Archive for Equipment
What baseball to use for tee ball?
Posted by: | CommentsA word about Baseballs
There are a ton of baseballs out on the market with certification for various organizations; however at the Tee Ball level you will main be using soft core almost rubbery baseballs for safety reasons.
Your league may or may not provide you with a bucket of balls but regardless of where you get them you will need at least 24 baseballs to effectively run a practice. Don’t run out and buy hard baseballs used by older kids as that could do more harm than good. These young players are going to be afraid of the ball for the most part and getting one of them hit with a very hard leather baseball is a sure fire way to have them not wanting to play the game again. Getting hit is part of baseball and yes that will happen so prepare for it. If they get hit at this age make sure it’s with a ball designed for the Tee Ball level and that will be soft core, rubber style balls.
These balls look just like regular baseballs and are even made with leather in some cases; however they have a rubber/sponge center making them fairly soft. See the picture below for a type of ball designed for Tee Ball.
We don’t recommend a specific brand of baseball just make sure you get the ones made for Tee Ball.
How to Break in a Baseball Glove?
Posted by: | CommentsHow to Break in a Baseball Glove?
If you didn’t purchase an already broke in glove or just want to make it even better then I would like to share with you how we at the Youth Baseball Insider recommend you break in a baseball glove. We have used it many times and really believe it’s the best way to quickly break in a glove, even the high quality gloves made out of high quality and stiff leather.
Go to your local sporting goods store and find oven bake glove foam. Keep looking around until you find it and if not available locally I would order it from an online retailer. The stuff really speeds up the process dramatically and cuts down on the time you need to spend on breaking in the glove.
Here is the process we use:
- Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
- You want to put a thin layer of the glove foam over the entire glove. Be sure to get it between the fingers as well. Don’t put it inside the glove.
- Once you have a thin layer on the glove place it on a cookie sheet with a rag between the glove and the sheet.
- Bake the glove for 4 minutes.
- Take the glove out and work it thoroughly until all excess foam is rubbed into the glove.
- Repeat the process 3-4 times. We usually repeat the baking 3 times for a new glove and usually once for a glove you are just trying to recondition.
- We will some times use a glove mallet on really good quality leather gloves to speed the break-in but this is not usually needed.
- After you finish this process, get some glove conditioner and rub the entire glove down as this will seal in the foam and help water proof the glove.
- We always put a ball in the glove and us a glove wrap to hold it all together during the season. This way the glove never goes flat.
- We repeat this conditioner step monthly throughout the season.
- When the season is over and we are putting the glove up we recondition at that time leaving a little excess conditioner on it and then wrap it with a cloth for the winter.
There are many thoughts on how to break in a glove and most have value; however we have tried lots of these techniques over the years but have found this to work the best. You be the judge.
Note of caution, don’t bake the glove over 4 minutes as you risking ruining the glove not the mention the possibility of burning down the house. Please follow the directions on the can of the glove foam.
Baseball Glove Selection
Posted by: | CommentsBaseball Glove Selection
The baseball glove options today are enormous and can be quite confusing for parents and coaches. It doesn’t have to be so read on to discover a few key points in selecting a glove for your young Tee Ball player.
I know, this could be the first sport your young son or daughter has played and you as the parent want to give them the best of everything. Take my advice and don’t go out and buy a $100 + glove for them. These expensive gloves are nice but they are made with higher quality leather and are very difficult to break in. Your young child will not be able to effectively use this type of glove at his or her age.
So what should you do?
The most important thing to remember about glove selection is comfort and control. Your little one must be able to control the glove so it’s important it’s not too heavy for them. They should be able to squeeze the glove closed with their hand to keep the baseball secure when they catch it.
Have them try a few models on at the local sporting goods store and see what they like then you make the decision on whether it’s the correct size. Gloves come in sizes ranging from 9 inch to 13 inches but for young players should use a 9 inch to 11 inch maximum.
Remember at this age, the players perform better if they are comfortable and like what’s going on so all things being equal choose the glove they like. Use the guidelines below to select baseball gloves for them to try, then you can let them decide which one they get.
- Only show them 9″ to 10.5″ models. Real young children with less hand strength should stay on the smaller end of this range.
- Select gloves that are pre-broken in if possible. Most manufacturers have glove models designed for young players that are already broken in.
- Stay away from plastic gloves as they crack and really don’t look very good.
- Select a glove made by a know manufacturer. Rawlings, Easton, Wilson, Mizuno, Adadema, etc.
When trying on the glove make sure they can close the glove to secure the baseball. This can be a little difficult at first but the pre-broken in gloves make it much easier and that’s why I’m a big fan of these types of gloves for young players.
In summary, find a glove that your young player likes and can close to secure the baseball. Stay with the smaller glove models and don’t spend the money on a high quality glove at this point. Most Tee Ball gloves should cost less than $30 so don’t break the bank.
Following the guideline above you will ensure you get a glove your child can use successfully and want hinder their ability to learn fundamental baseball skills.
Baseball Bat Selection
Posted by: | CommentsBat Selection
Parents ask me all the time what type and size bat should they get their young player. Believe me there are lots of options and coaches have a variety of opinions on the subject.
This is a Tee Ball instruction manual so I would suggest you go with a Tee Ball specific bat for your young players or child.
Here are the common lengths to weight ratios for Tee Ball bats:
- 24 inch – 11.5 ounces
- 25 inch – 12.5 ounces
- 26 inch – 13. 5 ounces
- 27 inch – 14. 5 ounces
First or second year Tee Ball players should normal use the 24 or 25 inch bat unless they are well above average in size and strength. More on using a heavy bat later. Most of these bats can be purchased from local sporting goods stores or online for $25-$50. Average Tee Ball bat cost is about $30. I would not get too caught up in all the bat technology at these young ages. It really has very little to do with how well they hit at this age.
Below I’ve outlined a little more advanced bat selection and its not something you would expect to see in a Tee Ball manual; however I think it’s important for you to have should you have bigger kids playing for you. Some leagues play Tee Ball up through the 6 year old level so you could benefit from this information.
If you can’t use it today it will be something you can use for years to come to select bats for your child or the players on your team.
Remember that successful hitting is more about the batter than it is the bat. The technology will only make a slight difference so don’t get caught up in it. To me it comes down to getting a bat in your player’s hands and seeing what they feel the most comfortable with. Below is a guide for you to use when sizing a bat to a player. Remember these are guidelines for average players so use your own judgment.
Bat Length Sizing Chart
| Height | 3′-3’4″ | 3’5″-3’8″ | 3’9″-4′ | 4’1″-4’4″ | 4’5″-4’8″ | 4’9″-5′ | 5’1″-5’4″ | 5’5″-5’8″ | 5’9″-6′ | 6’1″-over |
| Weight | ||||||||||
| < 60 | 26″ | 27″ | 28″ | 29″ | 29″ | |||||
| 61-70 | 27″ | 27″ | 28″ | 29″ | 30″ | 30″ | ||||
| 71-80 | 28″ | 28″ | 29″ | 30″ | 30″ | 31″ | ||||
| 81-90 | 28″ | 29″ | 29″ | 30″ | 30″ | 31″ | 32″ | |||
| 91-100 | 28″ | 29″ | 30″ | 30″ | 31″ | 31″ | 32″ | |||
| 101-110 | 29″ | 29″ | 30″ | 30″ | 31″ | 31″ | 32″ | |||
| 111-120 | 29″ | 29″ | 30″ | 30″ | 31″ | 31″ | 32″ | |||
| 121-130 | 29″ | 30″ | 30″ | 30″ | 31″ | 32″ | 33″ | 33″ | ||
| 131-140 | 29″ | 30″ | 30″ | 31″ | 31″ | 32″ | 33″ | 33″ | ||
| 141-150 | 30″ | 30″ | 31″ | 31″ | 32″ | 33″ | 33″ | |||
| 151-160 | 30″ | 31″ | 31″ | 32″ | 32″ | 33″ | 33″ | 33″ | ||
| 161-180 | 31″ | 31″ | 32″ | 32″ | 33″ | 33″ | 34″ | |||
| 181-190 | 32″ | 33″ | 33″ | 34″ | 34″ | |||||
| 190 + | 33″ | 33″ | 34″ | 34″ | ||||||
| Bat Length by Age Guide | ||||||||||
| AGE | 5-7 | 8-9 | 10 | 11-12 | 13-14 | 15-16 | ||||
| LENGTH | 24″-26″ | 26″-28″ | 28″-29″ | 30″-31″ | 31″-32″ | 32″-33″ | ||||
Bat Weight Selection
- You will find most bat’s are weighted in ounces
- Bats have a weight to length ratio that applies to them.
- A -12 weight to length ratio for example means that on a 28 inch bat the bat weights 16 ounces. This is sometimes referred to as weight drop.
- You will see bats have a variety of ratio’s from -3 to -13
- Selecting weight depends on the strength of the player using the bat and to a lesser extent personal preference.
- Big strong players will usually prefer a heavier bat since they get the benefits of it being more heft but since they are strong it want slow down their swing.
- Smaller players should choose a bat that is lighter in order to increase the swing speed.
- I suggest players under 9 use the lightest bat possible by rule.
- Most of the players below 9 would benefit from a -12 or -13 drop off the length suggested in the table above.
Heavy Bats
Over the years we have always recommended the use of a light bat for most hitters. There are many reasons but one of the main ones is that heavy bats can lead to extremely poor swing fundamentals and I can assure you they will be hard to break when the player gets older.
Several well know players and coaches have said over the years that using a heavy bat can ruin your swing and we are in complete agreement with that so make sure you lean towards a lighter bat. I would choose the lightest bat I could find for the length I need.
A few additional problems heavy bats cause
- The heavy the bat the harder it is to control thus you will strike out more.
- A heavy bat can make your upper body have to do all the work and that will cause you to pull your front foot off the ball.
- And last but not least it will slow your swing down considerably and actually cost you power.
Baseball Glove Conditioning
Posted by: | CommentsMy Glove Break-in Process
Here is a quick way to break in a baseball glove. I’ve used it many times and really believe it’s the best way to quickly break in a glove.
Go to your local sporting goods store and find oven bake glove foam. Keep looking around until you find it and if not available locally I would order it from an online retailer. The stuff really speeds up the process dramatically.
The process:
- Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
- You want to put a thin layer of the glove foam over the entire glove. Be sure to get it between the fingers as well. Don’t put it insider the glove.
- Once you have a thin layer on the glove place it on a cookie sheet with a rag between the glove and the sheet.
- Bake the glove for 4 minutes.
- Take the glove out and work it thoroughly until all excess foam is rubbed into the glove.
- Repeat the process 3-4 times. I usually repeat 3 times for a new glove and usually once for a glove you are just trying to recondition.
- I will some times use a glove mallet on really good quality leather gloves to speed the break-in but this is not usually needed.
- After you finish this process, get some glove conditioner and rub the entire glove down as this will seal in the foam and help water proof the glove.
- I always put a ball in the glove and us a glove wrap to hold it all together during the season. This way the glove never goes flat.
- I repeat this conditioner step monthly throughout the season.
- When the season is over and I’m putting the glove up for the season I will recondition at that time and wrap it with a cloth for the winter.
There are many thoughts on how to break in a glove and most have value; however I’ve tried lots of these techniques over the years but have found this to work the best. You be the judge.
Note of caution, don’t bake the glove over 4 minutes as you risking ruining the glove not the mention the possibility of burning down the house. Please follow the directions on the can of the glove foam.
My Glove Break-in Process
Here is a quick way to break in a baseball glove. I’ve used it many times and really believe it’s the best way to quickly break in a glove.
Go to your local sporting goods store and find oven bake glove foam. Keep looking around until you find it and if not available locally I would order it from an online retailer. The stuff really speeds up the process dramatically.
The process:
- Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
- You want to put a thin layer of the glove foam over the entire glove. Be sure to get it between the fingers as well. Don’t put it insider the glove.
- Once you have a thin layer on the glove place it on a cookie sheet with a rag between the glove and the sheet.
- Bake the glove for 4 minutes.
- Take the glove out and work it thoroughly until all excess foam is rubbed into the glove.
- Repeat the process 3-4 times. I usually repeat 3 times for a new glove and usually once for a glove you are just trying to recondition.
- I will some times use a glove mallet on really good quality leather gloves to speed the break-in but this is not usually needed.
- After you finish this process, get some glove conditioner and rub the entire glove down as this will seal in the foam and help water proof the glove.
- I always put a ball in the glove and us a glove wrap to hold it all together during the season. This way the glove never goes flat.
- I repeat this conditioner step monthly throughout the season.
- When the season is over and I’m putting the glove up for the season I will recondition at that time and wrap it with a cloth for the winter.
There are many thoughts on how to break in a glove and most have value; however I’ve tried lots of these techniques over the years but have found this to work the best. You be the judge.
Note of caution, don’t bake the glove over 4 minutes as you risking ruining the glove not the mention the possibility of burning down the house. Please follow the directions on the can of the glove foam.
Baseball Bat Selection Tips
Posted by: | CommentsSELECTING THE CORRECT BAT
- The bat can not be too heavy or too light.
- Choose a bat that maximizes bat speed and balance.
- Use the following process to determine if bat is too heavy. Best way to explain online but not necessarily the best technique for selecting a bat. You still need to use judgment.
- Hold bat out to your side with dominate han
- Hold straight out for 15 second
- Bat weight is ok if you can hold for 15 seconds without dropping the arm
- Use the following process to determine if bat is correct length.
- Stand in the batters box with a normal stance with knees bent
- Reach out with bat in your bottom hand and touch the out edge of home plate
- If you can reach the outer edge without changing your stance then the length is ok.
- Here are some quick guidelines for you to follow. These are average so if your child is above or below average in strength make the adjustments.
- 6 and under – Tee Ball bat 24-25 inches
- 7 and 8 – 26″ to 28″
- 9 and 10 – 27″ to 29″
- 10 to 12 – 28″ to 30″ or so.
Wood or Aluminum?
- Using an aluminum bat over and over again can cause you to have a very long swing because an aluminum bat is very forgiving.
- Get a wood bat in your hand as early as possible.
- Wood bats have a much smaller sweet spot and using one will increase your fundamental swing mechanics.
- Practice with a wood bat and play the games with aluminum. Learning to hit wood will make you much better at hitting an aluminum bat so there is no down side in do so.
2 Best Big Barrel Baseball Bats
Posted by: | CommentsIn yesterday’s post we discussed ultra light bats and I gave you a few recommendations. These three bats I’ve seen used by a number of players with great success. I don’t just have a site of recommendation after recommendation so when I say they are good bats I’ve seen the used by players.
Here are the three ultra light bats I recommended in my last post:
Easton 2011 Reflex LX71 (-13) Youth Baseball Bat
Louisville Slugger 2011 Omaha YB116 (-13.5) Youth Baseball Bat
DeMarini 2011 Voodoo Black DXVDL (-13) Youth Baseball Bat
There is something for every budget but remember, it’s more the hitter than it is the bat so teach good fundamental swing mechanics if you want to achieve success.
Big Barrel Bats
Big barrel bats are fantastic and create a lot of offense that make the games very exciting; however they can potentially be very unsafe. While the bats are constructed very similar to 2 ¼ barrel bats, their size just make it easier for players to square the ball up. Additionally, their design creates more of trampoline effect that can absolutely launch baseballs.
As a coach of a travel team and one that pitches to players using these bats I can tell you it can be very scary when someone hits the ball back up the middle. The ball really does fly off the bat. Our team has been very fortunate not to have had any injury due to these bats but the potential does exist.
There is a lot of controversy about the use of these bats and that’s mainly due to the safety issue associated with them. Most of your recreational leagues will not allow them to be used because of insurance reasons. Several of the major youth organizations have banned these bats for players under the age of thirteen and within a year or so I suspect most others will follow suit.
As a coach that believes strongly in fundamental swing development I would have no issue if they were banned completely as I think big barrel bats can harm good swing mechanics. I say all of this but when it comes to games we play in, I allow my players to use them as we would be at a tremendous disadvantage without them. I guess it will take all leagues banning them for coaches to stop using the bats and that sadly includes me.
The two bats below are really the only one’s that I feel comfortable recommending. I’ve see them used by my players and other teams with success so I feel I’m giving you good advice. I’m sure there are other bats that are just as good, but I haven’t seen them used. Hope this gives you some direction as to what bat to purchase.
Remember, you need to check with your league before buying one of these bats. I’ve seen recreational league parents spend a lot of money on these bats and found out they are not allowed to be used. If you play USSSA or other select tournaments it should be ok for this season but check just to be safe.
In the next year or so, I’m not sure they will continue to be allowed but time will tell. Until then, enjoy the recommendations as they are good baseball bats.
Recommended Bats:
Easton 2011 BV22 V12(-10) Coach Pitch Baseball Bat
Miken 2011 MV-3 CPMV3115 (-11.5) Coach Pitch Bat
