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Products
Review of the Personal Pitcher Pro Pitching Machine
Product Overview The Personal Pitcher Pro Pitching Machine is a compact, versatile, and effective training tool for both baseball and softball enthusiasts. Designed to enhance batting skills with small golf-ball-sized practice balls, it provides a challenging and engaging practice experience for players of all ages and skill levels. Featuring the ability to throw fastballs, curveballs, and sliders, the device promises to improve hand-eye coordination and refine batting techniques. With the inclusion of 48 small balls and its portable build, the…
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Baseball Physics
Want to Hit? – Stop Swinging Down!
You do not swing down or “chop down” on the ball. This technique was popular in the 90’s. There are coaches and “hitting instruction” web sites that still teach this method of hitting. It’s wrong – Why? Here are three simple facts about a pitched baseball: The pitching rubber is 10 inches above the ground therefore the pitcher is elevated/ above the batter so to throw to the strike zone he has to throw down. Once the ball leaves the…
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Products
5 Hitting Tools to Increase Bat Speed
Bat speed is developed through strength training and repetition. To improve our bat speed, we can use a number of hitting tools including a swingaway, an overload bat and a swing tracker. Using a swing tracker is a great way to measure progress. Bat speed is what separates high school players from college players, and college players from pro players. Now more than ever, college and pro scouts are using exit speed and swing tracking metrics in showcase events. Players…
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Baseball Physics
Batted Ball Speed – The Holy Grail of Hitting and Where to Find It
Simple physics description of hitting a baseball: It’s the transferred energy from a batters body to his bat. Then from the bat to the ball. The transfer of energy from bat to ball creates Batted Ball Speed (BBS) which propels the baseball forward. So how do we get optimal BBS? Let’s face it, BBS is what everyone cares about. BBS determines how far the ball will go once contact is made. One of the biggest questions that has been debated…
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Mental Approach
The Best Hitters in the World Fail 70% of the Time – WRONG!
How many times have you heard: “The game of baseball is a game of failure – even the best hitters fail 70% percent of the time.” This statement is wrong and factually untrue yet most believe it because you’ve been told it over and over. That belief alone already puts you in a negative mental state before you ever get to the plate. What you need to understand is that just because you didn’t get a hit to get on base you…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Swing Path and Hip Rotation
Bat Path Every time I work with a new hitter, I ask “How would you describe your swing to me?” I like to get their thoughts and see if they match the actions of their swings. I can honestly say most kids say, “Swinging down to create backspin.” It’s really frustrating for me to watch hitters start off hitting ground-balls and they think they’re swinging properly because they’ve been instructed that way. It’s also frustrating that coaches now want hard…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Go With the Pitch – Every Pitch!
Every player at one time in their life has heard their coach tell them to “go with the pitch”. Unfortunately, the only time players usually hear that phrase is when it’s an outside pitch. What most players don’t understand (and some coaches) is that you should be doing that for every pitch. The batter must be taught to “go with the pitch” wherever the pitch is thrown. This is a quick overview and will cover the three general pitch locations…
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Baseball Hitting Drills
The Pre-Stride
The drill that we’re talking about here is what we’re gonna put Brian in, the Pre-Stride Position, to eliminate some of the problems of swinging the bat. First thing we do with Brian is we find out what Brian’s power base is. Okay. With his power base what we’ll do is ask him to get in to the position where he feels comfortable. And what we’re gonna do is make sure that Brian is not outside the length of the…
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Mental Approach
4 Reality Checks for Young Baseball Players
Two real stories: I was speaking to a New York Mets scout out in the parking lot before a game. He told me when he goes to a game to scout a player, he likes to sit in the parking lot before the game and watch for the prospect. He went on to say that he already knows the kid has some skills or he wouldn’t be there to see him. What he’s looking for is the player’s baseball attitude…
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Uncategorized
Why I Love BBCOR Bats
I love to hear the discussions over the BBCOR bats. Well here’s my two cents on the subject. I love it! I’m not getting into the safety argument, that’s a whole other conversation. I’m talking about making hitters hit and let pitchers pitch. The days of the wimpy swing with a BESR bat that’s a double in the right center gap are gone. That wimpy hit will be a ground out to the second baseman with the BBCOR. Your “true”…
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Brain Speed
by Tim Keown ESPN The Magazine Jason Kidd sees more. He sees more on the basketball court, on the freeway, in the movie theater. After he and his wife watch a movie, he routinely asks her if she noticed some subtleties in the film’s background. She rarely does, even though she has learned to look for them. Reporters who have spent time with Kidd say he invariably finishes their sentences, slightly under his breath, as a prelude to his answer.…
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Baseball Physics
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
The Key to Solid Contact
Throughout this website you will see so many tips and swing concepts that deal with hitting the ball this way and hitting the ball that way. How about something that concentrates and simplifies the basic fundamental of just “hitting” the ball? After all, isn’t this the most difficult task in sports? In this article we’re going to review those critical basics that allow the great hitters to make consistent contact. What is it that they do at the plate that…
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Mental Approach
Are You a Right Brain or a Left Brain Ballplayer?
Well, do you know? Let’s take a little test and find out which side of the brain you use the most. After the test I’ll explain why it’s important to know. Read the following list of words. Say the color of the word instead of the word itself. For example, if you see this: RED say “blue” which is the color of the word NOT what the word reads – “red”. See how fast you can go through the whole…
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Mental Approach
Slowing the Game Down
The most important mental game concept for maximizing talent in baseball. There’s an old saying in baseball that speed never goes into a slump. Not true. In fact, the saying is completely backwards…it’s SLOW that never goes into a slump! Invariably, regardless of the level of competition, from the Big Leagues to Little League, the most important factor for producing baseball players who can perform under pressure is the ability to slow the game down. Slowing the game down is…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Bat Speed Often Determines Success
Let’s keep this very basic and simple. Forget all other baseball tips on hitting. Very simply, the faster the head of the bat is going when it hits the ball – the harder a baseball hitter will hit the baseball. There are hundreds of baseball tips on hitting, but when it’s all said and done… don’t the hitters with the quickest bat speed hit the baseball the hardest? You can talk about many things that are required to be a…
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Get’em On, Get’em Over and Get’em In!
Baseball is a complicated game in many ways. Yet, as complicated as it is… it can be just as simple. It is very important for the offensive player to simplify as much of the game as possible. Especially in his thinking. Yogi Berra’s famous quote that “You can’t hit and think at the same time” should be the mantra of the good hitter. Keep it Simple. From an offensive standpoint, the name of the game is to score runs. Without…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Hand Position for a Powerful Swing
In this article we will cover the basic batting stance, including how to practice the right style sure to increase bat speed. You will learn tips that include how the bottom hand takes you to the ball. And the role of the top hand, which is the power hand. Also taught is how and why the back arm forms a ‘V’, and how to keep your hands inside to perform the ‘Power V’. Begin with the hand position. Get in…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Developing the Proper Bat Path
First, let us understand the direction the ball comes to us. A pitcher pitches off of a 10 inch mound and because he is elevated when he pitches the ball, the ball will come to the hitter diagonally down. If you can visualize a ball coming to a hitter on a downward plane and the hitter also swinging on a downward plane, the hitter has only one chance to intersect with the ball on contact. When hitters hear the term…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Eliminate the Strikeout
A baseball player has to be able to keep up with better pitching these days. As a former Division 1 baseball coach, I have the answer for this. The principles for the correct stroke are the same for fast pitch softball as they are for baseball. So, boy or girl… baseball or softball… listen up! In today’s game it is absolutely essential that the good hitter is “short to the ball” with a good compact stroke. A major part of…
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