Discover how to improve pitch recognition skills for ANY hitter with the best in training aids, online courses, and drills in this PART-2 interview with Bill Masullo…
This is Part-2 to the Facebook LIVE conversation I recently had with Bill Masullo, who is the Co-Owner and Senior Baseball Instructor at the Ultimate Edge @ Goodsports. In case you missed Part-1, where we talked about the effect Fortnite has on our hitter’s mental health, then CLICK HERE.
The subject of this interview is complimentary to a post I did titled, “Why Fortnite May Be Dangerous To Building Hitters Who Crush”. HEADS UP: us two knuckle-dragging hitting coaches were having technical difficulties (I know SHOCKER!) before the start of this video. This is probably the fourth and final take!
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At the 0:50 minute mark, how does posture effect the swing, studies show young athletes sit 80% of their day, certain groups of muscles get tight and others turn off, Gymnastics, Dance, Martial Arts, Swimming are great counter disciplines to friction free movement, rock climbing is also a great “counter” to chronic sitting positions.
At the 4:00 minute mark, how working on screens (mobile, tv, computer) for extended periods of time effect ball players, for every 20 minutes of screen time, the eyes need 5-minutes off the screen, Dr. Peter Fadde and “video occlusion” training using his Game Sense Sports app, pitch recognition training, The 6th Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition book by Dr. Peter Fadde.
At the 9:30 minute mark, Major League hitters track better than amateurs (but ALL hitters can improve), below average, average, and above average “learn-ability”, Aaron Miles High School story about coach, in mid-90’s, putting particle board in way of hitter during pitcher bullpens (similar to Dr. Peter Fadde’s Game Sense Sports app), Jaime Cevallos pitch recognition hitting aid interview post.
At the 13:00 minute mark, Bill asks what parents should know about vision training, Perry Husband foremost expert on timing, vision, and training research, simulating pitch plane, don’t throw to 7yo from standing position 20-30 feet away – like hitting up a mountain, throw seated on a bucket, size of ball short distance makes a difference – baseball players hitting golf sized whiffle balls from 30-40 feet, perceived ball size from 60-feet, 6-inches, or 45-feet.
At the 16:45 minute mark, pitch recognition cues, “fat” wrist versus “skinny” wrist, shape of the arm coming through, curve-balls sometimes look like a “bicep” curl, gets challenging when pitchers slot their arm in the same arm slot, Effective Velocity (EV) Tunnels, more strikeouts than hits in the MLB now, Perry Husband coined this concept, perceived velocity to the hitter, easier for corner-back to cover wide receivers running similar routes (deep & post), versus more difficult for one corner-back to cover two wide receivers when one runs deep and another does a 5-yard 90-degree cut, a pitch farther away from the hitter (low-away), perceived velocity is slower, a pitch closer to the eyes (up-in), perceived velocity is faster.
At the 22:00 minute mark, I asked Perry Husband how do you counter pitchers exploiting EV tunnels in hitters? Learning to “hunt” pitches, hunting specific pitches in specific locations, “belly button”, back foot, and real catcher’s glove barrel entering the zone positions(CLICK HERE for more on this), random pitch rounds, my son “hunting” Ford Mustang cars when driving on the road, hunting pitches is less relevant with younger pitchers, and college and professional ball – hunting pitches becomes more relevant, data collection.
Struggling to get your hitters ON-TIME in games? Discover HOW TO build effective laser-focused timing, so your hitters can be ON-TIME more often. These principles are validated by REAL science.
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Take 30-minutes To Get Started With Becoming A “Sticky” Super Coach…You’ll Be Happy You Did!
This is Part-1 to the Facebook LIVE conversation I recently had with Bill Masullo, who is the Co-Owner and Senior Baseball Instructor at the Ultimate Edge @ Goodsports. The subject of this interview is complimentary to a recent post I did titled, “Why Fortnite May Be Dangerous To Building Hitters Who Crush”. HEADS UP: there’s some unwanted mic feedback to Bill’s audio when he speaks, should be fixed for the next go-round, our apologies.
Below are some highlighted notes I took for you…
At the 3:00 mark, address the question of delayed v. instant gratification, in Fortnite you “earn” levels – you can’t “buy” your way to the next level (this is a plus of the game), best athletes or any other successful people in the world are better at delayed gratification.
At the 6:20 mark, mentioned Bryan Eisenberg’s book, Be Like Amazon: Even a Lemonade Stand Can Do It, talked about the Stanford Marshmallow Study, talked about the University of Rochester twist to the Stanford Mashmallow Study adding in a credible v. not-credible source.
At the 11:15 mark, should we “ban” Fortnite, video game aggression studies in the book Pre-Suasion by Dr. Robert Cialdini, aggression ONLY comes out on 1-on-1 video game play – not on team game play, “earning” success in Fortnite is great, but success can happen so fast in a video game whereas the physical part of learning a motor skill can take more time, above v. below v. average learn-ability, the difference between doing the right things (being effective) and doing those things right (being efficient), working 4-days per week for at least 5-mins per day.
At the 17:45 mark, understand the “reward” is that the movement is correct, difference in feedback we give to a younger hitter versus an older more seasoned hitter, mentioned Daniel Coyle’s book The Talent Code, Goldilock’s Golden Rule to giving feedback to hitters, mentioned Don’t Shoot The Dog by Karen Pryor, positive v. negative behavioral conditioning, when learning something new start with more feedback when they do the movement semi-correctly, and as they get cleaner with the movement, back off the feedback (still give it), but sprinkle in, move to rewarding the BEST movement executions.
At the 27:47 mark, Bill was teasing Part-2 of this interview about the effect playing video games and being on the mobile has on the young athlete’s posture and how that in turn effects their swing, “sitting” is the next “smoking”, and lastly WHY should we as coaches care about this.
ASK THE EXPERTS: Jeremy Frisch, Taylor Gardner, & Matt Nokes Cover The Shocking Mistakes Killing Your Swing
Let’s start this party off with Mr.,
Jeremy Frisch – Owner of Achieve Performance
Jeremy Frisch is owner of Achieve Performance training in Clinton Massachusetts and former assistant strength and conditioning coach at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester Massachusetts. Jeremy’s focus is on long-term athlete development where he works with children as young a 5 years of age up through college level athletes.
He’ll answer the following question I often get from my readers…
“What is an effective way to strengthen a swing, say mechanics are good but need more body strength for speed?”
Believe it or not, improving strength in the young athlete is easier than one might think. Young athletes need nothing more than their own body-weight or medicine ball to get stronger. When I train an young athlete’s I am looking at doing 4 exercises.
Total body exercise
Upper Body exercise
Torso exercise
Lower body exercise
Total body Exercise
In my opinion the bear crawl is one of the best all around total body exercises a young athlete can do. The bear crawl improves coordination, trains stability of the core and shoulder girdle and strengthens the lower body all at the same time. The bear crawl can be done in multiple directions, distances and speeds. Because of the difficulty of the exercise young athletes often fatigue quickly therefore very short distances should be used like 10-15 yards at a slow pace.
Upper body exercise
My go to exercise for training the upper body is so simple that many coaches don’t believe me. The exercise is simple: the bar hang. Hang from a chin-up bar or monkey bars with the arms straight for as long as possible. Develops unbelievable strength from the grip through the shoulder and core, not to mention develops mental toughness because the kids can always dig a little deeper and hold on for a few more seconds. Climbing and hanging is a long lost art in children’s lives. Maybe if kids were a bit stronger and more agile in the upper bodies these days we would see less elbow and shoulder injuries.
Torso Exercise
The medicine ball is a fantastic tool for developing rotation power needed to throw and swing a bat. A medicine ball and a brick wall makes a perfect combination to develop a powerful swing. The athlete stands sideways in a stance similar to their batting stance rotate the ball back and using a motion similar to a swing, throw the ball off the wall as hard as possible. Aim for both sides 3-5 sets of 6-8 repetitions
Lower Body Exercise
One of the best and most affordable ways to develop great leg strength and as a bonus speed , running form and all around conditioning are hill sprints. Look to find a steep hill 15-25 yards long and sprint up full speed. The key with hill sprints is to make sure the athlete has the appropriate rest between sets. Too many coaches use hill sprints as a torture device to punish their athletes. All that does is make them tired slow and miserable. Baseball is a game of speed and power and hill sprints can develop that speed and power in the lower body. Each sprint should be followed with a slow walk down the hill followed by at least a minute to 1:30 rest. Look to get 10-15 full speed reps with good rest per workout 2 x per week.
You can see more of what Jeremy is doing at the following places:
Taylor Gardner – Co-Founder of The Backspin Batting Tee
Taylor Gardner is an Edison Award Winning Inventor of the Back-Spin Tee, who currently has the biggest social media following of any batting product in the world. With the help of his brother, former professional player and coach, he was able to break into the Major League Hitting World by bringing simple physics to the minds of many players and coaches. Now working across the world, Taylor is expanding his product line and instruction to bust the game’s biggest myths.
He’ll answer the following question I often get from my readers…
“Of all the issues you cover on hitting mechanics, what 2 do you consider to be the most compelling for most hitters?”
Of all the hitting mechanics that I have had the privilege of learning and teaching, there are two that stand out the most.
The element of the stride in relation to getting on time and its importance into the weight shift, and
The mechanism of lining the shoulders on path with the incoming pitch.
The Stride
The stride portion of the swing has seen many variations and is a highly talked about subject. I see a lot of hitters performing their style of a stride, but few seem to understand how to simplify the stride mechanism without destroying other vital parts of the swing. The stride itself is a combination of a step, and a weight shift…That’s what makes it a stride. If you simply reach your front foot forward with no regard for weight shift, it is a step, and practically adding another movement to the swing making your swing take longer than necessary.
I see a lot of young hitters believe that they are late on a ball because they reach their foot out, then weight shift, then attempt to align to the ball, and then swing. Yes, after doing all those movements, they are late…BUT…it’s because they started too soon!
During the stride a hitter can weight shift, and align their bodies to the pitch (yes, even getting into an advantageous position of lag) all in sync. Once the hitter lands all they must do is swing from there. It cuts the timeline down tremendously. Hitters can track the ball deeper than they ever had before and still take a powerful swing without sacrificing their rhythm or connected movements.
Think of how a quarterback throws a pass, or for the matter- a pitcher throwing a ball. They do a lot of great movements during their stride phase, so that when they land, they can simply “throw”. We like to call it “Land-throw timing” or “Land-swing timing” for the hitters.
Lining the Shoulders
Lining the shoulders on the ball is the second mechanism I see that a lot of hitters could benefit from learning more about. Yes, you can begin to get your shoulders lined up to the pitch during your stride phase, but to be more in depth, even if your stride doesn’t put you on perfect timing with the pitch (and most hitters are slightly early even on their best hits), you still must get your shoulders lined up to the pitch to stay on path for contact.
The barrel of the bat will be parallel to the shoulder plane at contact when done correctly. HOWEVER, this is where I see players and coaches trying to get on plane TOO SOON! If you drop your barrel on what seems to be on path early in the swing (Sounds like a good thing right?), but are unable to complete your weight shift/stride, or even track the ball long enough to decide where to swing, you will leave a huge hole in your swing that pitchers can pitch around.
I take some blame for this whole “Launch Angle” Revolution. My product was the first to talk about the importance of launch angles, and since, we have seen many people take our Trademark – “On Path, Bottom Half” to the extremes. You want to be on path with the pitch coming in, hitting the bottom half of the ball ON TIME. On time isn’t just hitting ball to center field, it also stands for
Shifting your weight on time,
Lining your shoulders on time, and
Releasing the energy into the bat on time.
Not early, and certainly not late. I understand hitting a baseball or softball is the single hardest thing to do in sports, however if you do not continue to understand the simple timing elements that lead to an appropriate swing, we will accidentally continue to make hitting a ball even harder than it already is.
You can stay up to date on what Taylor and the Backspin Tee are doing at the following places:
Matt Nokes is a 10-year MLB Veteran, playing for the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers. In that time he was a Silver Slugger Award Winner and All-Star Catcher. Since then he’s been working hard helping hitters as the founder of his company ONE HITTING SOLUTION.
For over 20 years as a hitting coach he’s been researching and finding out what transforms hitters 99 out of 100 times, he’s developed 12 simple natural hitting Rules, Action Steps, Do’s NOT Don’ts, that he calls the 12 Touchstones because they’re the rehearsals that bring to the surface only the relevant “In The Zone Feelings”.
No more random adjustments 50 times a day fiddling with your mechanics. This program is a 6-week transformational reset suppressing all the clutter, myths and half truths you’ve learned over the years from coaches, parents and now YouTube.
The bottom line is these 12 Touchstones solve 99 out of 100 problems before they ever come up. You become intentional and take action in the form of rehearsals that weave a triple braided chord of:
Brutally efficient.
Laser focused hitting mindset with the true MLB Plan as the proper context and perspective.
Timing – the 3rd and final chord wrapped tight around the other 2 skill sets.
The glue holding all 3 together to execute your only mandate: NeverMissYourPitch. Click Here: But first watch this short powerful video to give you an idea for what’s in store for you and you’ll be given the opportunity to schedule a FREE Strategy Call with Matt Nokes.
In this post, Matt Nokes answers the following question I often get from my readers…
“Of all the issues you cover on hitting mechanics what 2 do you consider to be the most compelling for most hitters?”
On the most primitive level, if you’re going to express timing with one physical mechanical expression it would be transferring into the ball on time. You can’t separate your weight shift from your swing [that’s called quitting], so it’s critical if you want to develop properly you need to learn to coordinate your stride and transfer.
The 1st way I’d practice getting your weight into the ball is by learning the basic movement of the “step to swing”. You can use a tee without a ball for a point to aim at but it’s good to begin rehearsing the movement without the distraction of whether you hit the ball hard or not. Hitting the ball at this point is irrelevant.
You want to learn the movement first and then begin adding variables. If you decide to NOT use a tee, make sure you visualize where the ball would be and don’t let your eyes wander. You body follows your head but your head follows your eyes and if your eyes are wandering then you’re in trouble, and will most likely wobble in your rotation.
The 2nd way is adding the performance variable using a tee with the “Tall and Fall” drill:
The 3rd way would be to add a measure of timing. Once you’ve coordinated your stride and transfer then any soft toss drill will add a some more variables for timing but it’ll be easy enough for your automatic mind to handle without much trouble:
Swinging across your face. Crossing your face is a swing rehearsal cue that ensures you don’t pull your head. The alternative is to chase your face, and if you do that you’ll be pulling off the ball without much success. Swinging across your face may be the most powerful way to stay on the ball, direct your energy into a fine point and keep the ball fair on the inside pitch.
What are your favorite drills to hit off speed pitches?
My best advice on hitting the curve-ball…Don’t miss the fastball
That sounds like a joke, but it’s not. The best hitters are always ready for the fastball don’t miss it. Frank Robinson [Hall of Fame] changed the course of my career by teaching me the MLB Plan and a big part of it was never missing the fastball. Frank went on to say “you show me a good curve-ball hitter and I’ll show you a guy with a slow bat.
Ok now that we have that mindset on the books, let’s talk about hitting the off speed pitch. First you need to practice good timing but without going too deep into timing philosophy there’s a few good ideas and rules to follow along with some solid methods for practicing…
Slow pitch in the batting cages.
A great place to start for hitting off speed pitches is also one of the most convenient places to start and that’s in an automatic batting cage [in the slowest cage].
Most young hitters have trouble hitting in the slow cages because they’ve never been taught to deal with all the timing variables and they’re often discouraged when they have trouble, but they give up before they learn how to let the ball travel. It’s a mindset and a good way to think of a slow pitch is how you’d hit in slow pitch soft ball.
Trust me…Timing is a skillset that is easily taught but it’s counterintuitive because it’s not a popular topic in the mainstream hitting community. It’s more popular to say timing can NOT be taught…but that’s a myth.
Seeing the ball up is another cue for hitting the off speed and helps you visualize the trajectory of a potential off speed pitch, so you can still look fastball but won’t freeze on the strike curve-ball. One of the first obstacles to overcome is understanding what causes hitters to vapor lock or freeze on the curve ball.
The higher release point of a “strike curveball” often freezes hitters because it appears to look like a fastball thrown so high that the hitter immediately quits on it right as it’s released from the pitcher.
Now when a hitter is looking for a normal fastball between the waste and knees and gets a curveball in the dirt, they don’t automatically freeze on a ball in the dirt because it initially looks like a fastball. By the time you recognize it’s a curveball its usually too late and you’re feeling “I can still hit this”.
If you see the ball up you’re able to look for your fastball [you can always adjust down on a fastball] but by looking up the only curveball that’ll look good is the hanging strike curve-ball that usually makes you freeze early in the count.
Finally, there’s the technique I call one of the “Touchstones” called “Buying time”
Buying time involves going out and getting the ball by getting deeper into your legs, which gives the ball more time to travel into your hitting bubble within your reach.
Every 7/1000th of a second the ball travels a foot, so if you’re off 21/1000th of a second the ball is traveling 3 feet. So buying time by falling deeper into your legs before you hit, gives the ball a little time to get closer, and your lower center of gravity allows you to access your farthest reach without leaking if you execute the “Touchstone” correctly.
Either way, you often have to go out and get the ball farther out front without interrupting the flow of your land swing timing.
You can see more of what Matt Nokes is doing at the following places:
Best Swing in Baseball: Here is a Method Helping Mookie Betts – And Many Others – Consistently Crush The Ball
In this best swing in baseball video, we’ll discuss:
Data and reasoning because personal opinions are seldom useful,
Mookie Betts (via my Twitter feed) ‘showing numbers’ at landing on inside pitch…Hitting Guru #57 “should NEVER ‘show numbers’ on inside pitch” objection based on personal opinion with ZERO data to back claim :-/
Can eat soup with spoon, fork, knife…but only one way is more effective. Teaching hitting is the same. Apply human movement principles that are validated by REAL science, NOT “because-I-said-so ‘bro-science'”, and
The information is out there, so hitters will find it for themselves, either you will be able to take credit for teaching it or you won’t. Results don’t lie.
Still don’t believe the best ‘show numbers’? CLICK HERE for a post I did recently titled, “Why I Teach Hitters To ‘Show Numbers’ (And Maybe You Should Too)”.
Don’t be like opinion-based Hitting Guru #57…have solid data and reasoning to back up your “opinions”.
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
Swing Study reveals how tens of thousands of hitters are adding 40-feet to batted ball distance by using one simple strategy.
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How Your Central Hitting “Operating System” May Be Causing You To Lose Out On Scoring More Runs
Photo courtesy: MopUpDuty.com
Recently, I had a conversation with a coach on Facebook who thought the following quote from Josh Donaldson was “horrible advice”:
“If you’re 10-years-old and your coach tells you to get on top of the ball…tell him NO.”
I’m not getting into the positive or negative of Donaldson’s statement, but the coach’s responses that followed his “horrible advice” comment got me thinking. Come to find out, the loud and clear message was this coach despises when hitters strikeout. Often referring to this offensive outcome as “disgusting”. What was interesting was this one principle was central to how and what he teaches his hitters.
So I wanted to do a hitting “operating system” thought experiment. In reading what follows, please keep in mind what the main objective to offense is, according to FanGraphs.com
“In baseball [or softball], we care about run scoring (and prevention) and so when looking at offensive statistics, we want to find statistics that tell you something about how much a player contributes to the run scoring process…again, we care about a player’s contribution to run scoring and if you treat everything equally you’re not getting a very accurate measure of those contributions.”
In this thought experiment, we’ll discuss…as a hitting instructor, what would happen if:
The Time To Impact Metric was Central to the “Operating System”?
Minimizing a Hitter’s Strikeouts were Central to the “Operating System”?
Maximizing Batting Average were Central to the “Operating System”? And,
Maximizing OPS were Central to the “Operating System”?
Now, that being said…as a hitting instructor, what would happen if…
The Time To Impact Metric was Central to the “Operating System”?
If you’re new to this term, here’s the definition of Time To Impact according to Zepp:
“TIME TO IMPACT is the amount of time (in seconds) from the start of the downswing until impact of the bat with the ball. The closer to ZERO your swing is, the quicker your bat is to the ball. The faster the time to impact, the longer the hitter can wait to start the swing. Time to Impact also measures how short a player’s swing is. Time to Impact measures their coordination of both their hand and the bat barrel to maximize swing efficiency to the ball.”
CLICK HERE for amateur, High School, and Pro ranges for both baseball and softball. What would be the top 2-3 priority hitting concepts guided by this principle?
Point-A to B barrel path (shortest distance between two points). Default hitting strategy would be “Knob to the ball”. “Swing down”. “Barrel above the hands”.
Most likely using more linear elements in the swing for both upper and lower half (i.e. ‘showing numbers’ will be a no-no). Maybe similar to a Charlie Lau style of hitting.
Minimalist view of the swing…wide feet, no stride, minimal hand and head movement, etc. May not believe a hitter can train timing, so the view is that it’s all about bettering the hitter’s reaction time.
Look, there’s a healthy range for Time To Impact, not taking too long, and not being so quick the barrel is not in the impact zone long enough. You can see that range in the previous Zepp link. Remember, we want to formulate hitting principles that encourage how to maximize a player’s contribution to the run scoring process.
Moving on,
As a hitting instructor, what would happen if…
Minimizing a Hitter’s Strikeouts were Central to the “Operating System”?
What if you despised hitters striking out so much, you often referred to this outcome as “disgusting”, like our coaching friend above. What would be the top 2-3 priority concepts guided by this principle?
Protecting hitters from swing and misses at all cost. Very defensive just make contact swings, especially with 2-strikes. May subscribe to barrel on plane of pitch early and stay on plane longer. Less margin for error.
Believes in hitting ball hard and on a line. However, low liners and ground-balls are preferred, especially with 2-strikes. Don’t care as much about extra base hits, doubles maybe, but not homers. They aren’t worth the risk. Swings taught at the advent of astro turf fit this type of hitting perfectly. Hard and on the ground.
Mechanics may look like: wide no-stride feet, bug squishing, minimal head movement from start of swing to finish, choking up (especially with two strikes). Very defensive type of swing. On board with boosting Ball Exit Speeds, but will not agree with optimizing Launch Angles. Besides hitter strikeouts, this coach absolutely hates getting the ball in the air (too much of an out risk for them), unless it’s a low level line drive. High batting average and low strikeouts are very important to this coach.
Listen, if this is you, I’d highly advise checking out this VERY popular post titled, “The UGLY Truth About Hitting Ground Balls”. I’m not going into every argument here, but the math and geometry don’t lie in demonstrating ground-balls are gross. The main reasons are:
Ask any pitcher, and most (if not all) will tell you they’re taught to keep the ball down in the zone, to get the ground-ball. So, if the default strategy – or safety net to the line-drive – is to hit ground-balls, then you’re teaching hitters to do what pitchers want them to do.
Because of reason #1, there are 5 fielders on the infield (yes, the pitcher is considered a fielder) with less space to cover. There are only 3 outfielders with A LOT of space to cover. And lastly,
Most double plays are turned on the infield (probably THE WORST hitting outcome in the sport), and if you’re pinning hopes and dreams on an infielder making an error or ball taking a weird bounce, then you’re focusing on things you can’t control. High level coaches and players don’t think that way. WHY? Because it’s silly.
Again, we want to formulate hitting principles that encourage how to maximize a player’s contribution to the run scoring process.A defensive swing doesn’t do this.
Next, as a hitting instructor, what would happen if…
Maximizing Batting Average were Central to the “Operating System”?
In Golf, precision is key. The least strokes possible. Being able to control the club head has a lot of value because one small deviation at impact is exponentially compounded hundreds of yards from the tee box. The last hitter to hit .400 was Ted Williams in 1941. Tony Gwynn came close in the strike shortened year of 1994, hitting .394, and hitting around .370 in three separate full seasons. And Gwynn had a mere fraction of the power Williams did.
Before I get to what a hitting coach would focus on here, I wanted to address the elephant in the room. In the day and age of Sabermetrics, Batting Average isn’t a useful statistic in deciding a player’s value. In a FanGraphs post titled, “Stats to Avoid: Batting Average”, they put forth two reasons to avoid looking at BA as a useful metric:
“Batting average ignores a segment of offensive actions just because they aren’t “hits,” and 100 years ago, someone decided a hit and a walk were fundamentally different.” And,
“The second major flaw is that batting average treats every hit equally even though certain hits are more valuable than others. Batting average treats a single and a double like the same thing, even though a hitter who only hit doubles would help his team score a lot more runs than a hitter who only hit singles.”
That being said, maybe a better stat would be Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP). Not the best, but better than BA. FanGraphs.com defines BABIP as:
“Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP) measures how often a ball in play goes for a hit. A ball is “in play” when the plate appearance ends in something other than a strikeout, walk, hit batter, catcher’s interference, sacrifice bunt, or home run.”
Okay, so what would be the top 2-3 priority concepts guided by this principle?
Getting on the plane of the pitch early with the barrel, and maximizing that time.
Place a high emphasis on barrel control, both horizontally (across the field) and vertically (optimizing Launch Angles). The best hitters in the world can put the ball where they want, when they want, during batting practice.
I LOVE this approach, and I feel coaches have done a poor job of training their hitters in it in the past (including me). Teaching hitters to hit the ball where they want, when they want. Why can’t we have hitters in High School batting .600 to .800? Or Little Leaguers hitting .880? I know it can be done because I did it when I was 12yo, in addition to hitting 30+ homers. Using Batting Average (BA), or better yet Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP), is a great start to encourage how to maximize a player’s contribution to the run scoring process.
The challenge I have with it though, neither of the BA or BABIP metrics take walks and/or homers into account. Remember “contribute to run scoring process”. Which leads me to, as a hitting instructor, what would happen if…
Maximizing OPS were Central to the “Operating System”?
Have you read the book MoneyBall by Michael Lewis, or watched the movie with Brad Pitt? If you haven’t…THEN WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU!!!! lol, kidding. OPS stands for On-Base Percentage PLUS Slugging Percentage. There are better metrics, but this is a good one to start with if this is new to you. FanGraphs.com defines it as:
“On-base Plus Slugging (OPS) is exactly what it sounds like: the sum of a player’s on-base percentage and their slugging percentage. Many sabermetricians don’t like OPS because it treats OBP as equal in value with SLG, while OBP is roughly twice as important as SLG in terms of its effect on run scoring (x1.8 to be exact). However, OPS has value as a metric because it is accepted and used more widely than other, more accurate statistics while also being a relatively accurate representations of offense.”
It’s one of the best metrics to formulate hitting principles that encourage how to maximize a player’s contribution to the run scoring process. On-Base Percentage (OBP) measures how often a player gets on base. And Slugging Percentage (Slug%) measures how many extra base hits a hitter hits. ISO, or Isolated Slugging (aka “raw power”, takes singles out of the equation), is better than Slug%, but I don’t want to complicate matters. Remember, the object of this game is to get runners on, and knock’em in.
Okay, so what would be the top 2-3 priority concepts guided by this principle?
High frequency of hitting the ball hard. Increase Ball Exit Speed, or how fast the ball comes off the bat. However high Ball Exit Speeds with low Launch Angles are no good. A few years ago Giancarlo Stanton hit a ball 123.8-mph…on the ground, one-hopper to the second baseman…double play. Ouch.
Optimize launch angle range between 15 to 25 degrees. This is the ideal line drive range, and optimizes batted ball distance. Some hate talking about Launch Angles, but every batted ball has a launch angle, even bunts.
Mechanics that optimize both of these are key. How do we optimize Ball Exit Speeds? (Hint: that’s what Power Hitter 2.0: Engineering The Alpha does). What mechanics optimize Launch Angles and hitting more line drives? (Hint: that’s what The Pitch-Plane Dominator does). And importantly, my hitters don’t sacrifice swing quality for power. We get both! My hitters lower their strikeouts, mis-hits, fly-balls, and gross ground-balls with these online video courses.
I think there’s success on whatever part of the spectrum coaches find themselves on. However, what if you lived on a planet that used forks and knives to eat soup? What would happen if an alien came down and surprised them with a spoon? Teaching hitting is the same. There may be thousands of ways to teach hitters, but one way is most effective. What is that way? Applying human movement principles validated by REAL science, NOT “because-I-said-so ‘bro-science'”, to hitting a ball. Have a higher standard for your hitters.
We as coaches have to reverse engineer the our swing strategy based on what the game values, which are runs! The more runs your team can score (and prevent), the more WINS you get. Don’t lose sight of that coaches.
'Add 40-Feet' To Batted Ball Distance
Swing Study reveals how tens of thousands of hitters are adding 40-feet to batted ball distance by using one simple strategy.
Click the button below to access the FREE video that's been downloaded over 30K times!!
https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/simpsons-sabermetrics.jpg306535Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2018-03-23 17:18:552018-09-17 04:35:13How To Maximize A Hitter’s Contribution To Run Scoring Process
You Don’t Have To Gather 30+ Years Of Coaching To Be An Effective Teacher
In the above video, I mentioned the bookMake It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, by Peter C. Brown. If you’re serious about helping get young athletes better, then you’ll read or listen to that book. The information in it is supported by empirical research, NOT “because I said so ‘bro-science'”.
Here’s what is discussed in the above video:
Addressing reader question about lunging,
Talk about “Bean Bag” study from Make It Stick book,
WHY we separate PROCESS from PERFORMANCE with hitters learning something new,
Takes time to change ineffective movement momentum into effective, and…
Training 4-5 days per week, for AT LEAST 5-mins each day.
Original reader’s question I summarized in the above video:
“Joey, First off thank you for gathering and sharing the knowledge you have. I have become intrigued by the science of the swing and delivering it in a message that my 14u softball team related to.
One specific issue I see in a lot of my players is timing and getting over the front knee too far at contact. What are some good tee drills for staying back and any idea how I can get them to feel it when done correctly. I’m sure it will click once they figure it out.
Too much thinking in the box right now. Good thing it’s winter! Thank you”
– Eric McConnell, Coach Linden Warriors 14u. Black
My email reply…
“Eric, Thank you for reaching out! I know what you’re saying. Here’s what I want you to try with those young ladies:
Have them experiment with shifting their weight forward in different ways…
Reference their belly button because this is the body’s center of mass…
Have them stride while keeping their belly button inside their back foot… (this will feel like they aren’t moving forward at all, while front foot goes forward)
Have them stride while keeping their belly button behind their front knee at landing… (this will be closer to where you want them in games)
Have them stride while keeping their belly button behind their front foot at landing… And have them stride while keeping their belly button over their front foot at landing… (this will look like old Ty Cobb still shots of his swing finish).
Do you see what we’re doing? Give them many reference points to pull from. The learning principle here is variance. I use this all the time when teaching hitters to show their numbers to the pitcher. Please keep me updated with this Coach. And thank you for your continued support of HPL…Joey”
https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/sticky-coaching-blog-post-e1517598516168.png246450Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2018-02-02 19:20:072018-02-02 19:36:55Discover Science Of Successful Learning Secret To Fix Lunging (or any swing flaw for that matter!)
Here Are Our Top-10 2017 “Best-Of” Non-HPL Links Shared On Social Media (plus BONUSES)
I wanted to put together a 2017 year-in-review of the Top-10 links we shared on our Facebook fan-page. How popular a post is depends on Shares, Likes, and Comments. And I have over 27,066 Facebook fan followers, which is a big study group to judge the helpfulness of these links.
By the way, the following linked resources don’t include Hitting Performance Lab blog posts. ENJOY!
#10 Most Shared Link in 2017
What should you do if…?
“Your child plays in a league that mandates minimum playing time for each player. Your child consistently plays the minimum amount, and never when the game is on the line. The same players always play more than the minimum and are in at crunch time. You don’t think this is fair.”
Like Physicist Dr. Alan Nathan told me, body mass isn’t the best indicator of batted ball distance, bat speed is. If bat speed isn’t at top speed, then Ball Exit Speed won’t be either. This is GREAT news because teaching bat speed is within the control of EVERY player, body mass? Not so much. CLICK HERE for original post.
#8 Most Shared Link in 2017
From the post:
“Throughout the recruiting process, [Chris] Collins, Head Basketball Coach at Northwestern University, says he observes parents in the stands to help identify the sort of environment the recruit grew up with. In the recruiting process, coaches should begin to notice if parents are supportive and positive, or negative while encouraging individualistic behavior that only regards their son or daughter rather than the entire team.”
“These 8 movements take just a short amount of time, so you can add them in throughout your day to break up long bouts of sitting, or you can even use them as a warm-up to your regular training routine…Our hips are incredible structures that allow us to be mobile and strong and perform everything from the most mundane activities as walking to amazing feats of strength and power shown by the finest athletes. Take the time to take care of your hips and your life will be the better for it.“
One of the best quotes in this Wall Street Journal article?
“These self-made hitting gurus didn’t play in the big leagues, operate outside the mainstream and are convinced there is a better way to hit than what’s being taught at the major-league level. And they are rattling the baseball establishment.“
“Colt McCoy says this is because specialization limits the skills kids can learn, both motor and relationship skills, from playing multiple sports. Being on different teams gives kids an opportunity to learn and grow. The other benefit of playing multiple sports is that you don’t get burned out. McCoy shares here that he didn’t know he was going to play football in college until his junior year in high school! He continued to play basketball, golf, and other sports through high school because he liked being a part of different teams. McCoy strongly feels that when kids specialize at too young an age they miss out ‘on what sports truly encompass.'”
Many of you know how I feel about the ground-ball hitting approach. I think the biggest push back from pro GB hitting coaches is because they have no clue how to optimize line drive Launch Angles in their hitters. Do you have a hitter with above average speed? Then why not teach him or her to drive the ball with authority too? Gives them another tool for their toolbox. Teaching a fast runner to JUST hit the ball on the ground is just plain lazy. Be better than that. When coaches aren’t growing, they’re dying. Make hitters better. Give them more tools. CLICK HERE for the original post.
#3 Most Shared Link in 2017
Shameful conduct. Bullies. I feel bad for the young ladies on this team who were seen as guilty by association. CLICK HERE for the original post.
#2 Most Shared Link in 2017
How cool is this?! From the post:
“Joe Jackson was at the Rangers’ Spring Training complex on Friday, and no, you did not somehow step into a time machine and travel back to the 1910s. It was Joe Jackson, the 24-year-old Minor Leaguer who, yes, is the great-great-grandnephew of Shoeless Joe Jackson”.
CLICK HERE for the original post. And our MOST SHARED non-HPL link in 2017 was…(drum-roll please)…
#1 Most Shared Link in 2017
This video is well worth your time. George Springer’s dad was interviewed after World Series Game-7 ended, and after his son received the MVP award. Great insight into what dad taught Junior growing up, even discussing a unique perspective to the stuttering challenges George Springer (son) grew up with. CLICK HERE for the original post.
And for the BONUSES…
BONUS #11 Most Shared Link in 2017
As many of you know, I love getting athletes to move better. If we do that, then they’ll perform better. This is a great routine to help with stiff hamstrings, which surprisingly is what most of my hitters have! CLICK HERE for the original post.
BONUS #12 Most Shared Link in 2017…ahem…I mean First Week January 2018
This was a recent popular January 2018 post, but I wanted to include it here. Preaching the ‘Sticky Coaching’ gospel for parents. CLICK HERE for the original post.
Audio Interview Talking About: 2nd Edition of Catapult Loading System Book, REAL Science Versus “Bro-science”, Difference Between Hitting Principles Versus Theories, Improving Hitters, & More
(PLEASE NOTE: the audio isn’t quite the best on my end, since he was interviewing me over the phone.)
I’ve included time-stamps below, so you can freely navigate through the audio interview…ENJOY!
At about 0:10 second mark, James asked me to tell him about the Catapult Loading System (CLS) book, working on the second edition of the book now and new additions to it.
At about 2:40 minute mark, what the Hitting Performance Lab is all about, applying human movement principles validated by REAL science, to hitting a ball, Anatomy Trains by Thomas Myers, The Spinal Engine by Dr. Serge Gracovetsky, Dynamic Body by Dr. Erik Dalton. Base system off higher standard: REAL science, not “bro-science”, data (experiments, stats, etc.) and technology (Zepp, SwingTracker, BlastMotion, HitTrax) are great to measure, test, re-measure.
At about 6:30 minute mark, James asked what the difference between hitting “philosophy” versus hitting “principles”, talk about bowling “bumper” analogy, “Theories” are okay but MUST have a REAL science to back them up, is body-weight a good indicator of batted ball distance? Are athletic “freaks” the only ones who can triple their body-weight in batted ball distance?
At about 10:30 minute mark, James asked me to clarify “body loading”, is the body just a rubber band system? The difference between compression and tension forces and springy fascia, what is fascia and why the secret to consistent power is found in it. How an elite hitter loads these compression and tension forces, the Springy ‘X’ Pattern, and the Goldilocks Golden Rule, how to match the plane of the pitch, not teaching hitters to hit “pop-flies” or ground-balls.
At about 15:30 minute mark, James asked how we teach the Springy ‘X’ Pattern to younger hitters, ‘Showing Numbers’ and “back eye test“, using back elbow for Downhill Shoulder Angle, to get the ‘Scap Row’ we use “hiding their hands from pitcher” cue, “Finger Pressure”, the “Hollow” or “Hunched Position“, head positioning and following the “One-Joint Rule“,
At about 21:00 minute mark, James asked who taught or supported me in this information? Where learning this originated from, self taught, started from trying to fix a chronic knee tightness, reverse engineered the swing through human movement principles validated by science, Aaron Judge and Sierra Romero as great models for an effective swing.
At about 24:00 minute mark, follow up question on the difference between first and second edition of the CLS book, the path to finding the truth to consistency in the swing, how the tens of thousands of coaches reading and applying the principles are getting the same results – if not better – with their hitters that I am with mine! How we improved free agent Professional hitter recently using a wood bat off Backspin Tee, 75-mph Ball Exit Speed to 85-mph in one hour.
At about 28-minute mark, where can people learn more about what we’re doing here at Hitting Performance Lab? Where you can find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, etc., BIG ask from the audience: SHARE, SHARE, SHARE
https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/TheGruelingTruth_Logo_220-300x300.jpg300300Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2017-12-28 20:07:442020-04-28 17:31:55Improving Pro Hitter From 75-mph Ball Exit Speed To 85-mph In One Hour?
Want To Move Better? Simple Adjustments To Move Like Today’s Best Hitters
Watch Tai Chi Combat’s Master Wong in point #4 below: Notice Weight Transfer for Instant Agility. Photo courtesy: Master Wong, from his YouTube video Tai Chi for Beginners.
What Smokin’ Joe Frazier, China’s Tai Chi, the Headspace meditation app, and Ted Williams have in common will become clear moving through this post, I promise.
But first, here’s the glue that connects all these seemingly random things…
The first time I read through it, I thought, well this could help hitters…
The second time I read through it, I thought, dang, this could REALLY help hitters…
And then the 3rd, 4th, and 5th times, in my head I screamed, “DUDE!!”
Which is WHY I’m bringing it’s information to the attention of my coaches.
Here’s what I have for you…
Some quick notes from each of the five main points of the Ryan Hurst GMB Fitness post above,
Supporting videos that help put the ideas into “hitting” terms, and
A few resources I think are becoming more popular in helping hitters control their breathing (VERY IMPORTANT as you’ll soon see).
ENJOY!
1. Slow It Down for Instant Awareness
Being mindful is really the key to better movement.
Pay attention to how your hips are moving, your weight distribution, your eye gaze, and your breath.
Slow down your movement and you’ll be able to pay better attention to the details.
I’m not sure on the name, but I once heard boxer Joe Frazier used to practice a super slow motion punch that would last 20-minutes! Talk about slowing it down for instant awareness.
Here are swings from different angles to practice specific movements in slow motion…
2. Use Your Hips for Instant Power
Hips are your body’s center of mass.
The better you can initiate motion from this point, the more efficient your movements will be, as you’ll move with less wasted action.
With any stepping motion, rather than your feet propelling you forward, you want your hips to lead.
Yes, I agree with Ted Williams when he said the “Hips Lead the Way”. But even before the pelvis begins to turn for a hitter, the front hip MUST lead the way during the stride.
Watch this short 1-min Justin Turner slow motion swing video I put together for you, and key in on how his front hip initiates his pre-turn movement in the stride…
3. Use Visual Aim for Instant Control
Head is hardwired to follow your eyes, and the body is hardwired to follow your head. Basically, the body will follow the eyes.
If your eyes are not gazing in the right place, you won’t be able to control your body properly.
If you want to move better, think of it this way: your eyes should always be pointed where you want your spine to be.
This is WHY hitters who “pull their heads”, go chin to chest, back ear to back shoulder, or nose to sky at impact is not good.
My good friend Matt Nokes at Hitting Solutions calls this “swinging across your face”…this cue will help correct pulling the head. The best hitters “keep their head in the fire”, as Nokes says. Control the head, and hitter controls the direction and “squaring-up” of impact.
Watch this head movement modeling video of a few top MLB hitters…
4. Notice Weight Transfer for Instant Agility
The correct transfer of your weight is the beginning of a smooth and controlled motion.
While side stepping (or lunging) to your right, notice that you shifted your weight to the left a split second before you went to the right? It’s a natural loading response that you do without even thinking about it.
With any movement, if your body’s natural weight transfer mechanisms are not working properly, it will hurt your balance.
This is natural weight transfer behavior coaches!! If any hitting coach tells a right handed hitter to NOT shift their weight towards their right leg before striding to the left, then RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!
Watch the following three-in-a-half minute video from Master Wong, founder of Tai Chi Combat (over 1.4 million subscribers to his YouTube channel!!), performing a beginner’s Tai Chi movement. Notice the split second weight shift one way, in order to go the other way…
5. Breathe for Instant Poise and Calm
Difference between holding the breath and bracing during movement…for skill-based movements holding your breath isn’t going to help.
Breath holding and hyperventilation are signs of anxiety, but in that wonderful body-mind connection loop, it can also create anxiety.
Poor breathing creates feelings of anxiety, anxiety, creates tension, and unmediated tension causes poor movement. Smooth and purposeful breathing leads to smooth and purposeful movement.
This is “bigly”! The leading resources for this are the following guided meditation apps:
Headspace(I’ve been using this one for the best 3 years), and
I can’t speak for the Calm app, but Headspace is not Eastern “woo-woo”. It focuses on controlling the breath, being aware of the breath, and the use of visualization practice.
These are second-to-none resources for reducing rapid breathing during competition or any other signs of anxiety.
I think this quote bares repeating because it’s VERY important for hitters:
“Smooth and purposeful breathing leads to smooth and purposeful movement.”
https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/master-wong-tai-chi-e1509569317234.png404500Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2017-11-02 04:34:452018-09-07 04:43:14What Do Joe Frazier, Tai Chi, Headspace, & Ted Williams Have In Common?
Coaching principles transcend ALL sports. Yes, a wrestling coach and a hitting coach CAN speak the same language. Photo courtesy: AttackStyleWrestling.com
Yes I know, he’s running a coaching blog about wrestling and this is a hitting blog,
BUT…
The principles of coaching transcend ALL sports.
As always, I’ve tried to make this 46-minute audio easier to digest, so I’ve included time stamps you can fast forward or rewind to. In this interview, we went over the following:
About 1:20 min. mark, where it all began for me when I started teaching hitters to “swing down”. Dark time for my hitters then, and they weren’t getting consistent results. My knowledge stagnated at the time. Where everything turned around for my hitters and my system. Book resources included.
About 5:00 min. mark, how to debunk conventional teaching cues using today’s technology to test and compare swing mechanics such as Zepp, SwingTracker, and Blast.
About 8:00 min. mark, what is a “sticky coach?” Taking a hiatus from hitting industry teachings, the challenge is translating information from coaches that are very technical to the end user. Can the information be taken from the expert to the coach to the player? The more effective teaches are the ones who can do this. If we can effect the coaches, we can exponentially effect more players. Coach Daryl talks about how doing coaching clinics can be REALLY powerful when it comes to effecting more players. The book we were talking about was: The Science Of Sticky Coaching: How To Turn Ordinary Athletes Into Extraordinary.
About 15:00 min. mark, how to apply the Minimum Effective Dosage model (MED) to young athletes. 4-5 days per week, and 5-mins per day of hitting homework practice. This is outside of organized practice time. Be happy with 5-mins per day. It’s not about how many swing you get in a day, it’s quality deep practice swings that matter. And when you’re dealing with a demotivated hitter, set them up for success with the MED model.
About 19:00 min. mark, Coach Daryl likes to remind his athletes that it’s okay to fall off the wagon, if you don’t get the MED practice time in. Life happens. Set yourself up for success, by starting small and don’t overwhelm yourself early on.
About 21:15 min mark, I talk about Karen Pryor’s book Don’t Shoot The Dog, using positive reinforcers to inspire athletes to put the work in. I shared the story of the Professor lecturing students 10-mins every day, who didn’t turn their homework in…changed to positive reinforcement, and went from only 1/3 of students turning in homework, to three weeks later, 3/4 of students turning homework in. Praising hitters for the days they DO get in, motivates better than lecturing on the days they didn’t get in.
About 24:00 min. mark, Coach Daryl shares about his weigh-in struggles with his wrestlers. Coach would tally up weigh-in numbers before practice, get frustrated, and proceed to negatively lecture his wrestlers at the start of practice. This wasn’t good, so Coach had his coaches report weigh-ins to him AFTER practice, which freed him up to give a positive motivating speech at the start of practice.
About 26:30 min. mark, how to keep youth athletes from leaving the sport after only a couple years. Coaches “bullying” players. Encouraging athletes to open up communication lines with coach about playing time at the High School level on up. 12u on down is in the parent’s court. Dealing with coaches who teach hitting based on conventional wisdom. Using the “bobble-head” strategy. Ask your players at the end of a session: are there any questions on what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and why you’re doing it? If players understand what they’re doing, then contrasting information at practice won’t confuse them. They’ll be more prepared!
About 36:00 min. mark, talked about the approach a D1 softball player was going to use with her hitting coach, who has a professional baseball background and teaches conventional hitting wisdom. She interned for me this past summer, sitting in and helping out on my hitting lessons, and we worked one-on-one about a half dozen times.
About 43:00 min. mark, coaches have to start asking more questions. Question what they’ve always been taught. Question what they’re learning now. Question ME because I don’t mind. The quality of your coaching is directly connected to the quality of questions you ask. Gain knowledge and test.
https://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Branded_4.-Setups-From-Open.jpg482603Joey Myershttps://hittingperformancelab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hitting-performance-labs_c90c0362088ef1d3d528f3078f4f8ac1-300x75.pngJoey Myers2017-10-11 18:36:452020-04-28 17:26:18How To Motivate Athletes To Commit To Training Consistently & With Intensity…WITHOUT “Burning Them Out”
book by Dr. Peter Fadde.
book by Dr. Peter Fadde.
, talked about the Stanford Marshmallow Study, talked about the University of Rochester twist to the Stanford Mashmallow Study adding in a credible v. not-credible source.
by Dr. Robert Cialdini, aggression ONLY comes out on 1-on-1 video game play – not on team game play, “earning” success in Fortnite is great, but success can happen so fast in a video game whereas the physical part of learning a motor skill can take more time, above v. below v. average learn-ability, the difference between doing the right things (being effective) and doing those things right (being efficient), working 4-days per week for at least 5-mins per day.
, Goldilock’s Golden Rule to giving feedback to hitters, mentioned 
by Karen Pryor, positive v. negative behavioral conditioning, when learning something new start with more feedback when they do the movement semi-correctly, and as they get cleaner with the movement, back off the feedback (still give it), but sprinkle in, move to rewarding the BEST movement executions.
, 
, 
, 
, Aaron Miles, and numerous past and present professional hitters agree with CLS,
by Michael Lewis, or watched the movie with Brad Pitt? If you haven’t…THEN WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU!!!! lol, kidding. OPS stands for On-Base Percentage PLUS Slugging Percentage. There are better metrics, but this is a good one to start with if this is new to you. FanGraphs.com defines it as:
, by Peter C. Brown. If you’re serious about helping get young athletes better, then you’ll read or listen to that book. The information in it is supported by empirical research, NOT “because I said so ‘bro-science'”.
(CLS) book, working on the second edition of the book now and new additions to it.
by Thomas Myers, 
by Dr. Serge Gracovetsky, 
by Dr. Erik Dalton. Base system off higher standard: REAL science, not “bro-science”, data (experiments, stats, etc.) and technology (Zepp, SwingTracker, BlastMotion, HitTrax) are great to measure, test, re-measure.
, using positive reinforcers to inspire athletes to put the work in. I shared the story of the Professor lecturing students 10-mins every day, who didn’t turn their homework in…changed to positive reinforcement, and went from only 1/3 of students turning in homework, to three weeks later, 3/4 of students turning homework in. Praising hitters for the days they DO get in, motivates better than lecturing on the days they didn’t get in.
