Playin' with numbers/Skull Sessions

Hadn't heard the board used for years!

The questions you raised are very often not considered by coaches. For some reason, after just a couple of workouts, most people assume every player has the same knowledge and experiences, and most of all begin to treat the kids like they're adults.

I'm certainly not a big fan of videos, but they do have their place as teaching tools. Sometimes a good video will get something across to a kid that an adult can't. kids seem to relate well to TV and not so well to adults.

Kids also seem to relate and listen to coaches much closer to their own age than adults. Getting local HS and college players who used to play in the same leagues to help teach the kids is wonderful way to hold their attention while getting smething across.

The "Rec Philosopy" you mention does play a big part in things too. I don't know if its a philosophy as much as lack of experience though. Last night I was watching our major AS team practice. They were going through the same drills the same way with the same results.

In order to try to help, I went home and got my gun, first I hit the pitchers. 7 kids threw, only one hit 50, and his best was 54. Because the pitchers they've seen have been getting them out with the LL nickel curve, these coaches got it in their heads that the pitchers have to throw curves. So, here they are in the middle of the AS tourney trying to teach kids to throw curves!

On the 1st kid, I asked the coach to have him throw 2 FBs, 2 curves and 2 CUs. The fbs were at 47-48, the curves were 42-43 and the CUs were 40-41. Although none of the pitches were delivered with great skill, the hook and CU were both about the same on the skill-o-meter.

So, I try to explain to the coach and the kid that since his curve doesn't really do all that much curving, the CU will be a far more effective pitch if for no other reason than because it drops more because of the lower speed. Unfortunately, coach just doesn't get it and has the kid practice about another half dozen curves, none of which hit the zone and none of which actually curved. That's the way it went with the next 3 pitchers too, so I moved over to where they were doing infield.

When I got there, they were practicing "turning two", so I set up where I could gun the throw from 2nd. When I saw that the fasted their 2nd baseman could throw to 1st was 40, and that was when he actually stopped wound up and made a running throw, I got one of the coaches and made the suggestion that they should either get a kid who had a much better arm at 2nd or forget trying to turn two.

I tried to explain that they would never get a DP with that weak of an arm throwing the ball, and the chances were that if they did try, the ball would be thrown away. My suggestion was to teach the kids to just concentrate on getting the lead runner and then hold the ball, Of course that suggestion was met with nothing but argument, so I dropped it.

Later, we were talking about the two games they played. They were telling me how much better the boys were in the 2nd game, which they won. They were actually trying to say the umpire cost them the 1st game when I called BS! I asked them how an umpire making even 5 rotten ball/strike calls an inning could be blamed for a 24-0 loss!

Then I asked how many wild pitches and passed balls there were and was told only a very few. So, I asked who caught and was told that there was a different catcher than in the 1st game. In the 1st game there had to be at lest 50 balls go back to the screen and I had noticed the catcher was waaaay back from where he should have been. There were balls at the belt called strikes and hit the dirt in front of the catcher and got by!

I tried to explain how not only was that a very bad situation for the cater, but it was also causing the ump to be 5' farther from the plate than he should have been, so what did they expect for calls?

In the 2nd game, the same pitchers threw, but the results were so much different because the catcher was different. But, one of the coaches sons was the catcher in the 1st game and since his boy is one of the studs, he didn't take to well to the criticism, as you might expect. Its those little things that make a big difference that an experienced coach will pick up and correct automatically that make a big difference.

How about this one for being hard headed. Earlier in the day the 9-10 all stars were practicing. During BP the kids were really hitting the ball solidly, but very few were pulling it. after they went around once, I went home and got the bat my boy used when he first came up to the majors. It was the smallest bat I could find that was legal and is so worn out you can't read the writing on it.

I told the coach to have each kid hit 5 balls with it and 5 with their own bats. He misunderstood my intent and felt that going from a light bat to a heavy one would screw up their swing, but he tried it anyway.

No one could believe it when the 1st kid hit the fence with a ball and he was pulling everything. That went on until on boy, 10, took one out! Every kid hit the ball much harder and got around much better, but the final result was, "We don't want to screw up their swings this late in the season."

I honestly don't get it! someone would try to teach a kid to throw a curveball this late in the season which could screw everything up, but change a bat? Heck no! That might screw up their swing! Yeah, it might make him hit the ball better!

Congrats on advancing! Ain't it wunnerful when they just do what they've been taught?