HUMILITY-HONOR-CAN’T LOSE

HUMILITY

Oxford dictionary states: a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness."he needs the humility to accept that their way may be better", What does it look like? Others centered, selflessness, celebrating others-not yourself, encouraging your teammates-not making them look bad, modesty, serving others, sacrifice, team focused, not complaining, not disputing, not arguing, not talking about how great you are or how great you think you are–but always looking to get better, not drawing attention to yourself, HUMILITY!

HONOR

High respect; great esteem.  Humility comes before honor.

This status must be earned. Do what is right because it is the right thing to do!  Character is how you go about your business when nobody is watching you.  You don’t need a person of authority standing over your shoulder to ensure you give your best effort and have a great attitude.  You excel in all you do: school, sports, and home. Baseball or athletic ability is only one area of your life; it is vital to find other interests and aptitudes, be a great person and be a great student.

CAN’T LOSE

This doesn’t mean you always win the game, but you always present well. You don’t lose respect for yourself because you respect those that are watching you play, those that you represent-Faith, Family, School, You. You aim to play the right way, level headed, always hustling. 

PANTHER BASEBALL CHECKLIST

The better players are the ones that are always working to create great habits on and off the field.  Paying attention to details when practicing, during warm-ups, and during the game will make a huge difference in close games.  Always play with a level head.  Never too high, never too low.  It is called staying at an even keel.

Defense

• Move to put yourself in position to catch with two hands whenever you can.

• Ready position in INF, fingers down, open glove to ball

• Fielding position on a ground ball, down and open glove out in front, field middle to left side, get to the right of the ball

• Stick the short hop, soft the candy hop.

• Footwork, replace the front foot or step through with the right foot if right handed thrower

• Ready position in OF, athletic position, ready for any play in your area

• OF, fly ball, get behind the ball and work through it with a crow hop or stepping through with the right foot if right handed thrower

Throwing

• True the baseball.  4 seams.  It will ensure a good, straight throw.

• Proper mechanics.  Thumb to the thigh, fingers to the sky, good follow through.

• Throwing on a knee from 45 feet to 90 feet will force you to work good upper mechanics and build arm strength.

• When you throw normally, use good footwork, always work your lower body into your throws.  

• Build arm strength by throwing long toss during warm-ups.

• When icing, 20 minutes on, let your arm get back to normal skin temperature, then ice again if needed. Ice within first 24 hours. After 24 hours, stretch, do band work, and run for muscle soreness.  When doing running routines, mix in sprinting to help with recovery.

Team Defense

• Runner on 2nd, base hit, what is your responsibility?

• Nobody on, ball in the gap, extra bases, what is your responsibility?

• Runner on first, ball in the gap, extra bases, what is your responsibility?

• On defense, during a bunt situation, what is your responsibility with a runner on first? On second?

Bunting

• Drag bunt

• Sacrifice bunt

• Situational, if runner on first, where do I bunt? If runner on 2nd, where do I bunt?

Hitting

• Stay inside of the ball, big part of the yard (gap to gap)

• Use the drop 3 if you are not already.  It will force you to properly swing to get the bat head on the ball.

• Tough with 2 strikes! Battle!

• Best drill for hands inside–bat against the shoulder and keep against the shoulder as long as possible before bringing the bat head to the ball

• Hit/run, move ‘em over to third with no outs, 90 footer-getting a runner home from third with less than two outs, hands inside help with situational hitting

Dugout

• What is your purpose?

• What are you looking for in the game to be ready?

• Are you in the game? Are you ready between innings?

Baserunning

• Thinking 2 out of the box.

• Hustling on a walk/hbp.

• Infield hit/line drive. Running hard through first, breaking down, and checking to the right for an overthrow.

• Hard turns at first.

• Footwork at first when leading off–outside of bag, left-right-left initial lead

• Only inside part of bag when stealing on a left handed pitcher.

• Deep leads at 2nd base unless there is a steal or bunt call, creates your angle to score.

• Walking leads at 3rd base in foul territory, read the ball crossing the plate off of the right foot, cross over the line and track the ball back to the pitcher when you return to 3rd base.