side of the plate. You all should know that if you throw a 2 seam fastball to your glove hand side of the plate your natural tail will bring it back to the middle. This means that if you want to go to your glove side you need to throw a 4 seam fastball so that it will stay straight instead of tailing back to the danger zone.
If you are going to your arm side of the plate go ahead and use that 2 seam pitch, and if it is not on target at least it will tail out of the zone and be unhittable.

If you continue to have a problem with your fastball tailing back to the middle you could be a perfect candidate to learn a cut fastball or cutter.

The Load

There is much debate among coaches (youth through professional), about whether or not a hitter should load. Some of you may be reading this and wondering what in the world is the “load”? The load, the first movement the hitter makes with his hands, is when the batter takes their hands back.

I teach and agree with loading. In my opinion, this does numerous things for the hitter, such as keeping them relaxed, helps with timing, and adds power. We can also look at science on this. Newton’s first law of motion states: An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. When a hitter stands completely still, they tend to get tense. Tense muscles are slow muscles, so by having the hitter get a little movement (not as much as Gary Sheffield), helps keep them loose and quick. This is also a great timing mechanism. When the pitcher breaks his hands and brings the ball up, the hitter knows its time to take his hands back and get ready to swing. Finally, this will help with power. In order to show how this helps with power, we will look at the sport of boxing. If a boxer wants to keep a guy away from him, he will throw a jab, his hands do not come back, he simply throws the punch from where his hands begin, this is a very weak punch. However, if he is trying to land a knock out punch, his hand will come back then he will throw his punch. The same is true with baseball, if the hands stay still, the hitter will be weak, if the hands come back (load), the hitter will have a greater chance to hit with power!

The Dangers of Performance Enhancing Drugs

Performance Enhancing Drugs!!! What young athletes don’t know…

I’m sick and tired of hearing about this stuff, but it is necessary to keep all of the young athletes aware of the dangers! I don’t condone or support Performance Enhancing Drug use in any way, shape, or form. It’s cheating and makes the playing field far from level. I just wanted to take a few minutes to tell the REAL story; the part young athletes don’t have the chance to hear. I have seen some steroid use and abuse in my years of playing college and professional ball, and the negative effects far outweigh the positive ones. Yes, some steroids, and I say some mixed with a good workout routine can make you stronger. But did you know that in order to keep the strength you must continue using steroids? It is a never ending cycle to maintain a certain level. Performance Enhancing Drugs are basically synthetic testosterone and when your body notices it has too much, you stop making it naturally. I don’t think I have to tell you guys what that means! Performance Enhancing Drugs can make your muscles grow bigger than they normally should be. This puts extra pressure on joints and tendons making you more injury prone. A lot of users pull muscles and tear ligaments which can lead to surgery, and cause other health issues. Your heart is a muscles also, what if it grows too big for your chest cavity?

You cannot target where the PED goes inside your body. This has happened to many users before and is a very likely and dangerous side effect. There is no safe PED or safe way to get PEDs. PEDs come from the black market, how do you know what you are taking? Would you trust a drug dealer with your life? When you go from a big strong power hitter or flame throwing pitcher, to a hurt player with pimples and health problems, you may also develop mental problems as well. Depression is a major side effect; it can and has led to suicide for many users, both athletes and non-athletes at all levels from high school to the pros. There is a greater chance that PEDs will hurt or end your career than help it.

To reach your goals work hard, eat right, and don’t cheat! Nothing is worth risking your life for!

Pitching Backwards

Pitching backwards, or just being smart?

Are hitters really better in 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 2-1, and 3-1 counts? I think not!! Pitchers are just more predictable. Those are fastball counts, everyone in the ball park knows that when the pitcher needs to throw a strike he sticks with his go to pitch, the fastball. Pitchers get nervous when they get in trouble and throw the pitch that they know they can throw for a strike. I’d way rather throw a change up and risk throwing a ball, then serve up a fastball and risk giving up a hit. What I just don’t understand is that old saying from so many coaches “I would rather you give up a homerun than walk a guy”. REALLY? I sure wouldn’t! In these counts go with your best off speed pitch, preferably a change up, and see what happens. I think you will be pleased with the results. I remember a game I pitched in while I was in single A ball when I walked the first hitter of the inning and then went 2-0 on the next guy. It could have ended in a disaster but I threw a change up down in the zone and got a ground ball double play. I struck the next guys out on four pitches to end the inning and saved myself from a bad inning. Remember, its easier to take speed off then to put speed on. Hitting is timing, and a pitchers job is to mess that up. Try to pitch smarter and remember that your job is to get as many outs as you can in the least amount of pitches. Double plays are your best friend, not strike outs.