Batting practice: waste of time?

[tg643]

As pitchers, we'd put rocks in a skoal can, tape that baby up ... get on all of the catcher's gear (including second pair of shin guards on the arms!) and go play "hockey goalie challenge" in a spot where the coach couldn't see us. The only time we almost got busted was when too many people wanted to join the game. It was fun.

When MLB players really want to work on theior swing, they don;t seem to ask for extra pre-game BP. They seem to want to go to the cage and "really work". Isn;t that revealing?

I broke a tooth playing college baseball. Someone had a stale bagel in the bullpen. We played hockey with it. I took a shot in the mouth. We had one hard @ss jerk off in the bullpen who didn't like my unicorn imitation. I got a soft serve from a fan and stuck it on my forehead.

A friend of mine was a MLB closer. In the second inning he would send somone from the stands to the concession stand to get him a brat and a soda. He said it kept him fueled up through the end of the game. Away from home he often had to settle for regular hot dogs.

[haganjp]

Personally, I think I would have to agree with the assessment from the players that don't like pre-game batting practice. My son is only 15, but absolutely hates the pre-game batting practice routine typically seen with most youth teams. The stereotypical situation is 15 kids standing around the batting cage goofing off, with the coach feverishly trying to throw as many pitches as he can in the shortest time possible, just to get everyone through with a couple of swings before the game. Coach having control problems? ... too bad - times up.

My son and I usually get to the game 15 to 30 minutes before batting practice time to have a nice relaxed, yet focused, session in the batting cage before anyone else shows up. We'll do a little bit of tee work, followed by some underhand soft toss, and then move to some overhand pitching. As soon as he feels confident with his swing, we stop. When the team takes batting practice in the aforementioned fashion, my son politely passes and tells the coach he's already taken his swings before arriving. Coach doesn't seem to mind, since my son continues to be top hitter on team. I think many of the major leaguers in the article expressed the same preference of getting a more focused session in hours before the game rather than relying on the pre-game warmup.

[CircleChange11]

Same here.

If you rely on just what the team provides, then you're going to be limited to just "going through motions" and just "getting some work in". If you're OFF and need to pulled aside during BP and get it worked out, too bad.

THAT's the player's objections that BP is simply going through the motions on pitches that are nothing like what you get in the games.

When we "do BP" we have warm-up activities that accentuate important aspects of the swing, and then work up to BP.

THe way it's done now it reminds me of how we used to lift weights as young guys ... where your "warm up" was just a yawn and an overhead stretch followed by these words "Put 225 on".