Youth Baseball Pitcher Tips For Coaches And Players
By Chip Lemin

As our long winter begins up north, my coaching buddies and I where talking about youth baseball pitchers along with some tips we all have used in baseball. I hope you may find some help in the following article.

Every kid wants to pitch in baseball it seems. Pitchers are learning how to throw pitches and are the center of the game. Young pitchers set the pace of the little league game. Young pitchers feel great when they strike out the No. 3 hitter in the lineup. They float to the dugout when after a one, two, three inning. They don't have to run off the field like everybody else. The baseball pitcher gets walk off after the third out. It is a rewarding position to play in baseball. It can also be very humbling when you lose the strike zone, start getting hit, or your defense has trouble helping you out. The worst part is when you have to be taken out of the game or off the pitcher's mound.

Pitching is much more than just throwing the baseball past hitters. The top three rules for baseball pitchers are as old as baseball itself. Location, location location. At eight or nine years old you can get away most of time with just throwing heat past hitters. As you get older however, off unless you learn how to change speeds, and change location, hitters will begin to hit your fastball.

Young pitchers who are top youth baseball pitchers at 8 years old sometimes aren't even pitching at 11 years old for of a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons we will cover in later articles. The sooner the young baseball pitcher learns the necessity of changing speeds and location the sooner they will improve as a pitcher. Baseball pitchers 8-11 will have a wide variety of throwing motions. As a coach you need to present options to your young pitchers. Little league coaches should stress a compact wind up with as little unneeded movement as possible.You are not reinventing the wheel here. Please stress balance first to your pitchers. Arm position, rotation of the hips and balanced controlled follow-through are also recommended.

Pitch counts and no breaking balls of any kind are also strong recommendations. Youth baseball pitchers can begin to be introduced to breaking pitches around puberty is the view of some baseball coaches. Change ups will more than suffice until then. You can do a great deal of long term damage to your young athlete's arms by number one, not getting into a warm-up routine early in the career. Learning how to throw baseball pitches is a process, not an event. It's the habit that needs to be instilled early on by baseball coaches. At 8 years old they may not physically need to have a half-hour warm up routine. At 13 they do, so if it is not ingrained by then, all it takes is one incident to hurt the young pitcher's arm.

Pitch counts. Please abide by the recommended youth pitch counts per age group. We're talking long term here. It is your responsibility as a baseball coach to protect your players. It also teaches young pitchers a lesson or two. It teaches them to use pitches wisely if you want to go deep into the game. Young pitchers should learn get batters out by using location not just heat. Seven pitch innings using your fielders, keeps everybody in the game. It also keeps the pitch count lower and pitchers stay in the game longer. I know the younger age groups may have inning limits, it is still never too early to instill these basics. Youth baseball is too great of a sport not to give our young players the right instruction.

Thanks for your time,
Coach Chip

Hello My name is Chip Lemin. I'm a long time youth baseball coach who loves to promote this great game of youth baseball. Promoting sportsmanship in this game of youth baseball is something that really needs I feel. I have a free e-course that will give you some solid coaching information along with great help on the inter-personal relationships we must have to be good youth baseball coaches. Things such as parents, travel baseball, getting parents to help out, how to communicate better to parents and players, just to touch on a few. This course will help to organize practices like an elite coach. How to motivate players and other coaches with your positive attitude. It really is not very hard to be a great coach when you know what to do.Best of all you will learn how to have fun with these great kids that you have the privilege of coaching. Do yourself a favor and check it out, it's free,you will get 1 part every couple of days in your e-mail. Coaching can be fun and rewarding if you have a plan in place first, and you have an idea what you are doing. http://www.baseballecourse.com

Making Practice Fun and Effective
By Olan Suddeth

Baseball practice can be, by definition, a chore. In order to perfect game-related skills, players must perform repetitive, sometimes mundane tasks in a quest to build muscle memory and skill. Even so, beware of making practice boring - players who dread practice won't get as much (or anything) out of it, will distract the rest of the team, and may even quit.

Don't get me wrong - I firmly believe in organzied, disciplined practices. Troublemakers should be dealth with swiftly; "running laps 'till their tongues hang out" is a great solution for many a problem. I am not at all above assigning pushups for stubborn cases.

But if you find yourself spending more time handing out laps than teaching the proper way to lay down a bunt, ask yourself why. Do you have twelve guys standing around while you hit one grounder at a time? Are the only players getting action the pitcher, catcher, and batter? Does your entire outfield want to sit in the grass, and do they seem to be influencing your third baseman to follow suit? If so, you may have a problem.

Come to practice with a plan. Before you practice, identify the areas you'd like your team to work on. If you don't have any idea what's going to happen in practice, chances are, the results won't be good... at the very least, you'll waste a lot of valuable time.

Stations are the gospel of practice. You should spend very little time with the entire team working on the same thing. Instead, break your team into three or four groups. Have one work on hitting, one work on ground balls, another work on relay throws, etc. After fifteen or twety minutes, rotate the groups. This ensures that each player gets many more repititions than they ever would have otherwise, and it breaks the monotony - by the time the player is used to doing one station, it's time to move to the next one. If you don't have enough coaches for this, ask for parental help - or conscript them from the stands, if need be. Tell them what to do, then go to the next station before they can protest!

Be inventive, and reward your players. Turn drill into contests - give points to different teams within your squad, and watch the intensity level rise. Raise the stakes by offering a small reward; a stick of sugarless gum will motivate a player like you wouldn't believe. Consider handing out helmet stickers (think of the tomahawaks that the Florida State Seminoles get on their football helmets) for outstanding performers.

Don't underestimate the power of encouragement. Keep in mind that, as a little league coach, you are one of the most influential people your players will ever have in their lives. Don't fall into the trap of always criticizing failures without recognizing achievement and effort. If a kid is giving something his all, recognize that fact, even if he is failing. Support him, and he may amaze you - and himself - with what he can do.

Conditioning for Pitchers: Exercises for the Offseason
By Olan Suddeth

Pitchers are not made during practice - they are made in the offseason. However, there is more to being a pitcher than simply throwing the ball - and throwing the ball too much during the offseason can do more harm than good. Follow these exercise siggestions to build a regular workout that will help increase emdurance, flexibility, and strength.

Squats. Contrary to popular belief, leg muscles - not arm strength - are where the pitcher's power comes from. Most of the force of a pitch starts with a good push off, accompanied by good form in the torso to transfer that energy through the body and out the arm.

A pitcher should do squats at least three to four days per week, in sets if fifteen to twenty. Supervise to ensure that the back is kept straight, the legs about sholder width apart. Add dumbells as the exercise gets easier.

Jogging. Anyone can start off a game with a solid inning or two. The real test of a pitcher's mettle is if he can last deep in the game and still have the stuff needed to get batters out. Even if your son is a designated closer, and only needs to pitch an inning or two, odds are that he is fielding another position in the meantime, and that the summer sun is still sapping his energy.

Jogging will build endurance like nothing else. Players should jog three times per week for maximum results, and will ideally cover at least a mile. At first, your player may well only be able to jog a hundred yards or two. That's fine. Have them jog as far as they can, then stop and wallk at a brisk rate to rest. As soon as the old heart rate drops enough to allow it, jog again.

Set goals - "today, I'll make it to the Smith's mailbox before I stop to walk" - and work on imrpoving them. Over time, the running portions will get longer, and the walks will get shorter and less frequent.

For younger kids (less than twelve years old), a mile or so is sufficient. Teens should shoot for longer distances.

Jump rope. Boxers know this one well - jumping rope will get your heart working in a hurry, and doing it repeatedly will greatly increase stamina. Work this one in slowly, but try to build up to at least three days per week (perhaps on alternating days with jogging). Much like jogging, a beginner won't be able to jump rope very long, but as his stamina increases, so will his maximum exercise time.

Weights. Younger players have no business pumping iron; do not push this. Even older pitchers should be careful of which weights they use - too much bulking of the upper body can only damage pitching potential.

Pitchers need flexibility - again, power comes from the legs and trunk and is transferred through the arm in almost a whip-like motion. Many great pitchers never lift weights at all, or do so very little, instead focusing on their legs and core.

Weighted baseballs. Once simple word about these - don't. Weighted baseballs do absolutely nothing for a pitcher except increase his risk for injury. Throwing a weighted baseball might make your arm muscles stronger, but it will do little to nothing for your pitching velocity - this has been scientifically proven. Arm muscles have almost nothing to do with pitch velocity!

Throwing a nine or eleven ounce "heavy ball" requires changing the pitching motion one uses to throw a regulation five ounce ball. You overwrite muscle memory, you develop bad habits, you set yourself up for much increased risk of shoulder and elbow injury.

If your players wants to be a good pitcher, he must get himself into shape. If he builds strong legs and a strong core, acquires great endurance, and maintains good flexibility, he will be that much better equipped to dominate at pitching.

The Best Hitting Stations for Baseball Practice
By Olan Suddeth

In any practice, you will do well to use stations - these "work centers" allow small groups of players to get many more skill repitions than they ever would standing in line waiting for their turn to bat. Ideally, you will run at least three stations at any given practice; if you can increase this number to four or five, so much the better. If you have a well-run practice, it shouldn't take much more than an hour for each batter to get at least two passes throguh each station. If you take much longer than this, you run the risk of losing your players' attention spans.

The rest of this article deals with recommended stations and how to run them. For the sake of variety, you may want to change which stations you use from practice to practice. In every station, always emphasize proper technique - have the batters dig in for every swing, have them load up properly, make them swing hard and follow through each time. The idea is to build muschle memory; if they don't practice swings the way they will use them in game situations, the benefitd of the drills are decreaesed or completely lost.

The Tee Drill
An absolute essential - you should use tee drills at almost every practice. Major league baseball players hit off of a batting tee every single day, and your players will reap similar benefits. All you need to run a tee drill is a batting tee and either a net of some sort or a nice section of chain link fence.

Make sure that your hitters do not contact the tee. If the ball pops up, the batter is likely hitching or dipping his swing. Adjust the tee every few swings to work the entire range of pitches the batter might see - inside and outside, high and low. The tee gives you a great opportunity to focus on particlar holes in your players' swings.

Soft Toss
This is another excellent drill that allows you to work o fine-tuning the batter's swing without the pressure of live pitching. For the simplest variation, all you need is a net or a small piece of chain link fence. Soft toss should be a regular part of your drills; as an added bonus, any mom or dad can work with their player at home with this drill.

Stand in front and to the side of the hitter, no more than six or eight feets away, and lob balls to him. For a variation especially useful for limited space, you can stand four or five feet away, directly at a ninety degree angle to the hitter. This also works for helping emphasize the need of wtching the ball.

If you have a pithing screen, you can set up at about half live distance in front of the batter and toss from behind protection.

Live Pitching
All the drills in the world will only do such much good if the batter never sees live pitching. Of course, this station requires the most room of any; you'll need an actual batting cage or lots of open field space behind you. While this station will allow you to see the most in the way of results, it also offers the least amount of opportunity to analyze errors in a player's swing - if at all possible, designate a coach to concentrate on the player only, not the results of ay hits. You should be wary of letting a practice go by without hitting.

Practice Golf Balls
An absolutely outstanding hitting drill, worthy of its own article (http://www.youthbaseballinfo.com/view_article.php?articleid=11), plastic practice golf balls can develop a hitter's hand-eye coordination like nothing else. This drill does not require a net, since the balls can't go very far, and are non-dangerous. Set up six feet or so in front of the batter at a forty-five degree angle nd lob the pitches in. For a more challenging drill, substitute a length of broom handle instead of the normal baseball bat!

The Hitting Stick
This traditional baseball training aid can be found in pretty much any sporting goods store; they start at twenty dollars or so, and go up to around forty dollars. A hitting stick looks like a vinyl-covered ball on the end of, well, a stick.

You get similar benefits from a hitting stick as you do from a batting tee - you can ove the ball up or down, in or out, and can even apply some motion to things. Hitting sticks make great additional batting stations or nice changes or pace for practice; young kids seem to particularly enjoy them.

Mix and match, and keep things new and interesting. You can always duplicate stations - hve more than one batting tee, for instance - or put variations in them. Do chair drills, fence drills, or multiple tee drills. You might find other training aides, such as the "Hit Away" to be useful, as well. The main thing to remember is to emphasize proper technique on each and every swing. Practice makes perfect!

Add Batting Power by Hitting an Old Basketball
By Olan Suddeth

Everyone would like to see their baseball players hitting the ball harder. Quite often, youth batters get so anxious to hit the ball that they end up way in front of many pitches, with their weight too far forward and/or their bodies in awkward positions - both of which rob leverage, and thus power, from their swings.

Timing is another issue for another drill, but a quick and easy way to teach players to keep their weight back (and therefore keep their optimum balance and leverage) is to have them hit an old, deflated basketball off of a tee. Turn a toilet plunger upside down and place it in your tee, then place the partially deflated basketball on the tee.

Make sure that your hitters set up in a proper batting stance - don't let them cheat or get lazy, or you will minimize the positive implact of this drill. Players will discover that they must keep their weight back over their back foot in order to hit the ball off of the tee with any authority. As a bonus, the drill forces a good follow through, as well.

This drill is empasized by many a successful coach; if you don't really have the time (or space) to devote to long batting practices (which can be of questionable value, anyway), try having your guys hit an old basketball. I have read of coaches that use this almost exclusively in terms of batting practice, with great results. One thing I guarantee is that prudent use of this drill will turn those infield dribblers into solid contact, and solid contact into scorching line drives.

The 20 Most Wasted Minutes in a Catcher's Life By Dave Weaver

It seems that many players and coaches recognize how little time is allocated during practices for catchers to work on their catching skills, like blocking, exchange drills, pickoff throws, and proper handling of passed balls with a throw to the pitcher covering home plate, just to name a few.

Often times it has been said to me that there just isn't enough time to fit it in a practice. I would like to challenge that idea by pointing out the most wasted 20 minutes in a catcher’s life.

The time is called "Infield Practice." I've lost count of how many practices I have observed where a coach is hitting infield practice with often times the starting catcher standing beside them taking the throw from the fielders and then handing the ball back to the coach. WHAT A WASTE!!!

Now I know that some of the items covered during infield practice do require the catcher’s involvement in a true game situation play. However I have seen at least 20 minutes go by when all they do is catch the ball and hand it to the coach.

I suggest that at the beginning of infield practice another player fill that role, and even maybe rotate with other infielders. During that time the catchers, all of the catchers if possible, are off to the side working on blocking, throwing, etc.

When it is time to do the plays that involve the catcher, call them back over and run them all at one time.

I saw this next quote on the a Baseball Catchers web site about how much we depend on catchers to get it right, but how little time we provide for them to practice the skills they will need to get it right in a game.

"It will take a dozen outstanding plays by the catcher to make teammates forget a single disastrous E-2 that could have been prevented by practicing catcher skills."

I know that scheduling a meaningful practice is always a challenge. But the solution outlined above is an easy fix that will provide at least 20 minutes every practice for your catchers to work on their skills.

Do Big Barrell Bats Help or Hinder Young Hitters?
By Mike Posey

My eight year old was playing baseball this fall on a coach pitched team. It was the perfect situation for the fall with only one practice every Sunday afternoon from 2:00-3:30. It was a great experience, one in which he learned a lot and he had a great time with the other kids on the team. We were also playing flag football this fall, so we didn’t have a lot of time for extended fall ball, plus he is only 8 so I wasn’t interested in him being involved with a team that was going to play games every week.(I’m not a big proponent of playing year round baseball, but I’ll save that for another article.)

The coaches decided they would try to play a couple of games and put into action what they had been teaching during the Sunday practices. We traveled about 45 minutes away on a nice Saturday during the middle of the fall to play a double header with another eight year old team. It was a good experience but I was shocked when I watched the other team hit. Yes, they beat us in both games 20-8 and 17-9, but that wasn’t what shocked me, it was the bats they were using – Big Barrel Baseball Bats.

Let me back up a little bit first. My eight year old is our youngest. My oldest is 26 (I was 40 when our youngest was born) and we have already went through Little League, Babe Ruth, Summer Ball, etc… with our oldest. Also, as a high school baseball coach I host youth camps every summer and thought I was in tune with what was happening in youth baseball. But the bats I saw the other eight year old team using that day caught me by complete surprise. Every player on the other team was using a big barrel baseball bat (2-5/8 inch) even though they were only eight years old.

The big barrel baseball bat is designed for senior league play, which is typically 13-15 year olds. I did a little investigation and found that all the manufacturers (Easton, DeMarini, Louisville, etc…) specifically advertise these big barrel baseball bats are not approved for younger youth league teams. This was reinforced more when I found out that most youth leagues (Cal Ripen, Little League, Pony, etc.,.) did not allow players to use the larger barrel bats. However, I did find it odd that the manufacturers are making -10 to -13 drop bats (the unit distinction between the length and the weight of the bat, such as 27 inches long and 17 ounces in weight). It’s obvious that the sale of these ultra-light, big barrel baseball bats are targeted at youth league players.

Youth league (ages 6-12) aluminum bats are typically 2 ¼ inches in diameter at the sweet spot and usually have a -8 in drop. The idea is to work up as they get older and eventually get to the -3 drop bat that is required in high school.

The problem with using big barrel baseball bats at such a young age is that it doesn’t reinforce hitting mechanics. When a young hitter swings and misses the sweet spot, this reinforces the fact they need to use their hands to hit instead of their arms. The sweet spot is typically 4-7 inches from the barrel end of the bat, located between the bat’s trademark and the end of the bat. With aluminum (or composite bats) when the player misses the sweet spot the bat jars in their hands. With a wood bat (which I think all young players should spend time learning to hit with) if the sweet spot is missed the ball doesn't travel very far, maybe a ground ball to second or short. Anyway, it reinforces the need to rotate the hips and use the hands and forearms to get the barrel of the bat on the ball.

With much practice a player can become good at making consistent contact on the sweet spot of the bat. Using the hands correctly will strengthen the hands as they get older and allow them to progress in their mechanics as a hitter. Many players struggle with hitting on high school freshman or JV teams (and middle school teams) because they drag the bat head with the -3 bats that are required by the National Federation rules. They have been swinging the -8 or -5 with their arms and the -3 is heavier for them to swing. They have not yet developed good strong hands or forearms from hitting properly.

Another problem with the big barrel baseball bats is the extended hitting zones. The player can have a long swing (one that disconnects with the arms getting away from the body) hitting the ball on the area below the sweet spot near the trademark and still get a solid base hit into the outfield. This was what I witnessed that Saturday this fall during the eight year old coached–pitched game. Most of the hitters in the on the opposing team used more arms than hands to hit but they still had solid shots into the outfield. In fact, when they did make solid contact the ball was sent like a laser to the outfield fences. Several times our players were hit with the ball (one in the head on a line drive to center field) and the opposing coach was also hit by a hot line drive back to the mound. It was a little scary and these young players were not ready to be swinging these bats.

During my research I also found this was a common practice for travel league teams. Most travel tournament sponsors do not have regulations against using these larger barrel bats for youth league ages. With the manufacture warnings clearly listed on these bats this could be a serious point for litigation. The travel tournament sponsors and teams that allw these bats against the manufacture warnings are exposing themselves to potential lawsuits.

From a hitting stand point players will never understand their hitting flaws. It’s like the weekend golfer that uses a monster head driver, one that can correct the flight of the ball if the swing is not perfect. As long as you make contact anywhere on the face of the club you’re in good shape. (I got one in my golf bag) The same is true for the large barrel bats for youth leagues. See, hitting a baseball is difficult and comes with much failure. A good big league player that hits around .300 will fail 7 out of 10 times. With young hitters the failure is what makes them better. Missing the sweet spot on the bat reinforces the idea to use your hands and get the barrel on the ball.

If you’re serious about your child being a better hitter make them use the 2 ¼ inch barrel in youth league. They can also work with a wood bat in practices and scrimmage games. (or summer/fall league play). Use bamboo when they are young moving to maple by the time they are 11 or 12. Both of these bats are extremely durable and hard to break. By the time they are 15-16 they can graduate to a nice Ash bat. Most big leaguers use either Ash or Maple. All of our high school players have a wood bat in their bag and train with it regularly.

Mike Posey
Expert baseball tips from a championship coach's experience and perspective offering creative insight to helping others learn the game of baseball. http://www.expert-baseball-tips.com/

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