Easton's Prominence in Baseball

Easton has been on the forefront of bountiful advances in sporting agreeable technology. It is a company that was started in the 1930's by Doug Easton initially because of his rosary to crafting finer excellence arrows unreal of aluminium that would improve traditional archery. Easton has evolved into a leader in creation sporting goods considering of their advances in the end of aluminum and that has carried into many sports such as baseball, softball, hockey and biking over the last 5 decades, all while standing behind the quality of what they sell in the market. Years later, Easton dove into creating baseball bats and was recognized for their innovative aluminum baseball bats, a design that was introduced in the early 1970's.

New York Yankees - New Joe, Old Joe

The Late York Yankees go into the 2008 MLB season without Director Joe Torre for the inaugural time since 1995. Joe Girardi, virgin Yankees Manager, has some chock-full cleats to fill. Word comes from Yankees camp that things slid some under Joe Torre's end game. Practice not as crisp, details not as clear, results certainly not as before. Joe Torre was apt a decent however hardly overly-gracious from the Different York Yankees during the MLB off-season. Torre, given a take it or leave it from the Yankees, left it, deciding instead to pride greener pastures and warmer weather in Los Angeles, with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Door open, in walks Joe Girardi.

MLB 2007 - One Unusual Cat

The 2007 MLB season was one strange cat. The Boston Chestnut Sox provided the element remaining fixed during the season, digging in as the alpha dogs throughout. The Boston Blush Sox were the one anchor during the baseball season. They held down what would have otherwise been an even more topsy-turvy ride. The American League was by far MLB's more watchable league. Even though I despise the Designated Hitter rule, you hold to call it for what it was, an unbalanced disparity that showed the dominance of the American Cooperative and the frailty of the National. The Colorado Rockies staged one of the greatest runs of all-time down the stretch. Where they came from and how they went to the Universe Series I still cannot understand.

Baseball Throwing Part One - Why All Championship Teams Begin on Defense

I had the good fortune to hear Branch Rickey speak and he was in his 80's. I listened along with a lot of other coaches and scouts. I listened to Branch Rickey talk about, "What it Takes To Become a Major League Baseball Player." He said, "A guy has got to be able to do four things: 1) Throw. 2) Run. 3) Field. 4) Hit. He has to be able to do two of these things extremely well to play in the big league." He went on and said, "If he can do all four and hit with power, he is going to be a super star." Well, you have listened to all of these talks about hitting, pitching and fielding, but we must remember that Branch Rickey referred to one of the four as throwing.

Baseball Throwing Part Two - The Grip

Now, there are a lot of things involved in throwing a baseball. Several people talked about the grip and the grip is extremely important. The fingers should be on top of the baseball, that is really the key. I mean they can't be off just a little bit. They need to be straight on top. There has to be a little daylight. I think if you choke the ball you are going to kill rotation obviously. If your fingers are too wide apart you are going to kill rotation. So, you need to have the fingers straight on top of the baseball with a little bit of daylight between the fingers and here so you have some freedom of movement. Try to get the fingers straight on top. I know there are a lot of middle infielders out there.

Baseball Throwing Part Three - The Pivot Foot

If I were to sit down with my foot straight out in front of me, it is doubtful I could throw a baseball to the back of the room. But, when you stand up and get your foot under you, then you are throwing from a position of strength and power, which just tells us one thing and that is we throw with our feet. It is my belief that guys like Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan have endured or did endure for so long because of the strength they had from the waist down and proper mechanics, obviously. So, when you start talking about mechanics you need to think about a few little basic things: 1) The pivot foot. I think with younger players you have to overemphasize this.

Baseball Throwing Part Four - Throwing to the Circle

The next thing has to do with the striding foot. If you have a catcher that is having a little trouble with accuracy or if you have an outfielder that is having a little trouble hitting the cutoff man, you might want to check their striding foot. See where it is landing because a lot of kids will throw across their body. Other kids have problems by opening up a little too much. So, you have to try the little coaching technique I always use and the same thing in hitting that Ben Hines was talking about and it's the same thing in pitching and that is the belly button. I like for a guy to get the belly button lined up with the person to whom he is throwing. When he gets it, he has the hip and the shoulder going for him and then when he opens up, that belly button has to come around and be right in line with the person to whom he is throwing.

Baseball Throwing Part Five - Hand Position

There is a saying in baseball that baseball is a game of inches. I like to think of baseball as a game of counts. Read on. Hand position and body position are almost as important as the throwing itself. Some kids get in the habit of spinning the ball due to laziness, where they catch it one-handed. While the time it takes to move the throwing hand to the glove hand to get the ball out and to transfer it to the throwing hand, is only about half a count, it is half a count that you are never going to get back. It is gone forever. While that time is elapsing the runner is running. We are creatures of habit so you need to encourage all of your players to try to catch the ball with two hands.

Baseball Throwing Part Six - Throwing Technique

How do you get your players to improve on their throwing technique? Well, I believe that you leave the pitchers out of this. I am not referring to pitchers at all. Pitching is just glorified throwing. Throwing taken to the next level. I also don't believe pitchers should shag. I know a lot of you use pitchers to shag and I have used them in the past. When you put them in the outfield to shag, a magical transformation takes place and suddenly they become Willie Mays. You get guys knocking outfielders out of the way and making diving catches. They are throwing the ball in from 180 feet and suddenly arm problems occur. I think pitchers need to be taken care of.

Baseball Throwing Part Seven - Throwing Drills

I think an excellent drill for infielders is what I call the Four Corners Drill. I have stolen drills and I have created some that no one has stolen from me. One drill is called Right, Left, Pick-it-Up and I have used it a lot. It is a great drill. I got this one from Gene McArtor at the University of Missouri. I have used it for a lot of years and I think it is really excellent. If my partner and I were on the back side of the corridor and we had a guy at this corridor and a guy at that corridor and this guy throws that ball to me, I want him to throw it right into this center circle. If this guy wants to show his hands that is alright too. I don't think there is anything wrong with that for him to show his hands away from his body, thumb to thumb, then what I want this player to do is to get his feet involved as he is catching the baseball.