Why We Throw
Ever wonder what the purpose of throwing a baseball is? From early on most of us rely on the knowledge that to play baseball all we need do it 1) Hit the ball to score a run 2) Catch the ball to make an out and 3) throw the ball to stop the runner. For T-ball players and younger youth this summary is sufficient. When it is time to make the step up, there must be a different emphasis on what the particulars account for.
Anyone can throw a baseball. How well everyone throws is a different matter. All should have the same goal, whom ever you are throwing the ball to should be able to catch it easily. Easy, comfortable catch zone from top to bottom is between the belly button and shoulders, left to right is between the elbows at rest. This is the zone you wish to place the ball.
Throw velocity needs to be distance appropriate. It makes no sense to whip a ball in at 70 or 80mph from less than 40 feet. If you choose to throw too hard several things can happen. First, if your throw is off there is less reaction time for the receiver to make the adjustment to your bad throw. Second, the run down distance from a ball not being able to be caught is greater an may allow the base runner to take additional bases. Third, depending on the receivers ability, a hard throw may be too much to handle to them to take possession of and make the tag.
Your goal for each and every throw is a frozen rope that begins to taper off 5 to 10 feet past the receiver. The frozen rope is a flat, horizontal throw from your hand to the receiver. Baseballs on a frozen rope will fall only 6 to 8 inches from the time it leaves the hand until it reaches a point past the glove of the receiver regardless of the distance thrown. By throwing 'thru' the receiver, you ensure that there is indeed enough umph on the ball to get there quickly but remain catchable.
Throwing a baseball into the each catch zone has multiple advantages as well. Ideally the receiver will already be in the proper location to make the play when the ball arrives. A well thrown ball will not take the receiver away from the optimum play position. They will spend less time finishing the play as the ball is good proximity. Their balance will remain in tact so that they may initiate another play. If you have ever witnessed a truly smooth 5-4-3 double play, the whole event happens so quick a easy it takes on an un-natural appearance. This smoothness or successive throws could not be achieved if the second baseman has to leap off to one side to first make the catch and then tag the bag. Time lost running down the throw all by guarantees the batters success at reaching first base.
Baseballs thrown into the zone are an enormous benefit when they are miss gloved. Predominately the ball will bounce off the receiver in front of them and at a short distance. There is still hope to make the play. Now had the thrower launched the ball to impress someone, aside from the possibility of injuring the receiver the ball can wind up anywhere and too far away for the receiver to recover.
Keep the simple goals in mind on every throw.
1) in the zone
2) catchable 3)proper speed and most importantly
4) You really want the person you are throwing to to catch it so do all you can to ensure their success.
Successful Hitting
There are numerous hitting methods and styles that exist for baseball. They all claim the same thing: that they are the best; who’s right and who’s wrong? They all 'can' work depending on the ability of the individual. Individual style from how you lace your cleats to the position of your hat and the 400 or so moving parts in between all add up to one result; smacking a round ball with a round bat in the sweet spot of both while getting down the baseline as fast as possible. Different approaches, stances and swing, wrist speed etc. See what works and doesn’t work for you. The consensus is that there are 7 common traits shared among great hitters, no matter what hitting method is used. 1. Comfort, What is there or worry about? Relax, the guy 45 or more feet away is going to throw a ball at you. You have seen it before, you will see it again. So what if you take one for the team, stay in there and drive it right back at the person who threw it at you. The batter is really in control of the outcome. How many times have you seen players hit the ball when its over their head, way inside or even bouncing off the plate. Calm down, you can put the bat on the ball whenever YOU decide. 2. Confidence, Don’t let your mind strike you out before you begin. If you are convinced you can hit the ball, what’s to stop you? Believe in yourself and let it happen. Be mindful of the count, when you are ahead, look for the good ones, when behind, smack it! If you leave it up to the Umpire to see it the way you do, chances are you’ll be walking back to the dug out. You have tons of time at the batting cages and practice, you can HIT IT! 3. See the Ball. Watch the pitcher, does he release the ball from over his head, off to the side, under hand? The key is the ball is in his hand and the release point will be within fractions of an each on each pitch. So, if it always starts in the same place, how does it get all over? Simple, its variation in the motions it takes to get to the release point. But get over all that, when you see where it starts, you can determine where its going and your bat will follow your eyes instructions. 4. The Twitch. Your reaction to the ball being released is the twitch, the quicker your twitch, the longer you can watch the ball. If your twitch is slower, start it sooner. I have seen batters wait for half the distance before they start their swing, I have seen others begin their step as soon as the pitcher leaves their balance point. 5. Core Power. It really begins with the feet, then torso then hands. But you need to have all three work in rhythm. Power is transferred form the feet to the torso which multiplies the power by expanding the circle and creating speed, which is then transferred into the hands. If any part over-powers the following, you loose the build up of momentum. Work on getting all three to work together. 6. Swing, Let Mr. Baseball out. Keep it short and sweet! You are closer to the plate than you think, so keep the hands inside and let the bat do the work. Step, turn the hips while keeping your hands back, power is loaded and transferred through the core, whamo…… let it all out at once! DO NOT BE TIMID ABOUT SWINGING AT THE BALL! Swing, Swing, Swing! Remember #2, believe in yourself, you can hit anything! And it does not matter how well it is driven each time, the point of the matter is putting the bat on the ball ::: PERIOD:::: 7. Balance, You can’t hit well from the ground. There cannot be enough said about balance. It allows you to see the ball, transfer power to the ball and get out of the box. The quickest way to learn is hitting soft toss from a teeter board, if you can do it there, there is no question you can do it from the dirt. Learn to swing through the ball with the bat, not your whole body. If your body follows your arms you are taking away from the power sent up from your legs. Bring the bat around and keep your feet. So what does it all add up to? You will hit the ball the way your body, skill and ability sees best for you to assemble your 400 or so moving parts. Work on the elements of hitting on their own. And remember, batting practice is just that, batting practice! Plan your practice accordingly, some time on each of the pieces, then more time putting it all together. Don’t try to do both at the same time, it’s a sure recipe for frustration. To commit good habits to muscle memory, do your conditioning first, get the muscles nice and tired; this is the moment you must make every effort to do motions correctly. If your lazy about the particulars when you are tired, it will come out at the game. You want to train yourself and your body to react quickly and correctly. Only perfect practice can make perfect (to quote form Cal Ripken Sr.)
Baseball Vision
Eating carrots to develop good eye sight is sound advise. Unfortunately there is a little more to developing how your eyes move in relation to playing Baseball. Albeit there are many persons with natural ability use their eyes in tracking there target, still the normal reaction is to move the entire head and in the worst case, the entire body. Sit for a moment and pick two objects 5 to 10 feet away from you about 6 to 10 feet apart. You should be able to comfortably see both at the same time. Now pick one to focus on. As quick as you can, turn your head to the second object and note the time it takes to select it. Now, start with your original target, hold your head still and move your eyes only to the second target. Unless you have quick twitch muscles throughout your body like a Barry Bonds, you should have noticed that it takes much less time to move your eyes than it does your head. That is because your eyes can move up to 5 times faster than your neck. The speed at which you tract a target relates to your brain how much information you gather about the target and the perceived speed of the target. Occasionally experts will discuss how great baseball hitters and fielders see the ball well enough to slow it down. By allowing your eyes to make the most of the movement you gather more information and the perceived speed slows down. You now have the information to react sooner, get into position quicker and let your developed eye - hand coordination complete the desired result. Focus on the object, in our case a baseball, is easier and far more comfortable when you have given some time to teach your eyes what you expect of them. Active vision training is not difficult. As players progress and the speed increases, active vision is essential for the next phase, prediction. When a pitcher hurls the ball at 90+ mph there is only a fraction of a second with which to pick up the ball and determine where to swing the bat. Some have theorized that the last two one hundredths of a second, when the ball meets the bat, even the best players cannot see that moment. So how do they hit it? The information presented by their vision helps their body predict where the ball will be. More information, better prediction, better batting average. Baseball vision training does not have to be a grueling process. Simple exercises such as sitting still and tossing a ball in the air and catching it while keeping your head still is an excellent beginning. Then move on to standing with the baseball going higher. Mix it up with left to right movement bearing in mind to track the ball with your eyes only. An advanced drill that is a lot of fun is to place a ball on three feet of string. Have your player lie flat on their back in a room where you can control the light. As a pendulum, swing the ball back and forth and give the catch command at which point your player grasps the ball quickly with both hands. To add difficulty, swing the ball then have your player close their eyes for a swing or two then give the command. Need more challenge, turn off the light and add a strobe light, laughter will ensue, but it really does work. Vary the challenges of the drills and the speed of the strobe lights. For those of the practical persuasion, visit a batting cage. Stand outside the net and mid length of the cage and have your player track the baseball from the machine to the plate. You can see how the longer flight to follow enables a longer task to work from. Baseballs, batting cages, rain dripping off the gutter even house flies; the act of being still and letting your eyes do the work will develop the players vision. The more they see, the easier everything becomes.
The Sweet Spot
The spot on the baseball bat where you can smack the ball as hard as you like and all you feel is the rush of the swing and the sound through your ears. There has been a lot said about exactly where this spot lies on the bat. But truth be known, it’s a different location on every bat. Variations between wood, metal and composites can shift the spot dramatically. Width of the spot can also change. Manufactured materials seem to have a better consistence in the spot where wood can vary wildly from bat to bat; even when turned on the same lath from the same stock. So much thought has gone into the location and exploitation of the spot that even hard core physics gurus continue to study it. http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~cross/baseball.html is just one place where they publish some pretty interesting things. I particularly like the graph of what a bat does during the process of the swing and contact. If you really want to spend a few weeks brushing up on the bio-mechanics of baseball http://webusers.npl.uiuc.edu/~a-nathan/pob/ has a bevy of links and references to keep your eyes blood shot for days. Back to the matter at hand. How do you find the sweet spot on your baseball bat. T work. Set up a T at a nice level for a comfortable swing. Ditch the batting gloves and with a gentle swing, enough to knock the ball to 2nd or so, start hitting and concentrate on the ‘feel’ in your hands. It should not take too many strikes to figure out where the zone lies. Striking the ball on the inside or outside of the sweet spot will send vibration down the bat and into your hands. Search for the zone that sends the least vibration to your hands. Next, mark from the inside to the outside of the spot with wide masking tape. Take a few more knocks to confirm you have the spot. Now, with batting gloves on take full stride and swing at the ball. Take 5 or so then check the tape. Getting the picture. You have already determined where the spot is, now you are confirming what your swing is doing. Are the marks inside, outside or not even scaring the tape at all. Not only does locating the sweet spot on your bat give you good information on what part of the bat you should be making contact with, but you now have solid information on what is happening when you swing at the perfect pitch. You can also mark this spot with a permanent marker for later tape application. Remove the tape after each T session. Having glue build up on the baseball bat does nothing but make a mess and you don’t want to inadvertently alarm an umpire to thinking something is up.
The Relay
Off the wall in left center, the fielder scoops up the ball as the runner approaches third. The Catcher has aligned the cut off man for a straight ball path from the fielder to home plate. Center fielder drills the ball to the cutoff man with all his might. Cutoff man does the two step shuffle, catch, shuffle throw and off goes the frozen rope to home in plenty of time for the tag. In modern baseball from youth thru seniors, moments like these are proudly displayed in flash on Myspace and Youtube. Photos, Video and Blogging hit the information highway at lighting speeds to announce the play of the day. What many fail to see or talk about in their Myspace feeds is what actually made this play successful. Was it merely the excellent throwing arms of the players? Was the runner a bit on the slow side when rounding the bases? Success is based on a series of practiced events that culminate in one play. First, the fielder controls the ball while the cutoff man raises their hands to make a good target and keeps his eyes on the fielder. The catcher is guiding the relay man to make a straight path for the ball to follow. Now comes the relay, simple as a catch throw, catch and tag. To prepare the relay man for what they need to accomplish it really breaks down to the basics, catch and throw. Added is the excitement of the game and the rush the players put upon themselves to complete the process quickly. Not all the different from warm up. Players are standing with their goal of throwing a ball to their teammate to the comfortable catch area between the shoulders and above the belly button and below the ears. Now comes the dance of the relay man. Their first responsibility is to catch the ball. Then turn the head and hips to acquire the target. In our case, the catcher. As the core is wound they finish their turn and release the ball towards the target. The dance is where only one portion of this entire event goes awry from the warm up. So much of baseball is situational. Even the situations themselves have variations within variations. Aside from playing hundreds of games to gain the experience of those situations or viewing hours of Myspace video feeds there are drills that cover the basics without having to go into practice stifling situations. We have already covered the warm up and the goal of throwing. To add the twist, set up a relay with three players. Spaced 30 to 40 feet apart, the man in the middle practices the relay dance. This is where the coaching comes in. View the footwork and core loading. Make corrections as needed but try to keep the ball moving. With the player concentrating on the catch and throw, following instruction during this time will help the player from compound information. Compounding information forces the player to react as opposed to think about their movements, which is also called muscle memory. For teams with players under 18, everyone should have a stint in the middle. Who you may think will be a catcher for life could ultimately become a world class short stop. It is best to keep in mind that all players play all positions until they are either on scholarship or paid to play. With all your players having the dance figured out, it is time to add some twists. Creating relay races are a great way to add excitement and more of a game situation to the drill. Create conditions that engage the players for several minutes. Relay the ball down and back then rotate the players. The first relay team to rotate through all the players wins. As there are only 3 to a side, you may consider prizes for the winning side such as flavored water or small packages of sunflower seeds. It is not the prize that counts, it is the victory. To work alignment into the drill, after player 1 releases the ball, have them shift 5 to 10 feet left or right while maintaining their distance from the relay man. As the relay man releases the throw to player 3, player 1 begins giving direction to the relay man; shout left or right to bring the player into alignment. Player 3 throws back to the relay and repeats what player 1 has done. This drill takes up quite a bit of room but makes for a sure fire way to practice the dance with more situations padded into the exercise. Add to all the commotion is that your fielders are now having to work a little harder at spotting the relay man as they are on the move. At the end of the day if the players had fun, the coaches had fun, everyone leaves happy, a little tired and wanting to return again. As the coach you alone make practices as fun and exciting as going to the circus or as dreary as doing multiplication tables. Opt for the circus and you will be the pied piper for the team where the players and parents will gladly follow.
Overall Training
The shift from 1974 to 2007 has been dramatic. Baseball once relegated to the dreams and comforts of summer is now a year round ambition. Not only for paid players but for the amateurs as well.
Way back when, well if you were born after 1985, pre Baseball season followed the winter sports of basketball and in some areas soccer. As each Team Sports season has gotten longer in all age groups, with the exception of High School Sports, the down time and need for pre season conditioning has diminished.
Many training exercises in other sports cross over. Running, Sprint Training and over all Conditioning are several of the cross over items. Some movements are specific to baseball.
Fielding, butt down hands out, and batting are the most notable. Time should be set aside every couple of weeks to reacquaint the muscles with those movements. Simple stationary fielding drills in the back yard are excellent. Taking 30 correct swings with the bat, nothing to hit or strike, is also excellent.
These simple drills not only provided muscle memory for doing them correctly, but when the parents are involved on such an individual and intimate setting, well, it makes up for a lot of the shows kids watch on Nick.
Parents have a lot to compete with to gain the attention of their children. In 1974, competition was with the radio, shortly thereafter, MTV. Today, kids are bombarded from the moment they wake up until they fall asleep with sounds and noise from all sorts of things vying for their attention and spending dollars.
As a Parent, the most important thing you can give to your child is yourself. What better opportunity than to separate your and your child from all the noise and participate together in a single activity. This is where baseball memories start. These memories are held closest to the heart.
So, once or twice a month, regardless of the season or the weather, take time with your child to practice a little baseball. Keep things simple, keep them brief and try a few yourself.
Much of baseball is situational. If this happens then I do that. Learning correct technique is best learned when you teach. Let your child teach you a little. It is amazing what you each will learn.
