Thanks to a friend of mine who I’ve known for going on forty years–all through baseball, I had the opportunity to go down to the Dominican Republic and spend some time in a number of MLB baseball academies. These included the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, Houston Astros, Arizona Diamond Backs, Seattle Mariners and the Philadelphia Phillies.
All of these academies are located along the south/west extent of the nation, in towns near Santo Domingo: Boca Chica, Juan Dolio, Via Mella and San Pedro de Marcorís, are a few. Of course, any fan of baseball knows the contribution that the Dominican Republic has made to Major League Baseball.
There’s a saying down in those parts. It goes like this: “You can’t walk off the island.” When applied to baseball, it means simply that to get to La Liga Grande, you have to have and develop real physical skills (the five tools of baseball).
Prior to having this experience, I coached my teams the same way most coaches do here in the States. We focus on and emphasize the strategies employed (at least when the game wasn’t just home runs) at the Major League Level. We work at dictating the actions of our players and attempt to choreograph the action.
It’s not done that way in the Dominican Republic. At the amateur levels–all of which are geared to advancing as many players as possible to the academies, it’s all about physical skills, the five tools. There are little to no strategies. There are little to no signs.
Rarely will you see a hitter, at any age, taking pitches. Coaches don’t give take signs. No hitter has as a plan of attack to get deep into the count. The batters swing…at just about everything. Why? Because you can’t walk off the island. You have to hit your way off.
No young hitter learns to hit by taking pitches. You learn to hit by trial and error. You learn to hit from immediate feedback, one pitch, one swing to the next. If you as a coach wish to give your hitters the best chance at developing their skill as a hitter, let them swing. Three-oh, two-oh, oh-two: it doesn’t matter, not in the sense of player development. In fact, at least in the first five innings (assuming a seven inning game), tell your hitters that if they walk, you’ll take them out of the game and put someone in who wants to hit. (Then use common sense.)
Does this strategy lead to “wins?” In all honestly, no. But winning is not what it is all about. It’s about giving your BEST players the chance to develop. I’ll give you a little story. I was down in the DR with a team of fourteen-year-olds. We were playing on field in the middle of a small town just west of San Pedro de Marcorís, across the street from a military school. We were winning–not that it matters. The Dominican team had a couple of runners on base. So what did the Dominican coaches do? They replaced the hitters lower in the line-up, those who were scheduled up, with the three and four hitters. We got the three hitter out. We got the four hitter out. And then the three hitter got up again. Understand what was happening? Were they trying to win? Yes. But more significantly, they were giving there best hitters additional at-bats against our best pitchers. Why? Not necessarily to win, but to give the quality opportunities to the two players with the most potential and the best odds at moving up the proverbial ladder.
With regard to pitchers: They are encouraged to throw everything hard–all fastballs. And it doesn’t really matter where the pitches go. Control is not as emphasized as is velocity. The idea is that you can learn control; you can’t learn velocity. If you are a pitcher, you need to get over ninety on the gun, or you’re not going to get into an academy.
In that same vein, outfielders do not concern themselves with cut-off men or relays, not at the pre-academy levels. While a coach might appreciate the right-fielder who consistently hits the cut-off man, the scouts buzz about the right-fielder who throws the ball over the third baseman’s head and into the eighth row of the stands. Through practice, you can teach an outfielder to get the ball down. You can’t teach him to throw a ball three-hundred fifty feet.
When a hitter reaches first base–any base, for that matter, he immediately takes off for second on the first pitch. No coach blinks an eye if he gets thrown out. He gets a pat on the head and encouragement to try again the next time. Reckless? Maybe. But you don’t get to show off your running prowess by standing pat.
So, as a coach, do you not teach the fundamentals of the game? Of course not. But if you want your most skilled players, those who are most physically capable, to catch the eyes of the scouts, you have to encourage them to throw hard, throw far, swing often, and run as fast as they can as often as they can.
Teach outfielders to throw to the base. If their arms are strong enough, eventually they’ll learn to keep the throw down enough to be cut. That said, I’ve seen Mookie Betts unload to third at elevation that no cut-off is going to get a glove on but get the out.
Allow the players who can run to steal at will. Those that can outrun the throw, they’re the ones who will get noticed.
Encourage hitters to swing, often. Each swing is an opportunity for feedback: timing, swing path, ball movement, and mechanics.
Don’t give take signs. Give feedback based on results. Let someone else coach the bases. You need to be immediately available to a player when he gets back to the bench.
Encourage pitchers to develop both the four-seam and the two-seam fastball and to throw them 85% of the time. Pitch them only three innings (or so) at a time, and keep it to no more than 55-60 pitches. Long-toss, long-toss, long-toss. [I realize there is this new theory that long-toss does more damage than good. But that is ridiculous. The full-range of muscle must be developed to maximize potential and to protect the labrum. The key is not to over-do it.]
Finally, put your fielders where their skills will get them most noticed. Put the athletic shortstop with the great glove, first step and speed, but average arm (meaning he’s not going to touch 90+) in centerfield or behind the plate, instead. Or if he has the bat, at third. Don’t be afraid to put your best athlete behind the plate. There is dearth of catchers out there, and it is a shortcut to the Pros. If you have a kid with a gun, get him on the mound. Ninety-plus gets you to the Pros. It really doesn’t matter what the kid’s preference is, or that of his parents. You’re the coach, the one with the eye. It might take some convincing, but the goal is to put the player in the position in which he can most showcase his skills and tools.
Take the time and digest what you’ve read. Winning has its place; I’m not saying it doesn’t. High School varsity teams that consistently win have a better chance of landing their players on college rosters. College teams that win have a better chance of attracting the best players. I get all that. But, and as a last word on the matter, the best amateur tournament teams in the country–the Georgia Bulldogs, the Florida Bandits and the Cincy Flames, just to name a few–bring their players together from all around the country, rarely, if ever, practice together, and go into tournaments not with the objective of winning, but to showcase their players in the most competitive environment possible.
Coach to develop your BEST players as your primary goal. And that means they have to showcase their best attributes at every opportunity. After all, you can’t walk off the island!
Baseball and Fiction 