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Author Archives: Matt Helke

Active coach since 1992, Peak Performance Mental Skills / Mental Game Specialist, Instructor - The Academy (Baseball/ Softball), Founder of The Baseball Observer Magazine Founder of 360 Peak Performance -Accredited Interscholastic Baseball Coach -Certified Sports Psychology Coach (Ed.) -Certified Sports Hypnosis/ Sports Guided Imagery -Certified Core Conditioning Specialist -Certified Biomechanics Specialist/ Human Body Movement Long Standing Member: -ABCA, NFHS, OHSBCA Professional Affiliate: -APA Div 47 (Society for Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology)

Want to Hit? – Stop Swinging Down!

Ball Trajectory

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/ ...

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Go With the Pitch – Every Pitch!

Pujols-hitting-inside-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 ...

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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 ...

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