Taking a good approach at the plate

As coaches, we have all see hitters who overachieve and underachieve their mechanics and physical abilities at the plate.  We cannot, for the life of us, figure out why the kid who absolutely crushes the ball in the cage, has solid mechanics, and a quick bat hits 50 points lower than the kid who looks far less impressive in the cage, has slower hands, and questionable mechanics.  If this is the case, look no further than pitch selection and plate approach.

We often hear coaches reminding players to have a proper approach at the plate, but what exactly does that mean?  A good approach at the plate means different things depending on the age level you are coaching.

Basic Levels

At the most basic levels, a proper approach simply means getting a good pitch to hit in any count and not swinging at pitches far out of the strike zone.  Pitchers may not be changing speeds very much, and certainly are not locating pitches very well below the age of 12.  At this age level simply emphasize getting a good pitch to hit and protecting the the strike zone with two strikes.

Advanced Levels

Once pitchers begin to chance speeds and locate pitches, the concept of taking a quality at bat changes quite a bit.  The goal at this level is still to get a good pitch to hit, but the concept of a “good pitch” needs to be refined.  The toughest idea to get across to your players is that not every fastball that is a strike is also a good pitch to hit.  For example, a 0-0 fastball on the outside corner is not a good pitch to hit.  If the hitter swings at it, they will most likely get themselves out.  If they take it, the they are now down 0-1.  You would much rather have your hitter down 0-1 than sitting in the dugout.  Similarly, unless they are a very good breaking ball hitter (which few kids under 18 are), they should lay off most curveballs with fewer than two strikes.

This might also take some getting used to as a coach.  It is difficult to watch fastball hitters let fastball strikes go by early in the count.  Realize that just because the it looked like a good pitch to hit from the third base coach’s box, doesn’t make it so.  Maybe the pitch was on the outside corner, or perhaps the velocity or release point wasn’t exactly what the hitter was expecting.  Resist the urge to jump all over them because they let a fastball go by.  Instead, discuss the pitch or at bat, and let them tell you if it was a good pitch to hit or not.  Perhaps you are the one who didn’t see the pitch correctly.

No strike approach

With no strikes, have your hitters concentrate on getting a “double pitch” to hit.  A double pitch is simply a fastball in their favorite zone to hit.  They should be able to take an aggressive swing at this pitch and hit a double.

As a coach, realize that hitting a baseball is the most difficult thing in sports, so just because they get a good pitch to hit doesn’t mean they will hit a double.  As long as they swing at the right pitch and put a good swing on it, they have won that pitch, regardless of the outcome.  The “double pitch” zone tends to be very small and will vary by hitter.  Generally, it is thigh to waist high and is a few inches wide over the middle of the plate.

One strike approach

With one strike, hitters should be looking for a “barrel pitch.”  A barrel pitch is a fastball that they can get the barrel of the bat on and hit a line drive.  Generally this will be a pitch thigh to waist high that is not on the outside or inside corner.  This zone is slightly larger than the zero strike zone, but still gives the pitcher the outside corner and knees.  Again, the hitter would want to lay off of most breaking balls in this count.

Two strike approach

It is very difficult to cover all 17 inches of home plate when a pitcher is throwing with good velocity and has the ability to change speeds and locate. In this situation, hitters should use the general tendency of most pitchers to their advantage.  With two strikes, most pitchers will throw fastballs away and off-speed pitches.   Because of this, hitters should be protecting the middle of the plate to 4 inches off the corner (umpires are humans too!).  In either instance, hitters have to wait longer to swing (see “Opposite Field Hitting” post http://www.cornerstonecoachingacademy.com/opposite-field-hitting-theory-cues-and-drills/).   The goal with two strikes should simply be to put the ball in play.  If they strike out, especially looking, they haven’t given themselves a chance to get on base.  If the ball is put in play there are a number of different ways they can reach base safely.

Higher levels

At the higher levels (above high school), the approach can be slightly complicated by the fact that many pitchers can throw any pitch for a strike in any count.  While the overall approach should stay in tact, the hitter may have to slightly expand their one strike barrel zone, and may have to swing at breaking balls earlier in the count.  Hitters may pick up on certain tendencies of the pitcher that might allow them to guess a certain pitch is coming.  Common examples of this are a pitcher throwing a “get me over” breaking ball early in the count, or always following a strike with an off speed pitch.  How much of this a hitter does will depend on their ability to recognize those tendencies, how strong the tendencies are, and how confident they are hitting breaking balls.

Practice good approaches

Just like any other skill, taking good at bats is a skill that needs to be practiced.  Put your hitters in situations and counts during batting practice to allow them to work on their approach.  It is unreasonable to ask hitters to do perform something in a game they have not practiced.  Instead of simply having your hitters swing mindlessly during batting practice, make them work on pitch selection.

Summary

Next time your most talented hitter comes to you wondering why he is hitting .250 instead of .350, don’t fill his head with mechanical quick fixes, have a discussion with him about pitch selection and pay close attention to what pitches he is swinging in what count.  During a season when there are limited practices, fixing an approach is much easier than fixing a mechanical flaw, and it may be the biggest reason for their struggles to begin with.

To learn more about hitting and generating offense, check out Cornerstone’s Offensive Certification athttp://www.cornerstonecoachingacademy.com/generating-offense-and-hitting-certification/.

Unfair Criticism of John Beilein

I admit that two consecutive posts about college basketball is a bit out of my league.  In no way, shape, or form, do I fancy myself an expert on the game of basketball.  I retired from playing basketball after my freshmen year in high school, and I have never coached a minute of basketball at any level, but I do believe I know good coaching when I see it.  I also believe that I know when criticism of coaching methods is fair and when it is unfair.

On my drive to work this morning, I was listening to the Mulley and Hanley show on 670AM The Score.  As with any sports talk show, I will often find discussion points I agree with, and discussion points I disagree with.  I took particular issue with the host and callers criticism of Michigan coach John Beilein’s pre game and half time speeches.  Their claim was that he was not motivating enough, and lacked emotion.  While everyone stopped short of saying that was the reason for Michigan’s loss, I happen to believe that his calm demeanor could be a reason why Michigan was very competitive in that game.   Even though there were cameras in his lockerroom, Coach Beilein was less concerned with putting on a show for at home audience than he was ensuring that his team was at the optimal emotional level to compete.

Michigan was one of the youngest teams in the NCAA tournament this year with most of their major contributors being freshmen or sophomores.  I recognize that the optimum emotional state playing basketball and baseball are different.  Basketball is a sport where emotion and “try hard” can go a long way.  In baseball, playing emotionally can be detrimental.  Baseball’s optimal level of intensity is playing hard and hustling, but being relaxed and mentally focused.  I would argue that a 19 or 20 year old does not need to be motivated by a speech to have an energy level high enough to play in the NCAA National Championship game.  The reality is, they probably need to their emotions brought down a notch to perform at their optimal level, and I believe that this is what John Beilein was doing.

Ideally, a team would approach the National Championship no differently than it would a normal game.  For a coach to completely ignore the magnitude of the situation would be lying to their players, but a coaching should try to keep the game as normal as possible.  I believe Coach Beilein recognized this heightened state of excitement in his young team and was trying to give them a calming, familiar voice to keep their emotions in check and put their bodies in the optimal level for performance.

Why Mike Rice Scandal Represents a Larger Problem in Youth Sports

For those of you who are not familiar with the way Mike Rice treated his players at Rutgers University, it is about as bad as you can imagine. (View the OTL report here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbaYqcMMZ6A)  I heard the description of his behavior prior to seeing the videos, and I was still shocked when I saw them.  Mr. (I refuse to call him coach) Rice would throw basketballs at his players, shove them, hit them, get in their faces and scream slurs and obscenities at them.  One tape even shows him intentionally throwing a basketball at a player’s head.  It may seem shocking that someone who behaves in this manner was able to coach at a high level and keep his job for such a long time, however the structure of college basketball allows it to happen.  This article will investigate some of the underlying issues in sports that allows such a coach to rise to that level unchecked by his players and superiors.

Yelling is not coaching

As shocking as his behavior was, it has been even more shocking that people are defending him.  “My coach treated me like that and I turned out O.K.”  “Our society is getting so soft.”  Those are all common defenses of Rice’s behavior that have been used recently.  The thought that “yelling is coaching” is in and of itself incorrect.  In fact, constant yelling is often a sign that a coach is insecure in what they are teaching, or their teaching methods.  They cover this up by acting in such a way that their players would never question them for fear of punishment.

Quality coaches use the athletic field as an extension of the classroom.  Imagine if a math teacher yelled, screamed, and threw things at their students when they got a problem wrong.  That would never happen!  In the classroom, teachers try different methods or try explaining the material in different ways to reach their students.  Coaches should react to mistakes in a similar manner.  This is not to say that a coach being forceful or raising their voice is never appropriate.  There is a time and place for a coach to get on their players (mostly for lack of effort mistakes), but if a coach does it constantly, it loses its effectiveness.  If they are abusive like Mike Rice, the message gets lost in the hysterics of the punishment.

Just because someone’s middle school coach yelled at them does not mean that it is the right way to coach.  The profession of coaching needs to move beyond this stereotype and show that real coaching is very similar to instructing in a classroom.

The coach is the center of the team

To call college sports “amateur athletics” is a bit misleading these days.  Forbes Magazine just named Louisville basketball the most valuable in college basketball at $36.1 million.  When amateur athletics turns into a big time money maker, it is easy to see how winning takes center stage.

With such high turnover among college basketball players, the one constant is the coach.  If a university believes they have a coach who can win them games, regardless of his methods, it can mean big bucks to the university. Unfortunately, coaches of youth and high school teams see this as an example and believe that this is the way teams should be structured, when in fact, youth and high school athletics should be structured for the benefit of the players, not the coaches.

You can win by being abusive

Mike Rice was able to become the head coach at Rutgers despite his teaching techniques because he won basketball games at Robert Morris and was able to convince the administration at Rutgers that he could do the same for them.  While we don’t know for sure if he behaved in the same manner at Robert Morris or in his jobs as an assistant coach, it is unlikely that such extreme behavior just began out of the blue as soon as he got the job at Rutgers.   People in the college basketball world were likely aware of his methods prior to him getting the job at Rutgers.

There are many ways to win.  One of them happens to be to scare and threaten your players so they do what you want.  Many coaches, including the all time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history, coach by intimidation.  They may be very good technical and tactical coaches, but their motivation technique is often not sustainable.  Athletes become motivated only to avoid punishment, not to improve.  Under this type of motivation, athletes become afraid to make mistakes and typically do not perform well under pressure, because they have pressure of the game, and the pressure of avoiding punishment on them.

This type of motivation also does not teach athletes to compete and improve for the benefit of themselves and the team.  They only work to avoid the wrath of the coach.   While many people say they are learning “great life lessons” by enduring this abuse, all they are really learning how to do is take orders and avoid punishment.  They are not learning how to be leaders, how to compete, or how to be intrinsically motivated.

There is no doubt that there are other coaches in the country who behave in a similar manner to Mike Rice, just like there are those in the public who believe that these methods are acceptable.  As a coach, you should use the athletic field as an extension of the classroom and try to develop independent thinkers, leaders and problem solvers. 

What Should be Important to Youth Coaches

With league championship names such as “Super Bowl” and “World Series,” it is easy to understand why youth coaches get caught up in the allure of winning championships.  As a youth coach, if your main goal is to win a championship, you are missing a wonderful opportunity to improve the lives of the athletes you coach.  Even if you are able to win a league, region, state, or national championship, if that is the team’s only focus, the athletes will miss one heck of a journey along the way.

Life is a competition, start now!

As anyone who has a job in a competitive line of work knows, much of life is a competition.  You have to compete with many others for that first job, a promotion, or to become vice-president.  Those starting small businesses have to compete for start-up costs and for a niche in the market.  Why not teach athletes these competition skills at a young age (12 years and older)?  It is possible to teach competition without having the focus being to win a championship.  Create small competitions in practice as often as you can .  Emphasize healthy competition for the sake of competing, and not necessarily to win anything tangible.  Whenever possible remove extrinsic rewards from tactical games in practice so athletes begin to see the value in competing against others.  Your athletes will begin to see the benefit of competing against others and will begin to enjoy the process of competition regardless of the outcome.

Use failure appropriately

If the entire season is set up to win the championship, anything less than that can be viewed as a failure when, in fact, many successes can come from failures. Since much of life is a competition, it is vital for young athletes to learn how to deal with failure.  It may take several interviews to get that first job, you may be passed over for a promotion, and you may never become vice-president.  Just because success doesn’t happen immediately doesn’t mean that it won’t.  In our instant gratification society, it is difficult for your people to understand that not succeeding right away does not make one a failure.  Youth coaches can instill this value of working through failure in their athletes by framing it as a chance for improvement.  Coaches should model this behavior by looking for things to improve after failure, and creating “recipes for success” for their teams, their athletes, and themselves.   Even if a team comes up short of its goal of winning a championship, each individual player on the team can become a better person by striving to improve and learning to deal with failure appropriately.

Keep in mind what is important to the players and their families

Youth and high school athletics are for the athletes, not the coaches.  As you are developing a season plan, remember that players are there to have fun, get better, and have a positive experience.  Most parents enroll their kids in youth and high school athletics for similar reasons, but safety is also at the forefront of parent’s minds.  If you truly believe in the benefit of youth sports as a builder of character, one of your main goals should be to keep the players coming back year after year.  In order to do that, coaches should focus on giving their players as positive of an experience as they can, regardless of final record.  Small things such as giving your athletes positive but honest feedback, creating a positive team environment, and creating fun interesting practices for your athletes every day can make a huge difference in an athlete’s perception of their experience.

Over the past few years, I have had many current and former youth and high school coaches report to me that their biggest regret as a coach was that they focused on winning too much.  There is much more that coaching youth sports than just simply winning.  Youth coaches must look out for the safety of their players while ensuring that they have fun, improve as players, and develop as people.  

Creating competition by using challenges

In one of our last posts, we discussed ways to keep practices fun and energetic by using tactical games.  Another effective method that will accomplish the same goal while creating pressure is to use a daily skills challenge.  We start every day with a specified amount of conditioning at the end of practice (not a huge amount, but enough to motivate).  At some point during practice, we select up to four players to participate in a skills challenge.  Each time they perform the task successfully we take one rep off the conditioning.  For example if they started with twelve “poles” as conditioning, and performed the task correctly eight times, they would only have four “poles” at the end of practice.

I do not believe in using conditioning as a form of punishmnet.  I believe that it creates resentment, and players begin to view conditioning as a negative experience instead of a tool to make themselves better.  Even though these challenges do tie performance to conditioning, it is not in a negative way.  Because they start with a specified amount and are able to work them off, this is giving a positive reward for a good performance instead of punishing for a negative performance.  You MUST frame it that way to your athletes.  When they accomplish the goal set forth, be sure to subtract from the overall level of conditioning.  Do not start from zero and add one for every failure.

Long tee challenge

Set up a tee at one end of the cage.  Their goal is to hit a line drive off the back of the cage.  We set the conditioning level at six, 60-yard sprints.  Three players get two swings each.  Each time they hit a line drive off the back of the cage, we take a sprint away.

Bunting Challenge

Set up cones about four feet off each foul line.  Players are to sacrifice bunt between the cones and the foul line.  We set the conditioning level at eight “poles.”  We take one away for each successful bunt.

Catcher blocking challenge

Draw a circle around home plate in the dirt (approximately 6-8 feet in diameter).  Throw balls in the dirt for the catcher to block.  Their goal is to block the ball, scramble to their feet and get the ball back in their hands before the ball leaves the circle.  Each time they accomplish this goal, take a sprint away.

Pitcher/Catcher to 2nd base

Pitchers deliver a pitch from the stretch, the catcher receives it and throws to second base.  Their goal is for this combined time to be less than 3.5 seconds (at the high school level). We set the conditioning for this particular challenge at ten straight steals.  This ties the conditioning to the skill being challenged.  Again for each successful try, take a straight steal away.

With this challenge, be careful that your players don't "cheat" by not using proper mechanics on the mound or by jumping out early behind the plate.  If they cheat, count it as an unsuccessful try.

General advice 

As I mentioned earlier, I do not like to use conditioning as punishment, but the reality is that baseball players do need conditioning.  We have simply allowed our players to decrease the amount of conditioning by accomplishing skills that we deem important.

I recommend having the whole team around watching the challenge.  This increases the intensity and helps your players learn to perform in pressure situations.  Also, feel free change the level of success in your individual challenges.  Ideally, you would like the challenges to be difficult, but attainable.  A quality challenge will allow the players to reduce their conditioning by about a half.

Running an Effective Tryout

A major winter storm barreling down on the Chicago is a sure sign that baseball is upon us.  For those of you not from the north, this is, in fact, a common occurrence three days before the first day of tryouts.  Many coaches in cold weather climates run into the same dilemma that I have; you need to assess your players and select your team without actually getting to play outside. I can count on one finger the number of times I have held a tryout outside in my ten years of coaching. 

 
As I am preparing for our season, I am reminded that tryouts are a very bittersweet time of the year.  It marks the beginning of baseball season, which is very exciting.  But inevitably, it marks the end of someone’s baseball career, which is upsetting.  The worst part about it is that I get to choose whose career effectively ends next week.  This task has not gotten any easier over the past decade, so in order to rationalize the large responsibility I have been granted, I have come up with a few rules for our staff during tryouts: 1.) Keep the maximum number of feasible players, 2.) ensure that the tryout is fair, equitable, and takes as many facets of the game into account as possible, and 3.) be objective and honest in the cut process.

Below are some methods for making tryouts as fair and equitable as possible:

1.) Allow players to make as many decisions as possible in tryouts

     a.) Evaluate how they work/behave when nobody is directing them

     b.) See how they will perform when they are on their own

2.) Give specific expectations ahead of time

     a.) What intangible characteristics will you be looking at?

     b.) What skills will you be looking for at each position?

     c.) Share the evaluation tool with parents and players ahead of time

3.) Measure as many things as possible

     a.) Measure speed, don’t guess who is faster

     b.) Measure batting practice rounds

     c.) Measure velocity (if you can)

     d.) Measure strike and quality strike % for pitchers

4.) Decide what skills you want to emphasize ahead of time

     a.) Will you value offense or defense more?

     b.) How much will you emphasize speed?

     c.) What type of team do you want to have?

     d.) How many pitchers do you need for your season?

     e.) How much do you value players who play multiple positions?

Making cuts

The actual method of making cuts is not a one size fits all process.  Each coach needs to decide which method fits them and their community best.  The three basic methods are face-to-face, posting a list, and player letters.  Each has their advantages and disadvantages but as long as you are honest and unbiased, the process will go as painlessly as possible.  Below is a list of keys to making the cut process as painless for yourself and the players you are cutting:

1.) Be honest

2.) Be gentle (don’t go on and on about why you are cutting them)

3.) Give useful feedback

4.) Encourage 

5.) Keep ratings confidential (shared only with the parent and the player)

The cut process is not one that any coach looks forward to, but with a little planning the pain can be minimized for both your players and you.  

Using Tactical Games in Baseball Practice

It is very easy for basketball, soccer, and football coaches to create practices that closely resemble playing the game.  They are able to keep many players involved, because during virtually every play in their games, almost every player is active.  The same cannot be said for baseball.  Players have responsibilities on every play, such as knowing the situation should be ball be hit to them, or backing up a base, but with the exception of the catcher, pitcher, and first basemen, the possibility exists that a player may go through an entire game without touching the ball defensively. 

Unfortunately, many baseball practices resemble this game play.  As a result, baseball is perceived as boring, and athletes are choosing other sports.  Quite frankly, if I came to a practice, took eight swings and fielded ten groundballs in two hours, I would be bored too.  Creating a practice that resembles game play and keeps all players active is difficult and takes knowledge, skill, and planning.  Rule number one for creating such a practice is to avoid lines in your practice.  We use short lines (two or three players) to give our athletes rest between activities.  If the lines in practice are much longer than three players, boredom will begin to set in and only those who truly love the game will continue playing.   

Another option to keep all players involved is to employ the use of tactical games.  These games teach baseball through competitive, controlled situations where players play a structured game to learn a skill or tactic.  Below are two examples of tactical games, one for players of all ages, and one for players over 14 years old. 

For all ages

Set up two sets of cones, each set is the same distance from each other.  The distance between the sets can be adjusted depending on the age and skill of the player.  A good starting distance for a 14U player would be between 100 feet and 150 feet.  (see set up below)

        X                                                                                            X

  P    T                        <-- 100-150 Feet -->                                    T     P

        X                                                                                            X

This game can be played one on one, or in teams of two.  Each team hits a ball off the tee toward the other team (it is a good to give each team gloves to field the ball as it comes at them).  Their goal is to hit the ball between the two cones, or hit the tee.  If they hit the ball between the cones, they get one point.  If they hit the tee, they automatically win, and the game restarts.  This game teaching a line drive, up the middle swing.  You will be amazed how players who may be casting their hands and consistently yank the ball, adjust their swings in order to compete.  Either play a specified number of swings, or to a point total.

Over 14 - Small ball game

Divide the team into smaller teams of four to six (no less than six).  The numbers will dictate how you handle pitchers and catchers.  One option is to have teams of six where each has a pitcher and catcher.  Another option is to have a few pitchers and catchers who play on their own team offensively, but only pitch and catch on defense.  Allow the teams to create their own signs and strategy.  Each team will have players as base coaches (wearing helmets) and will coach themselves.  

Teams will set up defensively with only an infield.  The defensive team is not allowed to play any player closer to home plate than the baselines until the offensive team shows bunt.  Any ball hit out of the infield on the fly is an automatic out.  The offensive team can bunt, steal, hit and run (as long as they don’t hit the ball out of the infield on the fly), or squeeze bunt.  Their objective is to get runners on, move them over and get them in.  We usually give each offensive team six outs and clear the bases after the first three to keep the game moving quickly.  

The only time we reward our players for hitting the ball out of the infield on the fly is if there is a runner on third with less than two outs, if they hit a deep flyball, they are still out, but we allow the runner from third to score.  

Feel free to modify the rules to meet your needs.  We have started with a runner on first or second with nobody out, but it is fun to watch them try to get on base by bunting for a hit or hitting a hard groundball through the infield.  

This game gives athletes the chance to make decisions, stay constantly involved (we usually have three teams of six and have the team that is not hitting or fielding working on hitting drills), and work on all offensive and defensive aspects of the small game.  

Incorporating tactical games is just one method you can use to keep practices fun and exciting while teaching players to compete and play the game. Coaches who complete Cornerstone’s Silver Certification will learn mores ways to incorporate tactical games into their practices, learn how to develop appropriate tactical games, and will have access to many age appropriate games through Cornerstone’s silver library.