April 17

April 17 Update

Stick & Ball TV - Coach & Player Development Resource - Stick & Ball TV

Stick & Ball TV is a new online resource for coaches and players to further their development. They have recruited some of the best coaches in baseball to offer in-depth videos and resources for skills, drills, and training. They've got a $10 special for three months of access to their videos. They've also got a selection of videos available for free too!

Part of their free content offering is the Dugout Chatter Podcast with Coach Sheetinger (Georgia Gwinett University - NAIA). Coach Sheets was the College Liaison at the ABCA until 2019, when he decided to return to the college coaching ranks. He created and hosted the ABCA Calls from the Clubhouse podcast during his tenure at ABCA and has used the Stick & Ball TV platform to continue spreading his great message to the larger baseball community. He does a tremendous job at lining up some of the best coaches in the baseball community to interview or to discuss a particular aspect of baseball.

I had the opportunity to meet Coach Sheets at an ABCA Barnstormer clinic in 2018. He's a big-time dude in the baseball world with an incredible wealth of knowledge and a second-to-none ability to communicate that knowledge to people. The most important message that stuck with me was finding pockets of time to further myself as a baseball coach and a person, such as using my work commute to listen to the ABCA podcast. Whether it's while mowing the lawn, driving to and from the field, or even while taking a walk, we can find small pockets of time through our day to further our development.

Drills to do at Home

I've got a couple drills lined up that anyone can do at home. The first is the Prep Step Drill from Dai Dai Otaka (@dai_squared on Twitter). Baseball is a unique sport in that all the action - the team part of the sport - revolves around an individual battle between a pitcher and a hitter. If you watch a high-level game closely, all the other action on the field is dictated by the pitcher starting to throw the baseball, almost like the pitcher is conducting an orchestra. The pitcher starts their delivery, the fielders get ready, the umpires get ready, the pitcher delivers the ball, and the batter is left to do something with it. This Prep Step Drill works on that initial ready position that is all-too-important.

Players can pull up a baseball game on TV and work on their ready position: their prep step, like we see in the video above. This prep step helps players get onto the balls of their feet and moving in the direction of the ball much more effectively than just sinking into a bit of a squat, or worse: standing completely still or upright.

The second drill is the Connection Rod Drill from Blast Baseball. This drill helps work on posture and swing plane while hitting a ball. One of the benefits to this drill is that it doesn't require a baseball or a tee to hit. Players can work on this drill in front of the mirror. They can place a ball on a table or a chair to visualize hitting it. They can even tape or mark a target on a wall and work through this drill to improve their hitting. They don't have to use PVC pipe either. I typically use 4-foot (1/4 or 1/2 inch) wooden dowels. This can also be done with a hockey stick, a broomstick, or any other object if you're creative. Check it out:

If you have any questions, have feedback, or have any recommendations for what you would like to see in these blog posts, please feel free to reach out!

Yours in baseball,

Coach Lovie
Baseball Development Lead
Sherwood Park Minor Baseball Association
baseballdevelopment@spmba.ca