r/BaseballCoaching

I was putting together a plan for Fall baseball and was looking at content and research on bat speed and under-load/over-load training, and wanted to highlight some of the findings.

• Do you need three bats or just two: It is helpful to perform both under-load and over-load training, but you can still get results doing only over-load training.
• Bat Weights: The optimal over-load and under-load percentage appears to be ~20%, but results were still present with over-load training of under 10% and above 50%. For any youth player (7U-12U) this means that swinging any youth wood bat is likely a great option, and has other benefits.
• Ratio of Reps: A good ratio would be 2:1 of overload/underload and regular game bat. I know that there are popular programs that do a 2-2 approach (two swings heavy, two game bat) but you may want to look at doing 2-2-2 (two heavy, two game, two light) or 4-2 (heavy, game bat).
• Intent: This one is interesting. In one of the studies, individuals who hit live pitching had better results than those taking dry swings. The interpretation is that intent is what made the difference, those taking dry swings did not have any feedback and could have taken lazy swings whereas those facing live arm had to swing with purpose every time.
• Weekly Volume: You need about 250 total swings per week to achieve results, and some programs had 500+ weekly swings.
• Duration: It takes 6-8 weeks to have meaningful results. Programs that were shorter in duration did not show a notable improvement.

Using weighted balls to do front-toss is likely a good option since you can push for intent, and can do it in limited spaces with quick resets (not much different than tee work but more portable). Only downside would be that you would not want to use a game bat, especially a composite, but 6-12 weighted balls and a 'beater' bat is still cheaper than a good tee and/or net. Doing 60-80 reps should only take 15-20 minutes, and if done 4X/week for six weeks you'll start seeing results.

I usually have my older son who is now playing 12U hit weighted balls with a wood bat as a pre-practice (and pre-game) routine to get extra swings, along with an infield 'hands' routine. I believe that both of these routines have been beneficial to his overall development as a player.

Hope this helps!

What’s a baseball cue that sounds good in theory but becomes a problem when a player tries too hard to consciously execute it?

Hey, I’m 17 looking for weekend games to just show up and play. Not necessarily looking to join a team, just show up and play for any teams that need a player in the Philadelphia area. I can play wherever needed, just wanna get some extra reps on the weekend. If you know of any coaches who could use a guy, that’d be great. Thanks.

I am a rising junior and am I just starting to look at schools where I may be able to play baseball. I’m interested in anyone’s experience with Russell Sage baseball. I know the program is new, but it seems to be in the rise.

Any players/families/friends have first hand experience with the program? I am interested in any info you have on the team- players, coaches, facilities, support, etc…. Good and bad.

Thank you!

Good morning, I have a question for whoever would like to give their opinion.

Our boys are currently on Field Level, our team manager has discovered SportsRecruits and is now currently all in on it. So I would like any and all opinions on the two, and what is preferred.

Thanks

My son has a late birthday and has always played with his age group. He has always been one of the better players on his team. After last fall, his club coach wanted him to move up to play with his grade after dominating fall ball. He can play multiple positions and is a pitcher. He struggled hitting vs hard throwing guys and pitched pretty solid this summer. His club team coach and director of the program got fired over the winter and brought 3 very knowledgeable coaches with him. We were left with a dad coach who helped coach the team. The team had no development throughout the winter and summer. We are looking for a new program in fall and wondering if I should move my son down with his age or keep him up with his grade and with the proper development and prior experience he will fair better

My son won a conttest with his 9u team and has his choice of a bat. His options will be a new 2027 Hype Fire, Icon Fest, Supra, or Soldier 3. Which one do you think he should get?

I'm coaching some 9U players that are just coming together as a team to practice a few times and then participate in a friendly, recreational, low-stress tournament. There's a range of skills and focus levels on this team. I've got drills by the dozens (I've coached recreational teams for 5-6 years), but I feel that my time would be better spent during the short time leading up to the tournament if we focused on defensive effort and positioning (and base running) rather than do reps, reps, and more reps, to hone those mechanics (as important as they are over the long term).

Toying with ideas on how to run a team defensive practice - emphasizing knowing where the runners are, how many outs there are, where you're going to go with the ball; ball, base, back-up, etc. I'm thinking of positioning the players in the field and hitting balls to them with various scenarios (runner on 1st, no out; runner on 3rd, 0 outs, etc.), followed by a bit more of the same but with me pitching to batters so they can get some swings in.

For a lot of practices for my recreational teams I coach all season, I would incorporate more drills to keep things moving and develop those fundamentals, while still sprinkling in defensive strategy. I don't like practices where there is a lot of standing around, which is why I'm unsure about the ideas I presented in the previous paragraph.

I'd appreciate hearing how others go about teaching defensive positioning and how that might look for an hour-long practice? The entire practice will be an-hour-and-a-half, but I am holding some time for a couple other things.

Hey everyone,

My name is JJ Schwarz. I played baseball my whole life, including 4 years at UF winning a National Championship in 2017 and then 5 seasons of pro ball with the Oakland A's, and retired to pursue a degree in Sport Psychology after seeing firsthand how much of an impact the mental game had on my career and my life off the field. Since graduating, I've started my own mental performance business, Just A Game Consulting.

Over the last 6 months I've built a 10-week program for hitters covering 10 mental skills I wish I'd had when I was younger. It combines my own playing experience with evidence-based sport psychology, and I designed it to be efficient, easy to understand, and ,most importantly, applicable on and off the field.

Skills covered, in order:

1. Identity
2. Detachment
3. Goal Setting
4. Confidence
5. Routines
6. Mindfulness
7. Focus
8. Resilience
9. Integration

What it involves: three 10-minute sessions per week for 10 weeks. Hitters will also do pushups and keep a journal throughout the program.

Two versions available: a secular version (mental skills only) and a faith-based version (with faith lessons woven into the modules).

I'm looking for 3-5 dedicated families to test the program for free in exchange for honest feedback.

If you're interested, comment below and I'll follow up with more details.

Thank you, and God bless.

Hi everyone,

I work in the Purchasing Department for a baseball team, and I’m hoping someone here might be able to point me in the right direction.

We’re currently looking to get in touch with Chandler Bats, Authentic Bats, Louisville Slugger, and Trinity Bats to request quotes for bats for our upcoming professional baseball season.

I’ve been reaching out through the general contact emails and forms listed on their websites, but unfortunately I haven’t had much luck getting a response.

Does anyone here have a direct sales contact or representative, or know someone who works with any of these companies who might be able to help us with a quotation?

Any contact, recommendation, or introduction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

My son has developed a really bad habit of laying his bat down behind his head during his load and stride into launch position where the barrel ends up basically behind his front shoulder and the knob is pointed at the umpire's head. His load, coil, stride, swing are pretty good but he tends to be late on pitches due to his long swing from behind his front shoulder.

What drills can we do to break this habit? We've been doing a load, pause, stride, pause drill to make sure he is in the correct launch position before he swings on the tee but it all breaks down once we get into live pitching. is it just a reps thing?

I’m helping coach T-Ball this year and i’m trying to figure out a fun/not boring throwing and catching game for the kids that can also help them aswell. Any ideas?

Hello, so im 13 years old from Canada in 15u rec, im very passionate about baseball and pitching(even tho sometimes it gets me in trouble) I would want help and see if anyone could help me personally