Striking Out Too Much

[3RDBASE]

I play for a Senior Elite League team in [Montreal, Quebec Canada] I currently on a K streak! Almost 1-2 a game. Most of my 75% of my hits were off first pitch fastballs, and the other 25% off curves. I can honestly say I am an aggressive hitter because when I strike out, they are usually swinging and not looking at the 3rd strike. In addition, left 12 On Base in 15 games. At the beginning of the season I was hitting 2nd position, then 1st position, 5th, 6th, and now currently 7th place.

What can I be doing wrong?

Here are my stats...[Highlighted]

Click on the link :)


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y283/groundshaka/Untitled-1copy.jpg?t=1183601792
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y283/groundshaka/Untitled-2.jpg?t=1183602138

[Jake Patterson]

Your stats may not help much. Do you have a clip of your swing???

[virg]

Are you having trouble sorting out the ball from the background? Is the swing abrupt/ jerky/ rough? When do you stride? Holding your eyes level? Any particular location involved?

[scorekeeper]

I play for a Senior Elite League team in [Montreal, Quebec Canada] I currently on a K streak! Almost 1-2 a game. Most of my 75% of my hits were off first pitch fastballs, and the other 25% off curves. I can honestly say I am an aggressive hitter because when I strike out, they are usually swinging and not looking at the 3rd strike. In addition, left 12 On Base in 15 games. At the beginning of the season I was hitting 2nd position, then 1st position, 5th, 6th, and now currently 7th place.

What can I be doing wrong?

The trouble with looking at those particular stats is, they tell nearly nothing. Go to http://infosports.net/scorekeeper/images/cbatting.pdf and scan through the stats. Can you see that there’s a big difference between the “standard” stats you displayed and the other ones? There’s really no way anyone could make much of a guess about what you might be doing using such minimal stats.

However, there are some things I can suggest.

What is a Senior Elite League team? The first thing I thought of was that you were some 50YO guy who prolly needed glasses but was too vain to believe it. :D But even assuming you’re just a youngster, the idea that your eyes might be a problem is a valid one. If you haven’t had an eye exam in 6 months, get one. It can’t hurt!

Before I see a swing or ask questions that ask you to assess something that you might have a totally different concept as I do, how about just checking some common sense things, that only you can answer. We’ll try to see if we can find the easiest solution.

Can you nail down pretty close to when this problem started. That’s important because it’ll give you a time frame to answer some other questions.

Was there anything in your game that changed in the week or two before the problem manifested itself. FI, did you have any kind of injury that might have affected your play, no matter how slightly? Did you start taking any new meds, or change prescriptions? Has there been any kind of traumatic event in your life like losing a friend or relative, even if it was only moving away?

Have you changed any equipment at all? New bat or new spikes?

Have pitchers been pitching differently to you?

Has the general quality of the pitching changed?

Have you been getting more PA’s with runners on or in scoring position?

Has the manager changed your batting or fielding position?

Have your practice routines changed?

My guess is, unless your swing was fairly rancid before and you were just lucky, something’s changed you aren’t even aware of.

I don’t know how old you are, but there are a lot of things you wouldn’t guess would make any difference at all, that could very well be affecting you, especially when your young.

My son went into a two week funk on the ball field when he got a speeding ticket and was worried I’d take his key from him. I’ve watched lots of pretty good HS age players allow their love fives to affect their play too.

What I’m trying to say is, you need to sit down and think! The last thing you want to do is try all kinds of mechanical fixes before you’re pretty sure there’s something mechanically wrong!
:dismay:

[3RDBASE]

Are you having trouble sorting out the ball from the background? Is the swing abrupt/ jerky/ rough? When do you stride? Holding your eyes level? Any particular location involved?

I don't have trouble sorting the ball although I never looked at the pitchers hands during his throw. Swing is short and quick [quick hands my teammates say], small stride, although sometimes i catch my left foot striding towards the pitcher 5-6 inches, when I let balls pass. My eyes are always level because my stance is wider than my shoulders. My stance is similar to Russell Martin's , but my hands are closer to my right chest pectoral. I swing at outside pitches even when they are balls, but sometimes hard to fight off... No real good battles against the pitcher when I'm deep in the count.[That's where the K's come in]

[3RDBASE]

The trouble with looking at those particular stats is, they tell nearly nothing. Go to http://infosports.net/scorekeeper/images/cbatting.pdf and scan through the stats. Can you see that there’s a big difference between the “standard” stats you displayed and the other ones? There’s really no way anyone could make much of a guess about what you might be doing using such minimal stats.

However, there are some things I can suggest.

What is a Senior Elite League team? The first thing I thought of was that you were some 50YO guy who prolly needed glasses but was too vain to believe it. :D But even assuming you’re just a youngster, the idea that your eyes might be a problem is a valid one. If you haven’t had an eye exam in 6 months, get one. It can’t hurt!

Before I see a swing or ask questions that ask you to assess something that you might have a totally different concept as I do, how about just checking some common sense things, that only you can answer. We’ll try to see if we can find the easiest solution.

Can you nail down pretty close to when this problem started. That’s important because it’ll give you a time frame to answer some other questions.

Was there anything in your game that changed in the week or two before the problem manifested itself. FI, did you have any kind of injury that might have affected your play, no matter how slightly? Did you start taking any new meds, or change prescriptions? Has there been any kind of traumatic event in your life like losing a friend or relative, even if it was only moving away?

Have you changed any equipment at all? New bat or new spikes?

Have pitchers been pitching differently to you?

Has the general quality of the pitching changed?

Have you been getting more PA’s with runners on or in scoring position?

Has the manager changed your batting or fielding position?

Have your practice routines changed?

My guess is, unless your swing was fairly rancid before and you were just lucky, something’s changed you aren’t even aware of.

I don’t know how old you are, but there are a lot of things you wouldn’t guess would make any difference at all, that could very well be affecting you, especially when your young.

My son went into a two week funk on the ball field when he got a speeding ticket and was worried I’d take his key from him. I’ve watched lots of pretty good HS age players allow their love fives to affect their play too.

What I’m trying to say is, you need to sit down and think! The last thing you want to do is try all kinds of mechanical fixes before you’re pretty sure there’s something mechanically wrong!
:dismay:



Senior Elite League www.lbseq.com and www.lseq.com ***Majority of the Quebec drafted players come out of these leagues. Eric Gagne, Russell Martin, Jonathan Forest, etc...
No age limit, I just turned 24, 5'10 195-200 pounds
Bats RH Throws RH
Plays 3rd base, and catcher
Been playing since i was 7 years old in leagues.
My eyes are fine.

If you look at my stats [2nd link] ... started about 5-6 games ago. out of 15 games. In a 3 week span. No injuries, no medications, no traumatic event whatsoever.

The first couple of games I used an Easton Stealth 34/31 bat. Found it too long, so I bought myself an Easton Reflex 33/30.

Pitchers pitch differently? Well I was hitting in different spots of the batting line up. 2nd, 1st, 5th, 6th, now currently 7th. I find pitchers tend to throw more garbage earlier in the line-up compared to seeing more fastballs when you go deeper into the batting order.

General quality pitching is fair. I'll see 75MPH - 86MPH fastballs.

Yes I've been getting a lot of PA's with RISP.

[3RDBASE]

Your stats may not help much. Do you have a clip of your swing???

When I get the chance, I will ask a friend to record my baseball swing during a practice and during real game play.:homeplate:

[Whitesoxnut]

Kinda sounds like the pitchers have you figured out, not an unusual situation by July. And now your pressing, losing confidence, and mentally taking yourself out of the at bat. Now I'm assuming nothing is wrong with your mechanics.

The answer is simple. Extra hitting practice. You need to get it back in your head that the "K" just doesn't exist for you.

By now the pitchers in your league all know the outside pitch will get you for a 3rd strike. That really drives me nuts because I taught my kid the strike zone. I look over the videos of his games and these umps call a 3rd strike on a pitch 6 to 10" off the plate.

[TG Coach]

... I never looked at the pitchers hands during his throw.

Are you kidding? When and where do you pick up the ball? This is most likely your problem. Your decision making time is not what it could be.

[virg]

Are you kidding? When and where do you pick up the ball? This is most likely your problem. Your decision making time is not what it could be.

This is it. Watch release point, Not the windup. Look for a trace of white as the hand starts forward. Don't look for A Ball, just the first bit of White. This may come well before release. Follow that white and it will become the ball. Earlier visual pickup gives you a smoother start, etc.

[3RDBASE]

Are you kidding? When and where do you pick up the ball? This is most likely your problem. Your decision making time is not what it could be.

Honestly, the majority of the pitchers I have faced so far in my first 50 AB of the season are average.. if not below average... Since I am a first pitch swinging hitter, I usually don't look at the pitchers hands and when I'm deep in the count, I'll catch the rotation of the ball after the pitcher releases the baseball.

[3RDBASE]

This is it. Watch release point, Not the windup. Look for a trace of white as the hand starts forward. Don't look for A Ball, just the first bit of White. This may come even before release. Follow that white and it will become the ball. Earlier visual pickup gives you a smoother start, etc.

Where do you look? At the release point? When the pitcher recoils? As soon as the pitcher gets the baseball?

[virg]

Where do you look? At the release point? When the pitcher recoils? As soon as the pitcher gets the baseball?

Observe ordinary release point approaches. Know where his delivery brings it forward. Be watching there by delivery. Never watch the windup or early stuff. He will simultaneously draw back his hand & stride. All he does then that really matters is **** /stride, the rest is fluff.

something's wrong here Jake, correcting it is a waste of time. check PM

[Centerfielder2]

i had a problem with this a little but i wasnt striking out

you need to get your pitch and hit it

dont swing at a pitchers pitch like a ball in the oppo. batters box

if u just focus more on hitting your pitch and or strikes u should be finw

[scorekeeper]

Senior Elite League www.lbseq.com and www.lseq.com ***Majority of the Quebec drafted players come out of these leagues. Eric Gagne, Russell Martin, Jonathan Forest, etc...
No age limit, I just turned 24, 5'10 195-200 pounds
Bats RH Throws RH
Plays 3rd base, and catcher
Been playing since i was 7 years old in leagues.
My eyes are fine.

Interesting. I have a very good friend playing for the Calgary Vipers right now. It seems as though Canada has more baseball goin’ on than most people realize.

If you look at my stats [2nd link] ... started about 5-6 games ago. out of 15 games. In a 3 week span. No injuries, no medications, no traumatic event whatsoever.

The 2nd link wouldn’t hook up for me.

Are you saying your current problem has only been going on for a week? If that’s so, what you’re going through is nothing more than a little slump, and everyone from Ty Cobb to Ted Williams has gone through one of those. Changing what you’ve trained yourself to do and been successful at for 17 years seems a bit frivolous to me.

The first couple of games I used an Easton Stealth 34/31 bat. Found it too long, so I bought myself an Easton Reflex 33/30.

How often do you change bats?

I’m not quite understanding. Are you saying you were using some other bat, then changed to the 34/31? Or, had you been using the 34/31, then because you had a couple bad games decided to change?

Are these metal bats? Seems a bit strange for any kind of “elite” league at that age.

Whenever I hear of someone changing something as personal as a bat and then suddenly experiencing a change in performance, I have to look in that direction first.

Pitchers pitch differently? Well I was hitting in different spots of the batting line up. 2nd, 1st, 5th, 6th, now currently 7th. I find pitchers tend to throw more garbage earlier in the line-up compared to seeing more fastballs when you go deeper into the batting order.

General quality pitching is fair. I'll see 75MPH - 86MPH fastballs.

Yes I've been getting a lot of PA's with RISP.

Its kind of backwards thinking that throwing FBs to low order hitters is how to get them out. That’s a tactic usually employed at very low levels like 13U, because there’s so many just plain old bad hitters, and bad hitters simply can’t get around on it because of a fatal swing flaw.

But, just the opposite generally happens as you climb higher in levels. Usually, by the time you get to the level you’re at, the majority of bad hitters are gone, and you’ll start to see that almost all hitters can hit just about any FB because its the easiest pitch to hit, but they have tremendous problems with off speed and breaking pitches.

If you’re 24, been playing for 17 years, are seeing lots of FB’s at 75-86 and are having trouble, I’d consider that you might have a fatal flaw and seek out some “COMPETENT” help. Do you have access to any credentialed private batting instructors?

[scorekeeper]

Kinda sounds like the pitchers have you figured out, not an unusual situation by July. And now your pressing, losing confidence, and mentally taking yourself out of the at bat. Now I'm assuming nothing is wrong with your mechanics.

The answer is simple. Extra hitting practice. You need to get it back in your head that the "K" just doesn't exist for you.

By now the pitchers in your league all know the outside pitch will get you for a 3rd strike. That really drives me nuts because I taught my kid the strike zone. I look over the videos of his games and these umps call a 3rd strike on a pitch 6 to 10" off the plate.

Sounds pretty much like we have the same opinion of what’s goin on with 3rdbase. Playing ball, especially at a level where you have to play the same teams many times, means both P’s and H’s will constantly need to be adjusting in order to stay ahead of what the other guys has learned. So what seems to happen is, success depends just as much on the ability to adapt as it dos on skills.

Please tell me you’re exaggerating about the 6-10” off the plate being called a strike.

I don’t know a video system other than QuesTec and now Pitcherf/x, and as far as a single camera goes, one that’s directly over the plate, that has the ability to accurately tell inside/outside pitches.

What are you using for a camera, and where is it placed?

[Whitesoxnut]

Sounds pretty much like we have the same opinion of what’s goin on with 3rdbase. Playing ball, especially at a level where you have to play the same teams many times, means both P’s and H’s will constantly need to be adjusting in order to stay ahead of what the other guys has learned. So what seems to happen is, success depends just as much on the ability to adapt as it dos on skills.

Please tell me you’re exaggerating about the 6-10” off the plate being called a strike.

I don’t know a video system other than QuesTec and now Pitcherf/x, and as far as a single camera goes, one that’s directly over the plate, that has the ability to accurately tell inside/outside pitches.

What are you using for a camera, and where is it placed?

I use 3 cams when shooting a game. The first one, my main one, I operate on either sideline "depending on where my light source is, and in between the base and the outfielder. My 2nd cam I have way out in CF, offset a bit, and chained to a tree or a post. My 3'rd cam is chained the same way on the opposite side of where I'm shooting at. Again way out in the outfield chained to something and getting the opposite angle of where I'm shooting.

So I'm often on the right foul line with my main #1 cam, my 2nd cam is in CF, and my 3rd is in LF shooting that angle. Both #2 & #3 are set on auto and in the 4th inning I have to run out and change tapes. With cam #1 I follow the ball wherever it goes. I'm an experienced editor "I do this professionally" and when I produce game videos they are often of the cusp of "extraordinary". All 3 cams I have on sticks as well.

With my main cam I run a audio cable/shotgun to home plate and get that audio source, which I mix with the audio source of my on-cam #1 mic. I sync the 3 tapes up in my timeline, inning by inning, be finding that one frame from each cam where a players bat hits a ball.

Video of that quality is a tremendous training source. And yes I can see strikes and outs very well.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Before this season, I was striking out a lot as well.

But this season, my coach gave me some tips to adapt my batting stance.

I did and since then I am hitting quite well. I have also changed my attitude towards striking out. I used to think: I don't want to strike out, I must hit the ball." Because of that, I was so f...ed up that striking out was inevitable.
Nowadays I think:"If I strike out, so what? It is not the end of the world."

I think these two things helped me to become a better batter.

I don't know if my batting stance will help you, but just talk with your coach or trainer about it.

Good luck!

[scorekeeper]

I use 3 cams when shooting a game.

That’s a great way to shoot training vids! Often when I’d tape my son pitching, I’d set the camera up on a telescoping 15’ tripod, so I could set the camera directly behind the P and slightly above him. When I did that, I wasn’t at all interested in Hi/Lo, but rather the movement on the ball, and In/Out.

When he was taking lessons, sometimes I’d set the camera a foot or so behind the rubber and right on the ground. A couple times I’d dig a shallow hole about 5’ in front of HP to get a really good look at mechanics from the front.

Of course I’m no eggspurt, but the vids were pretty amazing when one had the time to sit and study them. I’d often wish I had 6 cameras so I could get lots of different looks at the same pitch, but then I’d have had to have 6 tape machines, 6 monitors, etc..

What would really be neat is to use a camera that had a harddrive so you could look at things all at once on a big ol’ hi def TV.

Video of that quality is a tremendous training source. And yes I can see strikes and outs very well.

I’m flabbergasted! I can’t say that outside of 12U youth ball, I’ve ever seen a pitch 10” off the plate called a strike, let alone what you seem to indicate is a set of umps for an entire league doing it all the time! WOWSERS! Why don’t you play in a different venue?

[scorekeeper]

Yankeebiscuitfan,

What kind of league do you play in at 40YO in Amsterdam?:noidea

[Whitesoxnut]

I’m flabbergasted! I can’t say that outside of 12U youth ball, I’ve ever seen a pitch 10” off the plate called a strike, let alone what you seem to indicate is a set of umps for an entire league doing it all the time! WOWSERS! Why don’t you play in a different venue?

10" is a stretch. Tho Ive seen it happen. Put it this way, with some umps if its within 6", with 2 strikes, you had better swing. The real issue is if the ump is consistent or not. One ump, a friend, is a great ump. But he will call the 3rd strike thats off the plate. However his strike zone hasn't changed in the 6 years Ive known him so thats really all you can ask for.

I think when you start getting into high school ball things start to change. With some of these 12yo, 13yo, 14yo,pitchers if an ump called a MLB type strike zone you would start the game at 8 pm and be finished at 8 am. I mean lets face it!

That’s a great way to shoot training vids! Often when I’d tape my son pitching, I’d set the camera up on a telescoping 15’ tripod, so I could set the camera directly behind the P and slightly above him. When I did that, I wasn’t at all interested in Hi/Lo, but rather the movement on the ball, and In/Out.

Yeah they are a tremendous training aid. And instead of being selfish I make the things available to all the parents and coaches for a nominal fee of a couple $. Mind you I use 6 80 min. DV tapes for each game and they go for $12 a whack.

Sometimes I'll setup a 3rd cam behind the backstop and even tho the wire backstop gets in the way its a good angle to see hitting mechanics. And thats the best part of it all. I can slow motion and go over every part of the game.

Of course I’m no eggspurt, but the vids were pretty amazing when one had the time to sit and study them. I’d often wish I had 6 cameras so I could get lots of different looks at the same pitch, but then I’d have had to have 6 tape machines, 6 monitors, etc..

Yeah, Ideally six would be perfect. The whole trick is having that one frame per inning that you can sync all the cameras with. I like to use a batter hitting a ball. Once you have that one sync hit on all the cams then you can do whatever you want with the cams as long as you keep tape rolling. An even better way, a way I use for wedding, is a camera flash. Line up all the cams with that one flash and then they are in sync.

What would really be neat is to use a camera that had a hard drive so you could look at things all at once on a big ol’ hi def TV.

They do make portable hard drives you can attache to any video cam. They are expensive however. I know there are cams with built in hard drives but what would you do if you filled it up? Your out of action then and most such cams Ive seen have about 30 gig hard drives which is about 2 hours of DV video and 16 bit, 48 kl, audio. The HDV cams have bigger drives but high def video files are much bigger.

Anyway I'm trying to upload a video of how I shoot a game but my video server is very slow tonight.

[SluggerCF91]

The strike zones in high school don't change much from the strike zones of Little league. Umpires still call strikes that are sometimes 6 inches off the plate on both sides. Pitchers know this and live off the plate.

[kylebee]

Honestly, the majority of the pitchers I have faced so far in my first 50 AB of the season are average.. if not below average... Since I am a first pitch swinging hitter, I usually don't look at the pitchers hands and when I'm deep in the count, I'll catch the rotation of the ball after the pitcher releases the baseball.

This doesn't sound too promising. Scouts want to see good plate discipline, and not being able to identify pitches early and swinging at first pitches pretty much violates this.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Yankeebiscuitfan,

What kind of league do you play in at 40YO in Amsterdam?:noidea

I don't live in Amsterdam anymore. I was born there and I have lived there until my 30th. Now I live in the Southern part of the Netherlands.

Overhere adult baseall has seven divisions. The highest is the "Hoofdklasse". Compare that with Major League (not the level of play). Then you have the "eerste klasse" or first division. This goes down to the sixth division.

The Hoofdklasse and the first division contain teams from all over the country. The second division and lower are divided into sub divisions of regions. So it will not happen that a team from Amsterdam must travel all the way down south to play a game.

A champion of it's division will be promoted to the higher division. When a team finishes last, it will be demoted to a lower division.

My team, The Stags from Etten-Leur is playing in the fifth division, region G.

It is a normal competition where everyone can play if he wants to. In our competition there is also an old timers team that is playing for fun, and they are doing quite well.

If you have any questions about Dutch baseball, just ask. I am always willing to answer them.

[Encinitas]

I remember being excited when I was in Holland on business and my bus drove by a youth baseball game. Good to hear the sport is growing there, where all of my dutch co-workers seemed to only care about soccer.

[scorekeeper]

10" is a stretch. Tho Ive seen it happen. Put it this way, with some umps if its within 6", with 2 strikes, you had better swing. The real issue is if the ump is consistent or not. One ump, a friend, is a great ump. But he will call the 3rd strike thats off the plate. However his strike zone hasn't changed in the 6 years Ive known him so thats really all you can ask for.

Do you really believe umps knowingly call pitches differently with 2 strikes?

I’ve always wondered whether “consistency” is something real or perceived.


I think when you start getting into high school ball things start to change. With some of these 12yo, 13yo, 14yo,pitchers if an ump called a MLB type strike zone you would start the game at 8 pm and be finished at 8 am. I mean lets face it!

LOL! Yeah, young P’s don’t have nearly the ability to throw the ball through the eye of a needle as some may think, but trust me, the vast number of P’s in HS can’t do a whole lot better.

Yeah they are a tremendous training aid. And instead of being selfish I make the things available to all the parents and coaches for a nominal fee of a couple $. Mind you I use 6 80 min. DV tapes for each game and they go for $12 a whack.

That’s great. I’ve long held a belief that seeing is believing, especially in one’s baseball skills. But what I tell people is that they not only should look at current tapes of their kids, they should keep all of them, and mark them somehow as to “Good” or “Bad” examples.

IMHO, too many people get instructional vids or clips of ML P’s, then try to compare their kids to that without ever once realizing that every P is very different. By continually comparing a P to himself, its much easier to see changes and how they might affect performance.

Yeah, Ideally six would be perfect. The whole trick is having that one frame per inning that you can sync all the cameras with. I like to use a batter hitting a ball. Once you have that one sync hit on all the cams then you can do whatever you want with the cams as long as you keep tape rolling. An even better way, a way I use for wedding, is a camera flash. Line up all the cams with that one flash and then they are in sync.

A friend of mine used to have a production company that made commercials, and what they did was to sync the camera internal clocks with a remote pulse. Then when the tapes were edited, it was a piece of cake. You should have heard the laugh when I asked to borrow 4 of them. LOL!

They do make portable hard drives you can attache to any video cam. They are expensive …

All I can say is, I’m glad I’m well past the stage of feeling the need to go through all the trouble to help a kid turn into a ML’er. It was fun, but I find the best of the old vids are the ones where I just taped him throwing in games for the fun of it.

Anyway I'm trying to upload a video of how I shoot a game but my video server is very slow tonight.

Keep trying!

[Whitesoxnut]

Do you really believe umps knowingly call pitches differently with 2 strikes?

I never said that. You do, however, notice it more when the pitch is a 3rd strike. Most of all with runners on base in an important game. There are some good umps at this age group but many suck. The worst are the ones who just want to get the game over with and go home.

I’ve always wondered whether “consistency” is something real or perceived.

Its real when you study video, game after game, and pattern a umps strike zone. Its real in MLB where teams actually have profiles of Umps and their strike zones. On the level of MLB a wrong call on a 3rd strike, or any strike or ball, can cost an organization millions of $$$. Think about it.

LOL! Yeah, young P’s don’t have nearly the ability to throw the ball through the eye of a needle as some may think, but trust me, the vast number of P’s in HS can’t do a whole lot better.
That’s great. I’ve long held a belief that seeing is believing, especially in one’s baseball skills. But what I tell people is that they not only should look at current tapes of their kids, they should keep all of them, and mark them somehow as to “Good” or “Bad” examples.

I think the most you can ask of an Ump is to be consistent. Umping is not an easy job. Its far easier to do when your sitting in the stands then it is when behind the plate, as is coaching, and its why I'm supportive of the umps. However, when my kid was called out on strikes in a close playoff game, with 2 runners in scoring position, and 2 of the strikes were at least 6" outside......I was pissed!! It was the closest I ever cam to saying something to an umpire.

, too many people get instructional vids or clips of ML P’s, then try to compare their kids to that without ever once realizing that every P is very different. By continually comparing a P to himself, its much easier to see changes and how they might affect performance.

I agree. Many parents just cant understand that there is really no "completely right way" to play baseball. Yes there are set fundamentals but all you have to do is watch a MLB game and you'll see 18 different ways to bat, and a few different ways to pitch. My personally philosophy is that if it aint broke dont fix it.

A friend of mine used to have a production company that made commercials, and what they did was to sync the camera internal clocks with a remote pulse. Then when the tapes were edited, it was a piece of cake. You should have heard the laugh when I asked to borrow 4 of them. LOL!

Theres a few different ways to do it. Almost all video nowadays is shot with some kind of time code and as long as you have a set point where to match up the time code you can sync with that. You can also sync with audio spikes in the waveforms that are laid out in the timeline of your editing software. Of course the cameras have to be about the same distance from the action because sound is a fairly slow medium. If I'm 150' from the action, and I have a shotgun mic right at the batters box and a 2nd mic on my camera, you'd be surprised how that 150' can distort the audio. Why? Of course, is because the sound has to travel farther to get to the camera mic. Thus in editing I actually have to finagle the audio waveform of the shotgun mic up a few frames to sync up with the cam mic.

All I can say is, I’m glad I’m well past the stage of feeling the need to go through all the trouble to help a kid turn into a ML’er. It was fun, but I find the best of the old vids are the ones where I just taped him throwing in games for the fun of it.

Keep trying

My goal, win or lose, is to use video to help my kid play sound fundamental baseball. I'm not hung up on him making the bigs or any other thing. I'm far more interested in his school grades.

Baseball is a game where the "little skills" matter an awful lot. Bunting, holding a runner on, reading a pitcher, positioning the outfield, getting a jump on the ball,hitting a cutoff, pitching mechanics...I could go on and on. I enjoy nothing more then watching kids play sound fundemental baseball.

[scorekeeper]

OK, I understand what you were saying, and yes, depending on the perspective, it might be much more noticeable in one situation as opposed to another.

You bet I understand how lots of $$$$$$$ is literally riding on every pitch.

I’m not so sure that there are as many “inconsistent” umps as people think there are, at least inconsistent in the sense that most people mean when discussing this topic. Again, I honestly believe the view as to the ump’s consistency depends almost entirely on ones perspective.

I often listen to the chatter going on during games and get a huge kick out of how the perception of the ump’s ability to call pitches and his consistency, often depends on who’s ox he just gored!

[b]If it aint broke dont fix it[/i] is a little stronger than my philosophy. After talking to several players and coaches who participated at the highest level there is, MLB, its become apparent that players need to constantly be willing to make adjustments. Not big ones mind you, because the smallest adjustments can often have huge ramifications.

What always cracks me up is, the easiest thing about the game to teach and improve on are the fundies, but so many people try to make it much more complicated than that.
:laugh

[korp]

Its possible you might be too agressive. Say you swing at a bad first pitch now you in the hole .... say now breaking ball you take ... now in the hole big. Its not bad to be an agressive hitter but you have to make sure the balls you swing at are good enough pitchers you can drive. Also if you show you will swing at a bad pitch early they will try to make it haunt you later on. Also make sure you don't try and do too much when hitting because it can make you grip that bat tighter, make your swing real short and a number of other problems. Also they could have just found a problem in your swing that they are exposing so examine how they pitch you and see if they are going to your weaknesses ... goes along with agressive swinging.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Its possible you might be too agressive. Say you swing at a bad first pitch now you in the hole .... say now breaking ball you take ... now in the hole big. Its not bad to be an agressive hitter but you have to make sure the balls you swing at are good enough pitchers you can drive. Also if you show you will swing at a bad pitch early they will try to make it haunt you later on. Also make sure you don't try and do too much when hitting because it can make you grip that bat tighter, make your swing real short and a number of other problems. Also they could have just found a problem in your swing that they are exposing so examine how they pitch you and see if they are going to your weaknesses ... goes along with agressive swinging.

Just wait for the right ball to come. If you strike out because your ball wasn't thrown, you'll always have a second or third at bat.

This morning I went 0 for 2 in my first two at bats (one good hit at the short stop, who couldn't handle the ball and a K). Last year I would have freaked out. But now, in my next two at bats, I stayed calm, waited for my ball to come and I hit a single and a double to right field.

Patience is the key here.

[korp]

Just wait for the right ball to come. If you strike out because your ball wasn't thrown, you'll always have a second or third at bat.

This morning I went 0 for 2 in my first two at bats (one good hit at the short stop, who couldn't handle the ball and a K). Last year I would have freaked out. But now, in my next two at bats, I stayed calm, waited for my ball to come and I hit a single and a double to right field.

Patience is the key here.

Thats a very good point. Many people will let earlier instances influence what they do later on which can lead to a down spiral. Take each chance as a clean slate and do like you know how.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Thats a very good point. Many people will let earlier instances influence what they do later on which can lead to a down spiral. Take each chance as a clean slate and do like you know how.

Of course it has to do with confidence as well (like you meant with the down spiral).

Until this season, I only had one .300+ season. For the rest I hit around .200 and I was insecure like hell. Thus striking out a lot.

But since I have adapted my batting stance this season, I am hitting .500 for the season so far. And that makes me confident.

Even after I went 0-3 last week, with 2 K's, I didn't lose my temper.

[Whitesoxnut]

Here are some clips from 3 camcorder shoots. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxRW7LK0KaA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rhH0RPnEMwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erjZaoHeI_c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rhH0RPnEMw

[scorekeeper]

Here are some clips from 3 camcorder shoots. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxRW7LK0KaA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rhH0RPnEMwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erjZaoHeI_c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rhH0RPnEMw

:happy:

Nice job!

I did have to laugh though. those clips seem to prove my hypothesis that at just about any level, but especially the lowest ones, the P’s can be generally picked out because they’re the “most physically mature” players on the field. :happy:

That pitcher sure appears to be immense compared to the other players.

[Whitesoxnut]

:happy:

Nice job!

I did have to laugh though. those clips seem to prove my hypothesis that at just about any level, but especially the lowest ones, the P’s can be generally picked out because they’re the “most physically mature” players on the field. :happy:

That pitcher sure appears to be immense compared to the other players.

That was shot during playoff time and both pitchers are 8'th graders. The one lefty throws very little heat but he mixes speeds up so well hes very tough to hit. He's also very good at holding runners.

One of the toughest pitchers we faced this year was a little guy. Some of the worst were big kids. Baseball in general, and pitching in particular is a game of skill and finesse. I think its really silly that 13yos and 14yos are put on speed guns nowadays. There's plenty of time for that when they are 16 yo , or 17 yo. In my opinion any kids younger then that should be 100% focused on pitching mechanics.