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Post by Brett on Apr 20, 2009 14:26:43 GMT -8
...spend as much time working on your defense as you do your offense? How many of your kids do? Why or why not?
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Post by dcat17 on Apr 20, 2009 20:09:01 GMT -8
For my son's 9U team (playing in a 10U league) we have probably spent the majority of practice on defense, especially infield and catchers. Baseball at this age seems like get on first and steal 2nd & 3rd on the first 2 pitches. So we been focusing on being able to make the routine plays and catchers being able to block & throw, so to eliminate the easy runs.
That and we've been working all kids at pitching as we want to spread the load around. May cost us some games but we not going to be having kids throwing 80-90 pitches as I read on BBF.
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Post by cosmo34 on Apr 20, 2009 20:57:15 GMT -8
I don't because I take so many midnight dry hacks it skews the numbers.
Wish I could get as many ground balls as hacks though. Probably the worst thing about playing college ball in Iowa. Get about 1/3, if not less, of the GB's as warm weather states.
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Post by dcat17 on Apr 21, 2009 6:39:07 GMT -8
We've been pretty lucky here in KC. The weather has been mild enough to be outdoors and least a couple times a week. Plus we have an indoor baseball/soccer complex down the road that is free to get on the field if it's not reserved. Also my son always wants to stay after practice to take extra ground balls. Heck, even last fall after doubleheaders, getting done @ 10:30PM, he'd want to stick around to take ground balls.
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Post by deemax on Apr 23, 2009 4:35:00 GMT -8
I spend less time on defense then I should. Hitting is just more fun!
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Post by Brett on Apr 23, 2009 18:13:42 GMT -8
I spend less time on defense then I should. Hitting is just more fun! True. I was thinking about it, and the majority of practices I ever had were always more defense-oriented than offense (with good reason). My whole point is; how many of you did/do take extra ground balls/fly balls? How many take extra hacks? I'm guessing that the majority would say they took more extra hacks than defensive work. This could spawn another thread, but what defensive drills do any of you recommend to bring the passion and fun of hitting to the field? I know we had some in college and pro ball, but I want to hear your guy's thoughts.
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Post by imagine44 on Apr 24, 2009 9:08:14 GMT -8
...spend as much time working on your defense as you do your offense? How many of your kids do? Why or why not? I have my son spend much more time on defense. And i'll explain why. For him, hitting comes pretty naturally, and my sense is that he will become a very good hitter as he gets older. The ability to play defense well and to be the starting shortstop and to be a playmaker puts you in the lineup when your hitting isn't so hot. Plus, there are so many elements to playing defense that there is always something to work on.
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Post by HYP on Apr 24, 2009 11:10:06 GMT -8
My teams are lucky if they see a bat the first 2 weeks of practice. We have to earn the right to hit. Besides most of the players will hit on their own.
When we do break out with BP our practices will turn to about 75% BP and then we get it to where it is about 50/50.
Everyone of our practices start, after dynamic warm up and pitcher jumps, we go to EDDs and some form of mass fungo. We then will go to some sort of drills, like PFPs, 1st and 3rds, or bunt D. We then will move to BP.
Personally with my son we will take ground balls and work on his foot work prior to working on hitting. He's a 2nd baseman so speed around the bag is important.
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Post by conky149er on May 3, 2009 10:27:12 GMT -8
i wish i could spend more time on my defence, i mean catching fly balls n such, all i can do %99 of the time on defence is throw a rubber baseball agaisnt a wall
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Post by Brett on May 4, 2009 13:39:14 GMT -8
I asked DR MM how he would reco teaching kids how to field field grounders at 3rd base. He told me that the first thing to teach them is to get out of the way of the ball. Show me a big leaguer that does this on ball hit right at them and I'll think about teaching that. Nobody teaches that at any high level.
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Post by imagine44 on May 4, 2009 15:14:02 GMT -8
Since some of you coach at the youth level: 1. Do not smash ground balls at kids. This notion to hit em hard in practice so that they are easier in games is total BS. Kharma I agree with you. Especially when your trying to work on learning technique. The part about getting out of the way was non-sense though.
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Post by HYP on May 4, 2009 21:08:09 GMT -8
Since some of you coach at the youth level: 1. Do not smash ground balls at kids. This notion to hit em hard in practice so that they are easier in games is total BS. Coaches should go out and take a cpl of grounders from whoever is hitting them to make sure they are slow enough. 2. Let the kids coach the bases! This should be obvious. I asked DR MM how he would reco teaching kids how to field field grounders at 3rd base. He told me that the first thing to teach them is to get out of the way of the ball. In other words field the ball to the side. I'm sure that one would go over well on the youth fields of today. Kharma You are right that wouldn't go over very well. Because it is not correct.
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Post by texfan on Jun 16, 2009 7:03:39 GMT -8
To get back to the OP--I spend much more time at practice working on defense than working on hitting.
Of course I teach getting in front of the ball, etc., but I do agree that you shouldn't smash hard grounders at the players in practice. Smashed ground balls in practice is the "Dodgeball" approach, similar to the way the coach hurls wrenches at the players in the movie.
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