Protocol for Emergency Medical Response

If we ever need it...Here is the potocol for summoning Emergency Medical help to the fields:

1) Call 911 -- Give location as Great Lawn field # at 84th street and 5th ave.

2) Send a parent to the road way to flag down ambulance to guide them into interior field.

3) For a head injury keep the player on his bat with his head supported on both sides.

Hopefully, we will not need this.

We have a team rule that NO PLAYER MAY TOUCH A BAT UNLESS THEY ARE AT BAT AND ON THE FIELD. Please help me police this rule for reasons w do not need to review!

Week Two Quick Note

Hi. I will write an email with the positives from the game later today.

We are really close to getting better. A few less dropped flies and
missed grounders and we would have won both games we played. We should
be proud of the comeback in the last two innings. The team showed
heart and team spirit at the close of the game. If we can get that
level of intensity and determination in the opening innings, this team
will come together.

Just wanted to quickly get two things out:

1) We need to practice fielding ground and fly balls and base running.
We have not yet had a practice where everyone has shown up. It would
be helpful for the team if we could make that happen.

We will have practices on Tuesday at 4:30 and Friday at 4pm in Central
Park at Field 6 or just north of Field 6 (I think it is Field 8),
depending on where we can find space.

Please communicate with Joshua McHugh to determine if these are good
times for the practices. Jacob and I can do Tuesday and Friday
afternoons. We can make it later on those days, if that works better
for the team.

2) We are starting to hit the ball better, but the boys are definitely
rusty. There is not enough time at a practice session to work on all
the boys' hitting. We need you parents to find the time to take you
sons to the batting cages. There are a lot of boys who are friends of
the field on this team. I would suggest that the parents make plans
with each other and plan trips to the batting cages in small groups.
This will work best as a de-centralized effort with you parents
forming your own groups.

Warm regards,

James

ps -- this note is also posted on our blog at http://cyoathletics.blogspot.com/
please visit the blog with your sons, if you can.

Coach: Which Bat Should I Use?

This is a common question. SHORT ANSWER: THE LIGHTER ONE!

Please remember the post below re Ted Williams -- while bat selection is important -- the bat must be at least light enough to swing and just long enough to reach the outside corner of the plate -- it is pitch selection which is the most important factor in creating a quality at bat.


DECIDING ON BAT WEIGHT & LENGTH

It's best not to purchase a bat which is too heavy for your player. Rather than growing into the bat the player will develop bad habits that will be difficult to correct later on, not to mention poor self esteem because the overly heavy bat keeps the player from successfully hitting the ball. Generally speaking if the bat is the proper size the player should be able to stand in the batters box in the hitting position and with arms extended be able to reach the outside edge of the plate. If the bat extends beyond this point it's too long, can't reach this point, it's too short. As for weight one rule of thumb is for the player to hold the bat in one hand (which ever is the top hand on the bat) and extend it out fully holding this position for at least 8-10 seconds. If the player can't do this the bat is too heavy. If in doubt about two bats it is always better to err on the side of the lighter bat. (Source: HitRunScore.com)

Here is a chart which maps out the common recommendations:

Little League (8-10 yrs)
Player Height	Bat Weight
48-50"	16-17 oz.
51-54"	17-18 oz.
55-59"	18-19 oz.
60+"	19-20 oz.

(Source for charts: BaseBallCorner.com)

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Everyone will enjoy your pictures!!!

Batting Strategy

I found this in a baseball coaching book. The concepts are pretty simple and I think they can help the boys get better "at bats." The idea is that the quality of the pitch is the most important determinant of the quality of the potential hit. In other words, it is better to wait for a pitch down the middle and take the chance that all other pitches are balls, except when there are two strikes, then the boys should expand the strike zone and then swing for contact or even bunt to put the ball in play IF THE PITCH IS HITTABLE.

From first base it is easy to see that the majority of the swings and misses are on balls at the shoulders or higher. These pitches are unhittable as the boys lack the bat speed to get their hands and then the bat head to the height of the pitch. By the time they do, the pitch is past them.

The article below leads me to believe our "take the first strike" approach is solid, as the pitchers in this league are just learning control, and that we want our batters picking a spot where they want the ball pitched and waiting for that pitch as soon as they have a one strike on them, and swinging for contact when they have 2 strikes (while still maintaining discipline not to swing at unhittable balls)..

(This is an excerpt from Youth Baseball Coaching by John T. Reed)

Ted Williams’ strike zone diagram

 "The most memorable thing in Williams' Science of Hitting is his diagram of the strike zone. He puts a whole bunch of baseballs in it. Each has the batting average that Williams figures he would hit off pitches in that location. The diagram reveals Williams' sweet spot as well as his weakness. (I use the work "weakness" in a relative sense when speaking of Williams' hitting.)

That's too fine a breakdown for youth baseball. I just broke the strike zone down into nine zones: left, middle, and right across the top and high, middle, and low down the side. I also added the out-of-the-strike areas and labeled them with letters and numbers. Here's a catcher's-eye-view diagram.

The red squares are balls. The yellow and green are strikes. But I only want my batters to swing at the green until they have two strikes on them. Then they swing at the yellow and the green. The green area is a "hitter's pitch" or line-drive pitch. Pitcher's call a pitch in the green location a "mistake pitch" or being "wild in the strike zone." The yellow areas are "pitcher's pitches."

 (note from James: a little later in the season, as the boys progress, we may relax the "take the first strike" rule and move to the swing at a pitch in your zone, on the 1st or 2nd strike -- but we wait until the opposing pitchers show us that they can get the ball over the plate.)