All Entries Tagged With: "pitcher"
An Interview With Brisbane Bandits (ABL) and Red Sox Prospect Pitcher, Justin Erasmus
Maturity and success aren’t always aligned with years on the diamond; just ask Australian sensation Justin Erasmus. The Boston Red Sox know this, having snapped Erasmus up as a free agent at just 17. This now 21-year-old right handed pitcher is carving his name around the globe in baseball. Currently on the Brisbane Bandits roster, [...]
Baseball Pitching Tips: How To Improve Your Control By Playing A Game That Is Fun!
Take a look at almost any inning in which three or more runs are scored and I would venture that in at least 75% of those innings one or more walks were involved. I teach pitchers that you must throw strikes consistently and I don’t care if a batter hits the ball into the trees [...]
Are You Really Comfortable With Your Circle Changeup Grip?
You really have to experiment and find out what is the most comfortable for you when it comes to different grips on the baseball. Baseball pitching tips involve experimenting with many different ways to grip your pitches. This definitely applies to throwing the changeup. I would venture that 95% of all pitchers, at any level [...]
Which Side Of The Rubber Should You Pitch From?
I’ll gladly give you my input about pitching from different sides of the rubber but ultimately you will have to decide what works best for you and where you are comfortable. There are many baseball theories on this but ultimately you will have the final say because you are doing the pitching. Usually, but not [...]
The Long Toss: A Pitcher Will Benefit Tremendously From Long Tossing!
The “long toss” is simply a throwing session where you start out fairly close to your throwing partner, then gradually increase the distance between the two of you. You finish the drill by then gradually decreasing the distance until you are back to the distance you originally started from. Many very good authorities believe that [...]
How To Properly Expand The Strike Zone Is Critical!
Whenever you are ahead in the count, you should “expand the strike zone.” No, let’s rephrase that. You must expand the strike zone! That simply means throwing a pitch off the plate, that’s actually a ball. Or throwing a pitch too high or too low that is out of the strike zone. Let’s be clear [...]
Baseball Pitching Tips: How You Hide Your Grip Is Critical!
For something that’s very important, I’m quite surprised hiding your grip isn’t talked about or taught more. How many things can be more detrimental for a pitcher than tipping off his pitches to opposing players and their coaches? Trust me. Players, coaches and managers will look for opposing pitchers that tip off their pitches! For [...]
Coaching Tips: Mind Games Between The Pitcher And The Hitter!
As you advance to older levels of play, you will find that many baseball hitters will play certain mind games with the pitcher and pitchers will do the same with hitters. Personally, I would not recommend getting involved in any mind games until the high school level of play or higher whether you are the [...]
Developing Clutch Baseball Players
Clutch baseball players are able to focus in the moment. They do this by understanding the things they can control, which is simply the ball and the situation at hand. Clutch hitters understand that they can only control two things: getting a good pitch and taking a good swing. Clutch pitchers believe in the pitch [...]
Baseball Pitching Tips: How You Can Get To Know The Tendencies Of A Hitter Very Quickly!
It is mandatory for baseball pitchers to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the baseball hitters they face. There are certain very clever things a pitcher can do. If the hitter takes a practice swing before facing you, pay attention to his practice swing! If he appears to be hitting an inside pitch [...]
The 2011 All-Star Futures Game
On Tuesday night, the 2011 All Star game will take place. Of course, it’s supposed to be a battle of the biggest stars of the sport, and for the most part, it is. I’ll leave my reservations about the voting process for another day. MLB has done a great job advertising the Home Run Derby, [...]
Helping Ballplayers Eliminate Fear of Being Hit by the Ball
Let’s face it, when you get hit by a pitched ball, it hurts. When a ball hits young ballplayers, it can lead to such fear of being hit that it actually ends their desire to continue playing. Sometimes, nothing will work, but with time and patience, this fear can disappear. One thing that I have [...]
Not so Obvious Baseball Tips – Teaching the Game
Since retiring from major league baseball many years ago, I have studied and taught the game to many. I wish I had a few extra bucks for every time I thought to myself, “If I only knew then what I know now.” The good news is that what I know now, I pass on to [...]
Follow the Batted Ball
One of the things those of us in stats all want to do is to go from step A to step F without explaining the steps in between. The main goal in this section is to avoid skipping steps. In the introductory article I mentioned batted ball statistics. Before I move onto those statistics I [...]
Knowing Your Platoon Splits
Platoons. Baseball Managers are well-known for using them all the time to play the odds and help ensure a better success rate. Knowing players’ tendencies and acting on them has long been a strategy employed by baseball Managers (early notables include Earl Weaver and Casey Stengel)and coaches alike. Not content to simply utilize lefty-righty matchups in their [...]
Batting Practice using Pitching Machines – Good or Bad?
Frequently, I receive this question from my student’s parents, “Should I take him/her to the batting cages.” You would think my response is, “Sure, practice is good.” However, it is not that simple an answer for a number of reasons. First, and this is often my response, “Let’s wait awhile, because they [...]
The Flex Stance and Studying the Pitcher
When using the flex-stance, the key to making it work starts with knowing when to be flexible. You can use all three stances – the standard stance, which is medium open with your front foot 8-12 inches away from the inside chalk; the open stance with your front foot 12-18 inches off the inside chalk; [...]
The Flex Stance and Studying the Pitcher
When using the flex-stance, the key to making it work starts with knowing when to be flexible. You can use all three stances – the standard stance, which is medium open with your front foot 8-12 inches away from the inside chalk; the open stance with your front foot 12-18 inches off the inside chalk; [...]
Luck Factor and the NL bullpen
We finally get to the last of our luck factor series. For those of you that have been following this all along I give a wholehearted thanks. If you are just joining us you might want to back track and read the first one. It should be archived in the sabermetrics section of [...]
Rod Carew on “Making Contact”
Long before he was the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Don Mattingly was a phenomenal first baseman for the New York Yankees who was one of the best hitters of his time. So a compliment from him certainly goes a long way. “Rod Carew influenced me a lot,” Mattingly said during in his playing [...]
Rod Carew’s Hitting Tips: Making Contact, Step 1 – The Setup
Everything has a starting point. The starting point of making contact – the starting point of becoming a successful hitter – is the setup. On the surface, it might seem like a rather simple or even natural process; but it’s a very important aspect of your quest to becoming a good hitter. As you start [...]
Talk Like an Expert and Help Youth Baseball Players “Stay” in the Game
Spring training is right around the corner for young ball players, too, so parents and youth coaches have to get up to speed on good baseball teaching terms. There is one word that is necessary to teach baseball. Adults need to know this word to help them sound like an expert and so they can [...]
A Video Tribute to Hall of Famer Bob Feller
Please share your favorite stories of the late Bob Feller in the comments section below! We hope you like this video tribute… Feel free to add links to any other video tributes on Bob Feller in the comments section as well! Help support Baseball Reflections and buy me a coffee with PayPal!
Baseball is a Head Game and How to Fix It
This article is probably not what you think. You are probably thinking I am talking about what baseball players should be thinking about on the ball field – the mental game of baseball. Actually, this article is about the physical aspect of a baseball player’s head and how important the location of the head is [...]
Understanding the Spin of the Ball
The very prospect of picking up the rotation of a baseball only 55 feet away from you normally traveling in excess of 90 mph is quite a daunting task. Not to mention that very few players, especially at the lower levels of the game, know what to look for – even if they are looking. [...]
The Rules of Reading the Spin of the Ball
Knowing where and when to look. Those are the two simple, but important rules to reading the spin of the ball out of the pitcher’s hand. Every pitcher has his own release point, the point at which the ball leaves his hand – and the point at which a hitter should begin to read the [...]
Rod Carew on Seeing the Ball
In many sports, it’s called being “in the zone.” In baseball, it’s “seeing the ball.” And when you’re “seeing the ball,” you’re putting together multi-hit games, hitting streaks, and home-run tears – everything’s going right for you at the plate. When you’re “seeing the ball,” it looks bigger, you pick it up sooner, your reactions [...]
Hall of Famer Rod Carew on Setting up the Pitcher
Just as a pitcher can set up a batter, I feel a hitter can set up a pitcher. Hitting is a science. From preparing yourself with tools and studying your opponent, to analyzing your stance and how to get the best of your opponent; it’s a thinking man’s game from start to finish. With the [...]
Standing in the Batter’s Box
Like many aspects in the art and science of hitting, where you take your stance in the batter’s box offers as many opinions as there are fans in the ballpark. But, wherever you choose to stand in the box, it’s an important decision. Some batters prefer standing deep in the box, while others like to [...]
Bill Lee Pitched for the 2010 Brockton Rox
Apparently, former Red Sox pitcher Bill “The Spaceman” Lee recurred his role this year as a member of the Brockton Rox (an independant League Baseball team in Brockton, MA), albeit for just one game. He is now listed as being inactive, but did win in his only appearance of the season (in the last game [...]
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