2020 Baseball Season – Here we go!

It seems like the 2019 season just ended and here we are, making the move towards the 2020 season. I have seen a lot of our players in the training facility over the past few months working on hitting, fielding, pitching, strength, and conditioning. etc. Our players seem to be working hard but ……… Are they doing enough? Will they be ready to compete once their season begins? The answer to these questions can be found in another question. I know it sounds silly but to me, it’s the one thing that players should be asking themselves and once they know the answer….. everything should fall into place. You can stop holding your breath now because here it comes……..What are you doing in your “Daily”  training that will actually help you in a game? There are baseball players and then there are baseball players that compete hard and are very successful. What sets them apart? The successful player trains with a purpose, trains with intent. In order to do this, players must take it upon themselves to train while they are away from the facility. Coaches work with players to identify their weaknesses and prescribe training methods to help the player. Once they are advised of a problem, a player needs to be completely aware of it and be able to self-diagnose when they are doing it so that they can train to eliminate it. Players must understand these deficiencies and train, on their own, to remove them. If a player doesn’t understand, he must ask questions so that the coach can help him. I have found that, more times than not, these issues can be solved by training with basic, fundamental drills and movement patterns. One example that comes to mind is for hitters to simply take swings, with or without a bat, in front of a mirror. Once again, the player should be asking himself a litany of questions……..

• Are my feet in the right place?
• Are my hands in the right place?
• Are my hands staying inside the ball?
• Am I dropping my hands?
• Am I staying behind the ball?
• Am I hitting against the front leg and keeping the head behind it?
• Is my sequence correct? (Hips, shoulders, hands)
• Am I too lineal and not enough rotational? (and vice versa)
• Am I recognizing the point of contact and exploding through the ball?

All of this can be accomplished by spending 15 to 30 minutes taking “dry” swings, with intent and purpose, in front of a mirror every day!  Another option is to hit off a tee into a net in the basement or garage. Challenge yourself to become an explosive hitter. The better hitters will do this, the average or below-average hitters will not. Perform these movement patterns correctly, over and over again, and they will become ingrained in the player so that he will be able to duplicate them without any thought. When a hitter gets in the batter’s box, I don’t want him thinking about the aforementioned questions. I want him thinking about one thing only …… “Hit the ball hard somewhere”. The ability to “barrel up” the ball with explosive intent will drive a hitter’s success rate up tremendously.

I used hitting as an example of what needs to be done so that a player is ready to hit when the time comes. The same principles able to pitching, fielding, catching and all other aspects of the game.

So, in order to be completely ready for the upcoming season(s), players must help themselves to be the best that they can be. Do the things that a coach will notice when you are trying out for your school team. Be Confident, be Dynamic, be Vocal, be an Athlete and ….. here is that word again…. be Explosive! The coach will have no choice but to notice!

I can promise you this ….. nothing that we coach teach our players will magically seep into their performance. There are many, many things that go into creating a complete baseball player. Vision, mental freedom, mental toughness, confidence, plan, approach, reactive quickness and, most importantly, challenging yourself each and every day. This is what will help a player to reach his intended goal.

If you ask the right questions and do the necessary work, I promise you that you will be ready for the upcoming season!

If you have any comments or would like to discuss further, you can email Coach Filingeri at Cadets.Coachfilingeri@gmail.com. I’d love to hear your thoughts.