1 Hand or 2 Hand Finish When Hitting?

 I know most of us hear very similar things at young ages.  We hear: eyes on the ball, don't dip your back shoulder, swing level, swing with 2 hands.  I know most youth coaches mean well when they say these things and they should be applauded for trying to help as they can only teach what they know.  While keeping your eye on the ball is great advice, the other 3 can be extremely harmful for the development of young baseball players.


Miguel Cabrera will a 1 hand finish


 Today, I want to talk about finishing with 2 hands in particular.  There has been some question as to why I "teach" a 1 handed swing.  I do not teach a 1 handed swing.  I simply tell everyone that comes in that it does not matter if you finish your swing with 1 hand or 2 hands. You see, once contact is made all the damage is done.  The finish is just a comfort thing.  As you see in the above pictures, Miguel Cabrera finishes his swing with only 1 hand on the bat and he's the best hitter in baseball.  He did have to alter this in the playoffs this year and go with a 2 hand finish due to his injuries You see, if you were to actually break down the swings of Major Leaguer players, you will find that some finish with 1 hand and others finish with 2 hands.  Thus, the argument of whether or not to watch what big leaguers do.  I have heard coaches tell their players repeatedly not to watch what the big league guys do.  This is absurd.  They are hitting at that level because they have the best swings around.  There is one thing that almost every single high level of baseball or softball hitter has in common: WHERE THEY ARE AT THE POINT OF CONTACT!    We get so carried away trying to make kids stand the exact same way and hold the bat the same way and finish their swing the same way and we fail to understand that most of it is irrelevant other than from a comfort stand point.  So 1 hand swing or 2 hand swing is up to you.  Whichever is more comfortable is the one you should use.



As you can see, they are all pretty much in the same spot at the point of contact.  Take a look at their angles.  Any kid that comes to me knows exactly what I'm talking about as this is what we focus on more than anything.  The upper body is leaning forward, hips are rotated and the bat is matching the plane of the pitch.  The pitch comes in downwards, so we must match it by swinging upwards at the same angle.     You have to get to this spot to hit at a high level.  How about their back shoulders?  They are surely below their front shoulders, yet I constantly hear kids being told to quit dipping their back shoulders.  I hope this has been a very informative post on what actually occurs during a high level baseball swing.

Get up and get out!

Trevor Rosenthal, the closer for the St. Louis Cardinals has made a big name for himself in the playoffs this year.  When we talk about getting up and getting out, this is a perfect example!!! Pick your leg up and go after the hitter.  It doesn't get any better than this!! This is how you attack the hitter - Here it is..... Hit it!!

Pre-Game and Post Game Routines

PRE-GAME ROUTINE

Eat	- Breakfast - Lunch - Pre-Game Snack/Meal
Arrival at Park	- Make sure you arrive early enough to be fully prepared for today's game
Mental & Physically Check In	- Put the rest of the day behind you - It's time to prepare yourself to pitch today
Visualization	-Pitching Dress Rehearsal -Take some time off by yourself to envision yourself pitching well -Take notice of how the ball feels coming off of your fingers and exactly how your delivery feels
Pre-Game Warmup	1. Blood Flow Series (Jog/Backpedal/Shuffles/Carioca/High Knees) 2. Dynamic Warmup 3. Weighted ball series, bands, and/or football toss 4. Throw to loosen the arm 5. Flat ground throws 6. Pre-Game Bullpen Work 7. Visualization & Pre-Game Focus 8. Game Mound Warmup Pitches 9. 1st pitch of game/inning

POST-GAME ROUTINE

Recovery	-Training/Workout/Arm Care/Post-Game Meal
Post Game Evaluation	- Play back the game in your head - Never be too up or down on yourself - If you had a bad game, evaluate why it was bad but find something you did well in the game - If you had a good game, evaluate why it was good but find something you didn't do so well to work on
Team Responsibilities	- Be a good teammate - You pitched on the mound, make sure you take care of it - Pick up trash in dugouts
Mentally & Physically Check Out	- Leave the game at the field

Great Pitchers develop great routines and habits

A solid Pre-Game Routine will help prepare you both physically and mentally for today's game

A solid Post-Game Routine will help with the recovery your body needs from the damage caused by the stresses of competitive pitching both mentally and physically

Weighted Baseball Training

There is a lot of information out there regarding the use of weighted baseballs on a players arm.  I encourage everyone to read up on both sides of the argument and decide for yourself if this is something that you wish to incorporate into your training or not.  I will simply give you my take on throwing weighted baseballs and why I incorporate them in to the training my pitchers do.

Reason #1.  The use of weighted balls is a great way to get young athletes away from "pushing" the baseball.  Many young baseball players that come to me have been taught there whole lives to just throw strikes and not worry about velocity.  This causes a lot of kids to "push" the ball to the plate to just throw strikes, which in turn will severely damage their arm action and upper torso rotation.  Many believe velocity will come after you learn to throw strikes.  Velocity is going to increase but only because the kid will get older and stronger as he ages.  He will still be behind when it comes to velocity if he is "pushing" the ball.  He very well may be one of the best around at a young age because he throws so many strikes. However, if the end goal is to get noticed by college recruiters or pro scouts, this is not the way to go.  They are not interested in how many strikes you throw if you do not have something on the ball.  To me, parents are wasting a valuable opportunity by following this logic.  Research has shown that focusing on maximum velocity,speed, and/or power is a superior way to teach young athletes how to build efficient rotational force transfer mechanics. Throwing a heavy ball will help pitchers learn what it feels like to "push" the baseball and hopefully either create or restore explosive upper torso rotation.

Reason #2.  The use of weighted baseball increases the amount of external rotation in the throwing arm. I will be the first one to tell you that there is some danger to this.  When we increase the load on external rotation we are putting the pitching elbow at an increased risk.  However, external rotation is one of the main factors in how fast you can throw a baseball.  The more your arm "lays back" the more capability you have to throw the ball at a higher velocity.   Most young athletes lack the necessary external rotation to throw at a high velocity.  When it comes to arm safety, I am one of the most precautionary pitching coaches around.  I do not wish to put anyone in any additional risk on injury.  Studies have shown over and over again that experts have no earthly idea what leads to pitching injuries.  A couple things are very clear:  Pitching is a very unnatural movement and just by throwing a baseball overhead you elevate your risk for injury. When you throw at a high velocity, your risk of injury is elevated even more.  Sometimes, I feel we should just leave it at that.   If you were to take a MRI of a shoulder or elbow of any professional pitcher, most are going to have tears in a ligament either in the shoulder or elbow or oftentimes both.  Its just the nature of the beast.  It just becomes a matter of how severe the tear is on whether or not you have surgery.

I don't wish to scare anyone with Reason #2 especially.  Pitching is an extremely dangerous thing to do and in order to do it at a high level your risk of injury becomes elevated.  There are many ways we go about trying to eliminate as much risk as possible by making sure that we are at a high level of fitness and making sure we are as strong as can be, especially around the shoulders.  In order to play at a high level, you need to be able to throw at a high velocity, and I believe that the use of weighted baseballs is a valuable tool you can use to enhance your training regimen.

Group Training Off-Days

  On your days off from training at the facility, the daily throwing program consisting of long toss and a light pull-down is acceptable and encouraged.  Just remember to listen to your arm.  If your arm does not feel up to throwing, don't.  If it does not feel up to any pull-down that is perfectly fine.  Just stretch your arm out as much as it wants on that given day.  There is no reason to overdue it on these days as you are getting plenty of throwing in on the 3 days of training.  ALWAYS DO A PROPER DYNAMIC WARM-UP BEFORE YOU START ANY KIND OF BASEBALL ACTIVITY.  We are getting in plenty of shoulder care so it is not necessary to do so on the off days.  Depending on how your body feels it would be beneficial for you to get some conditioning in after you throw.  I will include examples of conditioning drills and intervals to use while doing so at the end.  Just remember to listen to your body.  Those of you who are playing this fall: After you are done pitching, it would be ideal to have bands on hand to get some shoulder work in after you are done for the day to make sure you are maintaining mobility in the pitching shoulder.  It would also be beneficial to get some conditioning in.

Conditioning Choices:

30-60 yards Sprints. 450-500 yards total.  That would be 8- 60 yard sprints (480 yards), 10- 50 yard sprints (500 yards), 12- 40 yard sprints (480 yards), 16- 30 yard sprints (480 yards). Walk back slowly to the start line after each sprint. That is your rest time.

120 yard Shuttles.  4-6 Shuttles.  Set up cones (can use anything for cones: hats, baseball, shoes, etc.) 30 yards apart. Sprint back and forth from cone to cone for a total of 4 touches (2 sprints to each cone).  These should be done in 25 seconds or less. Keep a running clock and start each new shuttle on the minute.  

Jump Rope or Jumping Jacks (fast). 10 sets of 100 jumps or 12 rounds of 30 seconds of jump rope and 30 seconds of rest

Burpees. Tabata style - 2 rounds of 2 minutes each (4 rounds).  20 seconds of burpees followed by 10 seconds of rest.  After your 2 minutes is up, rest for 2 minutes and go again.  Another option for burpees is 8 rounds of 12.  Start every round on the minute and do 12 burpees.  Rest until the next minute starts.

Velocity Clinic Video

Band Routine and Overload-Underload Weighted Ball Programs now posted

Click here for Band Program and here for Weighted Ball Program.  They are both listed on sidebar as pages also.

Schedule of Events for Velocity Clinic

Topics Covered

Monday, June 17 - 9 a.m - 12 p.m
8:30-8:45     Registration - be sure to have this printed and filled out
                    Introduction to what goes into velocity, Long toss discussion, Mechanical discussion, Mechanical drills, Video of each kid pitching, Pitch grips, Holding running game, Arm care

Tuesday, June 18 - 9 a.m - 12 p.m
                  Prehab, Separation drills, Overload/Underload training with weighted and light baseballs, Agilities, Arm care

Wednesday, June 19 - 9 a.m - 10:30 a.m
                Training Day (learning the right way to train)

Thursday, June 20 - 9 a.m - 11:30 a.m
                Video Breakdown, Pitching mentality, Preparation, Getting on a weekly routine, What to do before and after you pitch, Conditioning, Nutrition, Questions and answers

***No cleats as this will take place indoors so bring tennis shoes***
***Shorts and a t-shirt would be the ideal thing to wear***
***There is no a/c but there are fans.  It will be hot so bring plenty to drink***
***Days 1 and 2 will be the only days of throwing.  Day 3 you will not need to bring a glove.  Day 4 you should bring a glove because there may be time to work on a few things***

All District Members!

There were several players whose hard work has paid off this varsity high school season and have been named to the Northern Neck All-District Team.  There were 22 total players selected for this team. This is a list of players who have trained at Mozingo Baseball either individually or attended a clinic or showcase.

Devin Sisson - Rappahannock (Ivdividual Lesson)
Matthew Harris - Northumberland (Showcase)
Zack Newman - Northumberland (Clinic)
Brandon Walker - Northumberland (Showcase)
Carrington Balderson - Washington and Lee (Individual, Clinic, Showcase)

Division 1 Player of the Year - Eamonn Collins - Rappahannock (Individual, Clinic, Showcase)
Division 2 Player of the Year - Kinston Carson - Essex (Clinic)

Congratulations to all of these young men!

I also want to congratulate one of my former coaches, Tim Beamer of Essex High School, for being awarded Division 2 coach of the year!

Mozingo Velocity Clinic

The annual Mozingo Velocity Clinic will be held June 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th in Tappahannock. Tentative Schedule looks something like this: Day 1 and 3 will last around 2 hours.  Day 2 will last a little longer and Day 4 will be very unique.  On day 2, I will video each kid pitching or throwing and on day 4, I will bring each kid in at a different time to breakdown the video and tell him what he needs to work on.  Space is limited so register early to assure a spot.  This is an advanced clinic that is an introduction to my Velocity Program.  It includes long toss, throwing drills to accelerate the arm, weighted balls, training, and arm care.  It will involve something different each day.  This is not a mechanical clinic but rather a velocity clinic designed to get the most out of your arm.  It is centered around pitchers but can be beneficial for developing arm speed for any position.  Price for this clinic is $100.  This is for baseball players ages 13& up unless my approval is given otherwise.  Times for clinic will be posted once they are finalized.  It will be in the mornings probably around 9 o'clock so we can stay out of the middle of the day heat.

In the News!!!

Be sure to check out this week's Northern Neck News as well.

We Must Stay Back to Hit for Power!

        So many young baseball players want to "jump" at the ball.  What I mean by this is hitting off of the front foot.  All of your weight goes on the front foot as you swing.  This allows young kids to hit okay............until pitchers start throwing more than 1 pitch and fielders can routinely field ground ball and fly balls.  In tee ball, coaches pitch and most of the time in the younger years of organized baseball, it is quite possible to "jump" at the ball and still get on base plenty. You will notice this "jumping" at the ball by your front leg not being firm when you go to swing.  You will have bend in your leg as opposed to having a stiff front leg.  

        However, once pitchers become more advanced and start throwing more than 1 pitch, these kids routinely fall behind.  In order to hit good pitching, we must learn to let the ball come to us.  When we make the jump to bigger fields and more advanced fielders, no longer will just anything you put in play become a way to get on base.  You will have to hit balls hard to get on base and we must stay back to hit for power.

      When we swing, we want to be in a "reverse line position".  This is easily seen in the pictures below with a "/" or a "\" as  these hitters swing.  Big league hitters (below) hit in this "reverse line" and this is what we want to strive for.  Certainly there are times, when they hit off of their front foot, but this happens to them when they get fooled, not when they are taking a normal swing.

            

                          "Jumping at the ball"

                           Notice the front leg bend and the head

                     in front of the belly button.

                            This is a common thing with young kids. 

                             The quicker we get this fixed, the better.

Firm front side
Notice his front leg and how his head is back as he swings

Firm front side
Notice how similar these last two swings are.  The only difference is
in the first picture, Pujols is at the point of contact and in this one,
Chipper has already made contact but still remains in this position.

How Bad Do You Want It?

Model Of Training Between Starts

High school and middle school baseball teams have recently started practice and I’ve been asked by some of these players what they need to do in between starts as far as throwing, arm care, and strength and conditioning go.  I will attempt in this article to give you the best routine I can possibly put together.  The tricky thing here is that you may not be on a regular schedule to pitch.  What I mean by that is that you may start a game and then 7 days later start again and then it may be 5 days later and then 9 days later.  The other tricky part is if you don’t start but rather pitch in relief.  I will attempt the best I can to give a detailed outline of what to do in between starts.  I will give a sample of a 5 day rotation and a 7 day.  Make sure to do a dynamic warm-up as well as mobility drills every day.  During the season, it is very easy to lose mobility, especially in the hips and shoulders.  These are the two places pitchers need to have mobility so we must do what we can to sustain as much mobility as we can over the course of the competitive season. 

The 5 Day Rotation                                                                                                                                          

Day 0 – Pitch – Rotator cuff work (Bands and/or Weighted Ball Program)

Day 1 – Light throwing, Total body workout with more emphasis on lower body strength and light upper body; if you couldn’t get in rotator cuff work yesterday do today as well

Day 2 –Throwing will vary on this day depending on how arm is recovering (for some this can include long toss and easy pulldown; for others just nice and easy long toss), Sprints (50 yds) and agilities (5-10-5, 4 cones, etc.)

Day 3 – Usually your bullpen day; total body lift with more emphasis on upper body strength and single leg lower body work (circuits would be ideal); scapula training (i.e.: blackburns, shoulder motions)

Day 4 – Light throwing; extended dynamic warm-up

Day 5 – Pitch again

The 7 Day Rotation

            Day 0 – Pitch – Rotator cuff work (Bands and/or Weighted Ball Program)

Day 1 – Light throwing, Total body workout with more emphasis on lower body strength and light upper body; if you couldn’t get in rotator cuff work yesterday do today as well

Day 2 –Throwing will vary on this day depending on how arm is recovering (for some this can include long toss and easy pulldown; for others just nice and easy long toss), Sprints (50 yds) and agilities (5-10-5, 4 cones, etc.)

Day 3 - Throwing will vary on this day depending on how arm is recovering (for some this can include long toss and easy pulldown; for others just nice and easy long toss), extended dynamic warm-up

Day 4 - Usually your bullpen day; total body lift with more emphasis on upper body strength and single leg lower body work (circuits would be ideal); scapula training (i.e.: blackburns, shoulder motions)

Day 5 - Throwing will vary on this day depending on how arm is recovering (for some this can include long toss and easy pulldown; for others just nice and easy long toss), Sprints (50 yds) and agilities (5-10-5, 4 cones, etc.)

Day 6 - Light throwing; extended dynamic warm-up

Day 7 – Pitch again

*Some of you may want to throw bullpens twice in between starts on a 7 day rotation.  If you want to do that, you will throw bullpens on days 3&5.  Day 4’s throwing will become long toss and a pulldown option.

        Remember, this is just a sample and there are some things that you specifically may need to incorporate in to work on imbalances during the season.  As you can see there is not a whole lot of running involved.  The most a pitcher is ever going to run in a game is approximately 20 yards so we don’t need to waste a lot of time with running.  We do need to throw to keep our arms conditioned, do lots a mobility drills to keep our hips and shoulders functioning properly, and strength work to try to keep us as healthy as possible over the course of the season. 

You Can't Buy Greatness

  “There are countless ways of attaining greatness, but any road to reaching one’s maximum potential must be built on a bedrock of respect for the individual, a commitment to excellence, and a rejection of mediocrity.”

Buck Rodgers

  I tell everyone who comes to see me that coming to see me once a week is not what it takes to become a great baseball player.  Putting in 1 hour of work each week will not lead to greatness.  I get asked the question (not nearly enough however) what it takes to play professional baseball.  It takes lots of WORK, DEDICATION, MOTIVATION, and DESIRE.

    YOU have to be willing to put in much more work than one hour with an instructor.  I know a lot of kids who think they are working really hard to get better by coming to see me or going to see some other private instructor once a week.  You are learning the skills needed to become better but IT IS UP TO YOU TO PUT IN THE WORK WHEN YOU ARE NOT WITH AN INSTRUCTOR IF YOU WANT TO BECOME GREAT.  Working 1 hour a week at baseball is not nearly enough if you want to play at the highest levels.  You will not find a Major League Baseball player who puts in only 1 hour of work a week.  YOU CAN'T BUY GREATNESS.  YOU HAVE TO SACRIFICE YOUR TIME AND PUSH YOURSELF TO NEW LIMITS TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

   Most player only work on the things that they already know.  These are the players who eventually stop getting any better.  You have to be learn and be willing to work on the things that you don't know.  The SECRET is always learning and growing as a player. Never settle for the level you are at now.  Always strive to become better.  Someone out there is working hard right now to get better than you.  Go out and put in the work to become great.  Don't just say you want to be better.  Put forth the work.  It's easy to say you want to be great but it's something completely different to go make it happen.  It's easy to put in work when people are watching you.  What about when no one is around?  How willing are you to freely give up your time and put in work on your own to become great?  Most people say they want it but they don't know what it means to want it.  They just kind of want it.  You have to be willing to look in the mirror every day and know you've done all you could have done today to become GREAT, not good.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TODAY TO BECOME GREAT?

New Lessons Progress Video