DREAM Team Baseball

Measured Hitting Instruction

According to the publication Popular Science, "Hitting a baseball is the hardest skill to pull off in sports" as it is (scientifically speaking) "a unique blend of physics and neuroscience [which] makes the skill astronomically difficult." Now, take the hardest skill in sports and apply that with youth baseball players; it takes time, practice, and understanding of how to break down & teach to a young player what to do to be a good hitter.

At DREAM Team Baseball, we use "old school" hitting fundamental techniques and combine them with "new school" optical technology (with Rapsodo Hitting Technology) including measuring Exit Speed, Total Spin, Spin Access, Launch Angle, and Exit Direction. One may say that gathering this intelligence is going "over the top," but what Rapsodo data does show is what happens when a player makes contact with the ball (which is obviously the result of their bat path and overall hitting mechanics). More than anything, this helps pinpoint simple adjustments that can be made and then see results (when adjustments are made) of better back spin (which produces line drives as opposed to top spin which produces ground balls). This is just one application of using software to get feedback from this type of swing analysis. With all of this intelligence, we can track and make necessary adjustments, but again there's a balance of using the "new school" software with traditional (old school) hitting fundamentals. From a development standpoint, the main question (as instructors) is "why would you guess when you can assess (with measurements)?" DREAM Baseball will incorporate these measurements into hitting fundamentals and (by putting it all together) make every hitting session a learning session and overall produce greater results.

In the game of baseball, resilience is an invaluable trait that separates the good from the great. It is the ability to bounce back from failure, overcome challenges, and persevere through adversity. Resilience is not only a key component of success on the diamond but also an essential quality that shapes players' character and influences their lives beyond the game. In this blog post, we will delve into how resilience ties into the game of baseball and why it is a fundamental attribute for players aiming for greatness.

1. Transition from a passive state to an active one; “feeling ready!” Per Driveline Baseball, "In amateur baseball, starting pitchers generally transition from lengthy spans of time sitting – whether in a classroom, car, bus, or on a couch – before arriving to the field before the game. The pre-game routine serves as a means of getting out of this sedentary state and into an active one." Muscles that are dormant for a long car ride or by prolonged sitting must be "woken up" to help the pitcher get into an active state in "controlled, progressive manner."