DJ

[Coach Swit @CoachSwit]

Just my take.

This past H.S. season, I saw more pitchers throwing 85-89 mph than ever. The fastball wasn’t the problem. The toughest at-bats came against 75 mph lefties who threw strikes, pitched backwards, and landed solid breaking balls and changeups. Pitchability wins games.

[Coach Swit @CoachSwit]

Throw Strikes. Pitch backwards. Change speeds. You’ll win a lot more high school baseball games than chasing radar gun numbers! #Facts

[Clint Hurdle @ClintHurdle13]

Coach the heart, not the swing.
Coach the person, not the skill set.

[eric sondheimer @latsondheimer]

Baseball. Newport Harbor 15, Trabuco Hills 1. The teams that would have been in D1 if it were 32 teams are dominating opening playoff games in D2. Not exactly competitive equity.

[DJ @Domage36]

"No one cares how hard you throw ball 4." -Mike Rizzo

[Rob Friedman @PitchingNinja]

Bailey Ober. Shutout. 🍾

[oBAWanKenobi @wOBAWanKenobi]

Complete game shutout for Bailey Ober.

9.0 IP | 2 H | 0 ER | 0 BB | 7Ks | 14 Whiffs

89 pitches / topped out at 90.6 mph
#NoPlaceLikeHere

[Rob Friedman @PitchingNinja]

Paul Skenes had a 67.50 ERA after his first start.

His ERA this season now is: 1.98.

Career ERA is: 1.97.

And, he hasn't walked a batter in a month (April 13)

[Baseball Dudes Inc. 🇺🇸⚾️ @BaseballDudes48]

Some of the biggest mistakes coaches make:

• Thinking their hardest throwers will be their best pitchers.
• Thinking their biggest catcher will be their best catcher.
• Over coaching mechanics.
• Under coaching the mental game and mental toughness.
• Not following through with their words.
• Losing emotional control when their team needs a calm, mentally strong leader.
• Thinking their way is the only way.
• Lacking patience for the process of development.

Coaches,
There’s a lot that goes into this gig. It requires learning, mental stability, great communication skills, patience, empathy, and a commitment to our word.

[Greg Berge @GregBerge]

20 years as a varsity coach taught me 10 things about building winners.

#7 is the hardest one for coaches👇

1. Culture is built in the moments you think don’t matter.

2. Your best player sets the standard, or destroys it.

3. Discipline is a form of love.

4. The locker room tells you everything about your real culture.

5. The coach-player relationship is the foundation of everything. Build it first.

6. Players don’t remember plays. They remember how you made them feel.

7. The hardest thing to coach: getting players to want what the team needs more than what they want.

8. It’s not just what you say. It’s how you say it, who you say it to, and when.

9. Getting players to own their role, not just accept it, is rare.

10. The coach who wins long-term builds people, not just players.

20 years. 500+ games.
This is what actually matters. 🏆

[eric sondheimer @latsondheimer]

I asked a scout if he knew what a high school pitcher was throwing with his radar gun. Nope. Too slow (low 80s) to click. He was getting players out. That's where we are in baseball. Velocity, velocity, velocity. Who cares if pitchers get batters out with slow stuff.

[Baseball Dudes Inc. 🇺🇸⚾️ @BaseballDudes48]

Coaches:

Pitching Staff Management

What is, where is, the balance in getting ALL your arms game reps, keeping their competitive edge, keeping them sharp and keeping them prepared?

All too often we see coaches find a few arms they’ve grown to trust more than others so they take hold of those few and ride them as long as possible.

Understandable BUT what happens when those arms falter, when they have an off day, when they get injured, when you end up having to play another game but are “out of arms?”

Game reps are vital for mindset, experience, comfort, competitiveness and feel. Flat ground work, bullpen work, live BP are all good BUT they are not the same. Be careful of thinking those are enough to keep them ready. Find innings for them. Find CLEAN innings for them. Trying to squeeze every pitch possible out of your main guys only to ask your “backup” guys to clean up the mess left by your main guys when they’ve fatigued is poor staff management to be honest. This happens way too much out there.

Coaches, one of your many jobs is to make sure every player on your roster is prepared. There’s a balance for sure but remember, your team is only as good as the last player(s) on your roster. When you figure out ways to get, and keep, them ready, now you’re onto something.

[Sports Psychology @SportPsychTips]

The six C’s of great teams:
1. Culture (standards)
2. Camaraderie (friendship)
3. Cohesion (togetherness)
4. Chemistry (experience)
5. Cooperation (teamwork)
6. Competition (challenge)

[Baseball Dudes Inc. 🇺🇸⚾️ @BaseballDudes48]

Coaches:

You and your team rely on your pitchers and catchers more than any other position on the field. The only two positions with direct involvement in every pitch of every game.

With this in mind, your weekly practice plans should be built around making sure these two positions are given the time and attention they need to be as prepared as possible for game time.

Find ways, get creative, get it done.

[Next Level Baseball @nextlevelbb]

Lets be real and tell it like it is.
Real competitors are becoming harder and harder to find.
Vanity players that love showcases and convenient training are around every corner.
Nice kids get their scholarships taken.
Nice kids get released from pro ball.
A kid can be the best kid on the team. He can sit on the front row in class and make straight A's. He can be the student body president and a kid everyone wants to marry their daughter.
But.
He's on scholarship and maybe NIL money to be an impact baseball player. He's on scholarship and possibly NIL money to help the coaches, program and his teammates win baseball games. If he can't make an impact athletically, he will be shown the door.
It's supposed to be cruel, rude and nasty to allow the cream to rise to the top.
It's a competition and it's not for everyone.
Coaches want players with great makeup, but if you can't play, it doesn't matter to them.
Coaches want junk yard dogs that want to dominate the competition.
Coaches want dudes that can do it vs the equal and or better.
Coaches want dudes with moxie, feel, different gears and heightened awareness in game defining situations.
Coaches want players that take practice and games personal.
Coaches want players that are more concerned with competing than their mechanics, gear and sunglasses.
Coaches want players that want to be the difference between winning and losing. The players that want the ball or bat in their hand with the game on the line.
Want to be a better player?
Be a better competitor and you'll be a better player.
Be a better competitor in everything that you do.
Take everything personally, because it is.
Represent the name on the back of your jersey like the toughest, most competitive player on every team you're on.

[Baseball Dudes Inc. 🇺🇸⚾️ @BaseballDudes48]

There are many reasons I choose to be a voice for young athletes out there. Here are a few:

• Late bloomers are often looked past because they are deemed not ready by adults who care more about the scoreboard and how it makes them feel.

• Prepubescent athletes who are torn down mentally, often in front of their peers, by adults who lack emotional control.

• They are the future of our world. We need strong leaders and they are our future leaders. Not people who blame, make excuses, don’t take responsibility, lack accountability and don’t know how to treat other people with respect.

• The game provides countless opportunities to prepare them for life. Because of that we want their love of the game to grow and keep them playing for as long as they want to. We don’t need adult emotions taking the love for the game away from them.

Can’t stop, won’t stop. They deserve it. This phase of their life will be so short relative to how long their life will be. Let’s help them enjoy it and learn the most from it. It’s THEIR game. Keep going young ballers.

Baseball Dudes

[Troy Silva @TroyPSilva]

🏆 How to build a championship culture:

1) Compete everyday at every aspect of the game
2) Players hold each other accountable, but more importantly, hold themselves accountable
3) Respect everyone involved with the team: Coaches, teammates, trainers, etc
4) Take tremendous pride in dominating the little details that most would consider unimportant or unnecessary
5) Player lead accountability off the field, be there for each other in your everyday life outside of ⚾️.
6) Make practices and training harder than the actual game itself. Practice constantly in competitive environments, full of pressure, stress and anxiety
7) Be willing to learn, adapt and adjust to any circumstances, take the responsibility instead of making excuses
8) Be genuinely excited for a teammate’s success, and be a great friend when your teammate fails
9) Show up early and stay late to get your personal extra work in
10) Be a beast in the weight room and in your conditioning, speed & agility, plyometric training
11) Feed your body properly and get the proper rest and recovery
12) Adhere to your team rules and cultural guidelines, and stay persistent in your commitment to the team and coaches
13) Manage your time wisely, sacrifice the things that aren’t helping you become a champion and choose to do the things that most others won’t
14) Make intelligent decisions off the field, don’t be a moron
15) Take every failure as an opportunity to learn and a blueprint for things to improve on
16) Set the standard of perfection, and try your best everyday to achieve it
17) Always give more than you think you can give, play harder than you think you can play, focus more than you think you can focus
18) Set a standard of toughness. Be the toughest team on the field every time you play. Never get out-toughed
19) Understand the game at an elite level. Study the intricacies, be baseball smart, develop an advanced knowledge of the game.
20) Truly love each other through the process. You never realize it when you’re in the everyday grind, but when you look back, it will be the time of your life. Embrace everyday that you get to experience the opportunity to be part of a team that truly desires to win championships🏆
#BaseballTruth

[Baseball Dudes Inc. 🇺🇸⚾️ @BaseballDudes48]

Pitchers and catchers who call their own pitches make mistakes.

Coaches who call pitches make mistakes.

Coaches who insist on calling pitches from the dugout, there are always multiple pitch types and locations that will work in any count and any situation. It will ALWAYS come down to pitch execution. Throwing it where and how it’s intended.

Just because it’s what you would throw or what “the report” says doesn’t mean it’s the only option. I’d be very careful of that level of thinking and narcissism.

If you call pitches as a teaching method then we would expect for you to have multiple conversations throughout a game explaining your how’s and why’s. If you claim you do it to teach but rarely or never have those discussions, you’re not teaching them. When these young athletes are left to “wait for the next call,”more often than not their minds turn off and become more like robots. That’s not the goal.

Remember this, if we feel we are smart enough to call pitches, then we should be good enough to teach them how to do it too.

PSA: Baseball is not football, stop comparing them. When base runners are taught the game and shown to have ability to steal, they are given the green light. When a batter has worked at drag and push bunts and learned the when and how, they are given the green light. When pitchers and catchers are taught, allowed and encouraged to watch the game, read the batters and know their stuff, they should be given the opportunity as much as possible to PLAY THE GAME!

[Brent Pourciau, M.S. @TopVelocity]

“Stop trying to impress the wrong people.”

Cody Hall on the mindset shift that changed everything:

When you step on the field, it’s not about proving anyone wrong. That’s negative energy. That mindset will drain you.

Instead—prove the people who believe in you right.

Better yet… prove yourself right.

You already know what you’re capable of. Trust it.

Don’t play for approval.
Don’t play for validation.

Play your game.

That’s what takes you where you want to go. ⚾️

[David Klein @CoachDavidKlein]

Reminder: Pitching machine should emulate an actual release point.

Peep the machine off center and about 6 feet in front of rubber.

Scrimmage started with 1-1 count runner on 2nd base.

Mixed pitches off the machine.

FB set to 85MPH which I thought was surprisingly low.

[Seth McClung @Seth_3773]

You can have average talent in high school and be an elite team

- Culture of accountability
- Hustle out of the box
- limit Ks on offense
- limit BB as a pitching staff
- command the zone as a staff leading to elite defensive positioning
- Make the normal defensive plays
- Take the extra base
- Focus on your teammates and enjoy their success

Formula to win 75 of your games with Average talent.