I feel that players can learn a lot more from college games because those players are still hungry for the game. They hustle and play the game hard. With the pros, you often see guys walking out to their positions and not being as serious.

You will learn a lot from just watching and reading the situations on the field and seeing where guys are throwing certain balls when they are in certain situations.

You can also learn a lot from the commentators talking about the game. They will often talk about certain pitchers and mechanics as well as hitters and flaws. They do a very good job of slow motion and they break down the game fairly well. So, yes, you can learn an awful lot from watching games on TV.

Posted by Duke Baxter at 04:06 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I am a big advocate of playing all the positions. When I went to college in Florida I had gotten a scholarship to play third base. After winning a job as the starting third baseman our second baseman tore his ACL by someone sliding into him on a double play. What were we to do? I told the coach I could play second base and my backup played third. I went on to be an All American second baseman.

I played all of the infield positions in high school and this allowed me to be versatile for my team.  I played shortstop, second base and third base in Pro Ball. This helps you to better understand the game because you as a player now know who should be covering the bags where people are going and you never know what position you are going to best at.

Try all positions and have fun. As you get older and are playing competitively you will start to lean to certain positions. The best weapon a coach is a player that can play multiple positions. If, for example, you only know how to play shortstop and the coach already has a very good shortstop, what happens? Bench maybe. But if you can easily slide over to second you then make the lineup. Play multiple positions!

Posted by Duke Baxter at 05:35 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)