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John T. Reed’s baseball-coaching blog

Most baseball coaches are incompetent, especially at practice content

Posted by John Reed on

Baseball season is about to start. The vast, vast majority of youth coaches use the same horrible practice format: 45 minutes of “hitting infield and outfield” (get one, get two) and 45 minutes of batting practice in which some coach throws relatively low fast balls the catcher while each player takes a turn batting. The remaining players stand around in the outfield typically chatting in small groups, occasionally dispatching one guy to field a nearby ball and throw it back to the pitcher’s mound..You gotta be kidding me!.You know how much total practice time there is in a Little League...

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Cheating on youth sports draft night

Posted by John Reed on

One of the things that make my how-to books different from those written by others is that my books are real world. This time of year is a case in point. This month or next month are the months when spring youth sports hold their drafts.What do my baseball and flag football books say that’s real world about the youth sports drafts? The long-term insider coaches cheat in the draft.It is so bad that many youth sports observers comment—accurately—that the competition for league championship is over on draft night.The coaches who have been in the league in question for a...

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Why all baseball players should bat left-handed

Posted by John Reed on

All baseball players should bat left handed. The reasons cannot be argued with. Here they are. I explain them in more detail in my books about baseball coaching.  1. The left-handed batter’s box is closer to 1st base, 2nd, 3rd, and home plate. Howard Southworth, author of High-Percentage Baserunning says the average high school player arrives at first base .2 of a second faster from the left-handed batter’s box than from the right. Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle was a switch hitter. He arrived .1 of a second faster from the left-handed batter’s box. 2. After swinging, only left-handed batters...

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All baseball-coaching articles

Posted by John T. Reed on

A bunch of lawyer parents suing each other over Little League cheating.Mar 23, 2024 Super book on baseball pitchingMay 08, 2022 MLB balls are ridiculously, dangerously bouncyMar 27, 2021 LeBron may know about the ‘zone’ but he don’t know shit about hot handsMar 09, 2020 Why you should buy one of my coaching books as a gift for a football or baseball player or parent of a player Dec 12, 2018 Feet-first and head-first baseball slides about the same. I like Feet first. Sep 29, 2018 All baseball and softball players should bat left-handed, not right or switchJul 25, 2018 How to...

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Having almost no batting practice is better

Posted by John Reed on

I often say the Wall Street Journal is America’s best coaching periodical. The 9/25/15 issue had another example of that: an article titled “The Cubs’ New Approach: Work Less” Google that title to read it. Mainly, the Cubs eliminated batting practice, at least in the latter days of the season. Their main reason is to let the players rest at the end of the long season so they will be fresher for the playoffs. I also all but eliminated batting practice when I was a coach and that’s what I advocate—in much greater detail—in my books Youth Baseball Coaching and...

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