Our team is fine. Beat them 15-2 earlier in the season before they started collecting ringers.

Played for 1st time in 8 yrs today w a team of guys I'd never met before(lol first impressions). 1 inning at 2nd, which I listed as my pos besides P, 2 errors and one ball that most would smother or turn into an out. It was brutal, and I didn't get to pitch which was always my real spot. I did work a walk and score a run in two PA, pop out in the other

I made a post a few weeks ago where I listed 2nd as an easy pos to play, total karma bomb or sumpin

Have you played it before, or did you just pick a backup position besides pitcher?

Why would you think 2nd is easy? I was primarily 2b when I didn't pitch. Or 3b. SS in rare occasion but every team I've played on the SS always shows up to every game and is almost always the most into it, so I'd rarely have to slide over to short.

Bumping for a question to players. It is regarding fielding the ball in the outfield.

I played 8 years of organized baseball from Little League, to Midget (13-15) to Junior (16-18). Was pretty good relative to the competition (made all star teams) but if I played in the US instead of Canada I'm sure I would have rode the pines at every level.

Anyway, when playing infield I always caught the ball in the pocket of the glove. Small glove, easy to get a handle on it - pretty standard.

In the outfield, with a bigger glove, I also caught ball in the pocket, in fact, pretty high in the webbing. That is the way I was coached to catch a ball. Never had a problem with transition (finding and gripping the ball) as an outfield throw usually provided extra time to stop, plant, wind-up... gave lots of time to get a handle on the ball. Unlike in the infield when you often have to transition very quickly.

Anyway, I have noticed for some time that almost all MLB outfielders catch the ball low in the pocket, and dangerously close to the heel of the glove. I cringe when I see this, picturing myself taking it off the heel and booting the play.

So, how where you guys coached to catch an outfield fly-ball.
-low in the pocket (near heel),
-Mid pocket (near seam of palm and pocket webbing)
-or full pocket??

Thanks.

PS> I am old but we did have gloves when I played. Lol

My bad for no answer. I always thought it was easiest spot to play besides 1st(pretty much tied w corner OF). I chose as backup cus I wanted to play besides just pitch, ive changed power rankings and now see 2nd was woefully under ranked IMO. Also, sup boo? I still love you

AK I was taught to catch in pocket but never played OF after freshman high school so maybe advanced technique. I'd guess it's just sss on your viewing tho

I think 2nd is probably pretty easy at low little league levels, which might be why you thought the same would hold true as an adult. I don't think I started playing it whatsoever until 6th grade. If you are in a competitive adult rec league it's not going to be easy at all. In little league it seems like every kid who makes contact pulls the ball to 3rd or short b/c they are too impatient to wait on the ball. You also see fewer switch-hitters down there and handling things like pick-offs, stolen base attempts and double plays almost don't even matter. But in an adult league you will be expected to turn 2 and apply tags on steals and you'll just see more balls hit your way as the pitchers throw harder and pitch outside and throw breaking stuff. And adults hit the ball a lot harder and the hitter is farther away so you'll see a lot of movement on the ball (right to left) as it approaches you. Which is slightly different from playing 3rd or SS.

Least favorite play to defend has to be the sky-high pop up just behind me. Who knows how to turn.. it's really hard to judge b/c it's got a ton of spin on it as it descends, and you don't know if the right-fielder is going to plow you head on.

Your post reminds me of a game I was managing. We had an older fat guy as our catcher and he was just OK but he showed up and that's huge. I think I had another guy on the team who had come to me and said he wanted to get reps behind the plate. Our original catcher told me he'd like to play 3rd for a half-game or whatever. Well, I definitely wanted to get him a rest on those knees if I could and he seemed excited about playing 3rd(I think he used to play it). So I plug him in at 3rd and he made 3 errors in the first inning. He got back to the dugout shaking his head and I was like "It's not so easy is it?" He laughed and was like "man it's been a while". One thing I definitely noticed was he'd hold the ball too long upon fielding, then fire it to first usually wildly. I told him I always prefer to throw it maybe 85% but focus on getting it out of the glove and getting the throw off without any wasted time.

Almost went yard today, missed by 10 ft, and pissed all over another for my first 2 hit day in 8 yrs . Still a bit of an adventure in the field but pitched an inning and had good movement and surprising command. Gonna have to pm kyleb for advice on how to gain long toss like reps w no throwing partner, I'm using a dish towel and doing my throwing motion ATM

Not sure if this would work but years ago where I used to live lots of HS age kids used to take lacrosse balls (indian rubber balls - I think they were orange) and go a school yard and throw it against brick or concrete wall. I think even if you had a grassed area against a concrete wall, the ball is so active it would make it back to you from long toss distance.

Thx AK, you're a real mensch

I've been a lurker for years, but I've always enjoyed this thread. I haven't played competitive ball for years, but its always fun to read about others who still play.

Regarding your throwing without a partner question, I have a solution I was taught that is used sometimes in cold weather areas. Get a long sanitary sock, and tie the end in a knot. Then put a baseball inside the sock. Place your hand in, allowing maybe 6 inches to a foot of space between your hand and the knot. Use athletic tape to tie the sock around your wrist and forearm area. Then you can basically "throw" the baseball between the space between your hand and the knot at the end. Sounds funky but it works.

Have you ever taken a look at the Carlstedt Protocol?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_GFfUmw3cs

http://www.americanboardofsportpsychology.org/

Few years back when my engineer boss was playing a lot of near-scratch golf I came *this* close to getting him to try this out.

just saw this T2000, may try this in my living room w a sock instead of ball. ty sir

I started my off season throwing today with this set up and some Driveline Baseball weighted balls. It feels a bit weird to have some friction between your hand and the sock but it works. Was able to throw a bunch in the basement solo. Not picking 40 balls at the end was nice.

http://hittraxstatscenter.com/leaders/

I've been hitting a lot in a HitTrax cage near me. Click 30+ for my exit velos and distances. Currently 5th and 6th nationwide, respectively. Can't eclipse 96 MPH exit velocity yet, but working on it (wood bats ofc). If you don't see it, it's being updated - usually at nighttime.

Not throwing that much. Should start doing more of that.

Seriously though, pretty awesome.

Would pay a lot to have a decent hitting spot nearby. Gotta drive across town just to hit in some coin op dimple ball BS cages.

For some reason you have to use the HTTPS link:

https://hittraxstatscenter.com/leaders/

Anyway it's there now!

That's cool. I would definitely check that out if they had it in Houston.

Here's an old baseball injury I sustained while pitching in a homerun derby. Took a comebacker right off my tibia. Warning, it's gross, and looks like the leg of a cadaver:

no L screen???

No it was just a small derby among friends at some public field. I'm glad I was able to at least get my foot off the ground right before the ball struck me, so my leg wasn't planted. Ball was a 1-hopper and after it hit my leg it ended up in foul territory well beyond first base. This was after swelling came down. Within minutes it looked like a baseball was half-embedded into my leg.

what kind of ******* hits a line drive thru the box in a HR derby? gotta go for pull power there

My friend. I pretty much refuse to play sports with him anymore. He's not very athletic but he's strong. We played soccer once and he kicked me in the leg as hard as he could well after I'd cleared it and gave me a terrible bone bruise on my right tibia (in basically the same spot as this one - just different leg). We've seen him hurt people playing basketball, tear shirts playing flag football. I saw him throw his bat into a crowd of people after he hit a softball (like Jeter uncoils and kinda fires his bat to the side). It's strange the lack of muscular awareness or control he has.

The ****ty thing is I wasn't even supposed to pitch to him this round. He was being such a bitch in the first round (his rule - a foul ball is not an out). He kept pulling everything down the line thinking if it wasn't a homer it would go foul and he could keep hitting. We kept telling him to stop (it was like 100 degrees) but he refused and treats every game like it's being televised.

After his round took like 20 minutes I said I wasn't pitching to him anymore since his brother demanded I pitch to him. So his brother or our friend (both lefty throwers) could pitch to him (righty). But then it's his turn to hit again and he keeps insisting I pitch to him so I'm like whatever. Tell him to stop that stupid bull**** where he's pulling everything down the line hoping the short stuff goes foul. So he keeps doing that. So I start throwing curves and 2-seamers instead of straight stuff. lol. He's getting mad but still refuses to stop hitting like a bitch. So maybe he got mad and tried to hit me. Probably the case. After it happened I threw 1 more pitch and couldn't put any weight on it and said I'm gone and he was all quiet and seemed to not gaf.

I went 2 weeks before going into get pain meds. I thought it would go away after a while but it was unbearable. It took me a few minutes to walk from one end of my house to the other. Finally I go in and get some pain meds which kinda helped I guess. But it throbbed for over a month and hurt when I put weight on my foot. The bruise hurt to the touch for about 13 months - no joke. I wasn't even able to sprint for well over a year.

Honestly if I play ball again I'm a bit hesitant to pitch, though I love pitching. I've been hit with comebackers before but usually able to turn and get it in the thigh or ass or something. This one scared me b/c I saw it the whole way and was unable to get my leg out of the way in time. Can't imagine having the same thing happen but it's aimed at my head.

johall don't you live in Houston or something?

in austin for 9months, in houston for all my 28yrs before

Was in the 60s and sunny on Saturday here in Portland and we had 22 guys show up for a pick up game. Love this town. Had guys out there from ages 17 to almost 60.

Threw off a mound for the first time since end of last season, felt good. 0R 2H in 3IP.

Season started last week. Team is 0-2.

Down 7-0 in the last inning yesterday we score 5 with 0 outs. Man on first, gets doubled off when CF bobbles then catches a fly ball. Then a K and we lose 7-5. I got a bases loaded 2 run single to start the scoring. 1-4 on the season. 2 backwards Ks: one on a chin high FB and the other on a pitch 6 inches outside. LOL amateur umps, I should know better taking with 2 strikes period.

Team management has decided they want to let everyone throw like every game. Asked me to "close" the first game, which translated to 1 scoreless inning of garbage time after our first 3 guys gave up like 9 runs. Started game 2, gave up 3R (1 ER) on 2 hits in 3 innings and they pulled me. Next guy pulls his hammy on his first batter. Next guy pulls himself after like 3 runs and 4 walks.

Hopefully they see the light and settle on some kind of rotation. I don't mind giving everyone a chance but if someone is having a good outing let em go IMO.