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How To Become An Aggressive Base Runner

February 1, 2016 by Stevens

How To Become An Aggressive Base Runner
Credit Image: https://pixabay.com/en/baseball-first-base-tag-slide-play-864854/

It is more common a discussion than you would believe among coaches after a game, the opening lines of which are usually: “damn, we just could not handle the opponents’ pitcher!”

When players begin playing softball in college, they don’t usually start with the base runner mentality of testing the defense constantly knowing quite well that they will go to the next base.

As a base runner, here are the things you do: you hit the single, run down the line, round first – already assuming that the groundball which has been fielded by the outfielder will be smoothly picked up and we assume that the ball will be thrown in now as a strike to the middling fielder, and we assume that another strike will throw the ball to the pitcher.

So here are the steps again: the outfielder has to catch the ball, throw a strike. The middling fielder has to catch it, and throw a strike. Finally – the pitcher has to catch it. These are the five things that must happen perfectly whenever you hit a base hit to the outfield.

What you will be learning as you read can be condensed into this simple nugget: you have to learn to never take your eyes off the ball. A lot of strikers assume that they already have their eyes on the ball – but trust me, from experience, I know this: you really aren’t keeping your eyes on the ball.

Your challenge this minute is to work out a method for ensuring that your eyes remain constantly on the ball right until the ball is in the circle. Do you think that’s going to be easy? Are you excited? Yes! You have to keep your eyes on the ball until you see the ball get back in the circle.

Important Note: You should never take your eyes off the ball. Keep your eyes trained on the ball until it gets back in the circle. Then – and only then – should you then get back to your base.

Now, note this: 8-9 out of 10 times, your opponent will complete those five steps I mentioned earlier correctly. You live for the 1-2 times that they do not. As soon as you make your strike, wait in the safe area, and as soon as they don’t make the steps complete, you should read that and move on to the next base.

How to Become a Better and More Aggressive Base Runner

There is a lot more to the technique of base running that running fast. There is a lot of smarts too, intuition and a calculative glint that separates the best from the lucky. You must know the right time to take that extra base, how to round a bag as you advance to the next base. You also should know how to read the movement of the ball so you have the best lead at all times without putting yourself in too much of a bad position because you jumped the gun. We are going to teach you how to become a better and more aggressive base runner:

Take the better lead over your opponent

The technique is simple: now, a great lead is usually 3 ½ big steps from first base. For the runner, he would be something about one step and a head-first dive away from that bag.

When pitchers make slow, pre-planned moves to the bag, it is perfectly fine to return to the bag close to your feet. However if the pitcher is fast on the pivot you have nothing to blame – except that you did not have a large enough lead for you to get back to the bag without taking the dive.

Right-handed pitchers make the game easy

It’s natural to swing right-handed, and it makes it easy to read right-handed pitchers’ moves. Just watch their feet – the feet tell the entire story. Watch the feet of the pitcher, including the back foot. If the pitcher lifts their front foot, this tells you that you should begin your secondary lead. However if you see the back foot move, this is an indication that the pitcher will be throwing to first.

Here’s another pro tip: while most runners observe the back foot, watching both the back foot and the front will ensure that no matter the outcome, you have an early jump on that precious lead.

The Secondary Lead

You might have wondered about the secondary lead. Two hops plus the primary lead equals the secondary lead, in a nutshell. Seeing a right-handed pitcher lift his front foot tells you that the secondary lead is what is currently in play and you should begin your hops. Ideally you want to be on your second hop when the ball crosses into the hitting zone.

If you do this right, you will be in position to accurately read the ball and move to the next base if the ball is hit on the ground.

However, if this contact doesn’t happen and the ball gets to the catcher, you basically should be off, bouncing back to that bag. Through this all remember: eyes on the ball! This is especially since it is still possible for the catcher to make a terrible throw back to the pitcher.

Here’s a something clever base runners do:

Some of the smartest base runners scan the outfielders to check the depth of their play (sometimes they are simply covering the batter to a particular playing field). The best – and perhaps only – time you should be scoping the outfielders is while you are standing on the bag. As soon as the ball has been batted to the outfielder, your little recon will let you know if the ball will be caught. Your study of the playing range of the outfielders will often help you calculate your advance through one extra base.

Reading the pitcher’s hand

Another pro tip that might take some getting used to is observing the hand of your pitcher to determine whether they will toss the ball onto the ground. Key indicators: if the ball is curved or a fastball darting towards the dirt, move, quick, to claim the next base. You see, if this happens, it means that the catcher will have to cleanly pick the ball and make a strongly poised throw to get you at all. In more cases than not, the catcher will block the ball aimed for the dirt because that is their basic training instinct. What if the catcher throws you out? You tip your helmet to them.

Always be on the lookout for a dirt ball whenever there are breaking ball scores like 0-1, 1.2, or 0-2. Be prepared for everything.

You’ll Become Aggressive in No Time with These Tips

Even if you have started out with basic speed at softball/baseball, with these techniques you can quickly become an aggressive player with remarkable base running stats. I know that every coach- or at least every smart coach – want a brilliant runner as compared to a merely fast guy who isn’t concerned with the arithmetic of the field.

Always know your limits and as soon as you have figured them out, always work to force the hands of your opponents by always going ahead to, you know, take that extra base.

Filed Under: Blog, Drills

One Arm Softball Hitting Drills

January 25, 2016 by Stevens

One Arm Softball Hitting Drills
Credit Image: https://pixabay.com/en/alex-rodriguez-yankees-baseball-762074/

Practicing the one-handed or the one-arm drill helps you perfect swinging off the tee. You should use a plastic bat or a wood bat when teaching children the one-arm hitting drills. The reason we do not start with real bats is they are too heavy to be manipulated by children and it can start dipping and, worse, hurt the kids.

With regards to size of the bat – it depends on what works, really. You should know, however, that if you use a bat with a small diameter, then it will get more difficult to hit. A small bat and a relatively big ball could work – but if you are using a smaller ball and a small bat, then it becomes challenging pretty quickly: not a

The one arm drill is the best starting point when practicing the offense progression. The goal is to understand what each hand does when you swing.

The coach makes the trainees understand the mechanics of the swing by making them go down on one knee and make their swings. The goal is to make them understand, or at least try to understand, the movements their forearms go through to make the swing. A good swing employs the shortest path to the ball and that is your goal whenever you swing – which is what the one arm swing really teaches you.

Depending on what situation you play softball in, the distance may vary-in college it’s 43 feet. The first half of the ball’s travel towards you is the period you have to gather information. At this point, your eyes are gathering the information about the travel – checking the ball’s strike, watching the ins and outs, ups and downs and making calculations so quick you don’t even realize you are making them.

The second half sees the hitter getting ready to make a decision. It is easy to see here that the first half influences the second and plays a significant role in determining the quality of a hit.

Important information: a player only requires 15 feet to swing and hit the ball forward – the extra 28 feet is, in a manner of speaking, your arm-room’s leg room. It is important to understand this because a lot of players in the beginning tend to hit the ball too early. The greatest players can hit all fields using hard shots.

The forearm is the key – and you need to get comfortable with your one-arm swing before you can really get better at much else. For people finding it difficult to understand this concept, a good exercise to embark upon is throwing a Frisbee. It will show you immediately that the way to throw- and ultimately, the way to swing – is by driving your elbow forward first, before the rest of your hand follows. If your elbows are away from your body- or your wrists are out- the Frisbee will go in an alternate direction. The Frisbee will help you understand the principle of ‘Elbow Forward First.’

The One-Arm Hitting Technique

This basically consists of your trainee going down on one knee and working on four points of their swing: the shoulders, elbows, wrists and the follow-through. Your torso remains straight on the tee the entire time you are performing this motion. Players should understand the importance of not tiring mid-swing and letting their arms drop off and cause a dipping in their barrel. It will make it a lot more difficult to hit the ball on the tee.

Players should understand that the swing moves from high to low before making contact. When making your swings and follow-throughs, your torso stays in position, if you find your upper body moving along the line of your arm’s swing, you haven’t done it right.

Always remember: elbow and wrists, elbow and wrists – the shoulders are a given.

Start with the front arm relative to your kneeling stance. Once you have gotten some practice done there, you should switch to the back arm and keep your back arm and wrist firm so you can maintain the barrel higher than your hands and slightly above your head. If the player’s hand dips on and before the swing they would not be able to hit the ball on the tee.

The best way to have this grip is to focus on the little pad area on the edge of your palm, between your thumb and index finger. That is the point you want to apply the pressure on for a firm grip. Apply good pressure, but do not make it the clench of death.

You want to do this over and over, practicing in a small area, and it will feel like you are in the zone with a fly swatter. You have to maintain eye contact with both the ball and your intended destination for your ball. Keep your eyes on the tee and you know when the ball arrives there that you have kept everything in focus.

Quick Review: Tips To Improve Your One-Arm Hitting Technique

#1- Pay attention to your grip

Remember – you apply pressure when gripping the bat, but the pressure comes from your fingers, not your palms. Grip the bat with the part of your fingers where calluses form. Place your top hand against the bottom and let them line up in a straight line. You should not cross your hands. Hold the bat loosely – not tightly – and ensure that your wrists are flexible.

#2 – The relative position of your hand to your body

Your hands should be close to your body (2-3 inches away from your chest and between your shoulders.) Your elbows should be pointing downwards and your shoulders should be free and tensionless. You can use the Power Alley technique – moving your arms back and forth through your hands and shoulders – to relax your body as you get ready to swing.

#3 – The swing starts with the legs

Always remember – your swing begins with your legs and your hips. During this time, your hands and shoulders are still staying put. You should be resting and pushing off against the ball of your back foot as the softball begins to near the plate.

#4 – Keep Contact Opposite the Front Hip

For a down-the-middle pitch, the contact spot is opposite your front hip. This is the position where the player gives the maximum energy on their hit. If, however, your contact is intended for inside-pitch game play, this will occur much sooner, in front of your body and your hips should open up earlier than during the pitch down the middle.

#5 – Your Follow- Through

Your swing must continue past the point of hitting the ball and swing in its natural arc. After hitting the ball, you should let your arms extend, your wrists roll over, and end the swing with your hand close to your front shoulder and your chin grazing your back shoulder. Keep your weight on your front leg, back shoulder. Your hip and knees should remain aligned.

These tips should help the beginner hitter get ready for their offensive position and improve on their current hitting strength. One-arm hitting gets you ready for the offensive play and it’s all about mastering the power of the fore arm.

Filed Under: Blog, Drills, Softball Drills

Three Phases of The Softball Hitting Mechanics

January 18, 2016 by Stevens

Three Phases of The Softball Hitting Mechanics
Image Credit: https://pixabay.com/en/baseball-player-batter-hitter-1087697/

Sometimes it’s not that you aren’t good at hitting the ball when playing softball – it could simply be that your coach is not really communicating to you the important things to look out for and concentrate on during a game or training session.

In this article, we are going to keep it simple and break down the mechanics of a good softball hit into three easy to nibble steps, then work our way from there. Combine your understanding of the principles with your practice and your hitting will improve faster than you would expect!

What’s the Best Softball Progression for In-Game Play?

When you are playing – especially competitively – the best coaches will tell you that the offensive progression is always the best way to go. No matter how complicated and ‘trademarked’ your swing might get, it can be broken down to two rudimentary steps:

  1. Above the belt, and
  2. Below the belt.

This is a no-brainer, of course, but remembering this is the first step to understanding what goes into a good swing.

Although there are several areas to the swing, it is good for you as a beginner to understand three key phases or areas of the offensive swing. Once you figure these three out, your skills will improve significantly!

Before you go into the three phases of the swing, you – the player – must be in a good athletic position.  You should be standing upright with your feet far apart from each other to give you a solid base, good enough for you to swing.

The Three Phases of Your Softball Bat Swing

A sweet softball offensive progression is made up primarily of the following three things:

  1. The stride: This requires you to get in position. Your left leg should be in front of and away from you, with the right bending inwards a little in readiness for the hip snap.
  2. When you are at the hip snap (or, the pivot) point, you are now pushing your body in the direction of your left leg, with the right hip ‘snapping’ you in that direction.
  3. The swing itself. At this point, you are totally rested on your left leg and only the tip of your right foot touches the ground.

A good coach quickly makes his team understand these terms so that communication can be easier and smoother going forward. That way, he can walk up to you and say, ‘hey, Mike, watch it – you are over-striding’ and Mike, understanding the term, corrects his balance for a better swing.

As soon as the learning softball player can understand where he/she is doing it wrong with the swing, they can make the corrections quicker, better and with an amazing presence of mind.

To reiterate: a good coach is one where his players can break down each part of their play and explain each part of their actions.

Getting Deeper Into the Components of a Good Swing (and the Mechanics)

Remember: the key to hitting beautifully is to understand the steps that go into a good swing. We will now take a more granular look into this.

By now you realize that the first thing to do is to step into the box and get in a good athletic position with a wide enough base to keep your balance.

Have a good grip on the bat handle, and lift it up so the bat now rests over the back of your shoulder. Align your knuckles on the bat, grip it properly but allow for a little fluidity. If you are properly positioned, you should look like a towering letter ‘A’ with your elbows down. Is that how you look right now? Awesome!

With your elbows still bended, lift the barrel of the bat from your shoulders. What you are doing right now is putting the bat in its launching position. A little note here: your end goal should be to put the bat in the best launching position possible, and to do this you should ensure that the bat can follow a good arc by swinging from slightly above your shoulders instead of vertically with your body.

When the ball is hurtling towards you, you should be positioned thus: your knees slightly bent, your bat in the position of best possible launch, your shoulders slightly hunched and pointing in the direction of the pitcher. Your eyes should be focused on nothing but the ball. Your arms should be comfortable.

The muscles that take care of your hitting are all in the front. Your pectorals, the torso, your inner thighs and your wrists – the whole works. They are in the front parts of your body. If you find yourself using a lot of the muscles in your lower back and back shoulders, then you have gotten the posture wrong. It could be bad for your health and also lead to subpar hits.

A good coaching tip for when your players are using the wrong muscles is to use relaxing techniques. When players are stiff and nervous, they tend to employ the wrong muscles during their play.

Your barrel is ready to swing when your stride heel is completely on the ground – this is usually the left foot for most people. As soon as the stride heel is planted firmly in the ground, you can now take your swing.

There is some debate about which stride is better: the pre-stride or the traditional stride? I find that either stride has its utility and we cannot honestly argue in favor of one over the other. The key is to be consistent, no matter the stride you choose. Do not swap around strides too much – it’ll leave you the worse for it.

When you take the swing, you will notice your hips actually snap open. Actually, this is not something most players will notice –why should they, after all? They are in the heat of a glorious swing! But if the swing is slowed down, you can see it – a slight lifting of the heels and an opening snap of the hips as the barrel comes whooshing through the air.

Depending on where you want to aim your ball, it’s a useful technique to imagine a flashlight around your navel level beaming out. When you swing, allow the muscular contraction from your lower abdomen work for you: swing your body in the direction you are aiming for with your arc and follow through on it. This might take a while, but you will get it soon enough.

Timing is essential. You need the ball on time to hit the ball powerfully enough to hit it significantly enough. If you hit too early or too late, you lose power in your swing.

With your swing, too, there are three phases: contact, extension, and the follow-through. At the time your bat barrel hits the ball, you have not actually extended. The extension comes right afterward when you stretch your hands to the max before continuing the swing to the other side of your body on the follow-through.

These are the keys to making a good swing. To perfect your swing, you will need a lot of practice, of course, with a large number of contact drills, front-toss drills, tee drills, side-toss drills and actual battling practices with other team mates.

Filed Under: Blog, Drills, Softball Drills

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