I-70 Baseball » I-70 Baseball Clinic

Art of Baseball Productions

Mark Brooks — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:00:19 +0000

In less than a year, fans will be given another chance to see the greatest players in the world showcase their skills and national pride while competing for the WBC championship. The question the has been ringing in my head for the past two years is, “who is finally going to beat the Japanese players?” The fact of the matter is, Japan has proven themselves twice while truly playing against adversity, and suffice to say, they will be again this following year.

Ichiro isn’t getting any younger, and without him, I’m simply not convinced that they are as nearly a dangerous without him.

Regardless of who comes at the time in the final game of this classic, I’m more interested in the specific tangible as well as intangible aspects of the Japanese game that allows them to play so well as a unified team, even if majority of them struggle while individually coming to the states to play in the MLB.

Here are a few:

They start early

The players that will be representing Japan in the WBC start intense training in December. While most players for other countries are with their families, there are Japanese players working on their bunt defense, seeing live pitching, and practicing relays, hitting drills and rundowns. Not to say, for example, that the American players are not taking the classic seriously, but I don’t feel they truly feel the weight of a nation sitting on their shoulders during the off-season like the Japanese players do.

They are fundamentally sound

They are absolute gurus when it comes to the small game. Pitchers can field their positions almost as well as the middle infielders, all nine hitters can and most likely will bunt, steal, hit and run, and handle the bat to get guys over. I hate calling it small ball. It’s simply not depending on the next guy to drive in runs. They take the responsibility to make something happen by sacrificing themselves again and again and again to win.

Other teams may know how to throw hard and hit with power, but watch any team closely for a whole season and you will see how fleeting home-runs and power pitching can be. But consistent fundamentals if developed correctly, will always be there.

They play with honor

If you could see how a Japanese business man goes about his business you can see the traditional influences that they have implemented in their way of life. The Bushido Code as been a mentality that has saturated itself in every labor of love from the arts, economics, science to academics.

Baseball hasn’t been any different.

The fact of the matter is, the Japanese baseball team has made a bid as being the greatest team to ever play as a whole, regardless of what their individual accomplishments have been.

Who do you think will be this years winner

Come tell us who you think will be the next WBC Here!!!!

Baseball Clinic From The Art Of Baseball

Mark Brooks — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 01:45:18 +0000

Art of Baseball Productions Commercial from Art of Baseball on Vimeo.

Goals For Baseball Players

Mark Brooks — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:00:48 +0000

It doesn’t take a genius to understand that simply just by setting goals, we come that much closer to achieving them. As a baseball player, establishing goals is the easy part. The hard part is staying on the same course towards that goal until it is reached, and are able to reap the benefits. There are a lot of distractions, and just as well, there are a lot of reasons to feel discouraged about your chances of achieving your goals that you have in baseball. But ultimately, the fact that the difficulty is high, and so few succeed, may serve you for the best in the end.

Baseball Goals as a Process

Through the process of facing challenges, goal setting is an essential part of taking initiative to achieve your goals. You have to have goals setting otherwise you wouldn’t know what your true goals are, what your deepest desires are, or specifically what you want out of this game. It’s not enough to simply say, “I want to play professional baseball”, or “division one baseball”, or “run a 6.5 sixty”. You have to be willing to write down your specific goals and how you will go about accomplishing them. Notice how I said write, not simply acknowledge them and try to remember them. It needs to be written down and put in a place where you can see or look at it every day.

Why is it important to look at these everyday?

When Hank Aaron was asked, “what was the most important catalyst to his success,” he’s simply said, “visualizing”. We attract into our lives what we think of, the mental pictures that we hold in our heads. So having your written goals put in a place where you can see every day will allow you to see these goals as already happening, as you presently accomplishing them. Imagine what you could accomplish if you wrote down what you desired the most out of this game, looked at it everyday, and imagined what it would feel like for it to have happened, The possibilities are truly endless, your success is truly and solely in your hands.

So you want to run a 6.5 sixty? Then list 10 things that you can do to make them happen. You don’t have to list them at once, but at least a few things. Maybe make a commitment to do plyometrics on your own three times a week for a whole month, or a commitment to stretch twice a day to increase flexibility.

If you have a goal of increasing your bat speed and smoothing out your swing, take the time to participate in simple tee ball drills. If you a player up north and it’s snowing, get indoors and work on your skills with indoor baseball drills.

Now that you know you are taking control of your life, you will be more convinced that what you desire, you can manifest into your life. So with action and the daily reminder of what your intentions are for baseball, improvement is inevitable.