Dear Baseball Gods

In this episode, you’re getting another a sample chapter of my new book, Clean Your Cleats: Advice on Baseball and Life for Ballplayers. This chapter is about relationships with coaches. It’s now available everywhere you buy books online. Get your copy today.

In this episode, you’re getting another a sample chapter of my new book, Clean Your Cleats: Advice on Baseball and Life for Ballplayers. This is chapter 2, called Baseball is a Trap.

In this episode, listen to a sample chapter of my new book, Clean Your Cleats: Advice on Baseball and Life for Ballplayers. It’s available everywhere you buy books online. Get your copy today!

Dear Baseball Gods will be on pause for a few months – Dan explains why in this episode and what to expect. And, he goes into depth on the odds of making it to the Majors and why it’s not as big a longshot as the statistics indicate. Sign up for Dan’s email list to stay updated on when the show returns, and be sure to subscribe to the show for notifications! To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com

In this episode, Dan discusses reasons on whether throwing a football is beneficial for pitchers. Dan also gives helpful suggestions on equipment to use when working out at home. Links: Home workout video mentioned in the episode; Try Early Work Strength Program for free here. To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com EP108 Transcript: EP108 – Is Throwing a Football Good for Pitchers? Plus Home Gym Tips You’re listening to the Dear Baseball Gods Podcast. In this show, I help parents, players and coaches better navigate their baseball careers. All right. Welcome back to Dear Baseball Gods. On this episode, we’re going to talk about is throwing a football. Good for pitchers. And we’re going to go into some home gym tips. So things, if you’re stuck at home, working out, what are some creative ways you can get it, you know, a little bit of workout kind of maintain your strength or maybe even get stronger. So before we get going, make sure you check out the show notes of this podcast. Wherever you’re listening. I have my two books on baseball, my memoir, Dear Baseball Gods. Which is my story and can definitely help a young athlete or parent understand what their journey is going to look like. Also, my pitching manual Pitching Isn’t Complicated. That’s down below. Also my online courses links to my YouTube channel. Social media handles all that stuff. And my new strength conditioning program built for ballplayers called early work. So if you’re new here or you’re a longtime listener, definitely check out the show notes, grab a book, grab some that can help you and just continue learning. So first thing on the docket today is throwing a football. Good for pitchers. And I think the resounding answer is yes, especially if your pitcher who throws a slider. So quick thing about me. I was a curve ball, high, fast ball, like high spin rate kind of pitcher. And. Now I was never a football player. I was also never super interested in football, so I was never a good thrower of footballs. I understand how to throw them.

In this episode, Dan discusses BABIP (batting average on balls in play) and the importance of understanding what BABIP is especially for pitchers. Dan also talks about bunting and if the run expectancy matrix (discussed in the previous episode) influences whether a coach gives the bunt sign. Links: Run Expectancy and Bunting article mentioned in the episode; Fangraphs article on BABIP mentioned in the episode; also, Try Early Work Strength Program for free here. To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com EP107 Transcript: EP107 – BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) Plus Is Bunting Good or Bad? You’re listening to the Dear Baseball Gods podcast. In this show, I helped parents, players and coaches better navigate their baseball careers. All right. Welcome back to Dear Baseball Gods. On today’s episode, we’re going to cover. Two main topics. Both are a little on the nerdier side. First one is going to be batting average for balls in play. And this is a statistic that you may not have heard of, but it’s important to understand, especially as a pitcher. And secondly, we’re gonna talk about bunting and we’re going to talk about whether bunting makes sense, and we’re going to talk about run expectancy and the run expectancy matrix, and how. That should influence or can influence, or maybe you should not influence a coach’s decision to give the bunt sign. So before we get going, just a reminder in the show notes of this podcast, you’ll find links to my books. You’ll find links to my online courses and you’ll find links to my online strength conditioning program for baseball players. So if you’re interested in upping your game, finding a new resource for your son or for your players on your team, And definitely check out the show notes below where you’ll find again, all my resources and links to my YouTube channel, my social media handles all that other stuff. So if you’re new here, thanks for listening.

In this episode, Dan gives a rundown of run expectancy in baseball, along with different scenarios on how run expectancy plays out according to the RE24 matrix. Dan also gives helpful nutrition tips for middle school athletes. Links: Run Expectancy and Bunting article mentioned in the podcast; Try the Early Work Strength Program for free here. To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com EP106 Transcript: EP106 – Run Expectancy Plus Nutrition for Middle Schoolers You’re listening to the Dear Baseball Gods podcast. In this show, I help parents, players and coaches better navigate their baseball careers. All right. Welcome back to Dear Baseball Gods. In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about first run expectancy and second nutrition from middle school ballplayers. So obviously nutrition is a part of being good athlete. It’s something that can be really tough, I think for parents to control and it’s tough for younger kids to understand and buy into. So we’ll chat a little bit about some of the do’s and don’ts for that. So before we get going, obviously it is the holiday season. So if you’re listening here in 2020, and you’re looking for a gift for someone in your family. Who’s a baseball nerd. Just remember that in the show notes of today’s podcast, you’ll find my two books. You’ll find my online courses. And you’ll find also links to my strength conditioning program called early work. So if you’re looking for the baseball fan, your family, the athlete, and your family, or friend, definitely check out the show notes with lots of my other content that’s giftable and is going to keep giving as you go. So first here on the docket today is run expectancy. So if you haven’t heard this term run expectancy, is it sort of, I wouldn’t really call it a sabermetrics stat, but it’s something in the whole realm of right. Advanced stats, which make a sabermetrics, but run expectancy basically means this it’s how many runs can be expected on average in a given.

In this episode, Dan discusses pitching velocity ranges and peaks and how they interact with each other. Dan then talks through the general breakdown of offseason weekly throwing for pitching. Lastly, Dan gives advice on knowing and figuring out what kind of player you are. Videos mentioned: Velocity Tips video & Throwing Program Video To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com

Is core training for baseball overrated? Dan discusses what core training does and doesn’t do for an athlete. Also in this episode, Dan talks about what garbage time in the weight room is and if it is useful. Try the Early Work Strength Program for free here. To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Transcript: EP104 – Is Core Training Overrated? Plus, Garbage Time in the Weight Room Hey there, Dan Blewett here. Thanks so much for tuning in before we get started, I want to share a little bit about a new project of mine. Early work is an online strength training program created as a collaboration between myself and one of my good friends, coach Andrew Sacks. So in the early work program, obviously my YouTube skills are coming in handy here. You’re going to get 4k quality videos. Great audio of me and coach Sacks, teaching every exercise in the program, workouts change monthly, and he and I collaborate to build each new month as the program changes and evolves in season off season. Just trying to make sure players peak and are at their best at every point of the year. So between the two of us, we have 20 plus years of experience training baseball players. I was a baseball Academy owner strength coach. Andrew’s still. A strength coach owns a facility here in the Baltimore area, and our program has three different plans, one for individuals, one for families. So that includes your extended family and one for teams. So no matter who you are and who you’re looking for a program for, we’ve got a plan for you. So if you want to try the program out, we offer a 14 day free trial, so you can sign up. Get to work, try it out in your local gym. See if it fits your life and your goals and all that good stuff. Obviously we stand by it. We’ve been doing this a long time, so give it a shot today. Try the early work strength program. We know you’re going to love it.

Having trouble locating a pitch? Dan gives helpful tips on how to locate each pitch. Also in this episode, Dan discusses which type of cleats are best and which type of shoes you should wear based on the surface you are playing on. Links: Mound visit video mentioned in the podcast; Try the Early Work Strength Program for free here. To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Transcript: EP103 – What to do When You Can’t Locate a Pitch; Plus, What Type of Cleats are Best? You’re listening to the Dear Baseball Gods podcast. In this show, I help parents, players and coaches better navigate their baseball careers. All right. Welcome back to Dear Baseball Gods. I’m Dan Blewett and this is episode 103. And in today’s show, we’re gonna talk about two main topics. Number one. What do you do as a pitcher when you can’t locate a certain pitch or any of your stuff, for that matter. And secondly, I’m gonna talk a little bit about cleats because I think as a parent it’s good to have a perspective on what cleats do now. There’s different models. That’s really what I’m gonna focus on. There’s metal, there’s TPU, which is like the hard plastic, there’s rubber, and there’s also turf. So obviously cleats are not made of turf, but turf fields are their own animal and there’s more and more of them. And I really battled to get the information out to my parents when we had our Academy and our teams, because every year there’s just look, we got to make sure we’re prepared equipment wise to really compete, especially if it rains, et cetera, et cetera. So I think a little bit of a discussion about cleats is important. Before we get going. I do want to mention again, my new strength conditioning program for baseball players i...

Is a knuckle-curveball different than a regular curve? And, what does hiding the ball mean for pitchers? Should they try to do it? Should mechanics be taught so that hiding the ball happens? The EARLY Work program is almost ready for launch. Sign up for my email list to be notified! To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Transcript: EP102 – What Does Hiding the Ball Mean for Pitchers? And, Is a Knuckle Curve Different? You’re listening to the Dear Baseball Gods podcast. In this show, I helped parents, players and coaches better navigate their baseball careers. Hey, welcome back to Dear Baseball Gods. I’m Dan Blewett. And just as a little bit of housekeeping yet, again, be sure to check out the description here. Be sure to check out my email list, which is also there’s links in the descriptions podcast. Releasing a new online strength conditioning program called early work very soon. And of course, obviously if you’re listening to this video, anytime in the future, it will be already out by time or a year looking for a new strength training program to follow for your son, for your team, for your family. We have different plans in a 14 day free trial, or if anyone wants to check it out, try out the Early Work strength and conditioning program. This was built by me and a fellow strength coach, a good friend. Mine named coach Andrew Sacks, who is an expert in baseball and softball training. So without further ado, let’s get into today’s episode. So today we have two topics. Number one, what is a knuckle curve? Is it different than a regular curve ball? And number two also for pitchers, what’s the deal with hiding the baseball? So this is a common term where we say, Oh man, the guy hides the ball really well. But what does this mean? Is it important? Is it something you should try to do? We’re going to kind of demystify that whole bunch. Okay. So let’s talk about the knuckle curve,

Some coaches claim that sleep is critical to recovery. Sure – this is true, and everyone needs sleep. But is it actually relevant and important to be talking about to younger athletes? Second, Dan discusses the new state of MLB baseball – is it capturing the attention of young players? Is it boring? Should young players be playing this swing-and-miss style of baseball? To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Transcript: EP101 – Is Sleep Important For Performance? Plus, Is MLB Baseball Boring Now? You’re listening to the dear baseball gods podcast. In this show, I helped parents, players and coaches better navigate their baseball careers. welcome back to the Dear Baseball Gods podcasts. Last week was the episode. The big number 100. So it’s a, it’s like, Oh one Oh one. Okay. We’re so far from any other relevant milestones, so, Oh, how the mighty have fallen, uh, but quick reminder or announcement, depending on, uh, if you’re on my email list or any of that next week, I’m releasing a new strain of conditioning program, a online program, which I’m really excited about. This is a collaboration between myself and my good friend, fellow strength, coach Andrew Sachs. So look for more details, uh, in the upcoming week, if you’re not on my email list, definitely sign up. There’s links in the show notes, but this is a really good program. We spent the last, well, we started this in March and then covert happened, but. Um, about a hundred episodes or a hundred exercises filmed, a lot of really good detail. Um, just a lot of moving parts in general to make this successful, but we’re excited that next week it’s finally gonna launch and you’ll be able to get, uh, a free two week trial. So if you want to jump in and try it, you’re more than welcome to. So just a little bit of housekeeping. Also, you’re gonna notice some new intro music and transition music, which I’m excited about. My old stuff was as grading on me a little bit. And, uh,

In this landmark 100th episode, Dan reflects on some of the important things he’s learned in the 3 years that have passed since the Dear Baseball Gods podcast began back in March of 2017. A LOT has happened… To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Transcript: EP100 – It’s Been One Hundred Episodes – What Have I Learned Since Then? All right, folks. Welcome back. This is the 100th episode of the deer baseball gods podcast. So if you’re listening to this number one, thank you for being here. Maybe you’re brand new. Maybe you’ve just picked up the show recently, or maybe you’ve been here from the beginning, who knows either way. Thank you for listening to my musings, ramblings, uh, teachings, whatever. You’d call it over these three and a half years now, actually. So, uh, in today’s episode, I’m going to talk about things I’ve learned over the years, over these past three and a half years, that. I’ve felt I’ve made a positive change in my life that I would like to convey to you. Maybe one of these 10 hits a chord. Obviously some of these are going to be moderately COVID related. I mean, I think, I think, uh, one of the sentiments about, uh, COVID-19 is that it’s been an accelerant. So, you know, accelerating agent for change. So things that were going to happen maybe in a couple of years have suddenly all, all of a sudden happened in three months or in six months or whatever. And I’ve found that’s a been the case with some of my, my endeavors and things. Yeah. As well. So without further ado, I’m going to get to 10 things I’ve learned since the deer baseball gods podcast started back in March of 2017. Alright. Number one. If I had to give some advice, it would be, and this is going to be number one. And number two, it’s both follow your passions and follow your skills. Now I’m 34, so I don’t need to Dole out too much career advice because I’ve only been living in the real world for about a year.

Are short and longterm goals really that important? Is distance running useful for pitchers? Or is it the devil? And, what should we all know about launch angle and its importance in baseball? To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Full Transcript: EP99 – How Important Is Launch Angle? Distance Running & Are Goals Actually Useful? Welcome back to Dear Baseball Gods. On today’s podcast. We’re going to cover three different topics. Number one, is distance running important? Is it bad? Is it good? We’ll figure it out. Number two, how important is launch angle a? Is this something useful to work into someone’s swing? Is it good, bad, the devil, whatever we’re going to solve that as well. Lastly, we talked a little bit about longterm goals. How important are they? Are they overrated or are they underrated? Okay. So first is distance running important. Now distance running has been demonized by much of the strength and conditioning community of which I’m a part. The basic tenants here are that distance running use a different energy system than you use when doing an explosive, uh, action. So swinging a bat is an anaerobic, very explosive exercise. And we obviously all know that you can’t maintain that sort of effort level, that sort of intensity or explosiveness over a long distance or long period of time. Right. So where you’re jogging for 30 minutes or biking for 30 minutes or whatever. You know, those user aerobic system, it’s a much different type of exercise then, you know, doing something like throwing a medicine ball, throwing a baseball, hitting a baseball, sprinting, jumping things that are anaerobic that are very explosive. So. The big thing here is for years and years and years pitchers just ran polls. And one of my favorite books, ball four, they talk about how much running is done. And there’s a, an ongoing discussion in that book, even back, which was written in the seventh or the, it was written in 1968, I think, uh, that you know, is running actually beneficial. Like we, we run it every day is pictures, but why,

Should pitchers throw year round in baseball? How should they plan their workload? And, does having small hands prevent a pitcher from learning a changeup? Lastly, coach Dan explains why pick off moves are underrated and under taught, and what pitchers should do about it. To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Transcript: EP98 – Year Round Throwing Do’s and Don’ts; Does Hand Size Matter in Throwing a Changeup? Plus: Pick Offs You’re listening to the deer baseball gods podcast. I’m Dan Blewett. And on this show, you’ll learn advanced concepts in baseball. Explain simply I’m here to guide you on your baseball journey and help you paddle through. What’s now an ocean of misinformation, guru ism, an overly technical diamond babble. Welcome back to the dear baseball gods podcast. I’m Dan Blewett. This is episode 98 and today’s episode. We’re gonna cover number one year round throwing. What does that look like? Obviously right now it’s the fall. So hopefully you’re listening to this episode in September, October. Uh, if you’re not, it’ll still be relevant next year, but it’s a great time to talk about what you should be doing in the fall. And should you be tapering down your throwing? Should you be taking a break? All that sort of stuff. So we’ll cover that today. We’re also going to cover a major change up myth, which is, do you have to have big hands to throw a change up effectively? I just listened to a youth baseball podcast. I heard a pitching guy. Perpetuating this myth. So we’re going to kind of come back at him here. Uh, and lastly, let’s talk about pick offs. Pick offs are overlooked, underrated, something that needs to be practiced. Okay. So first thing, if you’re a parent or if you’re an athlete and you are a pitcher or your son is a pitcher, Throwing and your year long throwing regimen is important. It’s important to map out your year and understand when you’re going to take breaks when you’re not what you want to do. And also sort of like,

If a young pitcher has command but is way below average on velocity, is that at least a bit of solace? Is journaling a good, reasonable thing to ask a young player to do? And, what about yoga – is it effective for baseball players? To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com EP97 – Velo or Command for Young Players? Journaling & Yoga for Baseball Players Hey, welcome back to dear baseball gods. I’m Dan Blewett. And on today’s episode, I’m going to cover three topics. And to be perfectly honest, I’m going to kind of do away with a 92nd mindset, which was never really a thing. Um, I’m gonna continue to sort of, uh, answering questions on the third segment. But today we’re basically just going to hit three topics. Some weeks we’ll hit two. I just want to cover short quality informative and a topical ideas. So number one today, is it better to have Vilo or command at a young age? So this is from a question I got on the web recently. Um, a parent asked me, he said, Hey, my son doesn’t throw real hard. Uh, but you know, parents have kind of remarked that it’s good, that he can throw strikes that that’s probably a better thing to do I have now. So, you know, we’ll talk about through whether or not that is actually the case. Number two, we’ll talk about journaling and the idea I’ve seen this a kind of, I kind of roll my eyes out. I see it on the web coach is like, Hey, you know, players, if you’re not keeping a journal, then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Talk about the idea of whether young athletes should be using a journal to track their progress, track their workouts, all that stuff. Or if it’s unrealistic, lastly, we’ll talk about yoga for baseball. Um, this is something I talked about on my softball podcast. Yoga can be really important, but we’ll talk about whether it’s actually good for baseball players or not. So let’s get started, uh, first here tonight, uh, velocity or command. So if your son is a young pitcher and he’s, you know, 12, 13, 14,

Learn strategies to pitch with runners on 3rd base – the bases loaded, 2nd & 3rd, and runner on 3rd only. Then, Dan covers how to mentally recover from a bad start. Lastly, does throwing a slider put extra stress on a pitchers’ arm? Is a slider more harmful than a curveball or other pitch types? To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual.Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener.Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Transcript: Dear Baseball Gods Podcast EP96 – How to Pitch with Runners on 3rd; How to Bounce Back After a Bad Start; Is a Slider Bad for Your Arm? You’re listening to the dear baseball gods podcast. I’m Dan Blewett. And on this show, you’ll learn advanced concepts in baseball. Explain simply I’m here to guide you on your baseball journey and help you paddle through. What’s now an ocean of misinformation, guru ism, an overly technical diamond babble. Welcome back. This is the dear baseball gods podcast. I’m Dan Blewett on today’s show. We’re going to talk about pitching with runners on third base. So we’ll cover all three situations, a runner on third, no one out second. And third base is loaded. In our second segment, we’ll talk about bouncing back after a bad start. And lastly, we’ll talk about, is a slider bad for your arm? Cause there’s some weird myth about this. I’m not really sure where it comes from. So first let’s talk about pitching with runners on third base. Cause this is I think tough. It’s something that you learn. There’s different approaches to all three different situations. First off let’s talk about the base is loaded. Number one, the base load, scary. Obviously this changes with the different outbase or the out situations. So if there’s no one out, one out, two out it’s different, however, I’m just gonna talk genuinely cause generally, because I don’t want to talk about every possible out scenario for each of these three. It’s just going to get overwhelming. So number one, when you have the bases loaded, the biggest thing you have to do is suck it up and throw a pitch,

What’s the right arm slot for a pitcher, and what should be considered in adjusting arm slot? Plus, is it good to yell instructions? Well, no. It’s not. And, should young pitchers be allowed to throw knuckleballs? To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com.Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual.Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener.Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com EP95 Transcript – Proper Arm Slot For Pitchers, Yelling Instructions to Players & Can Youth Players Throw a Knuckleball? You’re listening to the dear baseball gods podcast. I’m Dan Blewett. And on this show, you’ll learn advanced concepts in baseball. Explain simply I’m here to guide you on your baseball journey and help you paddle through. What’s now an ocean of misinformation, guru ism, an overly technical diamond babble. Hey, welcome back to the dear baseball gods podcast. I’m Dan Blewett. And in today’s episode, we’re going to talk about arm angle and a couple of considerations to think about. Number two, we’ll talk about, uh, yelling to your kid on the field. Is this a good or bad thing to do? And number three, a question I got recently was, um, why do you dislike the knuckle ball as far as being like another pitch that a youth pitcher can throw. Okay. So number one, arm angle, this is something that even pitcher, even parents who didn’t play, they can kind of pick up when something looks off with their kid’s arm angle. So I used to get parents, bring their kids in for lessons and they’d say, Hey, he kind of like slings the ball. He throws from kind of a weird sidearm angle compared to his teammates. Can you take a look? And so here are the couple things that remember about arm angle. Number one, I do think everyone has an innate arm angle that is best for them just anatomically. So if you look at the major leagues, I think it represents a bell curve and you know, most things in life do. So if you look at the major leagues most guys, or so here that, let me back up here. The arm angles, essentially there’s submarine, which is essentially just anything below sidearm. There’s sidearm. Then a little bit higher than that is low three quarters.

Whats the best pitching repertoire for a high-spin fastball pitcher? Should he add a sinker, slider or curveball? What’s best? Dan also discusses the 80% rule of pitch development, and whether or not it’s okay to show emotion on the baseball field, such as watching or pimping a home run. To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual. Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALLGODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Transcript EP94 – Best Pitching Repertoire: Dos and Donts; 80%Rule; Is it Okay to Show Emotion on the Field? welcome back. This is dear baseball gods episode 94. I’m Dan Blewett. And today we are going to cover whats the best pitching repertoire. So we won’t get into every little thing, but we’re going to get into a couple of different options. I put out a Twitter poll and I thought it was kind of interesting in our 90-second mindset. We’ll talk about it. 80% rule, which is a rule I made up up for pitch development and then our Q and a portion we’ll talk about, well, is it. The right thing to do to show emotion, or is it okay to show emotion on the field? And that includes stare downs flips, all that sort of stuff. All right. So for pitching repertoire. So what I asked Twitter, and I did cover this more thoroughly in a YouTube video, cause I’m not going to get into all this stuff. I asked, say you had a high three quarter hard throwing high spin rate, four seamer type of pitcher. So a guy that can really spin a four seam fastball, um, If you had that guy and he needed two other pitches and you could just grab him out of a vending machine. Would you rather give him a, a in the combination we’re either cutter or sinker plus curve, ball, or slider, all possible combinations of those two pitches. Um, and this is an interesting thing to discuss because when looking for a repertoire, it takes a good amount of time. This is something I didn’t figure out until I was in my mid to late twenties, what you do well and what you don’t do well and how you should shape your repertoire to suit. And can you shape your repertoire to suit? Like, can you even learn a new pitch? Well, um, everyone should be able to,

How fast do ballplayers develop? Is baseball skill related more to absolute skill? Or size and strength PLUS a requisite amount of skill? Is it better to be small and have great mechanics, or big with lesser mechanics? Plus, Dan discusses what scouts think about wearing a cap backward and whether ballplayers can be big-boned and still perform well. To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual.Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com Transcript: EP93 – Developmental Age of Ballplayers; Wearing Your Cap Backwards; Can Baseball Players Be…Fat? Hey, welcome back. This is dear baseball gods. I’m Dan Blewett and this is episode 93. So in today’s episode, we’re going to cover three topics first. How does developmental versus biological age play into your development as a player? Uh, in our 92nd mindset, we’ll talk about wearing your baseball cap and how that is important or not important. And lastly, we’ll talk about body types and do you have to be really fit to play baseball? Well, So first let’s, uh, be philosophers here a little bit about what does it actually mean to be skilled at baseball or any sport in general? So a really good example here is women’s basketball versus men’s basketball. So we all know that women have the ability to be as skilled at anything as men, but we know that there’s a difference biologically, and that they’re less. Able to develop the same level of strength. So when we start comparing the NBA to the WWE MBA, we know that the female players and the NBA, or as technically proficient at basketball as any of the men, they can shoot, they can pass, they can, you know, do all the basketball thing. I’m certainly not a basketball expert. Um, but. Their skills. As far as basketball skills go are absolutely as good or can be as good or better than any comparable man, but given the physicality of the game and how many men or towering over them height-wise are more physical. Basketball is pretty rough at times as is like even non-contact sports like soccer, obviously lacrosse is like a medium contact sport, even though these sports aren’t like football, right.