We scrimmaged one of the better teams in the league tonight. Man, it was cold.
Logan went down swinging in his first at bat. He has trouble laying off high pitches. Did the same thing last year. He said that he sees the ball leave the pitcher's hand and it looks like it's coming straight down the middle. He doesn't realize until too late that it's too high. I've tried working with him a little bit on this, but obviously we need to do a little more.
At another point in the game, with runners in scoring position, he accidentally hit a dribbler that hugged the first base line. The first baseman got to it, but not fast enough to tag Logan out. Logan ran by but tripped and then his helmet covered his eyes. He was trying to find first base, but the first baseman got there first.
He was really upset by that. He explained that he couldn't see, and I told him that everybody realizes that. He really had no reason to be upset. I made a point to tell him that he didn't do anything wrong on that play. He was doing his best. It was just a really, really wierd play.
I also pointed out that he got the RBI, which is his job in that situation. Inadvertently, he basically laid a bunt down the first base line, which is pretty much exactly what you want him to do with a runner on third and no outs. Granted, he was swinging, but his job was to put it in play and he did.
He really calmed down a lot after that. The play was really more funny than anything, but I didn't want to mention that to him. Maybe I'll mention it today. Poor kid, helmet was over his eyes and he just didn't know where he was.
I like that he can play baseball, but I wish he wouldn't put so much pressure on himself. There are definitely times when I question whether travel ball is the right thing for him. I want him to play sports because he loves them. I don't want it to turn into a pressure-packed job.
All in all, not a bad day. It was just a scrimmage, but the other team was a good one with good sports both on the team and coaching. It doesn't really prove much, but the boys were happy that they won, 6-3.
I know that our boys are a lot better than they were last year. My only question is whether the other teams are similarly better. I can't believe the season is here already. This sucker is intense. From the middle of April to the first part of July, this is basically going to occupy a lot of my waking hours.
I just want Logan to enjoy the experience.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Basketball...
My son has always been active. He will go out into the yard, any time of year, including the dead of winter, and just run and run and run. Usually, he pretends he's playing football or baseball.
I have been leery about letting him fantasize about baseball. The reason being that he grabs something that's not quite a baseball bat and does something that's not quite a baseball swing. I'm afraid that this might mess up his actual baseball swing.
I usually bite my tongue, though, and let him play. He does the same thing with a football, but I don't see how that hurts anything at all.
I have tried to steer him into doing this sort of thing with a basketball, though. Basketball is one of the few sports where just goofing around by yourself can actually improve your game. He never quite took to it until just this year.
Pretty much every day, if he sees basketball, he wants to go out and play it. I moved the hoop to behind his mom's house so he can shoot any time he wants. If I weren't broke right now, I'd go out and get another hoop for the warehouse, so he'd have a place to shoot if it's raining. Also, next year when the weather turns bad again, he'll need an indoor hoop. The current one is one of those portables where you fill the base up with water. They're not terribly expensive, but at a few hundred bucks, it's not like the cost is inconsequential. They do wear out after a while, though. We've already broken one of them and this one is bent out of shape from falling over before I could completely fill the base with water.
Glad to see him do it. He loves basketball, but he's going to have to work as hard at basketball as he does at baseball if he ever hopes to play in middle school and beyond.
I have been leery about letting him fantasize about baseball. The reason being that he grabs something that's not quite a baseball bat and does something that's not quite a baseball swing. I'm afraid that this might mess up his actual baseball swing.
I usually bite my tongue, though, and let him play. He does the same thing with a football, but I don't see how that hurts anything at all.
I have tried to steer him into doing this sort of thing with a basketball, though. Basketball is one of the few sports where just goofing around by yourself can actually improve your game. He never quite took to it until just this year.
Pretty much every day, if he sees basketball, he wants to go out and play it. I moved the hoop to behind his mom's house so he can shoot any time he wants. If I weren't broke right now, I'd go out and get another hoop for the warehouse, so he'd have a place to shoot if it's raining. Also, next year when the weather turns bad again, he'll need an indoor hoop. The current one is one of those portables where you fill the base up with water. They're not terribly expensive, but at a few hundred bucks, it's not like the cost is inconsequential. They do wear out after a while, though. We've already broken one of them and this one is bent out of shape from falling over before I could completely fill the base with water.
Glad to see him do it. He loves basketball, but he's going to have to work as hard at basketball as he does at baseball if he ever hopes to play in middle school and beyond.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Season is starting soon
Logan is looking pretty sharp today. They had an intra-squad scrimmage yesterday and he was really driving the ball. The coach gave him an extra long look at pitcher and he did great. I think he'll get some innings this year. We started last year with basically just three pitchers. By the end of the season, we had 4 solid pitchers.
This year, I think we've got those four, plus at least two others. It will make a big difference at tournament time.
Logan has really established himself as one of the team's better players. This time last year, not so much. In fact, I think the coach had him grouped with some of the weaker players when the season started. Throughout the season, though, the coach was impressed with his coachability. By the end of the year, Logan had secured a starting position (CF) and was hitting leadoff.
This year, Logan has really elevated his game. So have a lot of other kids on the team and around the league, though. So, relative to his peers, who knows.
At this point, all the pre-season speculation in the world doesn't amount to much. It's how they perform under game conditions that matters. All last year, Logan turned it up a notch at gametime. If he does that this year, things should be pretty eventful.
This year, I think we've got those four, plus at least two others. It will make a big difference at tournament time.
Logan has really established himself as one of the team's better players. This time last year, not so much. In fact, I think the coach had him grouped with some of the weaker players when the season started. Throughout the season, though, the coach was impressed with his coachability. By the end of the year, Logan had secured a starting position (CF) and was hitting leadoff.
This year, Logan has really elevated his game. So have a lot of other kids on the team and around the league, though. So, relative to his peers, who knows.
At this point, all the pre-season speculation in the world doesn't amount to much. It's how they perform under game conditions that matters. All last year, Logan turned it up a notch at gametime. If he does that this year, things should be pretty eventful.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Raising an Enthusiastic Boy
Baseball season is going to kick off in earnest in a few weeks. I was a little worried that Logan didn't seem that excited about baseball. He's been pumped up about basketball lately, though. The weather is probably going to be warm-ish for good this year. I moved the hoop to behind his mom's house. Now, he can shoot at home whenever he wants.
His basketball skills have increased dramatically this year. I was caught totally off-guard about the Cats tryouts, but next year, I'm pretty confident he'll be ready. I wish I'd known more about it. I would have prepared him. As it is, he did pretty well for not having anybody to get him going on the right path.
He's been really eager to practice basketball these past few weeks and that concerned me because he really has been apathetic about baseball. The indoor workouts are a grind. Same drills every time. It helps, but kids don't play baseball to do drills.
We had our first outdoor practice last night. The coach is evaluating Logan to see if he will give him a chance to do some pitching this year. The team has 5 solid pitchers, and Logan is trying hard to get to where he can get a few innings here and there. He didn't pitch at all last year, but I've been getting him to a pitching coach in the offseason. The improvement in his throwing has been dramatic.
At the practice, he threw pitching practice to the coach. Then, during the scrimmage, the coach took an extra long look at him.
Logan has this awesome ability to turn everything up a notch at game-time. In practice, he just sorta quietly and competently goes about his business, but at game time, he always seems to amp it up a notch or two.
During the scrimmage he really, really pitched well. This was the first time he ever faced live batters. So, I was impressed with how well he threw. At this level, sometimes all you need is a kid that throws strikes. They don't need to be that overpowering to be effective.
After the practice, Logan asked if I would work with him on more pitching and I had to tell him no. He had already pitched quite a lot and we needed to ice him down. Continuing to pitch would potentially lead to injury.
The coach overheard the conversation and backed me up. I had to explain to Logan that when you pitch, you can throw your arm out if you're not careful. I told him about a promising player I knew who had Div I stuff, but threw his arm out by the time he got to High School and never got to really play in college.
So, he understood. That didn't stop him, of course, from asking me to feed 2 buckets of balls into the pitching machine, though.
So, he's pretty pumped about baseball right now. I guess the thing to do with a kid like that is to keep them from trying to do too much, or doing things that will frustrate and discourage them.
What a great little kid.
I also am not a big believer that practice performance equates to gametime performance, but if it did, Logan would be awesome. He's crushing the ball right now.
I've just seen too many cases of kids who were money in practice, but who got into game situations and just couldn't pull themselves together. Logan is sort of the opposite. All business and competent in practice, but amped up at game time.
If he does that this year and turns it up a notch from what we're seeing now, he's going to have an awesome year. In a few of the smaller parks we play in, Logan could go yard. He has home run power, now.
He's also working on some stuff that I think is pretty advanced for a 9 year old, like jumping on inside pitches early to pull them foul or down the 3rd base line, and letting outside pitches get a little deeper into the strike zone and hitting the inside of the ball to drive them to right.
That's where the pitching machine comes in really handy because it can throw a ball in about the same place every time, letting him work on hitting certain types of pitches.
The season starts in mid-April. I can hardly wait.
His basketball skills have increased dramatically this year. I was caught totally off-guard about the Cats tryouts, but next year, I'm pretty confident he'll be ready. I wish I'd known more about it. I would have prepared him. As it is, he did pretty well for not having anybody to get him going on the right path.
He's been really eager to practice basketball these past few weeks and that concerned me because he really has been apathetic about baseball. The indoor workouts are a grind. Same drills every time. It helps, but kids don't play baseball to do drills.
We had our first outdoor practice last night. The coach is evaluating Logan to see if he will give him a chance to do some pitching this year. The team has 5 solid pitchers, and Logan is trying hard to get to where he can get a few innings here and there. He didn't pitch at all last year, but I've been getting him to a pitching coach in the offseason. The improvement in his throwing has been dramatic.
At the practice, he threw pitching practice to the coach. Then, during the scrimmage, the coach took an extra long look at him.
Logan has this awesome ability to turn everything up a notch at game-time. In practice, he just sorta quietly and competently goes about his business, but at game time, he always seems to amp it up a notch or two.
During the scrimmage he really, really pitched well. This was the first time he ever faced live batters. So, I was impressed with how well he threw. At this level, sometimes all you need is a kid that throws strikes. They don't need to be that overpowering to be effective.
After the practice, Logan asked if I would work with him on more pitching and I had to tell him no. He had already pitched quite a lot and we needed to ice him down. Continuing to pitch would potentially lead to injury.
The coach overheard the conversation and backed me up. I had to explain to Logan that when you pitch, you can throw your arm out if you're not careful. I told him about a promising player I knew who had Div I stuff, but threw his arm out by the time he got to High School and never got to really play in college.
So, he understood. That didn't stop him, of course, from asking me to feed 2 buckets of balls into the pitching machine, though.
So, he's pretty pumped about baseball right now. I guess the thing to do with a kid like that is to keep them from trying to do too much, or doing things that will frustrate and discourage them.
What a great little kid.
I also am not a big believer that practice performance equates to gametime performance, but if it did, Logan would be awesome. He's crushing the ball right now.
I've just seen too many cases of kids who were money in practice, but who got into game situations and just couldn't pull themselves together. Logan is sort of the opposite. All business and competent in practice, but amped up at game time.
If he does that this year and turns it up a notch from what we're seeing now, he's going to have an awesome year. In a few of the smaller parks we play in, Logan could go yard. He has home run power, now.
He's also working on some stuff that I think is pretty advanced for a 9 year old, like jumping on inside pitches early to pull them foul or down the 3rd base line, and letting outside pitches get a little deeper into the strike zone and hitting the inside of the ball to drive them to right.
That's where the pitching machine comes in really handy because it can throw a ball in about the same place every time, letting him work on hitting certain types of pitches.
The season starts in mid-April. I can hardly wait.
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