January 24, 2012 By The Pitching Academy Leave a Comment

Hard Work Or Work Hard?

I hear parents and coaches all the time talk to their athletes about the importance of working hard.

Ever heard these sentences at a ball game in the stands?

“I just don’t know what it takes to get my son to work hard?”
“IPod, Xbox, cell phone texting, and Facebook is what occupies my son’s time more than baseball.”
“In my day there were kids out at the park just playing baseball. We didn’t have any of the distractions kids today have. Kids worked harder back then.”

While I agree to some extent with the above common thoughts from parents and coaches, I think the problem is a bit more complex. [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Baseball, Mental Game of Baseball

January 18, 2012 By The Pitching Academy Leave a Comment

Why Do You Practice?

I sent a text to a few of the players I coach a couple days ago. The text read, “Why do you practice?”

One of the responses was, “to achieve greatness.” Another text said, “I practice to get better. I work on the skills I lack.”

I like the second response better. It’s much more process oriented when compared to the first.

You can’t taste greatness right now, but you can understand what skills to work on and put in consistent practice towards those skills.

It’s always fun to set the distant greatness goals, but I encourage you to spend more time on the processes that will allow you one day to achieve the dreams you have in your mind.

Filed Under: General Baseball, Mental Game of Baseball

November 14, 2011 By The Pitching Academy Leave a Comment

I remember slogging into the gym at 5am during cold winter days in college. I hated those mornings, particularly because I considered myself a hitter who happened to pitch as well. So I didn’t enjoy those morning core strengthening sessions all pitchers had to do.

After some jogging and basic stretching, coach had laid out our routine in written form prior, so we knew the plan. Box jumps, all sorts of shuffling and sliding movements, medicine ball throwing, situps, squat jumps, you name it. Some days we’d do our jump rope routine and sprints on the track.

Even though I dreaded rolling out of bed for those training days, I praised their importance come game time in the spring. There’s nothing better than knowing you worked hard in the off season on your game. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Mental Game of Baseball, Pitching Workouts

October 6, 2011 By The Pitching Academy Leave a Comment

Don’t Forget About Your Brain This Off Season

Jonathan Papelbon, the Boston Red Sox closer, ended the season recently on a sour note. The regular season coming down to the wire and needing a win to stay alive in the Wild Card race, he was called on to close out the final inning. After striking out the first two Oriole hitters, he went on to allow two back to back doubles, and then a single. He blew it. Lost the game, and ended the season and playoff hopes for the Boston Red Sox.

I’m always curious as to how big time players deal with such pressure and failure at the Big League level. I did some searching on the internet and ran across this article that had some interesting thoughts on the mental process of Papelbon. If you haven’t the time to read it, let me give you a couple of the best quotes. [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Baseball, Mental Game of Baseball

September 8, 2011 By The Pitching Academy Leave a Comment

No Slouching, It’s Time To Work

For the last two seasons, more and more parents are contacting both Dan and I in the early fall about hitting or pitching lessons with their son. The “off season” is much shorter than it used to be as people realize that competition is fierce in the middle school and high school levels. It take more than just a few months of baseball in the summer to develop skills that create high level success.

Both Dan and I maintain that proper knowledge of the fundamentals of hitting and pitching are immensely valuable to learn at an early age. This is why we have chosen to produce articles and videos on all things related to hitting and pitching and send them to you daily. Over the summer we backed off to a couple emails per week as baseball slowed and many of you took vacations. Now that school is back in full swing (for most), it’s time to resume our emails Monday through Friday mornings. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coaching Pitchers, General Baseball, General Hitting, General Pitching, Hitting Mechanics, Mental Game of Baseball, Pitching Grips, Pitching Mechanics, Pitching Tips, Pitching Velocity, Pitching Workouts

June 14, 2011 By The Pitching Academy Leave a Comment

Where Pressure Comes From

Sunday evening I sat down in front of the TV to watch the Miami Heat take on the Dallas Mavericks in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Getting late into the game, the Mavericks opened a pretty hefty lead, though not out of reach of the Miami offense. I kept waiting for the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh show to make one last run… but they couldn’t. Something seemed to create a stiffness in their play. Wade dribbled a ball off his foot, and James tried to push the ball up the key while guarded heavily by three Mavericks only to throw up a ridiculously nonathletic shot. What causes this stiff play in sports? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coaching Pitchers, General Baseball, General Hitting, General Pitching, Hitting Mechanics, Mental Game of Baseball, Pitching Mechanics

May 31, 2011 By The Pitching Academy Leave a Comment

If Your Effort Doesn’t Match Your Dreams… You’re Screwed

Both Dan and I work with a lot of athletes throughout the season. One of the things that irritate us the most as instructors is when athletes say they are going to work hard on their skills and then put in a half ass effort during the week. Sometimes all we have to do is paint a picture of what college and professional baseball is like and the work habit and effort required to make it to that level of baseball. Other times it’s just a massive disconnect between the mouth of an athlete and his body. His words communicate that he’s serious about baseball and working hard, but his actions speak otherwise. Sadly, it seems like it’s always the talented athletes who choose this unfortunate path. [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Baseball, Mental Game of Baseball Tagged With: Mental Game of Baseball

May 30, 2011 By The Pitching Academy Leave a Comment

Baseball: Confidence In Crucial Situations

Last week I had the opportunity to watch a lot of baseball because the High School playoffs were going on at UVU. It’s always fun to see players perform well under “pressure situations”, but its also nerve racking to see very talented players lose it and perform well below their capabilities. I saw both this week.

I was re – reminded about the importance of mental preparedness. It is so important to have an “I can” attitude regardless of what’s at stake. Those players that keep a good handle on their emotions put themselves in a better position of success. But the question always arises “how do I do that?” You and I both know it just doesn’t happen. You have to work on your mental game just as much as you do any other part of the game to be a complete player.

Justin Su’a and I had a great discussion about being mentally prepared. I would like to share that with you today! It is so important that you play close attention to what is being said. I would save this in your favorites folder so you can pull this up whenever you need a quick reminder. [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Baseball, Mental Game of Baseball Tagged With: Baseball's Mental Game, Mental Game of Baseball

May 3, 2011 By The Pitching Academy Leave a Comment

It Only Takes One Great Game

I may have mentioned before that I really enjoy watching Carl Crawford of the Boston Red Sox play. He’s struggled all through the month of April, rarely hitting above .175. Yesterday he finally had a big hit by singling up the middle to win the game in the bottom of the ninth against the Mariners. Even though it raised his batting average only a few points, sometimes it only takes one hit or one pitch to bust out of a slump.

If you’re struggling on the mound or at the plate right now, there are a couple things you must do to end the pain. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hitting Mechanics, Mental Game of Baseball Tagged With: Baseball's Mental Game, Hitting Mechanics, Proper Pitching Mechanics

April 27, 2011 By The Pitching Academy Leave a Comment

If The Hitter Thinks You’re A Little Crazy

The Hitter Thinks You’re Crazy

It helps if the hitter thinks you’re a little crazy. Don’t worry, it’s a good thing. Most of the pitchers I played with had interesting personalities and many of them displayed their personalities on the mound. I’m giving you the permission to be yourself on the mound (within reason) of course. Anything you can do that gets hitters thinking is an advantage for you, the pitcher. Why? Because if a hitter begins to think, he won’t rely on his instincts and muscle memory; he’ll begin to second guess himself. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Mental Game of Baseball, Pitching Mechanics Tagged With: Mental Game of Baseball

Hard Work Or Work Hard?

Why Do You Practice?

Those Cold Winter Days…

Don’t Forget About Your Brain This Off Season

No Slouching, It’s Time To Work

Where Pressure Comes From

Where Pressure Comes From

If Your Effort Doesn’t Match Your Dreams… You’re Screwed

Baseball: Confidence In Crucial Situations

Baseball: Confidence In Crucial Situations

It Only Takes One Great Game

It Only Takes One Great Game

If The Hitter Thinks You’re A Little Crazy

The Hitter Thinks You’re Crazy

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