This Week in Baseball

Baseball News

We bet you didn’t know that there is baseball on the island of Ireland, did you? Well, baseball is there – but barely. There are only about 150 youth playing the sport on the entire island today. That’s just about how many kids tried out for a Falls Aces team this past Fall! You can learn more about the strategy of expanding the game by Baseball Ireland, or donate to the cause, or just learn more about the overall effort. Expanding baseball globally opens so many doors for not just the children in those countries, but for ours as well.

Aces News

As we are just beginning to get indoor practice time, what should parents expect their Ace to be exposed to?

While the weather doesn’t suggest it is still Fall, it is, and Fall is the time that we try to clean up mechanics or learn a thing or two. Hitting, fielding, throwing, catching, and running mechanics and movement patterns will all be a primary focus early on, then transitioning into learning a skill that plugs a gap as we get closer to 2019. For instance, if your Ace has never learned how to bunt, that may be a focus for him to learn before we get into Winter Workouts.

Training Updates

We are entering week 4 of 6 of our Bat Speed Program, which focuses on three core metrics to help hitters improve their bat speed. Improving bat speed provides a number of benefits to hitters, including giving them more time to react to pitches, and increasing their ability to hit the ball hard somewhere.

The first session of our program is spent collecting data on each hitter, which is then provided to them during session #2. Hitters are also presented with Targets to hit. These Targets are the 50% percentile average of all hitters at their age group in the nation, so certainly an area where we want to be or be beyond.

Bat Speed Program				11/2/2018
Max. Barrel Speed	Peak MPH	Max. Barrel Speed	Avg. MPH	Target
Riley	56	Riley	49.7	49.7
Logan	54	Logan	49.5	46.7
Tayler	50	David	46.7	49.7
David	49	Alex	42.4	49.7
Alex	44	Tayler	41.8	47.3
Jayson	39	Jayson	37.8	46.7

The above chart is one of the metrics we capture, certainly not the only one. Using Diamond Kinetics technology allows us to more accurately train athletes on their strengths and weaknesses with data – not just the “eye test”. We will share the results of the Program after these young dudes finish week 6. Good luck Aces!

Camps, Clinics, and Lessons

Don’t wait to register for any of the training options we have available for your youth baseball player. Register by clicking this link.

Sessions include:

Introduction to Pitching
Pitching Velocity Training
Black Friday 1 Day Camps!
Ace of the Staff
Pitching 101
Introduction to Catching
Catcher Program – Stealing Strikes

All training sessions are conducted by qualified, professional instructors with college baseball playing experience.

Notes

Without the support of our families, we wouldn’t be as far into our goals of providing the best possible baseball development program as we are. If you told me that by year three we’d have our own indoor training facility, I would have laughed. I mean, we had 13 kids show up for tryouts in year one, so having the ability to move on a structure seemed to be well into the future.

Speaking on behalf of all of us associated with the Falls Aces, we are truly thankful for the support provided by our community. Enjoy a safe, and enjoyable Thanksgiving!

-Coach Aaron

Questions about any item in this newsletter can be sent to fallselite@fallslittleleague.org