Dear BioForce Faithful, 

It’s been a little longer coming than I wanted, but we are ready to go with our video baseball pitching and hitting tips. 

My first one? Well, I’ve had a lot of emails and requests from readers how to use their own video clips from home to evaluate their pitching or hitting mechanics. 

So, I’ve put this video clip together using my video evaluation software and posted in on a page within the BioForce Baseball website. 

I’ve also included a couple of special offers on this page. You can download the free home version of our software and you can take advantage of an offer I made to the Jugs Sports customers for a video evaluation completed by BioForce. 

So, click on the link below and watch my tip on how to use video to help with your pitching mechanics and hitting mechanics. 

www.bioforcebaseball.com/jugs.shtml 

I’d love to hear your feedback or questions. Let’s get a dialog going on this subject! 

Train Like a Champion Today! 

Coach Bill Mooney 

P.S. Check us out on Facebook now! Type in BioForce Baseball and become a fan today! 

www.bioforcebaseball.com/jugs.shtml

Dear BioForce Faithful,

Do you ever sit on a bench at the mall and watch people go by? How about when you are waiting for a plane at the airport? Do you people watch?

I suppose you are like me and everyone else… we create assessments of people as they go by. “Gee, that person looks like they are in a good mood.” “That person looks like a lawyer.”  “That person probably shouldn’t be eating those French fries.” Am I the only one that does this?

I doubt it.

What about your coach….or if you are the coach? What about you?

I’d like to share a couple of stories about my two boys during their baseball careers.

First, my oldest son Bryce, was pretty good during high school. After a great first game on JV as a freshman, the head coach pulled him up to varsity to pitch. This was at a large high school that actually made the playoffs that year, so it wasn’t a slouch team. Bryce was only 14 at the time. I didn’t think about the social ramifications of him playing with some 18 year olds. Oh well, he seems to be ok now.

What does this have to do with assessments? You can imagine a young, physically immature 14 year old playing with 18 year olds. He was small, ran slower, and didn’t have the power at bat like some of the other kids. But he could play.

What happened over the next couple of years was very interesting. His sophomore year, the coach let him hit a little, but not a ton. The coach pinch ran for him when he had the opportunity. But was it justified? I don’t think so, but I’m the dad and have my own filters. But does a .375 batting average sound too bad? That summer, Bryce got pulled in a tournament game as he was 6 for 10 in the previous 3 games with 9 RBI’s. At that point, the team scored a total of 11 or 12 runs. Yes, he had the bulk of the teams RBI’s.

Why was he pulled? I believe it was the coach’s filters toward him. His perspective of Bryce was that he was slow and didn’t hit well. He even told Bryce that after the series that he pulled him to put in a stronger hitter. The team was batting about .150 that series by the way.

The next year, his junior year, Bryce led the team in doubles and was one off for the home runs lead if my memory serves me. About half way through the season, Bryce asked the coach if he could steal him more. He told him he was too slow. After having enough of that, Bryce called him on the foot speed.

Bryce asked for a foot race with the team. So, after all the guys ran, he ended up being the second or third fastest on the team. What do you think happened? Bryce started stealing a lot more bases.

Do I fault the coach? Is he a bad coach? No. It’s just what happens. We all have filters about other people. It takes a lot to change the coach’s filter of you.

Another example is my younger son Craig. His freshman year in college went very well. Hi ERA was .150 I believe. Among the best of the returning pitchers. His strike out to walk ratio was very good too. The opponent’s batting average against him was very low as well. And he wasn’t given the garbage innings either.

Fast forward to the fall of his sophomore year. He fully expected to participate in a sophomore showcase to help players move on to larger colleges the next year. But when it came time for the showcase, he was the only sophomore pitcher to not be on the roster. He was crushed. He had been looking forward to that for a year. He was wondering why.

I encouraged him to talk with the head coach about his concerns and he eventually did. What was the coach’s response? He told Craig that his numbers last year weren’t very good. We all thought his numbers were excellent and looking at the year-end totals, they were very good. I asked him if he talked to the coach about his numbers, and he did not.

What was it then? Well, Craig isn’t the hardest thrower on the team. But he is one of the better pitchers on the team. Again, I think a coach’s filter may have been a factor in the decision to not put him on the roster. We’ll never know, but a lesson learned.

I encouraged him to go over his numbers last year with the coach to help change the filter. He is reluctant to do that. He wants to just come out this spring on fire like he did last year and try and “re-filter” the coach. It could take a long time to change the coach’s filter though without sitting down and talking about it.

If this is you, then I think that’s what you need to do though is “re-filter.”

It’s tough to change a coach’s perspective and opinion of you, but it can be done.

You do need to talk with the coach. Keep communicating with him. Make sure he is involved in your learning and progress.

And for you coaches that might be reading this… challenge your status-quo. Work hard to remove your filters.

Like President Reagan to Gorbechev, “Tear down this wall!”

Coaches, work on tearing down your filters. We all have them. You’ll be a better coach for it.

Please write to me and share your experiences with filters.

Until next time…

Train like a champion today!

Coach Bill Mooney  

P.S. Look for a special Christmas and Holiday special for our BioForce Online Academy video analysis. It’ll be an offer you can’t refuse.

Dear BioForce Faithful,

Yesterday I was working with one of our more dedicated athletes. I’ve been working with Willie on his pitching and hitting for a couple of years now. He’s got an absolute beautiful left-handed stroke. During our hitting session yesterday, we had a great conversation about hitting and pitching mechanics. Or the conversation went more towards the absence of mechanics.

Over the years, I’ve made the typical coaching mistake by over-coaching mechanics. Let me explain….

Willie had an amazing spring and summer season for hitting. I believe he hit over 600. Yes, 600. And this wasn’t in a slouch league either. He absolutely crushed the ball against every pitcher. Fast pitchers, slow pitchers, junk-ballers…. All of them.

This fall Willie decided to play fall ball. Surprisingly, he flat-out struggled with his hitting. What was different? He stepped up from 8^th grade ball to a high school fall league. The league used only wood bats. His struggles were popping up more often, ground out way too much, and striking out much more often then he ever had. Willie handled the frustration and disappointment well and is working harder than ever but was searching for answers. We hadn’t been together much during the fall, so I hadn’t had a chance to watch him.

Towards the end of his fall season, Willie met his new high school coach started working with him and other players from time-to-time. And what’s the first thing this coach and assistant started to do with his swing? Of course they went to do a wholesale change of his hitting mechanics. To say the least, this fall has been frustrating for Willie between the changes in the league, and the changes the coach was trying to make.

I had a day or so to think about our training session before meeting with my student. How as I going to approach his frustration? What should we work on?

My first thought was to try and get away from talking mechanics and get back to hitting.

So, my strategy on our session was to review what he accomplished last season then listen, ask questions, and let him come to some conclusions. I first asked him about his success this past spring and summer. Of course Willie’s eyes lighted up, and was very proud of his accomplishments. I then asked what changed during the fall. After some thought and a few stabs at it, he came up with a great answer, that the pitching was consistently faster, and the bat was different, and the coach wanted him to make some big changes in his mechanics.

And what did he and the high school coach do when he struggled? They attempted to put band-aids on the problem by shortening his stride, landing on the toe, staying back…. A ton of the old-school teaches. And it just cluttered his brain.

So what did we do?

We talked about the definition of pitching or hitting mechanics. Simply put, your body needs to work in a certain order, or sequence, the hit or throw the ball with consistency, power, and accuracy. That is mechanics. When your sequencing gets out of order, then you struggle.

The underlying factor to this out of order sequencing is rhythm, tempo, and timing. We spent most of the session working on his timing and not talking about mechanics. I believe timing is different than mechanics. Especially if you are an accomplished athlete, your mechanics are probably just fine. Sometimes we get out of whack. Stay focused on your timing mechanism, not necessarily the mechanics of the swing.

So that’s what we did. And you know what? Willie stroked the ball all session….with a wood bat no less. We got rid of the clutter in his head, and focused on being on time. And what that means for hitting I’ll leave for another day.

So, what is your timing mechanism? Spend some time on that, and you will reap the benefits.

Train like a champion today!

Coach Bill Mooney

I received this great question from a high school coach in South Carolina recently. He asks about lifting and competing on the same days.

Here’s what Coach Elliott has to say…

“Hey Coach…I am Toby Elliott, the head baseball coach for Blacksburg High School in Blacksburg South Carolina. We have a teams sports class that some of my players are taking. It is basically a weight lifting class. From my understanding the lifting coach (he is a football coach at our school) is going to make players lift on game day (circuit training with light weight). Before I ask you your opinion as in to “corner” you for your opinion…I believe it is a bad idea. I have lifted weights all of my athletic career, even now at age 39 I lift five days a week, twice a day. I try to keep updated on the latest information, techniques, etc. Our program is a very competitive program. I worry about fatigue (if not early, at the end when momentum is crucial for playoffs or regions championship) and of course I worry about injury. I can’t see where it will actually help us win games, but I can see the potential of hurting us. I can’t dictate who should and shouldn’t b/c most are pitchers and the guys not starting may end up pitching relieve…I worry about refueling the body with the proper carbs/protein and recovery factors. I am not asking for them to sit….They can wipe down weights, spot other lifters, walk, I have some solo drills they could do, stretching, a number of things they could do and be graded on…What about the day after? Lower body only?…I understand the concept of going light during the season (to preserve muscle built during off season) What about days of bull pen work during practice? I am asking several people that I respect in the game of baseball and I need your thoughts before I go to the lifting coach, administration, and whoever else I need to go see to protect what we have built at Blacksburg. Basically what does your baseball team do….thanks…toby Elliott”

Coach, this is a great question. My short answer…don’t do it.

I feel you are correct in your judgment with the fatigue issue. I also agree with you that the off-season is the time to get into better shape. In-season, the player is trying to maintain.

Also, it takes time to recover from a great lifting session. More than a day. Especially with pitchers. I would say they should have two days of rest in their shoulder area before throwing heavily or competing. Probably even three days rest during the season.

I agree with you that working on some great flexibility exercises early in the day might be ok, but you still run the risk of fatigue as well as getting tight all over again.

I say game days are for competing. Off days are for recovery.

I wonder, does this football coach have the kids to a full workout on game days during the football season?

Coach Elliott, good luck with talking with the football coach and administration. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Remember, come from what they care about first. Then it should open up the conversation and they should ask what you care about.

Your players are lucky to have you as a coach.

I would also pay attention to the type of lifting they are doing. Traditional football lifting isn’t necessarily the best for baseball players.

Good luck and…

Train like a champion today!

Bill Mooney

Dealing with a “My Way” Coach on Your Pitching Mechanics

I received this email from a long-time BioForce faithful. A.S. (I’ll use initials to protect the innocent). I have been working with A.S. since he was in little league. A.S. is now a division 1 pitcher. An incredible accomplishment for any athlete to compete at that level. But as you’ll see, the progression through baseball isn’t without some bumps in the road.

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Being a Star Shortstop and Star Pitcher is a Tough Deal

Some people think being the star baseball player or pitcher is easy.

Some people think the star player is only there because he is lucky, or is the coach’s favorite. But, most of us inside the game understand that usually the star player…and I mean legitimate star player, works hard during the season and off season. He has also been blessed with some great natural skills.

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This Player Enjoys His Baseball Pitching Instruction a lot but…

Have you ever had one of those days when something or someone says really surprises you?

I had one recently. Let me explain.

One of the most frequent….I won’t say complaints….but challenges, parents express to me is that their kids aren’t working very hard away from their instruction. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not all the parents and kids, just a few. But, we as parents all go through this challenge with our kids.

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