Baseball Talk: Hitting, Pitching, Catching Strategy

I'm sure we all have couple of favorie stories about Ole Blue, can't play the game without them.

About 10 years ago we were playing a fall game at East Meck, my son was catching that day. First inning, a ball gets by him and he jumps up to go to the backstop to retreive the ball. The umpire grabs him by the chest protector harness on his back and tells him " You and me work too hard back here to be chasing baseballs, the dugouts can chase them today". My son made a new friend that day.


This summer we were in Florida at the National tournament playing a team from Peurto Rico. My team is in the field, PR is hitting. Ball gets by our catcher, umpire turns to the two PR hitters on deck and asks for help. They're talking to each other, not paying attention. In the interest of keeping things moving along, my coaching partner trots to the backstop and picks up the ball. The umpire thanks my partner and then takes a ball out of his bag and tosses it to the backstop. He calls to the PR dugout until he gets their attention and waits on them to retreive the ball. He made his point and didn't have to wait on anybody the rest of the game.

 

A few years ago, a Charlotte rec league team was in a small, nearby town playing the host team in their district's championship tournament...a first-round game. The host team was clearly outmanned that day, but they had some additional help on the field.

How did we know for sure...except for the fact that really obvious calls were going against the Charlotte team? One of the Charlotte 12-year-olds, having been called out on a close call at second, returned to the dugout and said, "Coach, after the call, the shortstop turned to the base umpire and said, 'Good call, Uncle Joe!'"

The host team went on to win that day in the double-elimination tournament. After the Charlotte team's protest, those two umpires didn't call another game in that tournament. Come to find out, the base umpire was, in fact, the shortstop's uncle...and the plate umpire was a coach from the host team's rec league!

The two teams faced off again in the final game, and the Charlotte team won handily.

 

Just curious--Hitters

I understand release points and such...but why one day the baseball looks like a softball and the next day it looks like an aspririn?..and what do you do to adjust?

 

I dont have that answer for ya Braves but i did want to say, way back many years ago i was helping umpire some local dixie youth baseball games and i kept hearing this tink , tink , tink , behind the dugout . So i walked over and one of the parents was back there soft tossing sunflower seeds to his kid. I thought that was really an excellent way to train hand eye coordination . All of this mans children have moved on into high school and college and all are very good contact hitters.

Simple things add up and make good fundamental baseball players.

 

The greatest hitter in the world

A little boy was overheard talking to himself as he strutted through the backyard, wearing his baseball cap and toting a ball and bat. "I'm the greatest hitter in the world," he announced.

Then, he tossed the ball into the air, swung at it, and missed.

"Strike One!" he yelled. Undaunted, he picked up the ball and said again, "I'm the greatest hitter in the world!" He tossed the ball into the air.

When it came down he swung again and missed. "Strike Two!" he cried. The boy then paused a moment to examine his bat and bail carefully. He spit on his hands and rubbed them together.

He straightened his cap and said once more, "I'm the greatest hitter in the world!" Again he tossed the ball up in the air and swung at it. He missed. "Strike Three!"

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "I'm the greatest pitcher in the world!"

 

I love that story!!

 

Intimidator Coach - we have a parent on our team that uses dried pinto beans with his son, hit over .450 as a junior last yr. Sounds like it works.

 

0-2 count

What are you going to throw...chase, waste or haste?

I know there are many intangibles, but I'm just curious about what are your thoughts?

 

Usually Get the out. Throw a pitchers strike, and if he gets a hit, so what. A season is a long thing. You want to accomplish two things.

1. Save pitches...a guy who is throwing 12 pitches per inning will be in better shape come late summer than the guy who is throwing 16-18 pitches per inning. Why waste pitches.

2. Why show the guy everything in one at bat. Throw him something to bang on the ground so you have something different for the 2nd or 3rd time through the order that game. The less pitches that he sees from you, the more the advantages shifts to the pitcher on subsequent at bats.

 

How many times have you seen a pitcher get to an 0-2 count with fastballs where the bat never touched the ball and the next pitch is junk....single