In my first Baseball Chronicles book, one of my most popular articles in terms of feedback was “FourThings Coaches Should Practice But Don’t.”   The four things I mentioned were: Pitchers not practicing fielding from the mound, catching a foul ball near a fence, players not sliding, and practicing fielding wild pitches or passed…

  I have made it no secret that I have a huge affinity toward catchers in youth baseball. A catcher who is11 or 12 years old is great to watch. Some really good ones play beyond their years. With that said, the third baseman in youth baseball may be the most important position on the…

     Ten years ago I was coaching my Little League team in a game that we were winning. I yelled out some encouragement during an inning when the other team was rallying. My catcher called “time out” and went to the mound to talk to the pitcher. Before I knew it, the whole infield…

It is amazing how youth baseball teams, as well as older and more competitive organized leagues, do not practice many of the basic fundamental aspects of the game. From my standpoint, the reason I practice certain things other coaches may not is because I’ve been burned by other teams and have lost games and championships…

                   Practicing When No Field Is Available    How many times do we as coaches call for a practice, meet the team at the field, only to find one team practicing and one or more other teams waiting to practice? When I first started coaching, this always…

 I have always been a big proponent of bunting, and feel it can be taught at a young age. When you think about it, a bunt single or a long line drive single hit to the outfield looks the exact same in the box score. Some parents ask me what age should coaches or parents…

  One thing I learned in my 25 years coaching youth baseball is that there is no perfect way to coach hitters.I never considered myself an expert at teaching young 7-12 year-old ball players the most refined hitting techniques. The most success I’ve had with improving hitters’ techniques is when I didn’t over coach them.…

    Jim Valvano, while coaching at North CarolinaState University pulled off one of the greatest upsets in NCAA basketball history beating the University of Houston. No one gave Valvano’s team any chance of winning the game. His team won 54-52. This game is still considered one of the biggest upsets in sports history! A…

    As parents we strive to do the best things we can for our kids. When we were growing up there were things our parents did that we liked and things that our parents did that we didn’t like. We become what we are by what we experience in the environment around us. In…

 In sports, many times coaches are more negatively affected by bad things that happen than being positively affected by good things that happen. I heard an interview with legendary pro football coach, Bill Parcells, who said that in many cases the tough losses he lived through overshadow the tough wins and championships. I’ve heard the same…