Mongero Monday #24 – Trent Mongero is joined by Tim Hyers, Boston Red Sox Major League Hitting Coach and Mike Griffin, PRO5 Academy Director of Baseball Development and manager of the Czech Republic National Team. Trent, Tim and Mike dove deep into hitting philosophy, training, approach and more!
Topic: Hitting A-Z
Show Notes:
- How to build a smooth and athletic infielder
- Pro five academies…helps with player development
- In “spring training” it’s training for a reason, not just practice anymore. Train like it’s a game situation.
- Routines, Maintenance, player development
- Understand your routine and then stay consistent with your process.
- Pick some drills/movement patterns that are going to help the individual athlete succeed.
- Players need to set realistic goals when developing a routine.
- If you’re struggling with a certain area in your swing then you have to invest a majority of your time in developing that skill.
- Three phases of practice: tee work where you can think about mechanical changes, then it moves to the front toss where you should be thinking more about rhythm and timing, then you go to live where you need to compete and challenge certain areas of your game, then finish with good rounds.
- Find ways to challenge yourself.
- Most players do not like machines…the machine is there to give you the closest game time feel.
- Machine opens up some holes in your swing. Gives a coach an opportunity to help the player develop.
- If you fail…get back up and try it again.
- “It’s ok to fail…it’s not ok to not try again!”
- Coaches and parents need to set the tone to players that its ok to fail
- Intent
- Off of the machine we want to slow the game down and see the ball all the way in.
- Tough mindset when facing a machine.
- Hitters need to stay aggressive
- Battle, Pass the baton and keep the line moving.
- Hitting approach, Being on time, Quality at bat
- Hit a pitchers mistake
- Understanding a pitchers pattern.
- Scoreboard tells the hitter what they need to do.
- Swings do not win games players do…if we have the right mentality as a team we will win games.
- Medicine ball routines.
- Coaches are looking for players with a strong base with stability.
- Challenge yourself daily with angle toss so you can get a more game-like feel.
- Mental side toughness.
- Understanding how to deal with adversity.
- “Lay it all out on the line”
- Quality instruction and repetition.
- How to be a leader when things are going good and also when things are going poorly.
- Diving into a players “makeup”
- Players need to understand that the game is not all or nothing…Look at the big picture.
- Plate discipline, pitch recognition, plate dismissed.
- Less is more.
- Work on timing and contact points.
- Rhythm, contact point, timing.
- Two major joys of the game: relationships you build with your teammates, fighting adversity and overcoming to win championships.
- Most important thing to learn for a high school athlete is: How am I going to help my team be successful?
- The more you give..the more you receive.