I’ve been reading up on appropriate distances for pitchers to run in the preseason when I came across two articles by Eric Cressey. Eric is an accomplished trainer who works regularly with baseball players. What I like about Eric’s approach is that he justifies his stance with science and facts which, in the Blogo-sphere, is relatively unusual.

Bryce Harper has made his college debut for the College of Southern Nevada. With nearly 2000 people and 100 scouts in attendance, Harper did not disappoint. In his first game, Harper went 2 for 3 with a RBI followed by a 2 for4 performance with a HR in the following game. Needless to say, the scouts were impressed.

SI column here…
Las Vegas Sun article..
CSN is streaming all their games on the web

I was watching this video today and it made me think, is this true across all levels of baseball? Cincinnati Reds minor league pitching Coach Mack Jenkins talks about the importance of the catcher calling pitches and not the coach. At the professional level, this may be what works best but at the amateur level this can be disastrous if you have an inexperienced catcher. I call the pitches on my teams and I’ve been blessed with decent catchers. What I do differently is I get input from my catcher. …

Hillerich & Bradsby Company, popularly know for the manufacturing of Louisville Slugger brand bats and baseball/softball equipment was found liable on Wednesday for the the death of an 18 year old baseball player. The death occurred after a batted ball struck Brandon Patch in the back of the head in 2003. Lawyers for the family argued that H & B failed to adequately warn of the dangers of the company’s aluminum bats. H & B was ordered to pay the family $793,000 plus an additional $58,000 for the grief and funeral expenses of the family.

Ted Williams Halloween Costume

For whatever reason, so far this post-season has been a comedy of errors for the umpires. Over at deadspin.com there is a list of the questionable calls and photographic evidence to prove that the wrong call was indeed made. It’s understandable that umpires make mistakes. Some may argue that this is the beauty of baseball but when playoff games are hinging on an umpire getting the call right, the issue must be addressed.

Brent Mayne talks about catchers framing pitches. On one hand, framing a pitch may give the pitcher a couple of inches off each side of the plate. The downfall, Mayne explains, is that if the umpire realizes your doing it the pitcher may actually become victim of a shrunken strike zone.

Baseball is known as perhaps one of the most inactive sports there is-by this I mean you don’t really have to be a top athlete to actually be the best at the game! Compared to other games there is far less activity and running! However strength is crucial in this game!

“See the ball, hit the ball,” is about as simple as it gets. Once you stat to dig into the brain activity of the hitter, it’s hardly that simple. Dave Baldwin over at The Baseball Analyst takes a scientific look at what occurs in the mind of his hitter as he attempts to hit a pitch.