The best give practice their best

Eddie Matz of ESPN The Magazine: President's Day is a day most of America takes it easy anyway. So you could forgive Kevin Garnett, coming off a 14th straight All-Star appearance the previous night in LA, if he felt like conserving a little energy during the Celtics' two-hour workout at Sky Gym in San Francisco's Olympic Club. After all, Boston entered the break with the best record in the East and the team is scheduled for a track meet against the lowly Warriors in Oakland the following night. But Garnett doesn't do easy.

When assistant Lawrence Frank begins a walk-through of the Golden State offense, Garnett interjects, "Why we walkin' through it? The Warriors ain't gonna be walkin' through it!" Just like that, it's starters versus subs, and even the stars, following the lead of their motivational big man, go all-out. Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen make this a veteran squad, and veteran squads understand how quickly championship windows can close. In the middle of the Celtics' scrimmage, head coach Doc Rivers toots his whistle and tells Garnett to take a blow. Turkish big man Semih Erden reluctantly tags out KG. Reluctantly, because this minor event can resemble going to the dentist: It's something you do only when you have to. Erden proceeds to allow a crisp pass to fly off his hands and out of bounds. Meanwhile, rather than take a seat or a swig, Garnett, who is 34, but has played more minutes than all but 13 players in NBA history, breaks into wind sprints on the sideline. Up. Back. Up. Back. Up. Back. Touching the end line every time, like a ninth-grader trying to make JV. "Never seen another NBA player do that," says Phil Galvin, the facility's basketball director. And Galvin has seen a lot: Not only is the Olympic Club the oldest such facility in the country, it's where most NBA teams practice when they drop into the Bay Area.

As the pink glow of sunset pours through the 40-foot-high window along the baseline, Garnett continues to run. Up. Back. Up. Back. Sweat rains off his dome. After 10 round-trips, each one all out, Rivers has seen enough. He motions his star back onto the court. As the 6'11" power forward passes by his coach, he says, "I hate f--ing sittin' out, Doc! Let's go!" Rubbernecking Sky Gym staffers watch from the sideline, mouths agape. No wonder the typical Celtics workout lasts barely an hour. As Rivers says later, "The only way to get KG to rest is to end practice."

Pitching Rubber- RESET BUTTON

To me the pitching rubber is a giant Reset Button. Think about the last time you played video games, especially by yourself and against the computer. If you were playing a football game against the computer and it returns the opening kickoff for a touchdown, what are you most likely to do? If you’re honest, you’d probably push the Reset Button and start over…right? Why can’t you take that same approach into pitching?

Every time a pitcher toes the rubber it doesn’t matter how good or bad his last pitch was. It only matters what he does from this point forward. Essentially, when he toes the rubber he has reset the game and is playing from the beginning all over again. Another way of saying it is that the next pitch is always the beginning of the rest of the game. Pitchers control ALL action on the baseball field. No other person on the field acts independently. Only the pitcher has the ability to control what every other person on the field does. The pitcher controls whether the umpire yells “Strike”, he controls, to a great degree, if the batter hits the ball and where that ball goes (should he be lucky enough to make contact). Therefore the movement of the defense is predicated on where the ball is hit which is ultimately controlled by where the pitcher locates the pitch.

On a basic level the pitcher is in control. Hitters, catchers, centerfielders, umpires, coaches, fans and announcers all react to the pitcher’s action. Once a pitcher understands his ability to control a game he can use a device, such as the Reset Button, to help him focus on the task at hand. from insidepitching.com

Three Characteristics of a good pitcher?

Eric Newman Pitching Coach University Nebraska
1. Great preparation is non-negotiable. When you take the mound to compete you must have no hesitation in your mind, body or spirit. That only can happen by doing the work in between games (conditioning, lifting, making good decisions off the field, etc…). When you do those things you take the mound feeling confident that you have done what is necessary leading up to that moment.
2. “Pound the Zone”- This is our catch phrase. I hate “just throw strikes”. That is what the guy throwing batting practice is supposed to do, lay it in there and let the hitters swing as hard as they can at it. Pitchers that do that don’t last long. Attack hitters with your best stuff on every pitch.
3. Know yourself and pitch to your strengths. Too many young pitchers want to be good at everything and they end up struggling to find success. In my first couple years of coaching I know I was guilty of focusing on “turning a weakness into a strength” and it caused some guys to go backwards. Whatever a young pitcher is best at he needs to maintain that edge. We (coaches) need to help our players work on glaring weaknesses that can keep them from success, but always keep them focused on what makes them good.
Craig Moore Hitting Coach Creighton University One characteristic of a pitcher that I look for – either when playing against or recruiting – is mound presence. A guy who is very confident in what he is doing, a guy who does not get phased by an adverse situation – a guy that is going to be a “bulldog”, not going to beat me attitude-are tough guys to face. Another characteristic that makes up a good pitcher is the ability to keep hitters off-balance. A guy that can throw his secondary pitches for strikes and have that one out pitch is not the guy you want to face too often. That type of pitcher will keep an offense guessing all day. The last characteristic that makes a good pitcher is the ability to locate. The guys that can keep the ball down, the guys that can work both sides of the plate and get ahead in the count by doing this, gives the offense a lot of times the inability to barrel baseballs. Hitters are taught to get the barrel on the ball and when they run into a situation where the pitcher has the ability to “miss” barrels they are going to get frustrated -and we all know what happens to success rates when guys get frustrated.

Approach at the plate

2 strike approach

Hitting with two strikes requires a different approach than hitting with less than two strikes. With two strikes you must hit the pitcher’s pitch (if it is a strike) and you cannot “sit on a pitch”. This type of hitting is know as “reactive” hitting. You must see the ball and react to it.

Two strike hitting is much tougher than hitting with less than two strikes. Major League hitters on average hit less than .200 with two strikes and above .320 on average with less than two strikes. If you want to hit .300, you need to learn to hit with two strikes. If you can get your two strike average up - you will improve your overall batting average

Two strike hitting tips:
1. Keep your swing short. Some hitters shorten their stride or eliminate it altogether with two strikes. The short stride or no stride approach starts with a wider stance to begin with (you are essentially starting in a “pre-stride” position. The longer you can look at the pitch (to identify it) - the better with two strikes.

2. Use an “inside out swing” with two strikes, going to the opposite field will give you longer time to identify the pitch. This is a great time to let the ball get deep and hit the inside half of the baseball.

3. Concede the long ball and just get the barrel on the ball - as Ted Williams used to say. Don’t try to do too much, just hit a line drive (first choice) or ground ball (second choice) somewhere ( to the opposite field if need be).

4. Crowd the plate a little bit. Make sure you have good plate coverage. Don’t let the pitcher sneak a strike by you out there.

5. Widen your strike zone slightly. Don’t chase real bad pitchers, but don’t get “rung up” on a close pitcher either. The “two strike” strike zone should be slightly expanded in the hitter’s mind to avoid being called out.

LSU Baseball Coach Paul Maineri

Good stuff from LSU Baseball Coach Paul Mainieri on hitting confidence.

Positive self talk

The running dialogue you have going on in your head (even when you aren't reading) is called your "self talk." In fact, although you have thoughts you can't fully express verbally, you could say that thinking is talking to yourslef. Thus, you do it all the time.

What do you say when you talk to yourself about your ability to play baseball?

Remember that what you think often determines how you play. Your thinking consists of your self-talk, along with your imagery. Thus, the words you say to yourself impact how confident you feel, making self-talk a pretty important topic. We are not always aware of what we are saying to ourselves. That's a good thing because if we were aware all of the time we'd go crazy.

However, this is also dangerous because you may be trash talking yourself by saying "I stink," "I can't hit," or "I may never get anyone out" but you aren't aware that you are doing it, you won't tell yourself to stop saying it! Because of all the failure that is built into baseball, alot of players spend a great deal of time talking negatively to themselves. Your self-talk is something you need to be aware of, at least to some degree.

Most important though, make sure you choose to talk to yourself in an encouraging, confidence-enhancing way. In short, talk to yourself the way you'd talk to your best friend.

HOW TO USE SELF-TALK TO ENHANCE YOUR PERFORMANCE

Figure out what you are saying to yourself when playing your best baseball will help you use self-talk to your best advantage. Say that to yourself whether you feel that way or not. Here are a few examples of self-talk statements you can repeat to yourself anytime:

General:-"I am totally focused on each pitch"

-"I have paid the dues and I am trusting my ability."

-"It is my time."

Hitting:-"Hit it hard"

-"Attack the ball"

-"Be aggressive"-

-"Use the whole field"

-"See the ball"

Pitching:-"The ball is going right there."

-"I'm the man."

-"Let it go."

-"Focus on the target, hit the target."

Fielding:-"Hit it to me."

-"I can make any play."

-"Stay down."

-"Quick as a cat."

Play the game one pitch at a time

"Once my catcher and I determine the pitch, that's all there is. There's nobody standing there then. I don't think about the next game, the next inning, the next hitter, the next play. There's only the next pitch. It's the only job I have."- Orel Hershiser, LA Dodgers

2011 LSU Baseball - Tommy Lasorda's Inspirational Message

Tommy Lasorda Speech Everyone has to work together to achieve success.

TCU Baseball 2011: Quiet Confidence

Great video! Hustle, grit, and fundamentals will take you to the top!

COMPETING AGAINST YOURSELF

"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win. The principle is competing against yourself. It's about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before."

~Steve Young

SIMPLE WINS

A lot of players want to make "big plays"; but you win more games because of "basic winning plays" repeated over & over again. Simple wins more! Focus on making the routine play every time. That will lead you to success.