Kick These Bad Coaching Habits This Baseball Season

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[brianriggin]

Come'on, the 'just make contact' coach isn't saying don't swing hard. He's saying it because the kid swings and misses A-LOT or never swings. It's a starting point for some less skilled players. You're a little outta context there.

[woodja]

Some of these habits (running with the glove up, etc...) are certainly bad but several of them (throwing motion drills, group hitting instruction, etc...) try to make the same point that each kid may need a different kind of instruction and that some "standardized" motions or drills are simply bad. I get the point but that's not very helpful to coaches out there who are trying to coach entire teams by themselves or with maybe one other parent who has never played. There is an unspoken assumption being made that each team is sufficiently staffed to provide moments where one-on-one instruction can regularly happen. Sadly, that's just not the case everywhere, especially at the early youth levels. I've been the coach trying to give group hitting instruction because I was the only parent willing to help out. I say all this to say that calling some of these things bad coaching habits may be discouraging to those are simply doing the best with what support they have. It's nearly impossible to work with a single kid for long while 10+ 6-8 year old kids slowly lose the last couple ounces of mental focus they had left.

[Datruth]

The just throw a strike coach always bothered me as a player. Hey coach, just tell the whole stadium I’m struggling with the strike zone so the batters swing less and force me to throw MORE strikes than I would normally have to. It’s sabotaging your own player.

[thomasmaher]

Around the 5:35 mark Duke talks about wrist turned back to second base. I think a ton of coaches still teach this, including myself. I’ve heard some talk of this changing though. Can you make a quick video on the new proper throwing technique?

[ChrisfromBahston]

6:42 I couldn't disagree more. My goal is to instill proper mechanics and good hand eye codernation with the ball. To many times I've seen coaches instill drive the ball and hit the ball hard and those same kids look foolish come game day cause they are swinging out of there shoes cause all through there coaching they where told drive the ball and swing hard which sets them up to fail. I preach good mechanics, good hand eye cordernation and to focus on line drives we want to hit lind drives. And I've seen 1st hand my boys take that on and it leads hard hitting balls aka line drives.

[ofSeptember]

I didn't have a positive experience in youth baseball, mainly because I had bad coaching. Lots of yelling and screaming and not knowing much about the game. I grew up playing Youth baseball in Penticton and Kelowna. Terrible coaches there.

[pokejuice]

As a coaches pitch coach. I am always trying to throw a strike but sometimes you gotta give em that chin music.

[aaronk]

Great information coaches! Good luck to everyone's season in 2024! As long as my kids evolve and grow with the season and the process of the sport, I could care less about wins and losses as proper baseball skill and IQ evolution almost guarantees a winning season.

[rumblehat]

I agree with most and do most of the things you say, so I guess I just use common sense. One thing is about the pitcher pointing toward second: maybe it’s to keep the throwing arm on the same repeatable plane? Some kids have their arms behind their back, some away from their body, I teach fast pitch softball pitching, and both of these things cause very inconsistent, wild pitching. Also, as far as the “just make contact, ” I would say it’s not the best advice but it can be helpful if the player is struggling to make contact and she realizes she doesn’t need to over swing, or simply putting the ball in play gets that winning run home and she needs reminding of that? Sometimes kids aren't aware of the situation. I also try to stay away from all the cliches: “you got this, ” “it’s all you, ” “you saw it, ” etc. They are overused and I’m not so sure they help. The kid is up there and she knows what she’s supposed to do: hit the ball.

[Justice]

Great information that can be applied to both baseball & softball any clinics coming up for softball?

[keithbanther]

Sadly...most youth coaches are narcissists. They dont really care about the kids, teaching the game, or einning. Its all about them being able to control things to make themselves feel better...especially the parents.

[Mitten]

I played from little league to highschool and at age 13 I played travel baseball for coaches that played pro or college. So I learned more from my traveling coaches than I did playing recreational baseball and I felt getting better by playing travel baseball. But I also see a lot of young hitters who are bent at the waist or their feet are close together. They are also taught to get their front foot down early. Now I was taught as a hitter that you have to have a strong foundation from the bottom up. I mean a lot of kids ride bicycles and if that bicycle had the upper part leaning and the tires are going in another direction well most likely nobody is going to ride their back. So my suggestion is to make sure that your young hitters has a nice balanced athletic stance to begin with. But also make sure that their back foot stays on the ground but also keep weight on your back leg and just enough to where they are balanced. But on the front side you want them to have their front foot down on time and keep the front hip from opening too soon but you want them to hit against their front side. Also make sure that their front foot is going straight toward the pitcher and with a short stride and the only time that the back foot should come off the ground is that back heel should come up and that's called squishing the bug. But make sure that the lower half has their back foot firmly on the ground and weight on their back leg and then the front foot is down on time and going toward the pitcher and the front hip isn't opening up too soon. Now the upper part of the body I was always taught to get your back elbow at a 45 degree angle and do this without a bat in their hand. But have their top hand and back elbow at a 45 degree angle and you can throw soft toss at your kids on this drill but what this drill does is that it makes them conscience about keeping their head down on the ball but have a baseball or tennis ball in your hand to throw soft toss with them but what your looking for is for them to get their top hand push through the zone. So on their front side make sure that their shoulders are level and that their front shoulder isn't opening up too soon as well. The intention is that they are getting their bat out in front of them and this makes them have a short compact or level swing. But then put the bat in their hands and then make sure that you use a hitting tee and put the tee on the outside part of the plate. Try to get their stance at a 45 degree angle or have them face towards between short or third if they are right-handed or first and second if they are left handed. You don't want them to swing at the ball that's on the tee but what you are trying to get them to do is keep their head on the ball and try to go up the middle or to the right side. Because what this does is that it will get them to hit line drives and that's what your looking for. But also make sure that they keep their hands inside of the baseball and behind the baseball because what this does is that it keeps the barrel of the bat in the hitting zone longer. So I hope that helps some of you coaches out there or parents who are teaching their kids on how to be successful as a baseball player. But another drill that you can try is to have them have a bat in their hands and then have them find a fence or some type of wall. Then have them take the knob of the bat and have them place the knob of the bat up against their bellybutton and the end of the bat against the fence or wall and take a few swings that way because it teaches them to keep their hands inside of the baseball

[ThePandaFather]

I disagree with only non-verbal communication from 3rd base coach. U10 and below at least in my experience and even when I played in high school there are times where the runner is too focused on the pitcher and not paying attention to arm signals. Just like the swing down, it depends on the player being coached and the circumstance of the play.

[tedszweb]

Runner at third when I’m coaching at third, pre pitch I would tell them what to do on ground balls & fly balls & such, then I tell them not to listen to me during the live play. As people get excited & you might yell go go on a line drive. So I held my runners to my pre play instructions even if I might have yelled go go on a line drive instead of freeze with less than 2 outs.

[dadbreaks_thebank]

So one of the base running commands I use and teach my players on any team is Red and Green. If they look at me and I’m waving my arm I try to yell “GREEN, GREEN, GREEN”, and “RED, RED, RED’’ with the stop sign. As a coach I try to have a parent’s meeting as well to keep them from telling the kids what to do when their playing, for example if the SS gets a ground ball let him either make a play or make a mistake that he can learn from. Just my input.

[christianhill]

As this is my 26th year coaching high school baseball I'm definitely convinced now more than ever my high school coach was an idiot

[tmccloudjr]

The ball looking at second I always told the coach I wasn’t doing it. I always had to run laps 7yrs old to 14.
Then around 15 was throwing low 80’s

[mikebearup]

Some of these things you can coach but just not as constants. Like glove up in outfield, run to spot for sure but we teach get to spot get under and get around if you can and hand up to block sun or light or if you get to a spot on time, and sometimes you want the batter youve coached to drive the ball to make contact as in baseball theres time a strike out is just bad

[OhioCardVault]

Happy to see this as I coach 10U and have seen and have needed to un-teach all of this to our kids. I'm sure their previous coaches meant well, but 90% of what you mentioned, I saw during our winter conditioning, and been working to break....thank god the kids minds are sponges. Never underestimate the kids' ability to re-learn things.

[brettjames]

Great stuff! Glad to see I'm of the same mindset as you guys.