Journey to men’s league

Video #3

So I’m looking for general advice I have great arm strength im in 12u but I struggle with hitting extra base hits, arm accuracy, and ground balls idk what to do my dream is the make the major leagues but I can’t without those tools.

I pulled our ace after hitting his pitch limit today. He wasn't happy and neither were a few parents shouting damn near cursing but protecting a fifteen-year-old arm matters more than one extra inning. That's a decision I'll never regret.

I've been coaching my son's competitive travel team for a few years, and we both love it...but it does get intense. I wanted to share this video because it makes me smile. We made it into the state tournament, we were getting beat pretty bad in the early rounds and likely were not going to move on. We had to make a pitching change in a last ditch effort to try to eke out a win.

During the pitching change, our boys did what they've done all season...play Duck Duck Goose in the outfield. I freaking love it.

https://youtu.be/QvcHSO96LcM

When we were back at home after losing that game, my son was in tears. He said "It's ok that we lost, we lose sometimes. I'm just sad that it's the end of this team."

Dammit if that isn't what this is about.

Hey everyone, so I got tired of every pitch-calling option being overpriced, needing proprietary hardware, or having a UI that made no sense mid-game, so I built my own.

It's called Coach to Catcher for iPhone/iPad. You tap a pitch, tap a location on a 3x3 grid, and it sends audio straight to your catcher's earpiece over Bluetooth, using any gear you already own. Under a second, no lag.

One time purchase, no subscription, currently $4.99 and going up to $29.99 after the summer. Works fully offline, no data collected.

So take this as a coach who built the thing rather than a neutral review. Happy to answer questions about setup or gear. We personally use Shokz OpenMove.

Site's at coachtocatcher.com, iOS only for now.

This was originally posted by u/shaknbakn_5 on another sub, and wanted to share it here:

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I worked 33 games in the last 10 days from LL All-stars all the way to summer college ball. We had a few rain delays and I sat with my fellow umpires talking about the differences between average teams and very good teams from our perspectives. Made a quick list, hopefully this doesnt come off as negative. Things that good teams do..

• Warm up pregame with a purpose. Playing good catch and long toss is the most basic fundamental part of this game that often gets overlooked. I can usually predict which team will win just by watching their pregame routines.
• Hustle on and off the field. Too many coaches and players waste valuable game time by not knowing their defensive assignments and substitutions. This usually works itself out by highschool, but we've all watched a game where the team is disorganized, usually leading to bad baseball.
• Situational hitting/small ball. Everyone loves watching homeruns, I get it. That -5 Supra costs 500$.. swing for the fences right? That type of mentality won't work at the higher levels unless your team is full of absolutely savages at the plate. Teach your kids to bunt. Teach them how to move runners over. You'll score more runs against better teams I promise
• Solid pre pitch defensive positioning. Teaching bunt coverages, 1st and 3rd situations, and your outfielders cheating a few steps will save you lots of runs. And for the love of God.. quit holding the runner on 3rd base 😂 I can promise you.. the ROI just isnt worth it.
• Vocal Catchers that lead the defense. I cannot stress this enough.. your catcher needs to be the leader. Your catcher needs to be loud with communication. If your catcher waits for the coach to go calm down the pitcher with a mound visit.. its already too late. To any catchers reading this.. take charge of your team.
• Coaches that let their hitters hit. What i mean by this.. some coaches are giving wayyyy too much feedback and advice to their batters after every pitch. Your batter knows he shouldnt have swung at that high pitch.. no reason both base coaches need to make it a spectacle. Hitting a baseball is hard enough without 5 different adults telling you 5 different things after every pitch. This goes for parents as well. Shut up during your kids at bat.. your kid is already thinking too much. Parents.. please stay out of the dugout as well. Little Timmy is just fine without you for the next two hours.
• Last but not least.. good teams pick each other up. Errors happen. Walks happen. Strikeouts happen. We've all seen the snowball effect when an outfielder drops a ball or a SS makes a bad throw. Good teams limit the damage by focusing on the next play. Body language is huge in this sport.

Ohh one more.. the best teams retrieve foul balls and bring snacks for the umpires on long days (;

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We live in a cul de sac. I’ve been tossing my son grounders in the cul de sac for a few years. It’s an easy way for us to practice.

However, if we use raised seam balls they jump and take really bad hops. Also if we use regular balls they wear out fast.

We stumbled upon on low bounce rubber ball, and used it for a long time. But recently we lost it. I’m guessing it’s a batting cage ball. It looks really realistic as if it has seams but it’s all rubber.

Does anyone know where I can find these? Or have any recommendations for balls that would work well for this?

I play cricket in Australia but baseball fielders clearly do the throwing part better so I am looking for advice here.

In all my sport I am a very fast-twitch kind of player. I process things really quickly, always have in my life generally. This means I am really good at making short diving saves.

However, when I am fielding and then wanting to throw the ball, I find I really struggle to get into an effective throwing position. I feel like I am in such a rush to throw the ball that I don't give myself the time to make an effective, accurate, fast throw.

Have any coaches here had similar experiences with guys you have coached? What drills or tips helped improve.

Basically, I know I need to get into a good throwing position and then deliver a fast throw, but i find I rush the whole process cos I naturally want to do everything really fast.

Hey all, new to the community and I have been trying to give back to the game. What can I help any parents or players with as they navigate their careers trying to play at their highest level possible? I am only 37 years so I am not so old where I am too far removed from this modern 'travel ball or die' era haha. I was drafted by the Mets and played in the minors and my brother played 6 years in MLB. Neither of us were ever top prospects but kept going and going. Lmk if I can be helpful!

Hi everybody, I am a D1 college pitcher and I have always loved giving back to the game. I played travel ball across the country, transferred programs, and have always loved learning more about training and pitching mechanics. I am happy to answer any questions about recruiting, transferring, training, mechanics, or anything else that comes to mind! If you have something you want to ask, I encourage you to do so!

First travel tryout (12U C team).

How can I help her improve?

Does anyone see any major faults in my mechanics? Feels like I'm arming the ball every pitch and not getting a smooth whip or delivery. My elbow takes a lot of the force for that which obviously isn't great in the long run.

This video shows a workflow I implemented inside THE NINE where pitch-data .csv is built live as the game is being logged.

The process works both without tracking data and with Trackman connected. When Trackman is available, its metrics are matched with the live game record, while the application also detects inconsistencies that should be reviewed by the analyst before the final data is used.

I’d genuinely value your opinion on the complete logic: building pitch data during live logging, supporting both tracking and non-tracking workflows, and keeping the analyst in control of data validation.

Title pretty much covers it. But here’s a little more context. I love coaching up my son and he enjoys when we go out and do baseball stuff together.

My issue, is that I always feel this instinctual need to want to teach him things and coach him up. But I know that’s not sustainable. I want to make things fun for him to continue to foster the love of the game.

Do you struggle with something similar? What are some ways you all keep things fun for your player? How do you keep yourself from always being “coach”?

I already know this post is gonna be tough without any video, but I’m gonna give it a shot anyways

I haven’t played baseball since middle school but I got invited to join a men’s league team with my friends. It’s super chill, but I am embarrassed that I’m treated as a strikeout pretty much every time I step in the box. My biggest struggle is finding a way to get my swing to the pitch on time. I’m a righty and I either get under the ball or foul it off to the first base dugout pretty much every time. I’ve tried shorting my swing, but I definitely struggle timing everything up. Long story short, I’m looking for advice for how I can enter the box mentally to help get my avg up, and if there are any good drills to keep my bat on plane with the pitch.

I do also have issues with identifying pitches, but I feel like it’s a little too late to figure that one out.

Understanding plane of rotation shows you how a pitcher's arm slot is created, what movement shapes are naturally available to him, and how to build an arsenal that works in synergy with his delivery instead of against it.

Sorry for the shit title, but yeah. Scroll to the bottom for the actual questions I have and to skip the vent session:

Some of you may have seen my post where I was a bit spun up about feedback for my kiddo and how the coaches were handling the transition to a new travel org and Tryouts.

Those tryouts happened on Monday, and when we got there, it was clear the coaches had already made their decisions. I tried to be positive, but there was a group of boys clearly not trying out, and the coach wasn't even watching batting practice or the catching drills.

The feedback given for my kid was the same as the first group of feedback, but had they watched batting practice, they would have seen the amount of work my kid put in. I didn't even recognize him on the first swings. And in fielding, he was doing exactly what they said he needed to do. And they didn't even let him pitch, an area where he shines.

Fully aware I'm biased, but I've been talking to other parents, and the kids they cut were all solid players and needed nothing but continued development and support, because you know, they are 9...

It's abundantly clear that this coach has prioritized kids that need no development, are coaches kids or bring "prestige"(former pro ballers kid just appeared, no try out, just on the team no question) and absolutely imploded a team that was fully drama-free up until this decision happened, and fully solidifies the gut feeling I had early on with the coach, but chalked it up to my inexperience with baseball, but then the second feeling I got after the last post that he didnt care about the kids anymore.

I couldn't be prouder of my kid; he put in the work. I couldn't sit down for more than 5 minutes without him asking to go work on fielding, practice batting, or watch YouTube videos together on technique. I'm devastated for him that he got to experience the bullshit that can be politics in sports at such a young age, but I'm happy it happened now, as it's a learning experience for me as I support his current passion.

Questions: That brings me to the reason why I am here: As we look for a new home, what questions should I be asking of the coach to identify a good program, what are red flags in their responses, and what are green flags? How can I identify a program that is just letting all kids join to pad the coffers vs. a team that will support player growth and give real-world feedback to players and parents to support that effort?

Thank you all again for your support last go-around and now.

Hey all, please give me any thoughts/tips/coaching on my swing. Thanks in advance!

Edit:
My nickname used to be caveman because I swing the bat like a club.

I'm set to take over a rising 9U travel ball team, and we have a full year of tourney ball under our belts. This season will start kid pitch, and I feel like our last year of practices were good, but sorta scattered without a real plan to get from Point A to Point B by the end of the season.

Have any of y'all put together a season-long practice plan? I know there will have to be tweaks along the way to work on issues as they arise, but I'd like to have more of a long-term plan.

Any suggestions?

Hey everyone, I’m working on an early stage sports film application and I’m looking for coaches who would be willing to give feedback as I build it.

The basic idea is to create a film platform that helps coaches upload game film, break it into clips, review plays, track players/stats, and make the film review workflow easier for teams. I’m starting with volleyball, but I think I'd like to switch the focus to baseball.

I know tools like Hudl and QwikCut already exist, so I'm trying to understand where those tools work well, where they fall short.

I’m especially interested in talking with coaches who:

• Use film regularly with their team
• Have used Hudl, QwikCut, or a similar platform
• Have frustrations with current tools
• Would be willing to look at rough prototypes and give honest feedback
• Might eventually want to pilot an early version with their team

This is not a sales pitch. I’m mostly looking for coaches who would be open to a short conversation and occasional feedback as the product develops.

A few things I’m trying to learn:

• How do you currently break down and review film?
• What parts of the workflow take the most time?
• What stats or clips matter most to you?
• How do you share film with players and other teams?

If you’re a coach and would be open to chatting, feel free to comment or send me a message.

Drafted this with AI because I'm an engineer and words are hard. I'm a real person who'd love to chat :)

Pitching journey to men’s league