Humbled and appreciative to those that helped me achieve the number of views so far. Thanks for helping me to reach what I consider to be a mini-milestone.
For better hitting,
Del
For better hitting,
Del
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Spend Less Time Lifting And More Time Watching Video
That goes for ML'ers on down and is related to this question I received...
Q: I have a 10 yr old son that plays tournament ball.One coach tells him wait on the outside pitch or hit the inside out front. The other says step toward the pitch (out for inside, in for outside).Who's right?
A: Step towards the pitcher with the front foot(on the ball of the foot) landing at a 45 degree angle. Getting the hands and barrel through the zone a la slot position are what's important mechanically to drive inside pitches. I have drills posted on my bsbl blog for hitting inside pitches.
Also, I covered a few points on the stride, including direction, from another post on my myspace blog below:
Final Chapter: Bio-Mechanics Software Experience
As stated in the previous blog, the experience was a blast and a real eye opener. To not put you to sleep, I'll keep it brief, and stick to the high points of what I like about the software program.
What stood out to me was the information received from analyzing the measurement of TIME that it took the hands to go from the launch position, getting into the slot position and then to contact, and also the measurement of the length of hitters' strides & landing points of the ball of the front foot on various types of pitches. Luckily for me, I also had access to the bio-mechanic information on the best hitters in the American League at the time so I had the ideal bio-mechanic hitting models to reference to as well. Stride lengths and contact time among the best hitters were consistently better than the rest.
Strides, ofcourse, are the timing device that the hitters use in making contact...i.e., timing the pitch. Everyone knows that, but what I didn't know at that time was that the great hitters had consistent stride lengths on every pitch and landed in the same spot regardless of the type of pitch. What's important about that is that other hitters(mostly.290 and below...way below) were all over the place as to where they landed and the length of their stride. The best hitters were consistently the same. That speaks volumes about their tracking (dynamic visual acuity) and ability to keep a still head which results in the optimal amount of eye muscles to use when hitting (refer back to the soft centering-fine centering blog).
From the bio-mechanic tracking of the hands from the launch position to contact, there was a distinct difference in the quality of hitting and productivity of the great hitters as compared to the others. The best hitters are consistently efficient with their hands, getting in the slot position, and putting the barrel of the bat on the ball. The others ranged from minutely inefficient to 'how in the heck did you get out of AAA?!!' One of the hitters, who had pop, had such a big swing and a huge hole from his hitch that he would have led the league in broken bats if the pitchers would've pitched him up and in. Ofcourse, pitchers are pitchers and kept pitching to his strength (low and away) instead. The next season they wised up and pitched to his flaw. It wasn't long until he was traded to the NL, and didn't fair any better there either. He was out of the game at a fairly young age. One side note with this player was that he spent a tremendous amount of time lifting heavy weights improperly in the wt. room near the clubhouse. And that only increased scar tissue in his rotator cuff which decreased his arm strength (throwing) and his bat speed as well. Not a good formula for a player that had hand problems (flaw) to begin with. Take note-you hitters that are seeking the buffed look...you could also be destroying a major tool or two in your wt. training routine. Learn the best way to help yourself in the wt. room...lift less; watch more video.
Also, I covered a few points on the stride, including direction, from another post on my myspace blog below:
Final Chapter: Bio-Mechanics Software Experience
As stated in the previous blog, the experience was a blast and a real eye opener. To not put you to sleep, I'll keep it brief, and stick to the high points of what I like about the software program.
What stood out to me was the information received from analyzing the measurement of TIME that it took the hands to go from the launch position, getting into the slot position and then to contact, and also the measurement of the length of hitters' strides & landing points of the ball of the front foot on various types of pitches. Luckily for me, I also had access to the bio-mechanic information on the best hitters in the American League at the time so I had the ideal bio-mechanic hitting models to reference to as well. Stride lengths and contact time among the best hitters were consistently better than the rest.
Strides, ofcourse, are the timing device that the hitters use in making contact...i.e., timing the pitch. Everyone knows that, but what I didn't know at that time was that the great hitters had consistent stride lengths on every pitch and landed in the same spot regardless of the type of pitch. What's important about that is that other hitters(mostly.290 and below...way below) were all over the place as to where they landed and the length of their stride. The best hitters were consistently the same. That speaks volumes about their tracking (dynamic visual acuity) and ability to keep a still head which results in the optimal amount of eye muscles to use when hitting (refer back to the soft centering-fine centering blog).
From the bio-mechanic tracking of the hands from the launch position to contact, there was a distinct difference in the quality of hitting and productivity of the great hitters as compared to the others. The best hitters are consistently efficient with their hands, getting in the slot position, and putting the barrel of the bat on the ball. The others ranged from minutely inefficient to 'how in the heck did you get out of AAA?!!' One of the hitters, who had pop, had such a big swing and a huge hole from his hitch that he would have led the league in broken bats if the pitchers would've pitched him up and in. Ofcourse, pitchers are pitchers and kept pitching to his strength (low and away) instead. The next season they wised up and pitched to his flaw. It wasn't long until he was traded to the NL, and didn't fair any better there either. He was out of the game at a fairly young age. One side note with this player was that he spent a tremendous amount of time lifting heavy weights improperly in the wt. room near the clubhouse. And that only increased scar tissue in his rotator cuff which decreased his arm strength (throwing) and his bat speed as well. Not a good formula for a player that had hand problems (flaw) to begin with. Take note-you hitters that are seeking the buffed look...you could also be destroying a major tool or two in your wt. training routine. Learn the best way to help yourself in the wt. room...lift less; watch more video.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
MLB Scouts Focus On 50+ OFP Prospects And Not Fillers
A scout must avoid lack of confidence, other organizations' scouts pumping him for information, having a favorite team or players which is a deterrence to objectivity, zero prospects which are prospects with an OFP of below 50, and choosing poor associate scouts in order to meet the number one goal of an organization...winning a world championship.
Once the prospect has been been graded, the scout should stand by his OFP and belief in the prospect and himself. The Scouting Bureau's report may not be as accurate as yours. I knew a scout that changed his report for that reason alone...the MLSB had this prospect graded 13 points higher. It turned out the prospect was just as he originally graded and reported. The Bureau had missed the mark, but this territorial scout didn't have conviction in his own abilities and changed his grade on a new report to match theirs. This is another one of the 90% failures because he had a lack of confidence in his scouting abilities. The other pitfall is the opposite extreme and giving out information to other scouts when they pump you for information. Besides being arrogant, this smells of a lack of loyalty to your own organization. The pitfall of having a favorite team or players falls into the category of "deterrence to objectivity" which was previously alluded to. The final pitfall for a scout has to be picking poor associate scouts. This happens, but not often. It did happen to a certain territorial scout that relied heavily on his associate scouts for reports in order to get more playing time on the golf course. I will say that he did put together a decent network of associate scouts overall, but a few turned out to be incompetent, and one, an M.D. in is day job, was brought to the attention of the MLB Commissioner's Office by a fairly well known collegiate coach for offering players PEDs and soliciting to be an agent for the prospects he carded. Both were brilliant men, but lacked common sense, good judgment, and moral ethics.
The goal of finding prospects that will help the organization to win championships has not changed, but the methods used to do so are in a continual change. The modern scout has to familiarize himself with techniques to improve time management, adapt to changing technology, staying current with sports psychology as well as baseball strength training, and bio-mechanics. All of these must be combined with the absolutes of scouting: being objectively subjective, aggressive, an ability to not pre-judge prospects, knowing the up-to-date needs of the organization, an unending patience and avoiding scouting pitfalls.
Time management includes more than just managing time in the scouting department and by each individual scout. The concept of business time management includes four functions and is already in use by some general managers. The functions are production, organizing, directing, and controlling when adopted by the scouting director can facilitate the organization's scouts to be more productive which as a result would reverse the past problem of only 10% of their scouts being successful.
Today's scout should be computer literate to help keep the flow of information moving. Being knowledgeable in computer applications should be a goal of the scouting department for each scouting director scout in the 21st century. The speed of communication necessary to build a successful, championship organization requires it. A wireless laptop and printer will soon become tools for the scout and will be as valuable as a radar gun and stopwatch.
Staying current in the latest thinking in sports psychology, strength training, flexibility, nutrition, and bio-mechanics are necessary for the scout of today. The need to provide correct information to prospects is now a part of the job. The old saying that "sports medicine changes every six weeks" also can apply to almost all areas of baseball and can become frustrating, but the modern scout must accept that staying current in his knowledge base is integral in helping his organization reach its yearly goal of winning a championship.
Not following the absolutes of scouting is why there is a 90% failure rate among scouts. A successful scout has to avoid being subjective without including objectivity. The two must go together 100% of the time to help make an accurate OFP and determine signability. That being said... a deterrence to objectivity is the scout allowing himself to pre-judge prospects because he reminds him of past unsuccessful prospect X, etc. The scout must eliminate the prejudice and rate tools with focus and not emotion.
Lack of patience can actually be lumped into the pitfalls found in scouting. It just happens to lead the pitfall league in problems that scouts must deal with. Impatience with the scouting director is one problem when there is a lack of interest in your prospect. If the prospect is drafted by your organization, then there can be impatience with the player development department in taking their time moving the prospect up the ladder, and if you are a successful scout, the lack of moving up the ladder in your own career can become a detriment. All the behaviors related to impatience are part of human nature and that a successful scout needs to overcome. To become a patient scout requires some stress management techniques or you'll never have peace of mind. Finding a healthy way to unwind and clear the mind, is key to surviving and thriving in the scouting world. Developing a hobby can be one process in helping you to relax and will take you a step closer to mastering patience.
Other potential pitfalls in scouting include marital stress, and signing immature prospects. As to marriage and marital stress, a scout must realize that he'll be on the road...often. Sometimes the time out away from home can be up to three weeks. From my experience, I know of many divorced scouts for just this reason. Maybe this is why for many years the average age of scouts was where they were in their sixties. In short, a scout need to be aware and should address this issue with his spouse and work at his marriage to maintain it. Wives can be understanding is the positive side of this issue.
The signing of immature players can be a pitfall, but usually doesn't happen often thankfully. I have seen a couple of players signed that had no business being signed due to poor make up. Sometimes players can have their attitude righted after signing, but I rarely see that with those that like to sip suds in high school, etc. A prospect that has a drinking or drug problem in high school is immature cannot handle the life and pressure of a minor league player. Point being- a scout must use common sense and good judgment as to what's best for the prospect and the organization.
In conclusion, baseball is a business...first and foremost. There is no room for thinking otherwise. Being a successful scout means that he's helping build championship teams by choosing championship caliber prospects objectively with all the tools available to him. That is the bottom line for a scout. If a scouting director requires his scouts to familiarize himself with techniques to improve time management, adapt to changing technology, staying current with sports psychology as well as baseball strength training, nutrition, bio-mechanics, and combine this with the absolutes of scouting, that scouting department, along with the organization's player development department, are well on their way to building a successful baseball franchise.
Once the prospect has been been graded, the scout should stand by his OFP and belief in the prospect and himself. The Scouting Bureau's report may not be as accurate as yours. I knew a scout that changed his report for that reason alone...the MLSB had this prospect graded 13 points higher. It turned out the prospect was just as he originally graded and reported. The Bureau had missed the mark, but this territorial scout didn't have conviction in his own abilities and changed his grade on a new report to match theirs. This is another one of the 90% failures because he had a lack of confidence in his scouting abilities. The other pitfall is the opposite extreme and giving out information to other scouts when they pump you for information. Besides being arrogant, this smells of a lack of loyalty to your own organization. The pitfall of having a favorite team or players falls into the category of "deterrence to objectivity" which was previously alluded to. The final pitfall for a scout has to be picking poor associate scouts. This happens, but not often. It did happen to a certain territorial scout that relied heavily on his associate scouts for reports in order to get more playing time on the golf course. I will say that he did put together a decent network of associate scouts overall, but a few turned out to be incompetent, and one, an M.D. in is day job, was brought to the attention of the MLB Commissioner's Office by a fairly well known collegiate coach for offering players PEDs and soliciting to be an agent for the prospects he carded. Both were brilliant men, but lacked common sense, good judgment, and moral ethics.
The goal of finding prospects that will help the organization to win championships has not changed, but the methods used to do so are in a continual change. The modern scout has to familiarize himself with techniques to improve time management, adapt to changing technology, staying current with sports psychology as well as baseball strength training, and bio-mechanics. All of these must be combined with the absolutes of scouting: being objectively subjective, aggressive, an ability to not pre-judge prospects, knowing the up-to-date needs of the organization, an unending patience and avoiding scouting pitfalls.
Time management includes more than just managing time in the scouting department and by each individual scout. The concept of business time management includes four functions and is already in use by some general managers. The functions are production, organizing, directing, and controlling when adopted by the scouting director can facilitate the organization's scouts to be more productive which as a result would reverse the past problem of only 10% of their scouts being successful.
Today's scout should be computer literate to help keep the flow of information moving. Being knowledgeable in computer applications should be a goal of the scouting department for each scouting director scout in the 21st century. The speed of communication necessary to build a successful, championship organization requires it. A wireless laptop and printer will soon become tools for the scout and will be as valuable as a radar gun and stopwatch.
Staying current in the latest thinking in sports psychology, strength training, flexibility, nutrition, and bio-mechanics are necessary for the scout of today. The need to provide correct information to prospects is now a part of the job. The old saying that "sports medicine changes every six weeks" also can apply to almost all areas of baseball and can become frustrating, but the modern scout must accept that staying current in his knowledge base is integral in helping his organization reach its yearly goal of winning a championship.
Not following the absolutes of scouting is why there is a 90% failure rate among scouts. A successful scout has to avoid being subjective without including objectivity. The two must go together 100% of the time to help make an accurate OFP and determine signability. That being said... a deterrence to objectivity is the scout allowing himself to pre-judge prospects because he reminds him of past unsuccessful prospect X, etc. The scout must eliminate the prejudice and rate tools with focus and not emotion.
Lack of patience can actually be lumped into the pitfalls found in scouting. It just happens to lead the pitfall league in problems that scouts must deal with. Impatience with the scouting director is one problem when there is a lack of interest in your prospect. If the prospect is drafted by your organization, then there can be impatience with the player development department in taking their time moving the prospect up the ladder, and if you are a successful scout, the lack of moving up the ladder in your own career can become a detriment. All the behaviors related to impatience are part of human nature and that a successful scout needs to overcome. To become a patient scout requires some stress management techniques or you'll never have peace of mind. Finding a healthy way to unwind and clear the mind, is key to surviving and thriving in the scouting world. Developing a hobby can be one process in helping you to relax and will take you a step closer to mastering patience.
Other potential pitfalls in scouting include marital stress, and signing immature prospects. As to marriage and marital stress, a scout must realize that he'll be on the road...often. Sometimes the time out away from home can be up to three weeks. From my experience, I know of many divorced scouts for just this reason. Maybe this is why for many years the average age of scouts was where they were in their sixties. In short, a scout need to be aware and should address this issue with his spouse and work at his marriage to maintain it. Wives can be understanding is the positive side of this issue.
The signing of immature players can be a pitfall, but usually doesn't happen often thankfully. I have seen a couple of players signed that had no business being signed due to poor make up. Sometimes players can have their attitude righted after signing, but I rarely see that with those that like to sip suds in high school, etc. A prospect that has a drinking or drug problem in high school is immature cannot handle the life and pressure of a minor league player. Point being- a scout must use common sense and good judgment as to what's best for the prospect and the organization.
In conclusion, baseball is a business...first and foremost. There is no room for thinking otherwise. Being a successful scout means that he's helping build championship teams by choosing championship caliber prospects objectively with all the tools available to him. That is the bottom line for a scout. If a scouting director requires his scouts to familiarize himself with techniques to improve time management, adapt to changing technology, staying current with sports psychology as well as baseball strength training, nutrition, bio-mechanics, and combine this with the absolutes of scouting, that scouting department, along with the organization's player development department, are well on their way to building a successful baseball franchise.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
HOLISTIC HITTING DEFINED
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Kudos To Josh Hamilton
He needs to be congratulated for making mechanical adjustments this Spring to correct the timing flaw he developed compensating for his hitch that began in the 2009 season. Josh still has a bit of a hitch, but doesn't start his swing early anymore which means he's no longer vunerable to the fastball up and in and off speed stuff away. Now, if Chris Davis would make adjustments of not throwing his hands, staying torqued, and getting into the slot position, he can be on his way to being the next Adam Dunn. : )
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Gone Batty Looking For Sales Reps
Passing this along...
Do you know anyone in your area who could help me market a surplus of Wood Bats?
Seeking reps who will are in tight with leagues and teams as well as training Academies and such.
Regards,
Walter
reply to: gonebattybats@gmail.com
Do you know anyone in your area who could help me market a surplus of Wood Bats?
Seeking reps who will are in tight with leagues and teams as well as training Academies and such.
Regards,
Walter
reply to: gonebattybats@gmail.com
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Nitro Methane Thinking For Hitters
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)