Baseball is a game of many unique skills which must be practiced; therefore baseball drills are a critical part of developing a baseball player. Dozens of different drills have been invented to develop very specific areas of baseball play, in fact, far too many for us to discuss in the space here. This article will be a general introduction to a number of drills only.

Baseball drills fall into several categories: batting drills, pitching drills, fielding drills, and baserunning drills. Fielding drills are divided into infield drills and outfield drills; drills for the catcher position are a category of their own.

In each of these categories, there are drills that exist for players at different levels of development, where basic drills teach, for example, the fundamentals of the correct swing, and more advanced batting drills may teach timing, power, or pitch recognition.

Many batting drills exist to teach swing mechanics, in areas such as the stride and hip rotation. Such drills break down the swing into different parts, so that the young player can master the elements of the swing without being overwhelmed with trying to get every part of the swing right at once. Drills intended to develop power in the swing may involve swinging at an object much heavier than the baseball. A specialized drill used to help a hitter pick up the ball quickly involved colored balls.

In this drill, the pitcher will pick up a colored ball without letting the batter see what color it is, and call out a color before throwing the ball. Only if the color of the ball matches the color yelled out may the batter swing.

A common form of batting drill for more experienced players is called simply “batting practice.” In its most basic form, batting practice, or “bp” for short, involves hitting simulated pitching. During live batting practice against a batting practice pitcher, the quality of pitches seen is generally not equal to that seen in-game; these drills are meant to develop a “feel” for the swing and refine mechanics.

Batting practice may be taken before a game in order to “warm up,” and is used to help maintain swing mechanics through repetition.

Pitching drills can focus on developing pitches, maintaining a feel for pitches, or fielding aspects of the pitcher position. Professional starting pitchers often have throwing sessions between starts, used to develop and/or maintain the “feel” of their pitches.

Throwing a pitch, especially a breaking pitch, correctly, is a very precise art which requires certain very specific motions of the hand and arm. These, plus the way the ball is gripped in the hand, contribute to a pitcher’s “feel” for his pitches, which, much like batting mechanics, require repetition to keep up. Broader aspects of a pitcher’s delivery aside from the precise grip in the hand and release of the ball also require maintenance.

The pitching delivery is a complicated action involving the entire body; an error in any one part of the motion can throw the rest of the delivery off. At best, incorrect motions can result in control problems or loss of velocity, and at worst, it can create a risk of injury.

One particular aspect of hitting which requires specific drills is the bunt. Most bunts are intended to advance a baserunner one base while giving up an out, though fast runners may occasionally bunt for a base hit.

The bunt is a gentle tap of the ball with the bat usually top USSSA bats, held out in front of home plate. The best bunts “deaden” the ball, with the effect of increasing the amount of time required to field the ball.

When you think of great A’s pitchers of the last five years you may think of Mike Oquist, Jimmy Haynes, Mike Fetters, or maybe even Tim Hudson. Yet, amongst the recent Amazing A’s, one pitcher has, somehow, remained unappreciated. No, not Todd Van Poppel…rather, the recently departed, Gil Heredia.

Gil learns to dance…Steve Martin Style!

In an era when a lazy bum like Barry Bonds can hit 73 homers, you have got to respect a player that can manage a career ERA of 4.48. Gil won 28 games for the A’s in 1999 and 2000 combined, second only to All-Star Tim Hudson…which makes you wonder, why was Gil not selected to the All-Star game? The answer to such a seemingly complex question can be summed up in two words: Joe Torre. Gil was, dare I say…masterful when he faced Torre’s Yankees, losing only one game from 1998-2000 against them (2-1 overall record). As a result of Gil’s success against the Yankees, Torre was reluctant to select him to the All-Star team in 1999 or 2000.

Ape? Blowfish? No, just Gil.

Former A’s closer Jason Isringhausen blew nine saves in 2001 and now makes 7 million a year with the St. Louis Cardinals. Gil Heredia, on the other hand, blew zero saves in three years with the A’s, a truly astonishing feat. Yet, unlike Isringhausen, Gil does not demand the big bucks. In fact, he will probably accept a modest sub-million dollar paycheck from another team sometime during this off-season.

Gil had somewhat of a dissappointing 2001 season, winning “only” seven games. Gil never relied on a devastating fastball like many pitchers. Rather, he used his finesse and grace to dominate his opponents. Unfortunately, the finesse meter slipped from a 10 to an 8 during the 2001 season, causing Gil to be a little less effective. As a result, the A’s will not be bringing Gil back for the 2002 season as they make way for younger “better” talent…an obvious Schott and Hoffman conspiracy to destroy the franchise.

Gil Heredia, this is your life…we’ll miss ya buddy.

Pitching and defense win baseball games. Throughout history managers have maintained the theory “give me good starters and a good defense and we can win ball games.” That being said, the A’s lost, maybe, the most influential player on a team since Ken Griffey Jr. leaving the Mariners.

Losing Jason Giambi hurts, he was Mr. Clutch and he produced for a young team when they needed him the most. I am not going to say Giambi leaving the team depletes the A’s chances of winning 102 games again. After getting Pena from the Rangers, A’s fan will soon forget the first baseman formerly known as Giambi.

Well enough about the Fat Man, I wish him well and hope he does well for the Yankees. Now back to the most important thing, the team core is still intact. We have the best-left side of the infield in the history of baseball.

Offensive numbers for Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada are downright amazing. Defensively Chavez is a gold glove winner. Tejada, though a tad erratic at times is a very solid shortstop with flair and dramatics to make great plays like Ozzie Smith. Once he learns to position himself better before the pitch is even thrown he could rack up a few Gold Gloves, especially once Mr. Vizquel in Cleveland decides to provide for him best baseball gloves. Now to main part the reason A’s can win 60% of their games: Zito, Hudson and Mulder. Hate to beat this topic to the ground, but this is my first article and I have to establish the ground rules of why I think A’s will win 100 games again.

Tim Hudson:

Perfect example of “size doesn’t matter” in baseball, his grit and tough guy attitude and surely made him a fan favorite and his take no prisoners attitude on the field has made him the nemesis for many hitters. Especially Nomar Garciaparra.

Who can forget the shouting match they had once Hudson struck him out and Nomar criticized him after the game that he does not challenge the hitters? The knock around the league on Hudson is that he doesn’t challenge the hitters.

What the hell kind of knock is that, the purpose of the game is to get guys out, if you can throw a 3-1 changeup and get a pop-out that doesn’t mean you are afraid that means you are a smart pitcher who knows how to get guys out?

Hudson who is barely over 5’10’, trust me he is not 6’0″. From personal experience and talking to him in the locker room, he is a very relaxed individual who has the ability to turn nasty in the blink of the eye. He is not going to win any personality awards but he might rack up a few CY Young awards.

His emergence in the league has been remarkable from his 11 k performance in his debut despite pitching only 5 innings to his career record of 49-17. (Best Winning Percentage in the History). Still people doubt that he will be able to last in the league because of his miniature stature.

My Prediction for 2002 for Tim Hudson is:

16-10 4.02 ERA.

Reason behind that is Hudson has struggled against two AL West foes in his career, compiling a record of 7-6 against those teams. Which might not sound bad but compare that with what he has done with the rest of the league (42-11) it is clear, Hudson needs to solve the mystery of those two teams since A’s will be in a close race this year competing against those two teams. If Hudson can do better against those teams, he can be the X factor that will separate the A’s from everyone else.

Barry Zito:

“…one of the deadliest curveballs in the game.”
What can we say about this guy, has all the natural tools to be a force in the majors? He has the size 6’4″ 205lbs, definitely has the stuff to be a success in the Majors. With less than two years in the major Zito has complied a career record of 24-12 with an ERA of 3.25.

It is clear to A’s fan that out of the three pitching stars Zito might be the best one. Despite a very slow start last year, Zito was able to turn it around and win 17 games, but it does bring to mind what if Zito is prone to slow starts? A’s can not afford that from Zito this year, because of the unbalanced schedule A’s will need Zito 100% right from the get go.

Zito, Unlike Hudson has done pretty well against the AL West teams he has a career record of 10-5 against the teams from the AL West. A’s are going to need those kind of numbers in order to win the west.

Zito has one of the deadliest curveballs in the game. Joe Torre compared it to that of Sandy Koufax, it seems Zito sometimes does over use the curve too much.

He needs to get better with his other pitches, he is still very young and he shows that sometimes, he has issued 125 walks in only 307 career Innings, that is close to 3.7 walks per game. If Zito wants to become a dominate force in the league he needs to concentrate more and get his changeup over for strike more often.

My Prediction for 2002 for Barry Zito is:

21-6 3.26 ERA

Reason behind that is I believe Zito turned the corner over the last few months of the season and pitched beautifully in the post-season . People forget after the home run by Posada he allowed a double to Shane Spencer, those were the only two hits he gave up during his 8 innings of work. Who knows what could have happened if Fat Giambi knew how to slide.

Regardless, Zito has turned the corner professionally, it is my belief he will start the season strong and finish the season strong. Zito if healthy will challenge for the CY Young award. Although he must remain focused throughout the season and must avoid a bad start, for the sake of the A’s Zito can not afford to go winless like he did for a span of two months last year.

Mark Mulder:

“…excellent ball control”
Ultimate Pro, never had doubt about his ability. Despite being soft spoken he is as competitive as the next guy. Mulder broke through last year after an injury plagued rookie campaign.

Mulder gained an extra 2-3 miles on his fastball and breezed through the year with a 21-8 record. Built like a Basketball player, Mulder gave the A’s a fighting chance to stay in the race while the team struggled immensely in the first two months.

His Record of 7-2 in the first two months gave the A’s a fighting chance to stay in the race. Mulder has excellent control he issued only 55 walk in 229 innings. The comes to barely over 2 a game, Mulder did throw a lot of innings but out of three starters he averaged the least amount of pitches per game with 97.1.

Mulder coasted through the league. He pitched 6 CG and induced 26 double plays by far most on the A’s starting staff, his heavy sinker/slider combination gave left handed hitters fit who managed to hit only .242 against him.

My Prediction for 2002 for Mulder is

18-8 3.58 ERA.

Mulder pitched over his head a little last year and caught the league by surprise with his additional speed on his fastball, Hitters will be looking for the extra hit. He will need to make more adjustments, if he can do that he will gave the A’s a chance to compete. He was brilliant after the break with a 12-2 record and an ERA of 3.11. If he can start the season with the same success, he will be the key cod in the A’s Machine.

The Triplets all need to have 17+ win season once again but most importantly of all they all need to remain healthy. Art Howe did a good job of keeping the pitch count down for all three, they were all under 105 pitches per game. If they all pitch like they did last year, I feel bad for the teams who have to face these guys in a series. Remember what they did to the World Champions Diamondbacks before the All-Star Break?

Like the language of all sports, baseball terms can be a mystery to those unfamiliar with the game. There are balls and strikes and walks and balks, hitters and pitchers and infields and outfields! How can we make sense of all these words? This article will demystify the language of baseball.

First, let’s discuss the field of play. The baseball field is like a big slice of pizza, with home plate at the tip of the slice, the infield taking up a diamond ninety feet to a side with one corner at home plate, and everything between the infield and the outer edge of the pizza, or outfield wall, being called the outfield. In the infield, there are four bases: home plate, and then first base, second base, and third base, counting counter-clockwise from home plate. The outfield is divided into left field, center field, and right field, named from the point of view of a batter looking straight out from home plate.

Near the center of the infield, sixty feet and six inches from home plate along a line between home plate and second base, is the pitcher’s mound. To either side of home plate lies the batters box, defined by chalk lines, in which the batter stands.

The field is also divided into fair and foul territory, as is defined by the foul lines: balls hit inside the lines are fair and all others foul. These lines are drawn in chalk and extend out from home plate including an angle of ninety degrees, from the first- and third base lines, all the way to the outfield wall. Foul poles extend into the air where the foul lines meet the outfield wall to allow balls hit beyond the outfield walls on the fly to be called fair or foul.

The tools of play include the baseball bat, a baton of wood or hollow aluminum which the batter swings in order to hit the pitch. However, for younger leagues there are more strict requirements about the bats using in you must use the best youth baseball bats and the glove, a leather piece worn on one of a fielder’s hands to aid in catching the ball. A catcher’s glove is given a special name: the catcher’s mitt. In addition, all batters must wear a metal batting helmet for protection while batting.

The nine players on the field are the pitcher, who throws a pitch to home plate from the pitcher’s mound, and eight fielders, named for the position they play. In addition to the first-, second-, and third baseman and the left-, center- and right fielders, there are the catcher and the shortstop positions. The catcher crouches behind home plate and catches pitches which the batter does not make contact with, and the shortstop is an extra infielder who is usually positioned between the second- and third baseman. A special “position” called the designated hitter is employed in some leagues; this is a batter who hits in the place of another fielder (almost always the pitcher) but who does not play the field.

Players are also categorized according to where they hit in the batting order, or lineup. This is a list of the nine players who bat, in the order the manager of the given team wishes them to bat. Batters come to the plate in the order in which they appear in the batting order; the batting order turns over to the first place hitter after the ninth hitter has batted. Special spots in the batting order are the first batter, called the leadoff hitter, and the hitter in the fourth position, called the cleanup hitter. In general, the leadoff hitter is meant to get on base so that the following batters can drive him in to score a run, and the cleanup hitter is a batter proficient at driving runners home (more on these concepts below).

Officiating the game are four umpires, the home plate umpire, and one umpire at each of the other three bases. During playoff games in Major League Baseball, the highest professional league of baseball in the United States, additional umpires are employed along the baselines.

Rawlings Maple Wood Youth Bat is a dream baseball bat for any young players with high ambitions. It was launched to fit the actual users and make the game more interesting.Built in a lightweight and balanced design.

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With great comfort and grip at the handle and beautiful finish and graphics, this alloy layered bat is a nice piece for your kid’s training and little leagues.

Features of the Rawlings Maple Wood Youth Bat

Rawlings Maple Wood Bat is designed to meet the needs of the consumers. After hours of research, testing and analyzing the features.

Performance End Cap and Knob

You must always go for a firm and comfortable grip when purchasing a baseball bat for your little baseball player. Built with a performance end cap and knob, this baseball bat will stay put and sturdy on your son’s little hands and offer him the best generation of swing power.

Thinly Layered RX4 Alloy

The maple wood baseball bats is covered with a thin layer of alloy which improves its swing speed as well as the bop each time you hit the ball. Besides, this addition makes the baseball bat more resistant to chips and dents. It is therefore one of the most long lasting bats in the market today.

2 5/8 Inch Barrel Diameter

This is larger than the normal 2.25, meaning you can use it for little league as well as other higher youth leagues. If your son is ambitious and determined to be a great baseball player in life, then you should consider buying him this bat to grow with in the game.

Lightweight Balanced Design

other feature of this bat, this one makes it perfect for baseball kids. It is designed in a lightweight and great balance for easier swings and yet powerful bops on the ball. This bat is constructed to make the work of your small baseball player easier while perfecting the performance.

-13oz Length to Weight Ratio

It also comes in a perfect length to weight ratio, ideal for use by almost all little players. This is exactly what you need for your little league baseball player, to make the game more interesting and full of great results.

PROS

It does not vibrate much during use
The light swing weight makes it perfect for little players
Larger barrel makes it accurate and ideal for attack
This Durable bat comes for the right budget
Hits the ball with a great bop despite the lightweight

CONS

Bought this for my son, and all his friends wants to use it, meaning it will wear out fast
Features at a Glance
Lightweight
Balanced design
Thinly Layered

Asked and answer

I am worried about the size descriptions given, is this bat 2 1/4 or 2 5/8 inches?

A:Sorry about the confusing description, the bat is 2 1/4 inches.

Is this bat ideal for power hitters trying to hit home runs?

This is simply a perfect bat for power hitters. It has a one piece design and stiff flex making it ideal for power hitters.

Is this a balanced bat for a fast swing?

Rawlings Maple Wood Youth Bat is a great bat with a balanced swing weight.

This is what you should get for your little baseball player to grow with. With approval for little leagues and confirmed safe for use by junior baseball players, this Maple Wood Youth bat is the perfect result to your new bat search.

With a sizeable barrel and a perfect weight to length ration, this Rawlings baseball bat can be very enjoyable to use. It makes ball crashing much easier and even more interesting.