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One of the most time-consuming and possibly difficult thing to teach young ball players is Situational Cutoffs.  In younger leagues, there may not be too many balls hit to the outfield and teaching players to get the ball into second base is an accomplishment in itself.  How many times have you heard a coach or parent yelling to a young outfielder, “Throw the ball in!  Throw it to second!  PLEASE!  Throw it somewhere!” As the…

Well, it has officially started.  The spring baseball season is underway.  The player evaluation day is over (5 1/2 hours).  My practice schedule set (Friday Nights and Saturday nights..ouch!).  My team name decided.  And finally, the draft is complete!  The per-season process is over and I am excited to meet my team and get to what I enjoy so much, teaching the game of baseball to enthusiastic young players.  First practice is coming up.  Let The Fun Begin! …

This past weekend Lefty’s team played in a two day tournament that was really exciting and pressure filled.  Lefty’s team made it to the championship game but ended up losing in extra innings on a game winning hit. At one point during extra innings, the opposing team had the winning run on third base.  There were two outs and the batter had two strikes on him.  The young batter had to step out of the…

Help San Marcos-based non-profit youth baseball organization M.I.T. “Fix Up Our Fields.”  Just mention M.I.T. when you dine in or take out from Flippin’ Pizza on Tues., Dec. 11 (5 to 8 p.m.) at 342 South Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos, CA.  A portion of your bill will automatically go back to M.I.T. If you can’t make it to Flippin’, but still want to help M.I.T., you can donate directly to our cause using…

When I was 12 years old, my dad took me to my first pitching lessons from a ex-professional ball player, Clyde Wright.  I thought it was the coolest thing in the world to be coached by an ex-pro.  It was a great experience that I remember very well to this day.  I learned many things including how to grip a two-seam and four-seam fastball.  At the end of each session, Coach Wright would give me…

A fellow parent showed me The Baseball Radar App by studio S software.  It is a fun app to use at a game to determine pitching velocity.  You set the distance of the throw for the app to work.  There are a variety of presets including baseball, softball, little league, pony league, bronco league, mustang league, pinto league, coaches pitch, and softball (16 U).  You can also set custom distances.  Simply tap start when the ball…

One of the biggest adjustments I see now that Lefty is playing kid pitch baseball is selecting a pitch to hit.  I recently saw one of Lefty’s at bats where he swung at a high first pitch, strike one.  He took the second pitch right down the middle, strike two.  The third pitch was just about over his head and he swung for strike three!  As I sat in the stands I said to myself,…

Check out our new page ASK DR. ALEX Dr. Alex interests are in Family Medicine with a strong focus on disease prevention and Sports Medicine injuries and keeping a healthy life style. He is a member of the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine and has volunteered at many sporting events including Medical Director for the Pasadena Marathon and California State Games.  He has also been active with several local high school teams and San Diego…