Michigan Wolverine Baseball: Building a Successful Baseball Program — The Action Stage — Part II
Posted at 5:30am — 7/3/2012
Michigan Wolverine Baseball: Building a Successful Baseball Program — The Action Stage — Part II
The Action Stage
This is where the rubber meets the road. The players are in place, the groundwork is established and now the game must be played.
Task 1: the knowledge base must be implemented by sound teaching in organized and super efficient practices.
The action one views on a baseball field in a game is the direct result of practice. While baseball teams practice far less than football in season, the use of practice is just as critical. Major leaguers find it offensive if a manager calls for too many in season practices. But for professional teams in a funk basics and psychology are not bad strategies. Millionaires do not listen as well as college players.
Spring training in pro ball is a time devoted to the system teaching of each franchise and repetition upon repetition on very basic execution. Pitchers hear the phrase “Get over there” as ground balls are hit to the right side of the infield, the pitcher’s left. Middle infielders while saving arms will practice turning double plays by the hour. Every inch of proper footwork counts. There are simply hundreds of small skills that make up baseball.
A coaching staff under the direction of the head coach must determine the best techniques for success; this is not as cut and dried as one may think. The techniques must be incorporated into drills that maximize time usage.
A well-managed baseball practice can have a more frantic pace than a football practice. The idea that baseball is practiced at a leisurely pace with a pitcher throwing to batters and fielders hanging out is false. Even during hitting time, many things are going onward, such as pick-offs from the side of the mound, ground balls between pitches, catchers working on signs and technique, and always having two players working on the running game every pitch until they return to the box or the field. Outfielders can get a good dose of machine balls between pitches as well.
A modern baseball practice puts in numerous defenses; for example five or six options against a first and third steal situation, and the same number for bunt situations. Relaying signs between infielders and outfielders, communicating between teammates on every situation in the field, and being placed under game pressure situations are past common, such practice elements are mandatory.
Team defense time is when coaches see who executes. Can a player hit the cut-off man time after time, throw to the right base, make good decisions on where to go with the fielded bunt, anticipate the flight angle of the ball, and execute skills and strategies as taught?
Like in many sports, baseball wins are achieved in practice. Coaches at big time programs have assistants very skilled in practice development and management. Sure the levity of baseball can be inserted, but if done right practice is hard work, making the games by far the ultimate fun that players look forward to as a reward.
Task 2: the pitching must be in order. The guy on the mound is often the difference maker in a baseball game. But a coach at this level simply does not recruit and place a talent on the mound without an inordinate amount of pitching preparation.
For teams at all levels, the high level pitching coach is a wonderful resource. Technique, bull-headedness, and calm patience are helpful to pitching coaches.
Pitchers must do certain things or the game is a farce. First, the pitcher must throw strikes, simplified but an absolute. There are guys recruited to college that rarely or never pitch simply because of a failure to throw strikes. Some of these guys throw hard.
A pitching coach must have a very sound knowledge of not only fundamentals but also kinesiology and physics. He must establish a routine that creates improvement in the pitchers from top to bottom, because sometime in a season the old phrase of every pitch counts turns into every pitcher counts. The players will trust the pitching routine if they see improvement and this starts with explanations of how and why things happen on the mound.
The pitching coach needs to be a good practitioner of psychology as well. Attitude, poise, and competitiveness are critical. A pitcher simply can never give in to a batter or the other team; game over may be the result.
A pitching coach must serve as a link between the pitchers and the catchers. Sometimes the head coach calls the signs, but this only works best if the head coach takes on the role of the pitching coach as well. More and more, pitching coaches are calling the signs since they are already fully involved in the process.
There is much preparation and process in being a successful pitching coach. The primary ingredient is still the quality of arm on the mound. But a great pitching coach can make an average pitcher a step above. Charting pitches, pitch counts, game planning strategy for each opposing hitter, establishment of pitching patterns, and pre-game preparation are just some of the duties that give the guy on the mound a better chance of success.
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Doc4Blu
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