The Smarter Ballplayer (1st Edition): When to Work a Count, Mound Presence, Dating Advice

 


An underrated way to become a better ballplayer is to WATCH MORE BASEBALL!! I am deeply saddened by how many aspiring baseball players just don’t watch baseball on a regular basis. There is soooo much that can be learned by simply watching games and paying attention to how the best players handle different situations.

I am currently on my 4th year of subscribing to MLB Package (Almost all MLB games), and despite the occasional argument with the wife about the need to have four games on at the same time, it is awesome.

Along with the usual Next Level Ballplayer interviews and articles, I’m going to do the occasional “Smarter Ballplayer” posts based on things we can learn from watching MLB games. Without further ado, here is the first installment.

When to Work a Count:

Game: Giants vs Dodgers (4/2)

Situation: Bottom of the 9th. 2 outs. Dodgers losing 3-0. Two hole batter Mark Ellis is up in a 2-0 count.

What Happened: He took the next pitch even though it was a fastball down the middle. The next pitch was a ball leaving the count at 3-1. Everyone in the ballpark knew another fastball was coming, yet Ellis still was taking all the way. Another fastball down the middle to bring the count to 3-2.

What We Can Learn: The point that Ellis ended up striking out to end the game on the 3-2 pitch is irrelevant. The point is that he recognized the game situation and acted accordingly. Down 3 in the 9th meant that his job was to get on base any way possible. His run meant absolutely nothing. Therefore, ESPECIALLY in hitting counts (2-0, 3-1) it’s a good idea to take. Some coaches and players will even take till you get a strike or even two strikes in a situation like that, but you definitely shouldn’t swing when the pitcher is struggling to throw strikes.

Mound Presence:

Game: Cardinals vs D’Backs (4/2)

Situation: Beginning of the top of 7th . Cardinals up 3-1. Heath Bell is making his D’Back debut. He was a lights out closer/reliever with the Padres for many years, then struggled last year in Miami. Everyone in Arizona wants to know which Heath Bell will show up this year. No doubt Heath wants to get off to a good start.

What Happened: First pitch- BOMB to dead center (more on this in the dating section below). TV camera catches Bell yelling curse words. Next pitch is a curveball which crosses up the catcher who had called for a fastball. That batter ends up walking. 3rd Batter- BOMB. More cursing. Visually upset. 4th Batter- Double. 5th Batter- Strikeout. Whoa baby!! 6th Batter- single. Night over. Hit the showers.

What We Can Learn: Bell visually got more and more emotional as the inning wore on. It’s hard to blame him, because of all the expectations but at the end of the day, as a pitcher, you HAVE TO hold it together. This is why it’s so important to have a “focal point” that you can go back to when you need to refocus. Every pitcher is going to give up hits. It’s just a matter of being able to refocus on that next pitch. Clearly Bell was so distracted by the first pitch HR he gave up, that he miss read the catchers sign for the next pitch. From there, he was never able to get it back together.

Dating Advice:


Game: Cards vs D’Backs (4/2)

Situation: 1st Pitch of the 7th inning.

What Happened: The Cardinals’ Pete Kozma hits the first pitch he sees 440ft to dead center for a homerun. Some ding dong is on a date and sees the ball coming straight at him.

Instead of playing the hero and catching it, he plays the zero and bails at the last minute. Of course the ball hits his girlfriend (Hopefully ex- girlfriend) right in the face! (Video here if you want to see it.

It is mind blowing to me that this could happen. Don’t fans go to games praying for a chance at getting a ball?!

Brutal.

What We Can Learn: Don’t take a girl to the ballpark if you aren’t willing to make a play! If a ball is headed towards your girlfriend’s face- you do what needs to be done to protect her… And if you’re a Next Level Ballplayer follower, than you just make the catch and really impress her!

If you see any MLB game situations worthy of our “Smarter Ballplayer” section, email them to me @ Franco@NextLevelBallplayer.com (The Game, Situation, What Happened, and What We Can Learn)

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Franco

Posted in Uncategorized |
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Swiping Bags with a Smile… & More with Dodgers’ Dee Gordon

This article is officially sponsored by Phoenix Bats who make world-class wood bats for amateur and professional ballplayers everywhere.

Today, I’m excited to sit down with 5’11”, 160-pound Dodgers’ shortstop, Dee Gordon.  Dee burst onto the scene with the Dodgers in 2011 with hits in his first three at-bats. He’s known as a speedster who always seems to be having fun on the baseball field. After some injury setbacks in 2012, Dee is competing for a spot on the 2013 team.

This is my favorite quote from our conversation.  In response to my question about his mental approach to hitting, here’s Dee:

Less is more for me.  The less I think, the more I can do.  When I start thinking about a lot of stuff, I don’t feel that great as a hitter at that point.  I try to stay pretty simple.

In the rest of today’s exclusive interview with Dee, we talk about stealing bases, getting out of slumps, useful hitting advice he received from Tony Gwynn, what he’s learned from Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, and much more.

1.  What is one baseball-related lesson you learned early on that has led you to where you are now?

Play hard.  My dad always preached that.  Play every day like it’s your last day.

Continue reading “Swiping Bags with a Smile… & More with Dodgers’ Dee Gordon” »

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Franco

Posted in MLB Clubhouse Convos | Tagged , , , , , , |
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The Key to Being a Great Pitcher

I love asking the question,

What is the biggest separator between good and great _____?

You can fill in the blank with pitchers, hitters, fielders, high school players, and college players. Today, we fill in the blank for pitchers.  We’re joined by Indiana Hoosiers’ Pitching Coach Ty Neal to break down why work ethic is the biggest separator he sees, what exactly good work ethic looks like for a pitcher, and how he scouts high school pitchers.

Two quick highlights from the video below:

  1. There needs to be a level of talent in place, but a huge aspect to having a great work ethic is how you perform, push, and motivate yourself outside of games.
  2. When Coach Neal is recruiting high school pitchers, he looks to see if they have a pre-game routine because that is the sign of a pitcher who works hard and understands himself. If you’ve been with Next Level Ballplayer awhile, you know we are HUGE believers in routine!  If you’re a serious player and you don’t have one, start one now.

Coach Neal has been a top recruiter and developer of talent at every step of his college coaching career. He is currently in his 8th year with the Indiana University baseball program, and he has mentored 18 pitchers who have been drafted in the top 10 rounds of the MLB Draft. I don’t have to say how impressive that is, but I will anyway.  That’s impressive!  Ty is not only the pitching coach but also the recruiting coordinator for the Hoosiers.

Many thanks to Ty Neal for taking some time before a game to talk with Next Level Ballplayer.

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Franco

Posted in Pitching | Tagged , , , , , , |
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6 Tips For Hitting Off A Tee Like A Big Leaguer

This article is officially sponsored by Phoenix Bats who make world-class wood bats for amateur and professional ballplayers everywhere.

If you are a baseball position player, you’ve no doubt hit off of a tee before.  The question you should be asking after each “tee session” is…

Did I get better hitting off the tee today?

An honest player would admit that most swings off the tee are mindless without any real rhythm or purpose.  That stops today as we bring in former D1 All-American and MLB 1st Round Draft Pick, Brad Snyder to share his tee secrets in the video below.

Let’s hear Brad Snyder break down his tee routine, how he gains feedback from his swings, his goal of each swing, why every player should train with a wooden bat, and more.

Tee Takeaways:

  1. Use a wood bat.
  2. Try to hit the balls with backspin to the back of the net.
  3. Get a feel for hitting the ball on the barrel.
  4. Have tee warm-up routine to do consistently.
  5. Play games by trying to hit spots at the back of the cage with the batted ball.
  6. Hit a lot!!

The other day I heard a great story from James Ramsey (STL Cardinals’ 2012 1st Round Draft Pick) about Buster Posey.  James recently finished up his college career at Florida State where Buster played his college baseball a few years earlier and would train in the offseason.  I asked James what Buster’s offseason hitting training included, and the answer surprised me a bit.  “Buster would do the exact same tee routine every day, over and over.”  We’ll dive into his exact routine in a future article, but the point is that hitting off a tee is a great way to hone your swing like a big leaguer.

What are your favorite tee drills?

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Franco

Posted in Hitting | Tagged , , , , |
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Should You Play Multiple Sports or Only Baseball?

“If I’m serious about playing college baseball, should I quit the other sport(s) I play in order to focus on baseball year round?”

I was speaking to a team with their parents and coaches, and a player asked me this exact question.  Without hesitation I started going into all my reasoning for encouraging those players to play multiple sports and how NOT playing baseball year-round can actually make you more attractive to college coaches. When I got done the room was awkwardly silent. I noticed some of the players sneaking peeks at the head coach in the corner. Finally, I said, “What?”

Well, evidently the day before, the summer ball coach gave the team a big speech about the importance of playing baseball year-round and not “wasting time” on other sports. Whoops!! I politely said that I disagree with him based on my conversations with college baseball coaches around the country. One of which answered this same question in the video below.

So here is the logic behind most college baseball coaches’ desire for high school prospects to play multiple sports – they must be athletic!!!  When I talk to top college coaches around the country about what they look for while recruiting, almost everyone says they are looking for ATHLETES.  You know what happens when you play multiple sports?  You become a better athlete.  You movement is more fluid.  I’m not saying to force yourself to play other sports if you don’t enjoy them. I am suggesting that you don’t quit a sport you enjoy so that you can get a few extra swings in a watered-down fall baseball league.

I’ve had seniors who start on their football or basketball teams ask me if they should quit their senior year to concentrate on baseball.  My answer is “no”, and clearly University of Cincinnati Bearcat’s baseball coach JD Heilmann agrees.

Is it possible to play too much baseball? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that playing other sports translates to being a better athlete, and being a better athlete translates to being a better baseball player.

This article is officially sponsored by Phoenix Bats who make world-class wood bats for amateur and professional ballplayers everywhere.

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Franco

Posted in College Recruiting/Scouting | Tagged , , , , |
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A “Normal” Day for a D1 Baseball Player

So you want to play college baseball. Awesome. Those were four of the best years of my life, and I encourage all serious ballplayers who love the game to pursue college baseball. I’ve said this before, but a lot of college coaches tell me that the #1 issue they have with HS ballplayers is that they don’t know what real hard work is. Freshman ballplayers step on campus unprepared for the time and energy commitment required to thrive in a D1 baseball program. (It can be similar at all levels of college baseball, but I’m most familiar with the D1 level and that’s what I’ll refer to today.)

One of the reasons HS ballplayers aren’t prepared for college baseball is that they don’t know what to expect when they set foot on campus for the first time. Let’s look at the general fall schedule for a college baseball player and what a “normal” day looks like.

It starts when you arrive on campus in the fall. You will schedule your classes for the morning and early afternoon so that your afternoon is free for baseball practice.

Most programs will start “fall ball” with a hell week. Hell week will be a physically and mentally challenging week of different physical challenges. It’s a way of knowing who came prepared and who didn’t work hard over the summer. Very few HS and summer baseball teams have challenging fitness programs. Every D1 program will. If you aren’t putting in hard work ON YOUR OWN you will not be physically ready. Being in great shape from the get go is a great way to set yourself apart and compete for a starting spot on the team as a freshman.

After hell week, the fall season starts. Fall ball consists of on field practices and a lot of intersquad scrimmages. You will also be put on a team weight room workout schedule as well. A lot of programs have their weight room workouts start around 6am. Most programs will also require their freshmen to attend mandatory study halls at night to make sure you are performing in the class room and getting necessary tutoring.

In case you missed it the other week, here is Kansas Jayhawks’ head baseball coach Ritch Price giving a look inside a “normal” day for a ballplayer in his program. And this clip doesn’t include the part where he EXPECTS his guys to get in extra work on their own for an hour a day ON TOP of their crazy schedule.

Know what you are getting into and prepare for it mentally and physically. Setting habits of hard work right now will serve you well. Hopefully just having this information will allow you to better prepare for college baseball and I will start hearing from college coaches that their freshmen are coming into their programs and dominating! Go dominate.

 

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Franco

Posted in Uncategorized |
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