As the 2022 season progressed, it became very obvious that we had two main issues.
1. Mental stability.
We were obviously still young in age, but even more young in years of experience. When the season started, we had two players with 5 years of experience, a couple with 3, and the rest were 2 or less. They could do well enough in practice to get the job done in a game, but doing it under pressure was another story. Once things went bad, the defense got sloppy and the pitcher slowed down. Once the optimism waned, they fell apart. Some of that is still related to skill, since they hadn't had thousands of reps yet, but overall it was the mental game. Wiz tells them constantly that the game is mostly mental. Missed routine plays, bad throws, ball-watching, timid base running. It really adds up. Was it as bad as 2021? Nope. Not even close. Our defense wasn't terrible. We could catch most routine fly balls and make the normal ground-outs MOST of the time. It's just that 10% sketchiness that was the killer.
2. Hitting. Also better than 2021, but still very weak. We could count on 1 through 4 to make contact. 5 through 7 were about 50%, and the rest you prayed were walked or HBP. We did do fairly well with base running, but Wiz and I and the other assistant basically had to keep full control. We gave them signs pretty much every time. They just didn't have the knowledge and savvy to do it themselves, and a third of them were so scared of being thrown out that they would hesitate halfway. It's so frustrating when I'm coaching 1B and say "go on this pitch. no hesitation. don't look over." and they still do it.
We spent two nights a week hitting indoors last winter. I think we did it from early November up until mid February. They all improved, but it's really hard to get a lot of work done when we have 45 minutes per session to put 6 kids through tee work and short toss. The see maybe 60 pitches each over those two nights. Wiz and our lady AC both know a lot more than I do about hitting. I'm almost worthless in that regard. Luckily they were both present for pretty much all the hitting workouts. We'll be doing it all again soon, plus a Monday pitching night.
I know a lot of this just still comes down to a lack of experience, and they HAVE definitely improved. We just started so far behind that we have to work twice has hard as everyone else just to even be competitive.
1. Mental stability.
We were obviously still young in age, but even more young in years of experience. When the season started, we had two players with 5 years of experience, a couple with 3, and the rest were 2 or less. They could do well enough in practice to get the job done in a game, but doing it under pressure was another story. Once things went bad, the defense got sloppy and the pitcher slowed down. Once the optimism waned, they fell apart. Some of that is still related to skill, since they hadn't had thousands of reps yet, but overall it was the mental game. Wiz tells them constantly that the game is mostly mental. Missed routine plays, bad throws, ball-watching, timid base running. It really adds up. Was it as bad as 2021? Nope. Not even close. Our defense wasn't terrible. We could catch most routine fly balls and make the normal ground-outs MOST of the time. It's just that 10% sketchiness that was the killer.
2. Hitting. Also better than 2021, but still very weak. We could count on 1 through 4 to make contact. 5 through 7 were about 50%, and the rest you prayed were walked or HBP. We did do fairly well with base running, but Wiz and I and the other assistant basically had to keep full control. We gave them signs pretty much every time. They just didn't have the knowledge and savvy to do it themselves, and a third of them were so scared of being thrown out that they would hesitate halfway. It's so frustrating when I'm coaching 1B and say "go on this pitch. no hesitation. don't look over." and they still do it.
We spent two nights a week hitting indoors last winter. I think we did it from early November up until mid February. They all improved, but it's really hard to get a lot of work done when we have 45 minutes per session to put 6 kids through tee work and short toss. The see maybe 60 pitches each over those two nights. Wiz and our lady AC both know a lot more than I do about hitting. I'm almost worthless in that regard. Luckily they were both present for pretty much all the hitting workouts. We'll be doing it all again soon, plus a Monday pitching night.
I know a lot of this just still comes down to a lack of experience, and they HAVE definitely improved. We just started so far behind that we have to work twice has hard as everyone else just to even be competitive.