Baseball Basics

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18
Dec 12

Game Tips: When Playing The First Base

Even if the pitcher and catcher are the ones often making plays and not so much activity goes on for the first base player, they are still integral to the success of any game. First base players are those who can help save the entire game if they know that they need to hold the runner at the first base,that the situation can definitely turn into a bunt and if they need to prevent the third runner from scoring. Here are a few things to remember when playing the first base.

1. Communicate With Your Pitcher

Your team’s pitcher and you at the first base would be communicating directly with each other during the game. Knowing if its a ground ball you can make your play fast to prevent the batter from making the base. Getting yourself in an athletic stance and giving your pitcher a target by holding your glove up, middle or hip level would allow you to catch the ball and make a good, quick and clean tag.

2. Do No Be Idle

The idle player in any sport is the one who loses one for the team. Even if the first base player may not have much to do, they have to move and be alert. At any time, there can be a ground ball at the first base to receive the throw. Spring to the base quickly to avoid having confusion when it comes to team play with the other base players. You will also need to run stretches with a few hops. Always anticipate the pitcher’s throw.

3. Do Not Hesitate

Always tag the runner when they appear to be safe as some umpires might make a wrong call or the runner is not actually safe yet. Always get into position right after the pitcher has made the throw so that you can plan how to cover your bag properly. Know your outfielders in case of a runner cut-off play. Keep your ears open; your catcher may set up a dynamic play that will need your concentration.

Baseball Basics — No Comments
07
Nov 12

Adam Greenberg Gets Second Chance On Baseball

Adam Greenberg, who first appeared with the Chicago Cubs on his first major-league game in 2005, was injured by a speeding 92 MPH fastball thrown by an expert pitcher of the opposing team. However, seven years later this year, he recovered and may primarily have a second chance. The Miami Marlins had him sign a contract as he played against the New York Mets on Oct 2.

It was the Miami Marlin’s pitcher Valerio De Los Santos, who hit Greenberg on his right ear when the player was still a rookie seven years ago.

Adam Greenberg was touched by the gesture and stated that nobody owes him anything. He says that he knew the risks the sport had and he paid for it gladly, knowing his injuries might not spare him a next game. But during his recovery and his temporary re-instatement with the Marlins, he stated his thanks to everyone who wanted him to be still in the game.

David Samson, the president of the Miami Marlins, stated that they remembered the incident and they see that Greenberg deserved to have a second chance at the bat.

The “One At-Bat” website and a petition helped get Greenberg help for medical expenses through Cubs fans Matt Liston’s efforts in getting support for the fallen baseball player and have him have a second chance at playing baseball.

When asked about being the first baseball player to be hit by a ball since 1955, he replied that it was the happiest and greatest moment in his life and it was also the worst thing that happened to him all the same time.

Source: MSNBC.com

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10
Oct 12

A Short Guide on Improving Your Weak Points

No perfect baseball players exist, but only those who strive hard to know more and improve their weak points. Baseball is a strenuous game, not just for the physical, but also the intellect. Here are a few weak points that players should remember to improve once in a while.

1. The Common Language

Baseball, like any other sport, has its own set of invented words that describe certain scenarios in the game. Players who have stayed in the field too long are quite familiar with these words. A good way to learn the common language is to regularly attend your practices, play games or spend some time with people who enjoy baseball.

2. Hand-Eye Coordination

In baseball, size is not the only thing that matters. Your hands and your eyes are what you will also depend on during the game. Practice with as much catching as possible. Building your hand and eye coordination is important in the game. Once you’ve figured this out, you can have an easier time playing in the outfield.

3. Hitting

If you believe you’re weak on hitting, you should practice on hitting more on your practice schedule. To ensure that you’re well rounded, include some of the things you need to practice, such as catching and base running. But if you’re weak on hitting, focus more on holding the bat and improving your SLG.

4. Running

Do at least four laps of jogging every morning. Strong feet, legs and torsos will give you a great advantage during base running. The only way to improve your running is to improve your stamina, your speed and the capability of your body to handle your strength.

5. Enjoyment

Baseball isn’t all about the technicalities involved in the game. Enjoying the game is important. Many expert and intermediate players find it difficult to improve because they aren’t enjoying the game. By enjoying it, even the biggest games would be easy to play through. Enjoyment also helps you concentrate on the game and coordinate proper strategy.

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26
Sep 12

Pulling Off a Perfect Base Running Slide

Base running is important as much as the batter can hit the ball and a pitcher can throw a fastball. Any baseball player needs to know how to make a good slide run for those intense in-game moments that the ball is close to the base runner to make a save. To make the buzzer beater win for your baseball team, below is the process to make a good base running slide.

The basic principle of sliding is that you touch the base plate using your feet. When sliding, concentrate your weight on the foot that is to touch the base plate. Pulling this off can be dangerous, but the steps below should ensure your safety in making the slide.

1. Anticipate the base plate when you’re exactly 3 to 5 feet before the base plate.

2. Ensure that after your full spring, you start to go down a sliding position. You’ll need to place your legs underneath the other. To make your sliding position easier, place your weight against your buttocks as if you were sitting down while running. Bend the leg that is to go underneath the main foot to help you slide better.

3. Your core body should be tight. Place your arms on your side at shoulder level while sliding. Do not attempt to hold the ground using your hands while you slide. This can cause injuries to your elbow and forearms due to the sudden impact of your hands with the ground.

4. Start with four cones 4 feet from the base when practicing. You should begin your slide from the cone. You can gauge at which distance can you make the slide perfectly through constant practice. Be sure that you don’t slide past the base or slide before the base. Finding the right distance is crucial.

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03
Sep 12

Essential Things to Know About Base Running

Baseball or softball is not just about hitting the ball as hard as you can or pitching and catching everything effectively. Baseball is also about strong legs and lower body strength when running from one base to another. The only way a team scores points is if a player manages to run through all bases. Here are a few things that base runners should keep in mind.

1. Fast is Not Always the Answer

Base running is not just about getting to the other side. It is about taking into consideration all possibilities of strategy. Running fast is an advantage, but you’ll need to know where the ball always is, check if there’s a fly ball, anticipate the action and know when to slide. Being fast is not always the answer; a slow runner who understands when to slide and knows if the ball is near or far from them can always make it safely to the next base.

2. Hit And Run

Once you hit the ball, don’t wait for the ball to be considered foul or a grounder. Run as soon as you hit the ball whichever way you did. This places more pressure on the other team by trying to catch the ball and take you or one of the base runners out.

3. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Don’t be scared of the fielder reaching the ball for you. When running, focus on the next base and getting there as fast as you can. If you focus on the impending fielder, you’ll only get slowed down.

4. Look for Opportunities

Anticipate the action. Try to observe the other game players and their strengths and weaknesses. By knowing these small details about them, you can actually outrun them during a hit better than knowing nothing at all. Keep a close watch on the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses to know where the window of opportunity can actually help you in the process.

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20
Aug 12

Baseball Injuries: What You Need to Watch Out For

Any sport involves much physical activity. Your body needs great endurance and strength to win a game or even outlast the entire game or season. Sometimes, even with all the preparedness you have, injuries can come from anywhere. Here are the common injuries you need to watch out for.

1. The Little League Elbow

This injury is known for its name because this injury is very common to amateur and rookie baseball players. It is also called medial epicondylitis and is a common injury not just in baseball, but also in golf and tennis. Repeated use of the muscles of the arm may tear some parts of the tendons that results in elbow pain and weakness. Athletes should stop their activities first, rest their arm and have ice compression and elevation to provide temporary relief. It takes two to six months to recover from this injury.

2. Tendinitis

Tendinitis is common to shoulders or legs. They usually have the tendons of the shoulders and biceps inflamed or irritated. Shoulder bursitis is caused when the bursa sac in the shoulder lying between the tendon and skin becomes inflamed. The sacs protect the shoulder from impact and disjointness. This can also be treated like the Little League Elbow.

3. Torn Rotator Cuff

The tendons and muscles that support the arm to move up and down is called the rotator cuff. When these become inflamed and some tendons torn, they can cause great pain and severe limitation to movements. Swollen muscles push against the nearby bone and the muscle can lead to internal bleeding or bruising. Treatment for this injury requires surgery involving small incisions. Physical theray exercises are required to bring the body part to full strength.

4. Frozen Shoulders

This is an inflamed action in the shoulder joint. These might not be caused by tendon tears or damage, but a result of a disease. Usually this is caused by bad diets resulting to diabetes, strokes and other heart problems. Impact injuries are also the cause of frozen shoulders. Medication is often used to take care of the injury. Joint movement exercises are also needed to recover the strength of the shoulders. Critical conditions might involve surgery.

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24
Jul 12

Making a Career Out of Baseball

Baseball can become your career if you know that you’re good at it. Getting signed up by a major league baseball team however, is not a joke. You will need to build not just your strength, endurance and skill, but also your player profile and in-game abilities. Sometimes, a career is not just about how good you are in the industry, but also depends on how good you interact with the people in the industry.

1. Your Age

Inevitably, an age limit exists for baseball auditions. In major league baseball, those above 21 can audition independently. Anybody below 21 will need to have a parent with them to sign a waiver for liabilities. Usually tryout camps accept anybody above the age limit. Remember to bring a copy of your birth certificate to validate your age.

2. College

If you’re still in college, try out for the local college baseball team. Build yourself as best as you can in strength, endurance and skill. You’ll be contending with a lot of students wanting to be in the team. Ensure that you perform well in every game. It can look good on your resume to ask your coach to endorse you with a letter of recommendation, especially if you’re applying for major league baseball tryout camps.

3. Tryout Camps

For every off-season, the major league baseball usually holds tryout camps. The tryout camps is where you can prove yourself worthy of skill, ability and interacting with teammates. If you followed step two, and had yourself a pretty good record on baseball, you might just make the big teams. But don’t be discouraged if you failed to follow step two; tryout camps accept anybody. Just remember that you need to prove yourself while you’re in the camp.

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10
Jul 12

Baseball Basics: Tips on Batting

Every baseball player needs to know how to hit the ball and get it as far as it could be from the catchers on the opposing side. Batting the ball during the game is a crucial pivot; it can determine who scores and who wins the game. Hitting the ball to a home run racks as many points as many base runners can get through the entire quadrangle without any interference. Knowing the best batting techniques is just as important as knowing how to run, and pitch and catch the ball.

1. If you’ve had two strikes, be careful about the third one. If you could choke yourself out, you can make the final shot count. Concentrate and look carefully at the body language of the pitcher.

2. Speaking of body language, a pitcher can easily give out what kind of pitch he is to throw. Look carefully at the way his body is bent, how he is angled to throw the ball and how he looks at you. He might fake a pitch, leading you to believe a fastball but he is about to throw a curve ball, but you can see it directly going directly through his stance

3. Your legs are a great investment in batting. Roll up your back toe and put all your strength on your knees and calves. Your turning will have more power as you hit the ball. However, remember to practice. Using the strength of your legs can cost your timing and accuracy.

4. Try to keep your feet parallel to your shoulder’s width to have a balanced stance. Maintaining your balance while knowing where to pull your weight during your batting is important to ensure accuracy.

5. Timing is everything. Concentrate on the ball. Be sure to keep your head down at contact. Your focus is to hit the ball and see it not from how it launches from the pitcher’s hands, but where you can hit it.

6.Let the ball travel deep in the hitting zone. The hitting zone was measured to ensure that the batter has enough space to hit the ball. Those who have mastered letting the ball travel further in the hitting zone have higher success in hitting the ball.

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Baseball Basics — No Comments
03
Jul 12

Things An Outfielder Should Know

Any position in a baseball team is very important. Every player who does his or her part well surely contributes to the victory of the team. However, some people usually think an outfielder’s job is very easy. On the contrary, it is one of the most difficult positions in a game. An infielder can easily handle their jobs and leave the outfielder time to prepare him or herself, but once the ball jurisdiction goes out to the outfielder, nobody can back him or her up during the game. These are a few things that outfielders should always understand before a game.

1. Speed and Strength

An outfielder should have a strong arm and a solid running speed. The strength of his or her pitch can help stop a runner from getting from one base to another. His or her speed helps them get to the extra mile to catch a fly ball that can go so far away. An outfielder with exemplary characteristics in these areas can change the course of any game.

2. Catching Abilities

The main concentration of an outfielder is to be able to catch a fly ball. A fly ball can be a powerful hit. Mastering the ability to catch a fly ball is essential. The outfielder knows how to catch a ball that can possibly reach his or her chest, below the chest or a ground ball. They should practice catching fly balls for the duration of their idle period whenever possible.

3. Teamwork

Outfielders need to know when to help a fellow teammate catch a fly ball and deliver it to stop a runner. The tendencies of rookie outfielders to crash into each other is very important. Shouting ‘mine’ or any phrase that indicates that the outfielder is in charge of the catch is important. The positioning of the outfielders can very well dictate the balance of the game when the team is on the defensive.

4. Pitches

Given the intensity of any baseball game, an outfielder usually acts on instinct. Fast runners can disable outfielders and disable them time to make a pitch. As much as possible, outfielders should never throw behind a base runner. They should often target infielders who the base runners are about to reach. The ability to estimate the time of approach and the velocity of their pitch relatively matters in a game.

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Baseball Basics — No Comments
26
Jun 12

Different Kinds of Pitches

In playing baseball, you’ll need a few tricks to outwit your batter on the mound. The game circles around the capability of the players to run, catch, bat and throw the ball to win the game. Team coordination is also very important, but the individual contribution of every player also counts. Knowing the different kinds of pitches in baseball is very important. Here are the different pitches in baseball described in detail.

1. Four Seam Fastball

The bet of many baseball players, this pitch is the grandfather of every fastball in the game. The ball should accelerate fast enough for the batter even to react properly. A pitcher is to throw the ball straight towards the umpire catching the ball at the mound. Only a formidable batter can react properly to a four seam fastball.

2. Sinkers

A variation of the four-seam fastball. Its force slowly curves downwards, forcing the batter to change their batting position at any given time. A formidable batter must hit the ball before it becomes a ground ball as it reaches the umpire.

3. Cut- Fastball

This throw goes off center, running at a slower speed. However, it allows the pitcher to have an advantage over the batter by changing its angle midway to the umpire.

4. Split Finger Fastball

While very difficult to execute, this easily becomes a ground ball mid-way to the batter. This can easily confuse batters as the reaction time for the change might be quite demanding.

5. CurveBall

A well-known but very difficult pitch, it can easily strike out a batter midway. A pitcher must aim not at the home plate, but the curve should hit the home plate from the pitch. Can be slower than a fastball, but the reaction required from a batter is very demanding as well.

6. KnuckleBall

The most difficult pitch to throw, it is very difficult to control and catch. Formidable pitchers who can predict its behavior can use to strike out batters at any given time.

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