Category: Baseall

Another Summer of Baseball Awaits

A new adventure in around the corner. I will serve as a pitching coach in the newly former Appalachian League My new team has been coined, The Greenville Flyboys. The Appalachian League is and will be a summer collegiate baseball league that is part of the MLB and USA Baseball Prospect Pipeline, a pathway for amateur baseball players in the United States. The league will be an integral part of the identification and development process for USA Baseball Collegiate National Team and other national teams.

The Appy League is one of the longest running leagues in professional baseball history. It began originally began in 1911. This is a 10 team league. There will be a 54 game schedule. I and my partner, Road Momma will chronicle, unbiasedly, the daily happenings of The ” Appy League” life. The journey will begin on June 1st as I leave the comforts of Cary for the unknown( well, for me anyway).

I have worked a lot of leagues in the past 33 years but never this one. I have been to Princeton, WV as the Cincinnati Reds had a Rookie level team there years ago. Princeton is a member of the Appalachian League, by the way. This should be a fun season, very eye opening. Let’s don’t forget I was in the Major Leagues from 2012 to 2018. I see this as an opportunity. I have not been seen by the baseball community since 2019 and out of sight and out of mind as the saying goes. This will be a fun ride and I will keep you updated each day. Oh, the co-writer you ask, Road Momma. I will let her introduce herself. All as I can say is she has argued in front of the Supreme Court, ran the Disney Marathon and adopted an entire baseball team in 2019. Stay tuned.

Mack

Shall we.. stance?

Let’s learn throwing drill number two in our series in becoming great overhand throwers. This drill we are 30 feet from our partner if the player is young, this is also the distance I used when working with a 14U girl’s Fastpitch team. The older players should be at 45 feet. How far is that, you ask? Well, if one partner is on the foul line, it is half way to second base( 90 for base paths), and 30 feet is half way when using 60 foot base paths. The player get himself or herself in a position that feet are about three to four feet apart, depending on one’s height. I want to encourage the players to get a little uncomfortable- challenge oneself when choosing the distance. We will again start the drill with throwing hand and properly gripped ball in glove, glove at center of gravity beneath the chin at mid chest height. The player will begin the drill with a weight shift to the throwing side leg. Simultaneously, we are rotating the glove side shoulder back towards the chin, as we get into our rotation back, we will take the ball from the glove with fingers on top of the ball. Our throwing hand will get into the Magic Circle, we will propel the ball forward, with a nice wrist snap at ball release. After releasing the ball our throwing hand should continue finishing at glove side hip area. This drill emphasizes weight transfer from back to front. This is an absolute in proper throwing mechanics. This drill also teaches the rotation of the trunk, the ball from glove separation, the ever lovely Magic Circle, as well as extension and finish with the throwing arm. This drill also pre sets proper alignment to the target. A straight line could be drawn from heel to heel when doing the drill. The stance drill also teaches proper back foot and leg action. One can see in the video how the throwing side foot rotates from flat, pushing down into the ground to shoe laces down. The angle of the shin becomes parallel to the ground. This is a great drill that helps break down the throwing mechanics and can be performed at every practice, 6-8 repetitions. The drill can also be done away from the practice field. A player can do this in the gym, in the house or in the back yard.

The stance drill