FREE BASES!!!

Great article from Creighton pitching coach Rob Smith about free bases.

If you look at Football, the number one statistic that announcers and coaches talk about is the turnover margin. The team who does better in this category will tend to win more games. Why? It’s simple. The more times you give the other team the ball, the more opportunities they have to score. In baseball, a free base does the same. If you give a team a free base with out making them earn it with a hit, then you are in a sense increasing their chances to score runs they may not have otherwise earned.

What is a free base? It is any base that is given to the opponent that they did not otherwise earn. There are seven free bases that you can track and follow to see where your team stands in the area. They are as follows:

Base on balls (Walk)
Hit by pitch
Balk
Wild Pitch
Passed Ball
Error
Stolen Base Allowed

Two other possible free bases are catcher’s interference and trail runners allowed to advance.

The top three teams in all of major league baseball last season at FB/9 were (in order)

Cleveland Indians
Colorado Rockies
Boston Red Sox

Interestingly enough, the two teams that tied for the best overall winning percentage in all of baseball last season were the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox.

The key to winning baseball: NO FREE BASES!


Here is the link to the article with more info and statistics:
http://www.insidepitching.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=721

"Being Perfect"

Great clip from Friday Night Lights on "Being Perfect"

This clip follows along the lines of the belief that success is not based upon the scoreboard but based on being the best you can be and doing things the right way. I could not agree more with this clip.

Try your hardest in all ways and you are a success. Period. Do less than that and you have failed to one degree or another.

I believe this strongly and I have practiced it as best I could throughout the years.

Playing for the team leads to success!

Great article about Darrin Ruf of Creighton. The article talks about how the key to success is to play for your team and not for yourself. When players get caught up in personal statistics (in this case the draft) they often struggle. As a player it is important to never worry about your personal statistics, just simply poor everything you have into the team and good things will happen.

Here are a few quotes from the story along with the link to the entire story.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=10256564


"No matter how well grounded a guy is — and Darin is a lot more grounded than most — it's easy to get caught up in the other stuff," Servais said. "He's 21, and it's human nature to dream a little bit."The important thing is for Darin not to get away from the things that got him to this position. He can't forget what's made him a difference-maker. He can't start playing for the scouts and not for the team."

"I think you need to embrace what's happening to you and think of it as a positive," Ruf said. "It's a special situation, and you have to enjoy the process. But it's all about how you approach the game. If you go in thinking about yourself and being selfish, you run the risk of struggling."As long as you keep the team-first approach and keep working hard, I believe things should fall your way."

"One of the things that makes Darin such a good defensive player is that he leaves his at-bats in the dugout," Servais said. "He doesn't take his offense to the field with him. Too many guys don't focus on what they need to defensively because they're worrying about the out they just made."

"He's a guy that's not called upon to bunt much, but he's turned himself into an outstanding bunter. He has such good work habits."