Let’s face it, good fundamentals makes good teams.
If you watch a team with good, strong fundamentals play, you may get bored if you’re looking for an exciting game. The pitching will be precise; the fielding will bore you to death with its exactness, but you will be watching a team win game in and game out. You may not see any “plays of the week” here, but it will be something to watch and learn from.
What are these fundamentals we’re talking about? Here’s a few: two hands on the glove while catching a fly ball, calling off teammates, hitting your cutoff men, concrete plate discipline, listening to your coaches… The list can go on and on. We won’t be going over these skills here, that’s not what this book is about. But, looking at these fundamentals is essentially looking at the chapters of this book. This chapter, and the following chapters will allow us to break these core fundamentals down to truly be aware of the life lessons we’re able to glean from this wonderful, sometimes heartbreaking game we call baseball.
Have you ever noticed that most of your youth teams will have one inning when it all seems to fall apart? I’ve seen it game in, game out. It’s almost like the team kind of forgets what they’re doing. I’ve had to call time on many occasions just to walk out and tell the boys, “Hello, we’re playing a game called baseball… this is the ball, the big leather thing on your hand is a glove. Wake up, and do what you do.” I know, that may seem a bit harsh, but I’ll tell you, no matter how well disciplined your team is, they’re still kids and there is one inning where they space out. I remember this one game we were playing. We were in the 14-15 year old division and my team comprised ten 14 year olds and a big 13 year old. We did pretty well that year, but we couldn’t match the maturity level in most games.
Anyway, both teams were playing a well-played game. Good pitching, great defense, not too many hits from either side. Then, all of a sudden, it was like a switch got flipped. It was the 5th inning; I remember it like yesterday. Our defense couldn’t make a play to save our lives. We came into the inning tied 3-3. We left the field down 12-3. All but 2 runs were unearned!
What happened? We forgot our fundamentals. We didn’t get behind the ball on the ground. We didn’t set our feet on our throws. We didn’t do anything right for that one inning. And guess what, we played the next 2 innings like we did the first 4. No more runs were scored, as a matter of fact, our team only allowed one more hit!
Fundamentals! They make or break you, as a team, or as an individual.
Good fundamentals are vital in your sports career. Whether you play in a rec. league, college, or anywhere in between, fundamentals are the most important skill you will learn. In every aspect of the game sound fundamentals will win ball games.
On defense, one needs to be able to see the ball off the bat and call off the others. How will you know whether you have the ball or not? You practice reading the ball off the bat, practice your first step, practice your back pedal. In other words, you practice the fundamentals of baseball. While you’re playing outfield, and I do recommend every young player play some outfield, after you call off the others and catch the fly ball, you have to hit your cut-off man. How? Practice the fundamentals. Everyone on the field must know their part when getting a ball back into the infield. Who’s directing, who’s covering, who’s backing up whom?
Fundamentals! They make or break you, as a team, or as an individual.
Will everyone pitch? Depending on the age, maybe. But, once you get a bit older, there will be those that do, and those that don’t. What’s the difference between them? Well, there actually are a few things we can talk about here. One thing is, some pitchers pitch because they naturally have “it”. But, far more do something different. They learn the fundamentals of pitching and then they practice. Do you want to be a pitcher? Good news, most pitchers are made, not born. One can learn how to become a pitcher.
Once the player grows into the regulation game, the real difference becomes quite apparent. While still in youth baseball, there are no straight steals, no leading off, no balks, no pick-off moves. As a pitcher, one must learn all these fundamentals and still be able to throw strikes. I’ve seen it too many times. Here’s a pitcher that can throw strikes and has control of the game. He’s relaxed on the mound and all is well. Then, he allows a hit or walk and there’s suddenly a man on first! You’d think his world has just fallen apart.
There was a game in our district tournament that this happened. Our pitcher was doing extremely well and not giving up anything. Then in the third inning, he gives up a hit to right center field. Man on first. Watching the pitcher with men on base would make one think, “This kid’s never pitched before”. He’d step off, fake a throw, walk toward the runner, step back on. On and on this went. I swear, the inning took 45 minutes and we only faced 5 batters… our pitcher did not know the fundamentals of pitching. We attempted to correct it in practice, and during practice he looked good. Once he got into a game situation, the fundamentals flew out the window. Needless to say, he didn’t pitch much after that.
Fundamentals! They make or break you, as a team, or as an individual.
Batting, this is considered the most difficult thing to do in all of sports. I agree. There are hundreds, if not thousands of clinics, books, videos, opinions on proper hitting mechanics. I’m not here to give you my opinion, or teach the proper mechanics. What I am saying is, if you want to be a successful hitter, you must learn the fundamentals. Here’s one that as old as baseball itself and is as true now as it was then. See it, hit it. You must keep your eye on the ball in order to hit it… sounds simple enough, right? Keep your weight back, arms extended, rotate your hips. Etc., etc., etc. Regardless of the school of thought being taught, the same basic fundamentals are included.
Here’s another one, know the strike zone! There was a player in our town that just didn’t strike out. Following him through youth and JV baseball, I noticed that he has struck out about 20 times in 5 years. In our local league, it started to seem as though if he didn’t swing at the pitch, the umpire would assume it was a ball. He got a lot of close calls going his way because of his reputation of not swinging at bad pitches. Of his strikeouts, most came the 1st time at bat before he adjusted to the umpire’s strike zone.
One major indicator I look at when going back over my scorebook is the ratio walks to strikeouts. My goal is that everyone is 2:1. Two walks for every strikeout. Now, I know that’s not a probability, but as a team… 2:1. If we can do that, we’re usually winning the game, or at least making a game out of it.
Fundamentals! They make or break you, as a team, or as an individual.
How often do we walk into school or a friend’s home and we’re not sure how we should act or what we should say? Sound fundamentals are the essence of great baseball, but sound fundamentals of life are just as vital. If we don’t perform well on the field, we’ll more than likely lose the game. How much more important is it to perform sound fundamentals in this game called life then? In the same way, life’s fundamentals are the core of winning. What are these? There are many! Too many for this one book, but here’s a few I’ve learned over the years.
When your teacher, parent, or really anyone else speaks to you; stop what you’re doing and look them in the eye and listen.
“Yeah” and “huh” aren’t really the right words to speak to your parent or teacher.
Hold the door open for females… Give up your seat if a female or anyone older than you is in need of one – on a bus, or train; Or in the cafeteria.
The list can go on. Add your own.
But, how do we learn these things and how do we know what to do? We practice the fundamentals. We practice. As a coach, my most important rules of the team are:
- Effort and attitude is everything.
- Refer to rule # 1.
I’ve learned throughout my life that if I’ll put 100% of my effort into something, I’ll usually do pretty well. Now, I’m no expert in most things, but if I put my whole self into something, I’ll improve. Also, no matter what, my attitude must be positive! It does no use to complain, murmur, or talk bad about someone! The only thing those things do is makes everyone around me as miserable as me. Will I get the promotion at work, if I’m always complaining about how things are being done? One the same hand, will you convince me to give you more playing time by complaining (parents)?
No.
How will I get the promotion, or how will you get more playing time? See rule #1.
Discovering His Vision 
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