Hustle and Increasing Your Baseball Performance

Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine
By Nate Barnett

I work weekly with a 10U baseball club up here in Washington. Recently, they had a rough couple games with countless mental errors, lack of hustle and focus. Part of the deal is that they are 10 years old so some of that is to be expected. However, at practice the coach wanted me to work the magic and improve their overall hustle and focus pitch to pitch. The following is the email I sent to the coach about what we had gone over tonight at practice. If you have a young player, this is well worth helping him with.

Hi Coach,

Here is the stuff we worked on tonight. The boys looked good and caught on quickly.

1. In and out of the dugout in a "crisp" manner. This means once the last out is made the guys are hustling to their positions or back to the dugout. This will be particularly difficult when the guys are struggling with a recent mistake. But, as we talked about tonight, getting the body moving will help the brain recover!

2. At the beginning of the game, the SS and the CF will select a location in the dugout for all of the infielders and outfielders respectively to place their gloves and hats when they go out to hit. This way when the third out is made the guys on the bench will bring the glove/hat out to the players who are left on base. This will help out with guys getting to their positions quickly and ready for the next inning.

3. Each time there is a new hitter the infielders will turn around and face the outfielders and tell them how many outs there are. The outfielders will in turn return the outs call back to the infielders. This will keep everyone alert and in the game. Less mental errors are made when there is no confusion over outs.

4. As each pitch crosses the plate it's highly important that all players ready themselves. We talked about the two-step approach. As the pitcher begins to move in his delivery, the fielders move as well into their ready position with their glove out in front. Once the pitch has crossed the plate, the guys can move back to their starting position and get ready for the next pitch. This constant movement will help players stay focused as they are physically having to prepare themselves for the next pitch.

Nate Barnett is co-owner of The Pitching Academy.

You can find The Pitching Academy's articles, blog, and videos on baseball psychology, pitching mechanics, and hitting mechanics when you visit the website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nate_Barnett

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