2019 Select Baseball

[glen]

Well kid didn’t make the cut. Had 61 pitchers. Kid sat FB90 and had good control of his two offspeed pitches. I think they kept 7 RHP and the ones that stayed were 91 or better. Hard thing for him is being so young. This is when it shows he is 16 and not 18. It was a good experience. Off to Atlanta

[cwill]

Well kid didn’t make the cut. Had 61 pitchers. Kid sat FB90 and had good control of his two offspeed pitches. I think they kept 7 RHP and the ones that stayed were 91 or better. Hard thing for him is being so young. This is when it shows he is 16 and not 18. It was a good experience. Off to Atlanta

Sorry to hear that. 90 at 16 sounds crazy, but I guess it's fairly common these days. What is the benefit of him making a squad like this since he's already committed to a college program?

[glen]

Area Code is a big deal for these kids. He still wants to compete and win. Probably more so now. He was the only 16 year old there I think but he is in the 2020 class. It was a good experience and if you get a chance to attend one of these go.

[cwill]

Area Code is a big deal for these kids. He still wants to compete and win. Probably more so now. He was the only 16 year old there I think but he is in the 2020 class. It was a good experience and if you get a chance to attend one of these go.

Sounds like a neat deal and I've never heard of it. My oldest is only 13 so we haven't ventured into the showcase stuff. What advice can you give a newbie like me on how to help my son with his arm strength? He catches and does a nice job with sticking pitches and blocking, but lacks the arm to consistently throw kids out at second.

[glen]

Cwill. Throwing kids out at second has as much if not more to do with the pitchers. Arm strength will come. Work on footwork and how fast he gets rid of the ball. Time him and set goals on Pop time

[HogHunter34]

CWill - I caught in HS & had a pretty good arm but got better by slowly moving toward the pitcher when a runner goes as the ball was released. It will help his movement in the direction toward 2nd. Also footwork is important to be athletic & ready to make that throw & not casually sitting back waiting on the pitch.
Glen is also right as the pitcher has to be diligent to make that move toward home quicker when guys on base. That requires the coach to teach that

[cwill]

Thanks guys. So pop time starts the moment the ball hits the catcher's mitt and ends when the ball is caught at second?

[systemnt]

Correct.
Like the other guys said..
Quick but smooth feet with Efficient transition and release is essential.
Sorry he didnt make the cut..but i bet it was a freaky experience having all those eyes on him...
Good luck at area code!

[glen]

Cwill. Also at young ages catchers want to throw to second in the air. Tell him to cut that. Have him throw flat and skip the ball if needed into second. This will increase his pop times and put the middle infielder in better position for a tag. That skipped ball off the turf almost forces the infielder to apply the tag correctly. I’d find someone that just works on catchers and go learn some drills from them. If he has grit he will be successful as a catcher

[systemnt]

Cwill. Also at young ages catchers want to throw to second in the air. Tell him to cut that. Have him throw flat and skip the ball if needed into second. This will increase his pop times and put the middle infielder in better position for a tag. That skipped ball off the turf almost forces the infielder to apply the tag correctly. I’d find someone that just works on catchers and go learn some drills from them. If he has grit he will be successful as a catcher

This.
One hops thrown through pitchers head are a good thing.

[jer_james]

This.
One hops thrown through pitchers head are a good thing.

I wish more kids in our age group understood this. The line drive hop is lost among most of the kiddos. Pop time is also huge, and easy to find these days.

[cwill]

He has a good grasp on the footwork and throwing the ball flat on a long hop. Just looking for ideas to help arm strength for all positions really. I think he'll be ok if he grows a bit. Thanks for all the suggestions!

[jshouse]

Finally got around to some pics from the week, these boys played great. Crazy to think that if we had given up 1 more run in pool play we wouldnt have made the championship bracket.

The coach in the pic with Logan and a teammate has been their pitcher since they started playing 4 years ago, he was pretty emotional, as were the boys, it was a cool moment. He knew Logan wanted that ball high and inside and did his best to get it there lol.

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

[systemnt]

He has a good grasp on the footwork and throwing the ball flat on a long hop. Just looking for ideas to help arm strength for all positions really. I think he'll be ok if he grows a bit. Thanks for all the suggestions!

Long toss.
But the art of proper warmups is very important to health.
I watch my kids warmups like a hawk now..if im not participating in them.

[systemnt]

Very cool js!! Congrats to that boy and kudos to the coach!