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Where the player stand in the batter’s box often gets little attention from coaches and players, yet it can impact the success of a hitter.  The question is, up in the box?  Even with the plate?  Back in the box?  Close to the plate?  Away from the plate?  The relationship between a player’s swing, the length of his bat and the length of his arms all directly relate to the hitter’s relation to the plate.  All the above aspects play into the hitter’s success or failure!

The hitter’s ultimate goal is more time!  Hitter’s should always be looking for more time to see a pitch, recognize a pitch and make a decision on a pitch.  Delaying the decision is the key to overall hitting success.  You will hear coaches say to hitter’s “let the ball travel”, many young hitters try to go get the ball with a swing.  Hitter’s must let the ball get deep into the hitting zone and trust their hands to execute a short swing.

Ideally a player should be positioned so that he gets good plate coverage on the low-outside pitch without allowing his hands to go “to” the ball.  His hands/knob of the bat should stay inside the baseball.  If a player can cover that low-outside pitch he has good plate coverage.  To determine the correct distance the player’s arms should be measured from his armpit to the base of his palm.  The length of the bat should be taken into consideration also, mature players are generally in the 12″-13″ range.  This allows for the lower-body to open up properly for rotational hitters who can position themselves closer to the plate than linear hitters.  The goal for all hitter’s should be to keep the elbows “soft” and close to the body until extending through the ball.

Where the player stands is usually according to his mechanics and his personal preference.  The ideal perfect spot is where the individual player can cover all four corners of the strike zone and still put a good swing on the baseball.

Teaching the simple task of catching and throwing a baseball is the most challenging concept you will face as a coach.  Approach every athlete as if he has never thrown or caught a baseball before.  I am convinced that teaching approach to throwing must begin at the most simplistic stage and be developed over the course of a season.

20 MINUTE RULE:  Playing  high levels of catch is the foundation of a great defense.  Coaches of all levels should realize this and place a greater importance on the first 20-30 minutes of practice when players are loosening up arms and getting ready for a practice.  Don’t waste this time at the beginning of practice.  These first 20 minutes should be used to teach throwing, catching, and footwork fundamentals that develop a sound foundation.  If you have an athlete who is having difficult time with a defensive skill and you spend 10-15 minutes a practice with him during warm-ups, you are spending close to two hours with him over the course of week, if you practice daily.  Use this time wisely!

I like to pair up my players by position.  Pitchers warm up with pitchers, infielders with infielders and outfielders with outfielders.  This gives players to opportunity to work on specific skills together.  The 20 minute rule, be sure to implement the importance of playing catch and throwing the ball during warm-ups.  Baseball is a game of CATCH!  Catching the ball is the #1 fundamental needed for a great defense.  Check in at www.mannytorres19.com for your latest tips on coaching baseball, playing baseball and your weekly Fun Friday Fitness Tips…Stay healthy

Monday Morning Coach, will provide coaches with helpful tips and ideas to run an efficient, effective practice routine for your youth baseball team. 

My philosophy is simple “preparation is the key to success.” Coaches need to set up a practice schedule that is consistent.  Whether you choose twice a week or three times a week, you must have a consistent plan.  Having a written practice plan is vital to setting the tone early in the season, this relays to your players that you are ready, you are prepared, you have thought out a plan to get them better.  It takes about 10-15 minutes to write a practice plan for the day.  An outline of your practice routine will remind you what you want to do and when you want to do it.  It can be written on anything, as long as it gives you enough detail to allow you to move through your practice in a structured and organized manner.

For me, the practice plan is the most crucial part of a practice, start your plan with objectives. What do I want to accomplish during this practice?  I try to keep it to 3 to 5 areas that need to be worked on. Early in the season this can be very difficult because there’s so much to learn and cover. This is another example of where the objective can help you plan, do not go to practice and hope you cover everything you want.  You may miss something that is important and may also be teaching things that would be better covered during the season.  If you stick to your well thought out plan you will be sure to cover the details as you go.

The practice routine process should always follow a systematic format that is simple for players to understand when and where they need to be during transitions.  Write a list of the skills, situations, and plays you want to cover.  Break skills and plays down into stations, 3-5 stations is a good start.  Set a time limit and be sure to yell out how much time is left periodically.  Make sure players understand the importance of time and make sure they are hustling from station to station when told to rotate. 

I mentioned earlier the importance of preparation, so make sure as a coach you are prepared to train your athletes.  Do not go to practice and wing it, this does not establish routine and consistency which is vital when starting a season.  Your season depends on you the coach, to teach your athletes the skills and fundamentals necessary to have a solid season.  Have fun, check into www.mannytorres19.com for your Monday Morning Coach post!

Ok it Friday, November 20^th time for the Fun Friday Fitness Tip of the Week!  Looking for a fun way to burn some calories before facing the weekend?  Here are four fun tips.

1.  Dancing: Friday night is the perfect night to get some good dancing in.  Go to the local dance club with a friend and have he or she agree to dance for at least an hour.  The average song is 3-4 minutes long, so plan on dancing 15 songs throughout the night and you will be sure to burn of some calories.  Enjoy your night and shake off all the stress from a work filled week!
2. Hoola Hoops: Grab a hoola hoop and give it a spin around your waist and see how long you can go.  Compete against your personal time or a friend; see how long you can engage that core section of your body.  You will be sure to feel the burn in your abs.  Thirty minutes of friendly competition twice a week.  So hoola that hoop and watch the six pack develop in no time!
3. Hop scotch: reminisce on your elementary school recess time.  The jumping and leg movements will get your heart rate going and you will burn a ton of calories.  Hop scotch is great for footwork, agility, coordination and weight loss.
4. Monkey Bars: relive your childhood days or participate in the fun with the local neighborhood kids.  There is no monkeying around here this is a great upper body workout which engages all the major muscles in the upper body.  You can also hang like a monkey and bring your knees to your chest and target your core.  Monkey around and you will be sure to get a great workout.

Working out and staying fit can be fun, today tips are a perfect example that it does not have to feel like a chore.  Even more, this workout will be a perfect one to get your kids and friends involved with you! Check in at www.mannytorres19.com every Friday for your Fun Friday Fitness Tip of the Week!

 It’s not all about winning, it’s about developing and getting better everyday!  That’s the ultimate goal, IMPROVE daily!  www.techniquebaseball.org

Welcome to Mannytorres19.com. This is my therapy!  A baseball, coaching baseball, and fitness blog providing youth baseball players information on fundamental play, tips on practice regimens for coaches and fun ways to stay physically fit.

My name is Manny Torres and I am the owner and operator of this blog.  I began Mannytorres19.com in November of 2009 as a way to give myself the opportunity to show my passion for baseball, coaching and fitness. My passion for baseball has existed in my blood since the day I picked one up. I was blessed to have played at the high level, baseball has given me the opportunity to network and meet people from all over the world.

All my time and energy is devoted to my baseball program that I started five years ago, Technique Tigers Future Stars Baseball Academy.  The academy has 210 current members ages 6-18, five years ago we had four teams.  In 2009 we had 19 teams. A big reason why I started this program was because I found that kids were not playing enough baseball.  I found that a significant decline in youth athletes enrolling in baseball was very obvious to me at the time.  So I did my homework, sat in the local park bleachers, watched teams practice and play games, to see what may be the cause for this decline. I realized after a full summer of driving from field to field watching from a distance, kids were bored. Kids were failing as individuals in a game of failure.  Not only was the failure rate high but they did not understand why. This is a direct result on how volunteer coaches coach and teach during practice. Volunteers are ALL well intended, but many lack the knowledge and the ability to run a fun filled, effective, efficient practice. The triangle of success begins with PREPARATION at the peak, practice is preparation to experience SUCCESS, when kids experience success they feel CONFIDENT. Kids failing at a game of failure  can really be discouraged and keep kids from wanting to play baseball. Nobody goes to the field and says “ok I am ready to fail”.  Yet if coaches do not run a fun filled, effective, efficient practice with structure, failure is bound to exist.

Baseball is described as a slow sport by some, to me it’s the fastest game on the planet. Pitchers can throw a 5oz round object up to 100MPH in the Major Leagues.  Athletes can run down to first in 3.4 seconds. Outfielders can go from a stand still position to running full speed to a gap to catch a ball. Baseball is not a slow sport, not a fast sport, it’s an EXPLOSIVE sport. As a baseball player, you must take your body from a stand still position to top speed over and over again throughout the game. All of this needs training, coaching and teaching.

Gone are the days where you show up to the field, spread the kids out, one kid hits, everyone else chases balls down, etc. That’s boring, not fun, waste of time. Kids in today’s society live at a faster pace than we have ever experienced in the history of mankind and it’s getting faster by the minute with all the updated technology. So if we live in such a fast world and baseball is an explosive sport, what do you think kids want to experience? They want to experience speed, change and  transitions. This blog will give you tips on how to run fun filled effective efficient structured practice routines. Mannytorres19.com will help players stay up on the latest Techniques for sound fundamentals and teach everyone how to have fun to stay fit!!!