Montgomery County Mustangs
It’s More Than Baseball…
June 23, 2008 at 10:46 pm · Filed under Varsity Views
What follows is a recap of our hitting philosophy overview. So, here goes:
Remember our three main points: 1) Our goal and plan for each at-bat; 2) the most important part of hitting; and 3) how we adjust with the count during an at-bat.
Goal and Plan —
Our goal in each at-bat is to have a Quality At-Bat. We define a QAB as: 1) A hard-hit ball; 2) getting on base without the benefit of an error; 3) an at-bat of 6 or more pitches; or 4) a successful suicide squeeze. It’s that simple. So, if you get a bunt sign (and it’s not a suicide squeeze), your goal is always to put the best bunt down to where you can get on base.
But here’s the punchline: Unless bunting or we have a take sign on, we are always trying to hit the ball hard. Forget situational hitting. Hit the ball hard. You generally do so by taking the ball where it wants to go, i.e., getting out in front of the inside ball and hitting the outside pitch hard the other way.
Your plan to get to our goal for each at-bat is … your routine. So, what is your routine?
It should start in the dugout with good dugout discipline. Study every move and pitch of the opposing pitcher. What is he throwing? What patterns do you see? Is there a difference in his delivery when he throws a certain pitch? The best hitters answer these questions before they step in the batter’s box. Also, before getting to the box, remind yourself of any mechanical issues (as necessary, only). This should be completed by the time you leave the on-deck circle.
In the batter’s box … we try to do the same things every time. We do what is necessary to get and stay comfortable. We use positive, simple self-talk, as needed … i.e., raise your sights, quicker on the trigger. Again, the time for mechanics is not while at the plate. Keep it simple: See the ball. Hit the ball. Try to step out and relax briefly after each pitch.
Another part of your routine to consider is: What will you do when things don’t go your way? Remember that baseball requires players to face adversity often. So, what will you do? Try to step out and quickly deal with what happened. Let it go and get back in. Now, you are back on course. Tell yourself what you want to do … and do it.
The Most Important Part of Hitting is –
See the ball! We do this with a broad-to-fine-focus approach. Train your eyes first on a broad focus point (i.e., a cap emblem, uniform part, etc.) because your eyes can only finely focus for 2-3 seconds. Then, as the pitcher moves to his release point, your eyes should become fixed on the release point. From that point until the bat hits the ball, you are locked in fine focus on the baseball.
Consider a few points here:
1) You can always see the ball. Seeing the ball and focusing your concentration is your responsibility. There are things to do to enable you to get the job done. Be a player, rather than a victim;
2) You should be studying pitches and pitchers everywhere … in BP, practice, games, while taking pitches, etc.. Learn how certain pitches look. Learn to pick up pitches and react; and
3) See the focus exercises in “The Mental Game”. You can develop your ability focus in a number of practical ways.
Adjusting the Sweet Spot: The Count —
We should approach the plate with a mentality that we are going to see our pitch to hit. Be ready to hammer it. Think swing first. Note, too, that the more you expect to get a pitch to hit hard, the more pitches will look that way. Also, consider that it’s easier to take a pitch when we start out to swing, than to swing when you are thinking you won’t. Likewise, it’s generally easier to think fastball and react to the breaking ball.
Remember, too, that most HS pitchers have difficulty throwing the breaking ball for strikes, in any event. In this regard, you should have been watching the pitcher on the mound to see if he is able to locate the breaking ball. BTW, unless a breaking ball is flat, hanging or fat, and there is less than two strikes, should you even be swinging at it, in any event? Is this your pitch?
Know yourself. You should have a good idea of your own strengths and weaknesses as a hitter. What is the pitch you want to hit? Where do you want it? Where is your hot zone?
On the first pitch, you are looking for a pitch right in your hot zone. As the count gets more favorable to you … i.e., 1-0, 2-0, the hot zone stays the same size or even shrinks. As the count becomes less favorable … i.e., 0-1, 1-2, 0-2, our hitting zone expands. With a two-strike count, the entire strike zone is our hitting zone. By using this approach, we stay in control of the batter-pitcher confrontation.
Here’s the bottom line: We aren’t mindlessly taking pitches. We are looking for our pitch and then adjusting what constitutes “our pitch” according to how favorable the count is. In this way, more often than not we hit the pitches we want to hit. Also, by the force of the math of HS baseball, we run up the opposing pitchers’ pitch counts and our chances of rallying continue to grow as the game progresses.
See you on the field,
Coach Rut
April 21, 2008 at 4:41 pm · Filed under Varsity Views
What a week! For those of you who didn’t see it, words can’t convey what we all experienced and saw. How do you describe the game with the Riders … other than indescribeable? How do you tell some one about the guts, tension, and fierce competition that was the 9-inning war with the Warriors on the next day? It was a tough game with a lot of twists and turns that didn’t turn out for us. Still, we clawed back from an early 3-0 deficit and we battled until the vert end.
Indeed, we battled hard and well on Thursday after the most difficult loss I have ever been associated with — not just with the Mustangs, but rather in my life of watching, playing and coaching baseball. I could not be prouder of a group of players.
As heartbreaking as the first two ball games were, the next two were extremely uplifiting. And to be clear, there was a lot to be encouraged about in the way you all played in those first two games, as well. We didn’t play perfect, but we did play well. We did peak at the right time. We got after it. We just fell just a bit short of advancing to Florida.
But we still won. We won the hearts … and the respect … of our opponents, their fans, and the umpires. The character of our players was on display and was noted by any one who took a glance. Tournament officials were blown away at both our players play and their conduct.
I will always remember and treasure our time together at the field after the Thursday game. Frankly, I was caught off-guard, but in a very, very good way. I am amazed at the goodness that has happened and continues to happen here. Praise God.
Parents and fans, you were simply the best … again. You have set the bar very high. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement during an incredible week.
What a joy to be associated with all of you.
Last year, we won one game at regionals. This year, we won two, and the two teams who narrowly defeated us played to advance to the HWS. Next year, if we continue to improve like we have, we should make it our goal to win three. It’s a long road, but the process and the climb are great, as we have seen. So, get on it.
And now … we press forward. There is more baseball to play, and more building to do … for this season and beyond.
See you all on the field,
Coach Rut
April 14, 2008 at 1:51 am · Filed under Varsity Views
Earlier this season, Coach Vario broke out the “3 P’s” — “Passion, Poise, and Purpose.” I like it.
As we head to Plano, I think these are appropriate to remember. We should always play with passion, poise, and purpose. We are MtB. We work hard and play hard, knowing that ultimately we represent a great program and a greater Savior.
To the three P’s, I’d like to add three “F’s” for us to keep in mind as we head out Tuesday:
First, we focus on the task at hand. On the field, this is simple: We get ready and execute the very next pitch and play. It may sound trite and simple, but it bears repeating. Teams get in trouble when the look too far ahead, or they think or worry about things they can’t control. In baseball and in life, all we really have control over is ourselves and our role in the next task God has placed in front of us. Remember how focused we were when we played TWCA. We have done this and we can do this again.
Focusing on a worthy goal with a great group of people is fun. This is the second “F”. So, let’s have fun in Plano. Funny, but fun doesn’t result usually if it’s forced or if it’s the primary goal of an activity, particularly a group one. But I think fun is a natural outgrowth of doing worthy things in the right way, especially with a great group of people. This is a great week and a celebration of our season, of homeschool baseball, and this program. So, enjoy the ride. I plan on having a blast this week, and you are welcome to join me.
Finally, let’s finish what we start. Finish. A lot of people, inside baseball and out, think a good beginning is enough. It’s not. Instead, let’s finish each play, inning, game, and the tournament itself. Let’s get after it until they tell us it’s time to come home. Remember the St. John’s game. Life rewards those who persevere, those who are determined to finish when others are faltering. So, let’s finish.
Finally, I’d like to return to one “R” that is our theme for this season — respect. Let’s respect every one we come in contact with this week in Plano — teammates, opponents, coaches, umpires, fans, every one. And … let’s continue in our quest to earn respect for this team and this program. Remember that you can’t make people respect you. You have to earn it. Yes, there are a lot of doubters in this world. My challenge to you is to make believers of those who doubt the Mustangs. Let’s do it.
See you on the field,
Coach Rut
April 12, 2008 at 10:14 pm · Filed under Varsity Views
I am reading one of my new favorite books, “The Mental ABC’s of Pitching”. There is so much in there.
For one thing, the writer (H.A. Dorfman) equates excuses with a pitcher’s “demons”. Check this out: “The pitcher must first slay his demons, before he can slay dragons. Excuses die, achievement endures.”
Honesty is a prelude to progress, in other words.
Dorfman is also a fan of the “yellow light moment”, where the pitcher or player steps away (from the mound, the plate, his position, etc.) and refocues, controls his breathing, his intentions, and then redirects his thoughts.
I like this one: “Brilliance in retrospect is not good enough for those who aspire to be excellent.”
Mostly, I really love this book because it reinforces some great simple truths about staying focused on the next pitch and play. We must remove distractions, focus on the task at hand, and then … do it. And what we are doing is really pretty simple.
Finally, in the chapter on “Execution”, there are these two gems that I think are very appropriate as we head into next week:
From Wilson Alvarez, on how he pulled himself out of a slump on the mound: “I’m just trying to be aggressive and not trying to throw the perfect pitch. I’m just letting it go and seeing what happens because I’ve got eight guys in the field who can make the out for me.”
And then this …
“They (many pitchers) try to squeeze information into their heads about their mechanics, about the hitter, about irrelevant circumstances and consequences and leave no room for the common sense of focusing on the target and delivering the baseball aggressively.”
In hitting, the most important thing is focusing on the ball (broad to fine focus). Likewise, in pitching, we focus on the target and deliver the ball aggressively.
It’s a pretty simple formula, but it works.
See you on the field,
Coach Rut
April 11, 2008 at 9:26 pm · Filed under Varsity Views
The other day at practice, we were talking about the wheelbarrow story that paints a word picture of what it means to believe.
Years ago, the man who led me to Christ shared with me the wheelbarrow illustration. Here goes:
A man had a tight rope stretched all the way across the Grand Canyon. He pulled out his wheelbarrow and started pushing the thing across. Sure enough he made it across, and then, he came back. Pretty soon he began to draw a crowd. As the man went across the canyon again … and again … the crowds grew larger and more vocal in their applause.
One young man in the front of the crowd was particularly boisterous, and he was cheering the loudest. The man with the wheelbarrow asked the young man in the front of the crowd, “Do you think I can make it across the canyon?” The young man emphatically answered, “Yes, sir, I do.” With that, the man with the wheelbarrow took off and again crossed the canyon. The crowd was cheering wildly as the man returned across the canyon. The winds began to whip, though, and he stumbled … but … he regained his footing and amazingly made it back across the canyon.
The crowd was now in an absolute frenzy, especially the young man in the front. Once again, the man with the wheelbarrow looked at the young man, and this time he said, “You said you thought I could make it across.” The excited young man proudly said, “Yes, sir, I did.” The man with the wheelbarrow looked at him and said, “You were right last time. Indeed, you thought I could make it. But do you believe that I can make it?”
The young man paused and thought a minute. “Wait, I already answered that,” he said. “No, you didn’t,” responded the man with the wheelbarrow. “You said you thought I could make it across, and you were right. But do you believe that I can make it?
Frustrated, the young man said, “Well, yes.” The man with the wheelbarrow looked back at the young man and answered, “Well, get in the wheelbarrow then.”
You see, there is a difference between thinking something and believing in something.
What about you? What do you believe in? Ultimately, I think belief affects actions.
When I say I believe in the Mustangs, I am talking “wheelbarrow” belief. We are not a perfect team, for sure. But guess what? There are no perfect teams out there. We’ve talked about this. We don’t have to be perfect. We just have focus on the next pitch and play, stay true to what we have been taught, and we will be fine.
Also, next week we’ll have (for the first time this season) our whole team together. This season, we’ve had to string things together through injuries and all, but I think we’re stronger for it.
Throughout this season, each of your teammates has shown himself worthy of your trust and belief. As you’ll see on Monday when we review, we are a prepared team, too. You should use your preparation as a basis to fuel your confidence and belief. We know how to have good at-bats; we know where we fit defensively now; we know that we can and should trust our defense and pitch aggressively in the strike zone; and we know what to do in every situation we will encounter.
So, what does next week hold? I don’t know. As I said at our Parent’s Meeting in January, I am a believer, not a prophet. I don’t know what the specific results will be. But I absolutely believe that we can and will play well. We are prepared to do so. A lot of people don’t think we can do this. That’s reasonable, I guess, and I understand. But won’t it be fun to prove them wrong?
Back to the wheelbarrow, you know, getting in that thing is not reasonable. I mean, the young man could get hurt, and bad. Indeed, if the young man jumps in, he doesn’t know what the result will be. He believes the man will make it across, but ultimately on this side of the canyon, he doesn’t know. But … he would never get the thrill of the ride without jumping in.
So … I am in. How about you? Are you prepared to trust, really trust, in your preparation, your coaches and your teammates, and go “all in” to put it all into play and execute like we know we can? If you don’t, you’ll miss out.
There’s room in the wheelbarrow, and a great ride ahead.
See you on the field,
Coach Rut
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