Speaking at Illinois High School Convention

I'm honored to say that I'll be speaking at the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Convention, January 31st, 2009. This will be the 5th consecutive year I've spoken to the crowd of over 400 high school coaches (4th consecutive year solo, as 5 years ago I demonstrated White Sox Hitting Coach Greg Walker's drills as he spoke). I have a great relationship with the IHSBCA coaches board and am flattered that they've asked me to speak again. This year's title will be "Progressive Hitting Drills - Mechanics, Pitch Recognition and Approach." I'll report on this again after the event.

Video Tip of the Week - Stance Issues

Although players should feel comfortable in their stances, and have the freedom to start a lot of ways, there are some important "Absolutes" of the stance that often go uncorrected. Check this 6 minute video where I explain the essential parts of a correct stance in the lower body combined with some big league examples.

Student of the Week Exemplifies Courage

This week's student of the week is Michael Gustafson. Michael is 10 years old and from Woodridge, IL. The Gustafson's have been members of the White Sox Training Academy for several years. I've trained Michael and his older brother Ian for the last three years. When I first started training Michael, baseball was secondary to gymnastics. Michael is extremely athletic, and use to impress bystanders at the Academy by soaring through the air doing a number of back hand springs at the age of 7. Now after success at baseball, it has become his favorite sport.

This past year Michael was diagnosed with an operable brain tumor. Michael and the Gustafson's have had to go through a lot more than any family should have to with children that age. But a testament to their family, is that every time I've seen them, they are smiling and very positive. Michael has been doing very well, and carries the same big smile on his face every time I see him.

This past week, I did a pitching lesson with Michael after he had done four consecutive days of chemotherapy. Not only did Michael show up to the lesson the next day, he excelled. How many of us put into the same circumstances could ever show the courage to do the same? It's funny as adults that we are suppose to guide and nurture our students / children, but how often is it that we can learn lessons from them? Michael Gustafson has shown more courage and determination than any of the 1,000's of athletes I've ever worked with and I feel honored that I can spend just part of my day, making him forget about his. I'm happy that for thirty minutes he can be a kid and have fun doing well at baseball.

Michael and has family have overcome some pretty tough odds. Things like this add perspective to everyone's life. Michael will never realize, that everyone he knows, he has made a better person. He has done this by proving how strong will and courage can overcome any situation. Keep it up Michael! You have been an inspiration to all of us!

Pro Guys Still Finding Their Way. . .

Over the past three seasons, I have done video analysis with Jim Adduci. This past season, Jim was the MVP of the Florida State League Champion Daytona Cubs (Cubs High A affiliate). Jimmy's father is a former big league player and colleague of mine. They have worked hard every off-season in polishing Jimmy's mechanics. A big concern of Jimmy has been laying his hands off (losing his proper launch angle) as he begins rotation. We have compared clips I have of Jimmy from the last three off-seasons and seen drastic improvement. Where before, his hands were getting outside his back elbow, dragging behind, he is now staying connected which has increased his barrel whip. There are two points that all hitters, amateur and professional can get from this:

1) Video analysis is a must in finding a hitter's mechanical needs. There is so much the human eye cannot pick-up that Digital Motion Analysis can find. It is something we have used over and over with Jimmy that has helped him. It has also helped Jimmy's confidence when he sees his hard work paying off, by noticing his improvement.

2) For amateur hitters, understand that pro guys are still learning and finding their way. Nobody knows everything there is to know about the swing, or baseball in general. We learn by talking the game, swing mechanics, approach, etc. Many times younger hitters fall into two camps: Those who lack confidence and feel they are never going to have a high level swing and those who think they have it figured out because they have had success against marginal competition. Both of these types of hitters will fail.

The correct approach is to learn your own swing tendencies and faults, understand mechanical corrections and drill that can help you with this, and be patient in the learning process. Adjustments are difficult and don't always feel right at first. This is why they're called "adjustments." But, show me the group of hitters that fails to make the constant minor adjustments and I'll tell you that that group is not going to have consistent success and their career's will be short lived. It's an old cliche', but learning the swing is definitely a marathon, not a sprint. Adjustments take thousands of repetitions and constant maintenance. Those hitters that are willing to put the time in, like Jim Adduci, have a great chance to reach their ultimate goal of becoming a big league baseball player.

"Man . . . I'm hitting better!"

One of the things I really enjoy about teaching younger players is that they speak whatever is on their minds. This leads to frequent amusing interjections. This happened tonight with a player I started lessons with. Beyond the funny comment about his own performance, there are some underlying important mechanics that hitters must understand.

This was Troy B.'s second lesson with me. Troy is 10 years old and has some major balance issues resulting in his bat being pulled out of the zone early in his swing (to the pull side). This is from failing to maintain hitting posture throughout his swing. Though this is common for young hitters, it is crucial for hitters all the way up to the big leagues. As the stride foot lands, the chin must still be over the toes (Nose in front of belly button is another cue I use for this). As the swing begins, this posture must be maintained through contact, extension and the finish. Troy lost hitting posture as soon as his hands started forward. As his head drifted behind his toes (and belly button), the hands extended away from the body as a counter-balancing measure. To get back to the ball, he had to roll his hands over quickly and his bat exited the zone off his front hip. He consistently finished his swing off balance, falling to the pull side.

After explaining this to Troy, he created correct direction in his swing and began staying behind balls. After dire concentration for several swings in a row, in which he remained silent, he noticed he was rifiling balls up the middle like he'd never done before. Upon realization Troy exclaimed, "Man . . . I'm hitting better!" And he continued to do so for the rest of the lesson, due to a simple mechanical adjustment.

In my lesson progression, I start with stance corrections, stride and set-up mechanics and hitting posture. A hitter cannot go forward successfully in lessons until these three things are correct. The only way the hands can take a direct path to and through the ball is if hitting posture is maintained.

My Little League coach was on the right track when he use to say, "Justin, you have to keep your eye on the ball." Well, that is correct, but not for the reasons he thought. The ball-bat collision lasts a mere 1/1000 of a second, way too fast for the human eye to see, but keeping the eyes at contact will maintain hitting posture, which allows the hands to continue on a direct path through the ball. Look at the picture below of Albert Pujols as he maintains hitting posture at contact.

Welcome to the Elite Training Blog!!

Thanks for taking a look at our Elite Training Blog! As the Head Instructor at the White Sox Training Academy, baseball consumes my life . . . and I wouldn't have it any other way! This Blog will give you access to insctructional points that come to my mind as I work with athletes of all ability ranges. My daily interaction with current and former professional players, college and high school coaches and my students, makes me a become better as a teacher. Here, you will have chance to gain insight to ideas that will make YOU a better player or coach!

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