Summer Ideas

For some of you, you're still playing, some are gearing up for fall ball, and others are "waiting 'til next year".

Summer can be a lazy time, but remember this: Every day you're practicing or playing and someone else isn't, you're getting better than they are.

So maybe you can get better while still being lazy.

How about reading?

There are lots of things to read.

Here's a fun article they wrote about me in the local paper, it even has a picture of me and my son. There's even a place to leave a comment if you want to say "hi" or something nice about me or comment on what the article's talking about. :)

Hope you enjoy the article.

If you have trouble with the link I provided, I also placed it on my website at https://www.theinternethittingcoach.com/andy-collins.html

Reading is a good summer idea

Overall it is absolutely hysterical, but I would rate this book a PG book as there are a couple of words that are offensive.

The other two books I just read and would recommend, I would have to classify as anti-hitting, but my son wants to be a pitcher so I wanted to read up on how to do that properly.

So who best to learn from than Leo Mazzone, the pitching coach of the Atlanta Braves? His book, Pitch Like a Pro, A guide for Young Pitchers and Their Coaches, Little League Through High School has some interesting theories, many of which I had never heard before, but it's hard to argue with 15 straight championships and most of his pitchers have remained healthy through all that time.

His book is written more for coaches and parents.

This next book is written directly to kids in 3rd through 6th grades by a couple of coaches who have taken their teams to the Little League World Series.

The title is A Guide for Young Pitchers, a complete guid to mastering the hardest position in baseball, from two of the nation's premier youth coaches, by Don Oster and Bill McMillan.

I read this and my son's reading it now. It's really pretty good. It was just published in 2004. It covers everything and there's only a few areas that differ from what Leo Mazzone says, but you'll need to decide which you'd like to follow. This book is more like the wisdom I had heard all along.

Not to put so much emphasis on those dreadful creatures called pitchers, that try make us hitters get out all the time, I've put up a full page on hitting books. Recommendations for baseball, fastpitch softball and slo-pitch softball (although I haven't found any of these yet).

Here's the page for the hitting books, https://www.theinternethittingcoach.com/hitting-books.html

Exercise while watching TV

This strengthens his grip for holding the bat at contact and gripping a ball.

You may want to encourage your players to do the same.

Any time they're watching TV have them squeeze that ball, rotating hands, the whole time.

Either they'll watch TV less if it starts to get uncomfortable or they'll end up with a monster grip.

I'm not sure if I'm proud or sad, but it has really helped my son's grip a bunch. Some of you already knew about these books and hitting tips by signing up for the RSS feeds and announcements at my website.

I write many of my new pages or re-write existing pages each month before I get out this newsletter. So if you too want to get the jump on everyone else when you visit my website, notice on a number of the pages there are links to "My Yahoo" or "My MSN" or "My Google" or "RSS/XML". These allow you to learn as soon as I create a page or change an exiting one rather than waiting for the newsletter to announce it (or possibly miss it completely, if I fail to mention changes to the website).

Little League Baseball and Softball on TV

I couldn't find the schedule for the girls' softball but they've been televising some of their games in the past, so look for it.

Thanks for reading and talk to you next time.

Coach Andy

6801 Dove St. Ventura, CA 93003

805-642-5827