CYB Product Reviews

Coaching Baseball: Winning Essentials 101 with Jim Lefebvre

This coaching CD is organized with respect to the following sections:

Each section is dealt with comprehensively, at least at the youth player level, and contains everything you need for a successful practice and for teaching the fundamentals of the game. Importantly, the fundamentals are correct (success in any sport involves repetition doing something the right way). Given Jim Lefebvre's experience and success as a player and manager, this should be no surprise. What is a surprise is the organization of the material and the technology that allows baseball instruction through the combined use of text, graphics and full-motion video (all in color and very clear).

Over 140 short, full-motion videos (with sound) are incorporated which provide clarity and insight beyond the textual descriptions. Seeing it is a whole lot better than reading about it. The videos can be set to repeat themselves, played in slow-motion, paused, and moved frame-by-frame, all without loss of clarity. They are taken from actual practices involving Jim and some young players who clearly have been taught good mechanics.

I have already incorporated some of the drills into my own team's practice. For example, rushing is a problem that hurts many young pitchers. They want to stride toward the target before they get their weight fully back. I began using the drill designed specifically to correct this problem. It was easy to incorporate because I could see exactly how it was done on video.

I've been coaching for quite a while and this is one of the best resources for youth coaches that I've seen. It comes on a single CD and costs $49. It has been endorsed by baseball people at many different levels, including Greg Maddux.

 

All-Pro Software - Stat Tracking and Scheduling Software for Baseball, Softball

StatTrak for Baseball v4.13 (Windows 95/98/NT) from ALL-PRO Software Inc.
This baseball stat program is complete, flexible and professional. Coaches can easily track and create reports for batting, pitching, fielding, future lineups, and team and league information.

Each of these reports can be designed with the statistics of your choice. One has a great variety of choices in relation to the statistics to compute. A batting report, for example, can incorporate about 30 different summaries, including categories for runs created and pure power. There are even more summaries to choose from when creating a pitching report.

These reports are simple to put together -- just point and click on the particulars to include in the report. Reports are automatically updated after each game's information is entered and reports can be created for any selected games (e.g., league games or tournament games). A nice feature of this program is that reports can be exported to Lotus or Excel (allowing one to create graphs), or saved as a Word or HTML file.

Personal Pitcher

UPDATE

We have been using Personal Pitcher for about two years now. I think it is a very worthwhile investment for anyone taking baseball seriously. I've used it with all three of my sons' teams before games and with several teams in gyms during the off season. I would rather use this machine than those costing five or six times as much.

Personal Pitcher is a small pitching machine that fits on a camera tripod. It pitches up to 48 plastic golf balls at a time at a decent speed (that is adjusted by moving the machine closer or further away from the hitter). The machine runs on a 1.5-hour or 3-hour rechargeable battery or direct current.

Positives:
· The small balls force the hitter to concentrate on seeing the ball.
· It has a light that tells the hitter when the ball is about ready to be pitched, allowing the hitter to take his stride (which can be a real problem with most machines).
· It is very light and portable.
· It is affordable -- $179 with the smaller battery and $250 with the larger battery (which we used).

Summary:
Despite the occasional inconvenience of the balls jamming in the machine (which I think has now been corrected), this is a great product. Kids can practice on their own (a garage or basement can be used during the cold months). The machine works great for BP before a game in the outfield. My boys also take BP in the backyard. When one hits, the others (and me) chip the balls back to the machine. We have yet to have a problem with battery life and my short game on the golf course is improving.

 

The Youth Baseball Primer
The main title of this book is "Who is this 'Cut-off Man' and why do they all want to hit him" by Doug Luthanen. As revealed by the title, this book is entertaining as well as a great source of information for parents and coaches relatively new to the game. Doug explains the most basic concepts of the game, ranging from a detailed description of each position to how to keep score. Even if you know the basics, this book is worth having. It is well-written and enjoyable to read.

This book is 87 pages (paper bound) and sells for only $10. For fundraisers, copies of this book can be bought for only $5 (contact Doug).

 

A Colorful Way to Teach Children and Parents Baseball
A coloring book that teaches the basics of the game (like which way to run around the bases) with 24 pages to color. Great idea.