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©2012 Baseball Drills from the Ground Up. All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Baseball Drills from the Ground Up. All Rights Reserved.

There are many factors in baseball that are simply out of the player’s control.  As a pitcher this truth is evident every time I throw a pitch.  Once the ball is out of my hand, there are a set of factors that come into play that I have no control over whatsoever.  I can make a great pitch, fool the batter into hitting a groundball, and the ball can take a bad hop over the shortstop’s head. This is a base hit in the books.  The truth is you really do not know what is going to happen. Because of this baseball can at times be a very frustrating game.  But it is also a very rewarding game when it is played right, and the first step is to get your mind right.  Your mind is the only thing you can fully control.

Baseball is first and foremost a game of failures, and the first step to becoming a successful baseball player is to understand that success does not come from the scoreboard, stat book, or any other external result.  As a player, you need to engage the game in such a way that you define your own success through your mentality and approach—these concepts are the number one thing that you have control over as a player whether you are on the mound or in the box.   The more you engage the game of baseball mentally, the more you understand that success is not limited to going 3 for 4 at the plate or striking out 10 batters in a game.  Baseball is such a deep and rich game that you can define your own success in virtually limitless ways.  So when you have that 0 for 4 day at the plate, how will you respond?  A player with a good mental approach will find a way to take something positive away no matter what.  Mentality and approach are part of preparation and they are things that any player of any age or talent level can develop toward having fun and enjoying baseball to the fullest.

Creating an approach and honing your mentality are skills that need practice.  A good baseball player never stops refining these mental tools, no matter what level he reaches.  The game of baseball will be a much more fun, exciting, and rewarding game when you engage your mind the right way.  I believe that these mental tools are extremely important for youth players as it can be very difficult to find successes in a game that is governed by failure.  I will have more on this topic to come in the near future, including specific examples of mental approaches that I think work well for specific positions.

-Tony Bertucci

©2012 Baseball Drills from the Ground Up. All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Baseball Drills from the Ground Up. All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Baseball Drills from the Ground Up. All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Baseball Drills from the Ground Up. All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Baseball Drills from the Ground Up. All Rights Reserved.

Baseball From the Ground Up! | Promote Your Page Too

©2012 Baseball Drills from the Ground Up. All Rights Reserved.

I grew up and was taught to hit down on the ball to create back spin.

I’m not sure who started teaching that, or why many well paid instructors teach someone to “hit down on the ball.”

The reason to not teach this is in my opinion comoon since, but for some reason many people (including many professional instructors) struggle with it.

If I grab a ball and a bat and throw it up to myself to hit it, I can hit it either on the ground, on a line, or in the air for a pop up.   I can hit the ball hard in all three directions, but the only way I can hit it hard is if I square the round bat to the round baseball.  If I perfectly center the ball to the bat, the ball is going to go in the direction of where my swing is.

If I swing down on the ball, the balls I hit hard will be into the ground.  If I have a big uppercut, the balls I hit hard will be pop flys.  If I swing in a slightly upward plain, the balls I hit hard will be line drives.

The direction of your swing path is the direction of where you have the ability to hit the ball the hardest.

Still don’t believe me.  Check out the pictures of Arod and Manny Rameriz to little leaguers that are swinging down on the ball on this page.

Do you agree or disagree?  Let me know your thoughts by commenting about hitting down on the ball.

©2012 Baseball Drills from the Ground Up. All Rights Reserved.

I always get upset at TV announcers glamorizing guys that throw hard.  A major league reliever gets in the game and the announcers drool with excitement as they talk about how hard this guy can throw it.

Then you look at his ERA and its often in the 4′s or 5′s.

I cringe at the message that this is sending our kids: throw the ball hard for the radar gun and get everyone to look at you in awe.

Unfortunately this is not what real pitching is.  Velocity is important in pitching, I am not denying that.  But what is more important than velocity is location and movement.  The very best pitchers of all time have all three elements – location, velocity, and movement. When announcers focus just on velocity, I cringe because I know many kids are going to think that velocity is the only important component of pitching.

I watch many kids in lower levels focus so intensely on throwing the ball harder.  Much of the time they succeed and begin throwing the ball harder, but if their baseball flattens out and becomes straight then they may be surprised that they probably aren’t going to be any more successful than when they threw the ball a couple miles slower but with more movement.

Unfortunately just throwing the ball harder is not the magic bullet that will lead to a hall of fame career.  Make sure your players understand that the best pitchers in baseball have all 3 equally important components – location, movement and velocity.

What I suggest your players do is train to throw the ball harder by developing a stronger core muscle group.  But also make them aware that when they practice pitching, they are not only practicing for the radar gun.

So what should you have them do in practice?

• Playing catch during warm ups is not a time to mess around and go through the motions  - every pitch must have a purpose and a location
• Also during catch is the time for pitchers to experiment with different grips, arm angles and pitches.
• During bull pens – have pitchers throw at-bats to imaginary hitter and keep track of how they do.  Force them to focus on the location of every pitch.

Tell us what you think.

©2012 Baseball Drills from the Ground Up. All Rights Reserved.