THREAD: It’s 2017, I’m coaching high school baseball and my hitters seem to all be all struggling with the same things. Maybe it's the age group, I thought. Maybe it's because they're not disciplined...maybe we need to train swing decisions more?

It was me, I was the problem.

That's right, it was me, how I was coaching, and how we were training. "But how could it be Joey? You're 24 years old and have studied the latest and greatest training techniques. There's no way you could be making mistakes, or not seeing the full picture."

Ya well

What were we doing? Hitting Velo Machines multiple times a week, daddy hackin', and trying to hit balls to Africa. Sounds fun right? Well...the strikeouts weren't fun.

Swinging at breaking balls in the dirt, fouling off and getting locked up on pitches down the middle.

"They'll figure out the bigger moves over time. They'll get better at timing up pitches. The more you do it the better you'll get at controlling the move. The more ABs they get the more they'll learn to command the strike zone"

Yikes homie. In psychology, they call that denial.

What was I missing? It was all the buzz on social media. Challenge the hitters, make it harder than games. Teach them to swing hard and PR. PR what? Bat Speeds, EVs, PVC Pipes, Preworkout, who cares, just PR okay?

"I don't care about your technique on that deadlift just PR."

Okay maybe I'm exaggerating, but you get the picture. I abandoned technique and was all about power output. Believing that a focus on power output would lead to good technique. Is there some truth to this training strategy? Sure. We did 3x our win total from the year before, but

this can't be solely associated with our training. Any coach knows how much goes into creating W's. So again I ask, what was I missing?

My hitters were facing pitches they would never see in a game. Insane entry angles from pitching machine heights and angles, outlier spin rates

4ft breaking submarine sliders. You know, just really getting them prepared to face the pitcher on the mound this week. Right-handed 5'7 164lbs and throws 81-82mph, with a curveball you saw coming from last week.

Do machines have a place in training? 1000%, but I went too far.

Did some of them get better? Sure, but at what? Did their swings get better? Some of them. But some of them I just crushed and they got worse when they hit on the machine. They got better at guessing and starting their swings early, cheating, and compensating to complete a task.

So guess what happened at game time? You guessed it. The same thing we were training. Hitters that needed to commit early and cheat to pitches.

But let's be fair, it wasn't just the machines. It was stacked on top of the hitting techniques I was teaching. More bat speed baby!

"Pump it, max hip shoulder separation, land with the hips open, and god forbid...don't ever think about your hands."

I had a bunch of players with bigger moves than Big Papi, no anchors, and dragging barrels like no tomorrow. Bad spacing, direction, and force transmission.

So what's the point of this thread? 2017 wasn't that long ago. This thread is for you as a coach.

1.) It's okay if you suck
2.) It's okay to learn on the job
3.) It's okay to admit your mistakes
4.) Be Better Tomorrow
5.) You never have it all figured out

I give you permission!

I tell people, I evolve like a pokemon! lol It's insane to look back and realize everything I've learned over the last couple of years and how differently I train athletes today.

If you're interested in what I've learned you can check out @farm_system and the countless resources

we have been putting together over the years. Grow with us! From Asst HS Coach to interviewing for Hitting Coordinator Jobs in the Big Leagues. I didn't & couldn't have done it on my own, so why should you?

Dive in http://bit.ly/FarmSystem