Fly Balls

As a pro manager and college baseball coach, one of the first signs your starting pitcher was in trouble was when hitters quit making outs on the ground and he started throwing fly balls. When I was a young minor league catcher, if I was not in the starting line-up, I would go to the bull pen to warm up pitchers as needed during the game. As long as the starter was throwing ground balls, I would trade the fans baseballs for cokes, hot dogs, and girls phone numbers. As soon as he started throwing fly balls, the phone would ring and the pitching coach would say, “Get (whoever) ready, we are in trouble!”

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Taking the First Pitch

If, “taking” the first pitch isn’t the worst advice ever given to a hitter, then it certainly ranks in the top two!  A two time big league batting champ, now a commentator for MLB, was recalling how aggressive he was on the first pitch.  He told how his manager showed him the team stat sheet and pointed out that he was hitting .360+ on the first pitch.  The manager said when he took a closer look at the stats, he noticed that the team as a whole was hitting .330 on the first pitch.  He said he was puzzled as to why his teammates were not more aggressive on the first pitch.

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Spin

I talked to a Community College hitting coach the other day, and he informed me that he wanted his hitters to swing down and hit the ball on the ground.  Not only did he want the ball on the ground, but he wanted backspin ground balls.  All the time he was talking, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was aware that 95% - 98% of college and pro pitchers are trying to entice the hitter to hit ground balls.  I also wondered if it occurred to him that infielders love backspin ground balls.  In professional baseball, if you fungo topspin ground balls to infielders, THEY WILL HAVE YOUR JOB!  INFIELDERS HATE TOPSPIN!  TOPSPIN EATS INFIELDERS ALIVE!

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