EXACT Baseball News & Articles

This week we are looking at one of the most important periods of your high school ball career, the Junior season. This is the time to show your stuff and impress some coaches by putting up big numbers and showing your skills.

Academics

- Get tutors, extra help, or attend study halls. Grades are important so keeping them up is key. The season can consume all your free time very fast so it is important to maintain some focus on school

Strength and Conditioning

- Circuit Training. Now is when you need to put all the workouts and exercises in full gear. Hit your body from every angle through various strength, speed, and agility workouts.

Baseball

- Focus on getting playing time. Show off the skills you have been working on and put up some good numbers.

- Win a Championship. Your goal should always be to win and be the best. Coaches like winners, and nothing says winner like a state title.

The week’s workout tip has to do with cardio fitness and conditioning.  Conditioning is vital for an athlete because it enables one to be both faster and have greater stamina. One benefit that is often overlooked is that good conditioning also quickens the recovery time after strenuous workouts and physical activity. Prior to conditioning workouts, athletes should both stretch and utilize the dynamic warm up to properly warm up and prepare their body, as well as prevent injury. One of the most useful piece of equipment for enhancing your conditioning is a simple jump rope.  Here is a good circuit suggestion for a conditioning workout with a jump rope:

Rest 30 seconds in between each set

2 Feet Skips - 3:00

Rt. Lt. Hop - 3:00

Right only - :45 sec

Left only - :45 sec

Run in place - 2:30

Scissors (1 foot forward, one foot back) - 1:30

Double Jumps (2 revolutions) 30 sec

Try running through the circuit twice to add difficulty and see even greater gains.

Most of the time with young players (13+), baseball actions are assumed as being the harder the better or the faster the better. However, baseball movements are better off executed with fundamentals in mind. The first thing that I think about is pitching. The pitching movements have to be precise in that your mechanics have to work together. The upper and lower body has to work together to get max effort (location, movement and velocity). These three essential aspects of the pitching process are critical but more critical when thought about in the right order. Most young player always put them backwards and want to throw harder or make their ball move more. Location is overseen when pitching to opponents and is the most important part. If you concentrate on your location of the pitch and mechanics; the velocity and movement will come. The lower half working with the upper body will open the hips up and create velocity that you have never seen without even trying to throw hard. Allowing the younger players to understand this concept and most importantly perform it on the field will really help their overall improvement in the areas that they want to improve in.

Written by Brian Parish

This week in the college guide we are going right into the Junior year of high school and looking at the preseason period. Sophomore year is much like Freshman year in that it is the time to develop your body, mind, and game for high school baseball. The college guide for sophomore year is very much similar to the Freshman year. Junior year is when things get rolling fast with playing time increasing and college applications and decisions arriving.

Academics:

- Register and take the ACT and SAT. These tests are extremely important for getting into the colleges you desire. It is important to take these tests seriously because they can severely affect your eligibility with poor scores.

Strength and Conditioning:

- Continue developing your body by increasing your overall speed and efficiency as an athlete. Core workouts and speed training are a great thing to focus on during this time.

Baseball:

- Try and get into a fall ball league. These leagues are common and are filled with good competition to prepare you for the season. Fall ball is also a great way to develop.

- Participate in long toss as often as possible. This is a great way to build both your throwing strength and accuracy.

- Seek out hitting and/or pitching lessons outside of your high school. Individual attention and coaching is very beneficial and will build your game at a far quicker rate then other players whom you are competing with.

College:

- Register with the NCAA eligibility Center

- Send out a letters and game schedules to college coaches

-  Narrow your search of potential colleges.

-  Take unofficial visits to campuses.

- Attend camps hosted by colleges. These are great opportunities to learn at the college level. Check out the camps hosted by EB and our partner host colleges

The society we live in is beyond confusing in this day and time. Manny Ramirez comes back from his steroid suspension and gets cheered while down the road David Beckham returns to the L.A. Galaxy after being loaned to A.C. Milan and gets booed like he shot somebody. We cheer on a guy who came into the league looking like Deion Sanders and now looks like the incredible hulk as he broke one of the biggest records in baseball (Barry Bonds). Baseball will always be America’s greatest past time but things need to be done from high school to the pros. We kicked Pete Rose out for betting on baseball; we should kick anyone who cheats in baseball out of the league as well. Athletes should be tested on all levels year-round, because how fair is it that a high school player works his butt off while another kid whom doesn’t put in much work but is taking steroids and getting drafted while the other kid sits and waits because he is “underdeveloped”?. Baseball needs to be stricter on players that take steroids. In a couple years when these steroid users get inducted into the hall of fame and we leave out Pete Rose we will all look at each other and not know what to think. The final straw has been one of the greatest players in baseball (Alex Rodriguez) coming out saying he willingly knew he was taking the juice, yet there has been no such penalty for him doing it. America is a great country for fans but we as fans need to look at things more carefully and make the right choices on who we cheer for because it sets an example of who we are as a country.

Written by Brian Rawls

This week on Coach’s Insider we are joined by the radio announcer for the AA level Arkansas Travelers Phil Elson. To listen to the full interview with Phil click here.

Here’s some of the highlights from the interview:

• Pro ball is a grind more than any other level. The focus of 6 games a week takes a toll on players.
• Try and not to take what happens at the park back home. It is good to find something that takes your mind away from the game. You can lose prospective on life if you don’t keep the worlds separate.
• Problems at the ballpark do not have to ruin your life. Slumps, injuries, depressing days happen.
• Having someone older to look to for advice is a good strategy for young players to deal with the minor league system.
• Check out the movie Bill Durham for a good portrayal of the minor league life.
• You won’t always have someone put in place as a mentor, however, you just need to make sure you listen to any advice given.
• The minor league system is not always a merit base system. Politics exist and it is not always fair. As a player, you can only control yourself and what you can do to improve, not control the decisions.
• Scouts watch everything from batting practice to the game, and they remember those that make a good impression.
• If what you want is a long career, a good reputation is vital.
• Managers and coaches love consistency in a ball player. It can be a difficult thing to grasp and accomplish when players begin their career.

Check out all of our past Coach’s insider here

This week on EB we are taking a look at the post-season period of the freshman year of high school.  This is a great time because you are fresh off your first season of a new level of competition and can build from that and start preparing for next year.

Academic:

Take any necessary summer classes to stay on pace, or catch up. Remember: summer school is not embarrassing, not graduating is.

Strength and Conditioning:

Baseball workouts are what you should be focusing during the summer. Improve the muscles and agility you need to improve as a player. Check out weekly workout tips #1 and #3 here.

Baseball:

Play on an elite travel team. Game experience is invaluable and a great way to give yourself an advantage over high school players both opponents and those on your team competing with your for playing time.

College:

Start attending camps where college coaches are instructing. Check out camps hosted by EXACT Baseball in the events section of EB

Coach’s say it all the time “get warm, get ready to play”. But why? Most often when players here this their first instinct is to do what most people do: stretch. Stretch the muscles, stretch the limbs. If you haven’t noticed, stationary stretching, while it does stretch and and help your flexibility of often restricted motions, the motions of the muscles are for the most part are natural. Baseball, however,  is largely made up of unnatural movement of muscles forced by the body.  Many of the muscles and muscle groups that players use during a game do not get attention with normal stretching so when the game comes players are not fully ready and are at  risk for injury.  This is where a dynamic warm up becomes useful. A dynamic warm up is a way of jump starting your muscles and body to activate the unique set of muscles that will be used in the game.

Here is a typical dynamic warm up:

All drills are done 20 yard distances to the end and back.

1. Down - Knee to Chest             Back - Heel to Butt

2. Down - Forward Lunge         Back - Backwards Lunge

3. Down - Side Lunge                  Back - Side Lunge

4. Down - Slow Shuffle                Back - Slow Shuffle

5. Down - Over Under                 Back - Russian March

6. Down - Ankle Flips                  Back - Duck Walks

7. Down - High Knee                    Back - Butt Kicks

Starting with this is a great way to activate muscles and flexibility you need for the rest of your workout practice, or game. Check out this video of Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies and his dynamic warm-up

Dynamic Warm-up with Jimmy Rollins

EXACT Baseball was at the East Cobb wood bat tournament this last weekend to talk with players and get their opinions on some recent baseball news. Here some of the Q & A from the event…

What is your Favorite thing about baseball?

Alex(Georgia)-Hitting
Eric(Georgia)- Home runs
Nate(Georgia)-Girls dig it.

What do you think about the players that were involved in steroids?

Colby(North Carolina)-I think they are cheaters and should be kicked out of the league.
Rick(Virginia)-If you aren’t cheating you aren’t trying.

Who is your favorite Pro or College baseball player?

Alex(Georgia) - Marcus Giles
Eric(Georgia) - Hank Aaron
Colby(North Carolina) - Derek Jeter
Rick(Virginia) - Barry Bonds

What is your favorite memory so far from baseball?

Alex(Georgia) - Making my high school team.
Eric(Georgia) - Winning the Grand slam tournament when we lost the first game.
Nick(Georgia) - Getting an in the park home run because I’m not what they call a speedy guy.

EXACT had a lot of fun at East Cobb and saw some great baseball from all the teams. Make sure to go to the Events section of www.exactbaseball.com to check out and sign up for our Camps this fall!

This week on Coaches insider we are joined by Mike Kashirski, better known as “Coach Kash”, Head Baseball Coach at Robert Morris College. Coach Kash is also the bench coach for the Windy City Thunderbolts of the frontier baseball league.   To listen to the full podcast with Coach Kash Click Here

Here’s some highlights from the interview:

• He credits Robert Morris’ turnaround to his players’ mindsets and coming everyday to work and get better.
• Baseball is a game of failure for the most part. It’s important have the right mindset for dealing with and accepting failure in order to prevent things from spiraling out of control.
• Coach makes a point to ask questions when on the phone to find out about their mindset when they encounter failures.
• If he goes to see them play, he looks at how they react when the have bad at bats or bad moments in the field. The important part is not that you may have not gotten a hit, but how you handled not getting a hit.
• The hardest obstacle Coach Kash sees for those coming into D1 baseball is that everyone wants to come in and play right away. There is an adjustment that needs to be made for incoming players since most players are more developed physically and mentally. Players need to be willing to be a back up but always strive to improve.
• Coach gives incoming players a summer work out plan. the key is to get good quality workouts, but not to overwork their bodies. Work out in a variety of baseball aspects, because what your role was in high school may not be that in college. Often players go from power hitters in high school to hit and run players in college.
• It can be tough for players coming from high school to college and no longer being the best player. While outputs may very among players, everyone is contributing, everyone will improve and their time will come when they are in the spot light.

Don’t forget to sign up for our baseball camps www.exactbaseball.com/events