YBE 118: Elite Is In The Details with Trent Mongero

You may know I'm not a fan of many of the fancy, cool-looking drills. One reason for this dislike is that many such drills do not focus on details, or on doing the details right. Do the details matter? This is baseball, not science, right? Doesn't focusing on details suck the fun out of the game or practice? In this episode, highly successful high school coach Trent Mongero of Glyn Academy (Ga) explains the detail he goes through. Most of the talk involves infielding so you'll get practical, actionable details on infielding, but details are everywhere in baseball. Plus Austin Wasserman is back with the Wass Strength Tip of the Week on managing athletes with Osgood Schlatter's Disease. And Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to help hitters use their legs more in the swing.

In this 42-minute episode, you'll learn:

• how Trent implements his catch play routine in practices and games
• six key principles of catching the ball
• the importance of a good fielder's glove and three key elements of a good glove
• how good infielders approach routine ground balls
• how fielders should differentiate when to field left of center and when to field out in front
• the footwork for second basemen when receiving the feed from the shortstop, and how to teach it
• a helpful cue for infielders receiving feeds
• when second basemen should be on the RF side of the base to receive feeds vs the 3B side of the base
• second baseman footwork (and knee-work!) when receiving feeds on the 3B side of the base
• the footwork for shortstops receiving feeds from second basemen
• whether the relay from SS to 1B should prioritize quickness/accuracy or throw velocity
• when to call for 'infield in'

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

• Austin Wasserman's article on managing athletes with Osgood Schlatter's disease
• YBE episode #115 with Justin Stone discussing the four-drill progression to use ground forces

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