Warriors Take a Break...and Other Ramblings

Not too long ago, baseball began in the Spring. As a kid, I always looked forward to hearing the crack of the bat as it was a sure sign that Spring had arrived.

Now, youth baseball travel teams practice nearly all year. This helps players develop their skills. However, baseball will always be a Summer game. Much of the appeal of the game comes from being able to play in nice weather outdoors.

Since I will be vacationing for the next two weeks, our Warriors team will take a break until mid-February. Our next practice is an 8:00 pm batting cage session at Junior Diggins on February 18th.

After that, we'll continue our individual development, batting cage sessions and indoor workouts until mid-March. Hopefully, the weather will improve by mid-March and we can finally move outdoors for some practices. Weather permitting, we will begin scrimmaging against other teams in late March. Things will pick up more in April as we begin to play games.

Our team will begin Chicagoland Metro play in mid-April. The OYA season begins in late April. And, our first tournament is scheduled for the Memorial Day Weekend.

As soon as our team enters a tournament (and we are striving for four), I will post the information on our team's website. Our team is made up mostly 8th graders--and many events arise surrounding graduation. The OYA Pony League and our Warriors team will be idle on June 5th as most graduations in the area are scheduled for that day.

As tournament scheduling information is provided to you, PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY. If you are planning a graduation party, sometimes adjusting the start time by just a few hours can make the difference between the player participating or being absent for a team event. When players miss games, the team is at greater risk of losing (or even forfeiting) games--which means a higher risk of elimination from the tournament and fewer games played for everyone.

In an effort to promote greater participation, I am investigating the possibility of having those players on our team who make their High School team eligible for play with the Warriors. This is a new approach (most likely in accordance with all OYA, Chicagoland Metro and ISHA rules) which will allow us to retain all of the players on our current roster. More on this later.

The Importance of the Count

In a recent posting, I wrote about how Ted Williams refused to swing at pitches outside of the strike zone. At the Pony level, it is critical for hitters to be selective at the plate and only swing at strikes. Once a hitter is ahead in the count (e.g., 2-0, 3-1), the pitcher is forced to throw a very hittable pitch--or he may start aiming the pitches and walk several consecutive batters.

The statistics support the fact that a hitter's count benefits the offense. In a recent study of college baseball statistics, the batting average for hitters with a 2-1 count was 150 points higher than for hitters with a 1-2 count! This benefit becomes even greater with more favorable counts such as 3-1.

Letting pitchers off the hook by swinging at pitches outside of the strikezone has just the opposite effect. Pitchers get an immediate sense of relief when a bad pitch turns into a strike. They can then ride that momentum to get back into a groove. We often tell our hitters to "make the pitcher work" or to "make the pitcher earn it."

Although it is more difficult than it looks, one of the goals for this team is to be more selective at the plate. We want our hitters to be aggressive, but we also want them to be aware of the count and when it is appropriate to be aggressive.

Positions by Number

Typically, baseball position numbers are used for scoring purposes. However, our team will use these numbers as part of calling certain plays--particularly when a runner is on third base. We'll talk more about how these plays will be called during an upcoming practice. All of our players should be familiar with these numbers.

Following is an illustration of how baseball positions are numbered:

Warriors Enter First Tournament

The Warriors registered for its first tournament of the season. The Chicagoland Memorial Weekend Tournament is scheduled from Friday, May 27th through Monday, May 30th. Most likely, the opening round games will be played in Frankfort or Palos.

For this tournament, the team will play three "pool play" games. Only the top teams from each pool will proceed into the next round.

The Warriors will enter three more tournaments in June/July. I'll publish those dates as soon as they become available--most likely in late February. Please be sure to plan accordingly.

Pat O'Connor Wins Ground Ball Challenge

Patrick O'Connor won the team's first Ground Ball Challenge on Saturday morning. Pat edged out Jim Robley in the final round of the competition.

Winning these challenges requires outlasting 12 opponents and usually means successfully fielding at least 35 to 40 ground balls.

Ted Williams

During tonight's practice at Future Stars, we talked a little about the Hall of Fame hitter, Ted Williams. In my view, there are at least three important lessons our players can learn from him.

#1

As a hitter, Ted Williams always kept his eyes on the ball. Many thought that he could pick up the rotation of the baseball by viewing the seams just upon the release from the pitcher's hand. Later in life, he denied having any kind of superhuman vision and admitted that he really couldn't read the label on a phonograph record while it was spinning on the turntable. But, he made every effort to see the baseball as soon as possible and to follow the ball all the way in.

#2

Early on, Ted Williams learned not to swing at balls that were out of the strike zone. Try as they might, pitchers could not get him to chase bad pitches. "Getting on base is how you score runs," Williams explained. "Runs win ball games. I walked a lot in high school, and in the minors I walked 100 times...You start swinging at pitches a half-inch outside, the next one's an inch out and pretty soon you're getting nothing but bad balls to swing at."

At the Pony level, it's critical to let bad pitches go by. This places the pitcher under more pressure--forcing him to give the hitter a good pitch to hit. Many pitchers at this level simply start aiming the ball and then walk several more hitters.

#3

In my opinion, the following story displays what strong respect Ted Williams had for the game of baseball:

In 1941, only his third season in the majors, Williams captivated the nation by chasing a .400 season batting average. On the last day of the season, Williams was hitting exactly .400, and Red Sox manager Joe Cronin offered him the chance to sit out a doubleheader. "I told Cronin I didn't want that," Williams recalled. "If I couldn't hit .400 all the way I didn't deserve it." He got six hits and finished at .406, a mark many experts believe will never be equaled.

Pitching Grips

Pitchers have three weapons at their disposal: speed, location and movement (spin). At the 14U level, pitchers will work most on speed (and how to vary it) as well as location (and how to vary it).

Using a few different pitching grips will help a pitcher develop the ability to throw pitches at different speeds accurately.

CLICK HERE to view some grips--paying particular attention to the 2 and 4 seam fast ball grips as well as a couple of the change-up grips (circle and three finger grips).