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Wednesday, October 3
Fall Ball, Scouts and College Recruiters
from "TIPS FROM THE COACH" newsletter by Bruce Lambin
Fall ball is the prime time for pro scouts and college recruiters to observe prospects. I, for years, coached the Lone Star Baseball Club team. I had a panel of pro scouts that selected the top prospects in the Texas Gulf Coast to play for me and I tried to not screw them up too much. From off this team 16 players have made it to the Majors, 60 or more to pro ball and over 250 got the opportunity to play in college. Every time we stepped on the field, you could expect the more than a few pro scouts and college recruiters to be watching. One of my primary responsibilities was to educate the players in what the scout were looking for and how best to showcase their talents to leave a positive impression. I was dealing with pro and college "prospects" but this TIP will apply to all levels of play.
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I spoke to them about how you can turn a negative into a positive and conversely a positive in to a negative. One player hit a line shot into the gap, a positive. But then lolligagged to first taking no turn although the left fielder had to make an extraordinary play to keep the ball from going to the wall. I pointed out that getting a good hit always impresses the recruiters but they expect him to be able to hit some or they wouldn’t be looking at him. When he dogged it to first he did far more damage to his chances than if he had K’d 3 times. Now the notation they will enter in their book is “ don’t like the way he plays the game”. On the other hand one of the players hit a pop up to the pitcher but sprinted to first. What players must understand is every time they swing, someone punched a stopwatch. On the pop up he was timed in a 4.2 to first, an excellent time but you better believe that a note was made that that 4.2 was recorded on a pop up!
Heck, Babe Ruth popped up on occasion. Does a player think that they are impressing anyone by a show of disgust when they don’t hit the ball solidly as if that had never happened to them before. How many times have you seen players thrown out by a step on a routine ground ball to short after showing disgust for an instant after contact? To act out after less than hoped for results, shows a lack of respect for the game! One has no control of what happens after the ball is contacted. That part of the play is over but the play is still ongoing. RUN. Take an aggressive turn at first. The play is not over until the umpire signals the batter out. SOMEONE MAY BE WATCHING that will decide the rest of your career.
One player popped up and helped himself . Another ripped a shot and seriously hurt his chances in the eyes of those there that day of playing beyond HS. Watch Biggio and Eckstein play the game and emulate them. Respect the game and let your ability be the determining factor in whether someone wants you to play for them not your approach to the game.
Play hard from your friends at www.tipsfromthecoach.com. .
Yours in Baseball,
Bruce Lambin
THE COACH
Wednesday, May 23
Baseball Coaching Defined - for player Control factor
Is winning how to judge whether you have done a good job coaching? A wise old coach once told me “The first rule of how to be a good coach is get good players.” I will amend his statement by adding, particularly a couple of stud, hard throwing pitchers.’ But what if for whatever reason, you find yourself with a team with no pitchers and only a few talented players. YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE, A LOT
Baseball is an individual competition played within a team concept. It is a team game only in the aspect that the final score reflects the amount of runs the teams scored. Each pitch is an individual competition between the pitcher and hitter. Your pitcher can win by throwing the best pitches he has for strikes. If the hitter crushes it or the fielder boots it, the pitcher has no control over what happens once it leaves his fingertips. Your hitter can “win” by having a “quality at bat”.
The fielders are not competing against the other team but with a ball bouncing along the ground or if you have poor pitching, rebounding off the fence. The fielder executes a play. Your players must understand that they must concern themselves only with those things over which THEY have control. They can’t control how young or small they are. They can know where they need to be on each play and how to execute the play. Then it is just a matter of the amount of reps to master the necessary skills.
It is hard to have fun when you are getting your butt kicked game after game. That is the challenge for the good coach with an average or bad team. His goal is to motivate the players and inspire them to focus on those things they can control, working to improve their skills so that in the future they can expect to have success. If you can teach them these lessons and they improve and continue to play the game, you’ll have been a successful coach.
Another wise old coach once told me,’ you can win or be popular’. You won’t have another trophy but just think how much more popular you will be, until you whip them next time.
By this time I guess you are wondering why I shared this article with you. It is easy to coach a team but is hard to inspire a player to take control over what they can control. Such as catching that fly ball, or laying out for that line drive or making good contact with the ball while you are batting. Remember good things will happen when you swing the bat. Lastly believe in yourself and others will believe in you. Always look for ways to improve away from the game at home on your day off or at batting practice. A steady improvement in player skills is the only thing I expect. It does not come easy, you must work for it, you may have a few setbacks but as long as you stay motivated you will achieve your goal.
Best wishes on and off the baseball diamond, Coach Maloney
Teamwork
 | |  | | When we all work together, we all win together. |
If you Click on the above word "Teamwork" above (The title) you will be guided to a website to take a quiz on teamwork. Read the article first especially the last paragraph before taking the quiz.
Collaborate - To work together
Collaborate effectively – To work together well with the team
Teamwork - is a Collaborate effort by a team.
Teamwork – No one player is greater than the entire team as a whole. Working together toward one goal a team can be successful. For it is at the time when a player believes he or she is better than everyone else they may truly be at their worse. Lone rangers or great players seldom rise to greatness without the help and full support of their team and fellow players.
Team success takes practice through routine drills and accepting help and guidance from other players and coaches. Knowing your ability to play positions. Knowing when you need more work or ask your coach how to better cover or back up a position. Keeping and open mind and understanding when a coach says you are not ready to play a position yet that they are looking out for you and the team in general. Accept this as positive criticism. Attend practice and ask to work toward playing a position. Preseason is the best time to get a "Yes" answer from a coach to work toward playing another position. Work on your own to develop skills outside of team practice with family friends or guidance of a private instructor.
During season play and late season play it may not be possible to try a player at a new position. Coaches select a set of players at the start of each season and groom them to play at the top of there ability at those positions. They also select alternates. When coaches see that some players are consistently making routine errors they may be willing to try other players. However, do not expect things to change if you do not show up for practice or games and neglect your duties as an alternate (Substitute) player. When your ask to do a job or play a position due to unpopular conditions (players not able to attend game), step up to the plate and do the job that is asked of you. Your efforts will be rewarded. It is time to grow up and focus on maturing as a sportsman player. Remember our motto: No excuses, Play Ball!
The attached link will guide you to a business website that has a quiz to take. I found that contrary to there statement about sports it really is true. Sports do share many of the same traits as business teamwork. Take the test. You may also link to the site by clicking on the tile word "Teamwork" at the beginning of this article.
http://content.monster.com/tools/quizzes/teamplayer/
Sunday, October 5
Developing Self Confidence
Confidence is a feeling - an inner fire and an outer radiance, a basic satisfaction with what one is plus a reaching out to become more. Confidence is not something a few people are born with and others are not, for it is an acquired characteristic.
Confidence is the personal possession of no one; the person who has it learns it - and goes on learning. The most gifted individual on earth has to construct confidence in his gifts from the basis of faith and experience, like anybody else. The tools will differ from one person to the next, but the essential task is the same. Confidence and pose are available to us all according to our abilities and needs - not somebody else's - provided we utilize our gifts and expand them.
One of the most rewarding aspects of confidence is that it sits gracefully on every age and level of life - on children, men, women, the famous, the obscure, rich, poor, artist, executive, teen-ager, the very old. And you can take it with you into old age. There is nothing more inspiring than an old person who maintains his good will, humor, and faith in himself, in others, in the future. Conversely, the root cause of old people's despair is a feeling of not being wanted, of nothing to contribute, no more to conquer and become.
Most people have more to work with than they realize. One noted physicist calls this unused excellencies and finding and releasing this potential in ourselves is one of the major challenges of modern life. The great danger is not that we shall overreach our capacities but that we shall undervalue and under-employ them, thus blighting our great possibilities.
The goal of life is not a problemless existence, which would be unbearably dull, but a way to handle problems creatively. That word "problem" may sound a little prickly, but it only means a question put forth for solution, and actually life consists of a series of problems-and-solutions, each different from the last.
Confidence is delight - delight in living, in being who you are, in what you do, in growing, in the endless and sometimes exasperating adventure of what it means to be human. The teacher who delights in teaching has no time for bogging down in a swamp of doubt that he or she is doing it "right," and they are well aware that they can become a better teacher tomorrow, but only by doing their best today and enjoying today. So, too, the mother who delights in being a mother does not worry overmuch about whether she fits the rules. She is not the mother, after all, of something material but of a living child.
Rules can often be a guide to successful living, but they are not a substitute for living. Rules never quite keep up with reality, because rules come from experience, not the other way around. Life happens, and it is infinitely inventive. It will always outrun and outmaneuver any attempt to bottle it up in a cut-and-dried system, for life is perpetual becoming. When life turns your wisest plans or best rules upside down, throw out the plans and bend with the circumstance. You will find powers you did not suspect, and possibilities undreamed of.
Confidence is not always winning, not always victory. Indeed, it is that very quality in humanity which refuses to stay defeated. A kind of stubborn cheerfulness. Remember there are two things you can do with mistakes: you can run away and you can grow.
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Attitude it is what Wins Baseball Games, Play Ball !
Monday, February 17
“Where there is no vision, there can be no success”
Each new year prior to the season, a player must sit down and decide what his/her goals will be. It is very important to identify your ambitions and goals…what YOU want to achieve and accomplish. “NOW IS THE TIME”
Your goals should be realistic and what YOU really feel you want to do and can do. Goals should be challenging but attainable. You should include short-term and long-term goals…push yourself!
Always put your goals in writing! You may refer to them on a regular basis and focus your energy and passion on fulfilling them. On a daily basis, goals will provide motivation and confidence, and keep you on line.
HINTS TO HELP:
1. Choose concrete goals that are attainable.
2. Organize large goals into small steps in order to maintain your confidence.
3. Set reasonable time limits for success. Prioritize your goals.
4. Use a coach, mentor, or teacher to keep you focused.
5. Review goals regularly…adjust as needed.
6. Maintain a positive attitude and associate yourself with successful people.
7. Read and listen. Turn off the television and video games!
8. Believe in yourself and “live your values”.
9. NEVER QUIT!
Failing to accomplish goals is not a reason to give up but an opportunity to re-think your plan, to learn, and to go forth.
Centerfield (Let's Go!)
Wednesday, February 5
The Science of Baseball, Tips and Thrills
Click on the link to access Handout or Website
Handout: The Science of Baseball, Tips and Thrills
Friday, December 27
The Batting Cage Monster
Hitting in the batting cages is nothing like hitting in real game situations. Timing is your key to success in the cages. While you can see a real pitcher, sometimes it is rather difficult imagining or knowing when the ball will be pitched toward you from the pitching machine. The key to hitting in the cage is to get relaxed and start into your swing just as the ball disappears from sight, as it is being dropped into the pitching hopper just before it is pitched to you. Remember that cage is your yard and you are the big dog in that yard. You control the yard, the action, not the machine (or in the game the pitcher). That at bat or hit in the cage is yours to make or to let go. What do I mean by that you may ask? I mean you decide the pace, the pace in which you hit the ball or do not hit the ball. Seeing the ball is the key in both situations. Taking a chance, swinging on impulse or swinging for success you will learn between hitting for speed in the cages and making a hit from an inside or outside pitch in a game.
The cages are yours. You can hit the ball at any speed, just get in the cage and try. Be confident and approach each challenge in the cages sensibly. Meaning, do not expect to hit in the ball in the 65 or 70 mile an hour cage the first or second at bat. Just as you learned to walk you fell down a lot. It is the same with hitting a baseball except you do not get hurt as much. Do not worry about being hit by the ball. This doesn’t happen much in the cages. If it happens, it stings and life goes on. Be confident and fearless in the cage and on the baseball field while batting. Get in the cage and bunt the first three or four balls. Then take half swings to make contact with the ball. You will foul off a few balls and before you know it, you will hit the ball when and where you want to. Then you will be the monster of the batting cages.
Make adjustments in the batting cages. Meaning hit in the 55 mph then work your way up to the 70 mph cage then drop down to the 55 mph cage again. Mix up the speeds in the cages. Just like a baseball game every pitch is thrown at different speeds. In every at bat there will be at least one pitch you can hit and drive into the outfield. Sometimes it is the first pitch. Many hitters give the first pitch to the pitcher (by not swinging) instead of hitting it. Decide to hit the first pitch thrown if it looks good you just may be surprised by the results (Hit). Lastly never give up; in the cages or when you are hitting in the baseball game. Always keep fighting and tiring. Hitting is not everything sometimes it maters more just how effectively you play the game. Remember these are your glory days, the good ones the bad ones and the ugly ones. I love the game, baseball.
Sunday, October 5
Each Game, Player, Play, and Pitch Counts!
Click on the link for the full article...
Games are Won Play-by-Play, Pitch by Pitch! Who Starts, Who ...
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