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How to teach pitch recognition to your players

By Rob Tong | September 24, 2021 1 Comment

pitch recognition

Improving pitch recognition for your batters will help them be better prepared to hit and help them avoid being hit by pitches. Here’s how you can implement this for your team.

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How To Calculate Relevant Defensive Stats For Youth Baseball (free spreadsheet and chart inside)

By Rob Tong | June 28, 2021 Leave a Comment

Defensive stats spreadsheet

Does GameChanger provide relevant defensive stats that you as the coach can use to plan related drills for future practices? I say no, and I explain why in podcast episode 142. So is there anything you can do? I have a free spreadsheet I’ll share with you that provides relevant defensive data.

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It’s Time To Separate Classroom Instruction From On-Field Practice

By Rob Tong | February 25, 2021 Leave a Comment

Vanderbilt baseball classroom

Here’s my clarion call to youth and high school coaches to start emulating what successful baseball colleges are doing to be efficient with their practice time. This is a significant change to how you run your practices, but I think the benefits will be worth it.

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Why Most People Use The Batting Cage Incorrectly (And How To Fix The Problem)

By Rob Tong | November 16, 2019 3 Comments

indoor batting cages

Do you or your coach tell your kids their goal is to “hit the back of the batting cage”? If so, you’re feeding your kids misinformation in the cage. Why is this wrong? And what can be done to make it right?

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The Drill Doctor: Catcher Back Picks Drill

By Rob Tong | September 16, 2019 4 Comments

Back pick at 1B

Diagnosis of a catcher back picks drill to see if it is well or not; if not, what can we prescribe to make the drill healthy?

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Make Over Your Youth Baseball Pre-Game Routine

By Rob Tong | October 13, 2018 1 Comment

Playing catch

If your youth baseball pre-game routine consists mostly of your kids playing catch to warm up, with a simple infield drill and/or outfield warmup drill, then you may want to consider making over your pre-game routine.

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Why Competitive Games In Practices Aren’t Always Great

By Rob Tong | July 12, 2018 Leave a Comment

Throwing relay race

It seems everyone’s singing the praises of competitive games and drills in practices. But be warned: you have to use them wisely. Find out why and how in this post.

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Baseball Olympics Drill For Youth Baseball Practices

By Rob Tong | February 12, 2018 1 Comment

Baseball Olympics graphic

Here’s a drill that crams multiple mini-drills into one. I go over the benefits of this drill, how to run it (both at a high-level as well as more detailed info), variation ideas, competition ideas and provide a homemade graphic (don’t laugh) that illustrates how it all flows and operates.

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How To Definitively Find The Best Bat For Your Child

By Rob Tong | October 18, 2017 3 Comments

What’s the best bat for my child? What’s the ideal bat weight for my child? At last, a definitive way to answer those types of questions.

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The Lowdown on Rundowns: 3 Simple Rules

By Rob Tong | January 28, 2017 7 Comments

Rundown

Baseball rundowns seem easy to execute, yet they are often botched. What rules must we teach and what rules are superfluous? Here is a definitive three-step process to teach rundowns to any age group.

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Pro Tip: An Advanced Way To Wear A Baseball Glove

By Rob Tong | January 16, 2017 14 Comments

Nolan Arenado flashes palm

If your kids are wearing their baseball gloves the traditional way of sliding their hand all the way into their glove, they may benefit from a ‘pro’ way of wearing their glove.

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“Get Your Back Elbow Up”?

By Rob Tong | November 18, 2016 4 Comments

Back elbow up in young hitter's batting stance

“Get your back elbow up!” Have you heard this at a game? Or maybe you’ve said it yourself? Why do we say this? And is it a valid cue for our young hitters?

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Scrimmages: Good Or Bad?

By Rob Tong | July 30, 2016 3 Comments

Two Rays players chat

Are scrimmages for lazy coaches? Or are scrimmages useful? I’ve held both views over my coaching career. So do I currently consider scrimmages as good or bad, and why?

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Minimizing Use Of The Term “Practice” For Practices

By Rob Tong | May 27, 2016 3 Comments

Huddle

Can a simple change in terminology help increase the rate at which your players improve over the course of the short season? Even without changing any of the content of your practices?

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Travel Baseball: A Flawed System

By Rob Tong | May 23, 2016 4 Comments

11u travel game at UIC

While the popularity of travel baseball has soared, so have the problems. Guest poster Larry Owens explains what makes travelball a flawed system.

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Hitting: The Important Sequence From Batting Stance To Foot Plant

By Rob Tong | May 19, 2016 1 Comment

Foot plant

The seeming innocuous sequence of the swing from stance to foot plant is often incorrect among younger hitters. Learn how to diagnose it and how to fix it.

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Assistant coaches: like-minded with head coach, or different-minded?

By Rob Tong | March 29, 2016 2 Comments

Coach and assistant

If you are a youth baseball head coach, do you know if your assistant coaches are like-minded or different-minded? Do you care? What should they be?

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Do you tell your kids to “get more hits”?

By Rob Tong | March 19, 2016 1 Comment

Swing

An all-too-common coach-speak after a loss is “We need to get more hits, guys!”. Few realize how foolish it is to say this. But it’s not just foolish to say; it’s actually harmful to your team. I explain why and what to do instead.

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Why saying “Throw strikes!” is not just dumb but dangerous

By Rob Tong | February 26, 2016 4 Comments

Pitching

Tons of coaches say to their pitchers “throw strikes”. A few people know it’s dumb to say that and crack jokes about it. But did you know that saying “throw strikes” goes beyond being an odd statement and is actually harmful to your pitchers? Find out why and what you should say instead.

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It’s Time For Coaches To Stop Showing Up Kids In Practices

By Rob Tong | February 22, 2016 Leave a Comment

Coach

Every practice, every coach unwittingly shows up their kids, publicly embarrassing them in front of their friends and peers. It’s time to be aware of what coaches are doing and just as important, how we can avoid doing that.

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The Secret Alternative To Developing Pitching Prospects

By Rob Tong | February 5, 2016 Leave a Comment

Pitching

With the sharp increase in Tommy John surgeries in baseball pitchers, is there a way in developing pitching prospects that lowers that risk?

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Harness The Power Of Your Smartphone In Practices (And Do Your Own Video Swing Analysis)

By Rob Tong | January 28, 2016 1 Comment

Video Analysis on the iPhone

One of your most powerful tools for baseball practice is also the one least used: the smartphone. It can help you do your own youth baseball swing analysis. But why would we want to do that? And if we did want to do that, exactly how do we do that?

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The 80/20 Rule For Youth Baseball (And How Knowing It Will Radically Change How You Organize Your Practices)

By Rob Tong | October 25, 2015 6 Comments

The 80/20 rule in youth baseball

Most practices are equal parts hitting, throwing and fielding. But do those parts affect the game equally?

Does the 80/20 rule (a.k.a. the Pareto Principle) apply to youth baseball? And if so, what does that mean for how coaches should plan practices?

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Why (Most) Youth Baseball Drills Are An Utter Waste Of Time

By Rob Tong | October 7, 2015 Leave a Comment

Throwing with wrist emphasis

Youth baseball coaches love drills…lots of them. But has anyone stopped to ask: are most drills a waste of time? How can you tell if a drill is a waste of time? Which drills are actually helpful?

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How To Optimize Your Batting Order Lineup

By Rob Tong | September 20, 2015 3 Comments

Youth baseball batting order

Most youth baseball coaches don’t think twice about whether their lineup is the most optimal lineup. This post explains why the traditional batting order is flawed for use in youth baseball and proposes a more appropriate way to arrange your lineup.

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