Mastering Your Stance in the Batter's Box

TR Hi everybody, welcome into another edition of the Lab at Steve Hing podcast episode 137. Good to be back after a week off. I have everybody met a great Easter, great Easter holiday, great Easter weekend. It gets really good topic. I love your new episodes within the next few weeks. Thanks for joining us. Apple Google Spotify wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube, the lab

Epstein hitting podcast YouTube page. Okay, our topic today you probably saw the title when you clicked on our episode standing in the batter's box. That's our main topic today and you're probably wondering to yourself, how are Jim and Jake going to make a 30 to 40 minute podcast about standing in the batter's box. A year of little faith. This is the best hitting and coaching and

baseball podcast out there and we will find a way to do it. That's just what we do. Ready, ready to get going, freshly value itter, successful business owner, my former coach, current day coach, friend co host, Jake Epstein, drink your coffee black, which playing with a lot, doesn't it? So I made my hair gray. Thinking a lot of power basically. Yeah, but I got the my

employee working on a cup of coffee now so I can make it through the show because obviously 40 minutes of where to stand in the batter's box is going to take some ingenuity. I don't know about that. I think they're already have it scoped out. This is a good topic, very good topic. Actually, there it is three, three weeks in a row with the camera. It

only took you one, two minutes into our episode. It was better for me, not going to knock on the camera. I saw you to when I was introducing the show. I saw you touching the microphone as well. Yeah, I had to turn up the make sure the volume was up. So we'll see, we'll see the streak with with that element of things. We've got three weeks.

We're touching the camera for whatever reason now. We're starting a new streak with touching the microphone. All right, standing in the batter's box. That's our main topic today episode 137. Again, thank you for joining us. We do really appreciate that. Talking about standing in the batter's box, just to give everybody kind of an overview. It's really all part of the strategy of trying to one up

the guy that you're facing 60 feet away on the picture's mound, standing in the batter's box. And it's a bit different, but sometimes overlooked and I know for a fact that it's never really talked about. It's not talked about it. And you have to everyone's different. I mean, turn on a game. How do they stand? Where do they stand? How do they stride big stride, little

stride, wide stance, narrow stance wide base. Close to the plate away from the plate, way back in the box middle of the box, probably not the finger box. You know, like different, what is best for your player? You have players and we'll get into this more, but mechanics play a huge deal on where you should stand in the box. Not everyone should stand in the same

part of the box based on how well their hands work. If you have a longer swing, hey, we try to make everybody short. We try to make everybody glad Guerrero, Jr. Right. But not everybody can do that. Okay. So if you're a little bit longer, let's say like Albert Pooleholes, he was pretty good and his front arm was a little bit straighter and he stood further

away from the plate to compensate for it. So we have to figure out what is best for you as a player and what is comfortable for you as a player as an amateur, especially when, hey, I got hit last week, I get this every single week that I'm doing my online academy. Somebody writes in, hey, we're battling a little bit because he, you know, he or

she got hit by a pitch. And now all of a sudden we're starting to get tentative and we're not moving towards the plate. We're kind of moving up and out. You know, what can we do to fix that? All that plays into that. So where do I start in the box? Yeah, I'm really looking forward to this topic today again. It's not something that's talked about.

Everybody talks about other mechanics that that's fine. That's great. But I'm not sure if this is really a mechanic. It's, I don't even know. I don't think it's an absolute, a principle maybe. Yeah. Part of the player style. Yeah. Style. Yeah. Great topic today. And again, we're going to be delving out a lot of topics here in the next few weeks. Requirements of a success. We've

got a couple of mechanical breakdown series as well with Jeff McNeil and Paul Goldschman. And we'll be discussing counteracting the picture strategies in the coming weeks as well. But today standing in the batter's boxes are main topic, Episode 137. You have that black coffee yet, by the way. Yeah, I just got it. Thank you. We turned Vivian. Yeah, there you go. We haven't we haven't heard

from intern Vivian in a long time. We haven't. We've been working. We've been getting stronger. Set a person. We're getting stronger after powered back while listening to the light that is in you guys. Ever since, uh, I started thinkinging a car that's all about power in your business, I'm, like I was, likeope, man, I was basically just, uh, pushing junk business very much as I should

in this let it just be a lead. I'm like, I thought, hey, what's up? What can I get away with? What's up? Um. D Ooo Lane is here. I'm. D Ooo. That's great. I didn't care for so far. And what do you guys have to do now? Uhne. Um. So got on. He's very good. Well, it's going to be good on how the chemistry and defense

go. So yeah, we're calling you ladies before or when you're doingnt, I know that our Karma, donated 500 tons of decay. And well, we've been running down in thisammed place always draining our power back 10rams of power. And that is something. It's like the, uh, what's that, uh, what's that effect called? What's it called when you, uh, you take a pill and it doesn't really do

anything. Oh, a, uh, placebo. Passebo. That's what it is. If you look good, you feel good, you play good. It's the placebo effect of baseball and softball. It's so mental. It is. I agree. It is. And all, but all baseball is mental. All baseball, that would be a great tagline for baseball. All baseball is is placebo. I don't even think about that's all it is. Yeah.

I, I read or saw something on. Who was it? Was it my trout talking about, you know, getting in the batter's box and it was like, uh, if I'm over 10 or 10 for 10, I have to go in there feeling good. I have to go in there knowing I can beat that guy. I have to go in there. Even if I do it, I know

I'm only going to beat him whatever three times out of 10, 2.8 times out of 10. I'm going to beat him. But I got to go in there thinking I can beat him. I'm going to beat him every single time and having that pedal all the way down every single time. Can't give away a bath in this game. And you have to be confident and you

have to get in there and get your hacks in. Whether you're three for three on the day and it's your last a batter, you're over three on the day and it's your last a bat, you need to hit, right? Keep the pedal down. It's going to move you forward. And if we ever get in the box and we just give away a bat some we're not

concentrate. God knows I did it. I did it a lot. I remember my dad yelling at me like, what are you doing? This was, you know, I was three for three or seven. I had a great day and then your last a batter like, nah, I already got my hits today. We're up by four runs. Let's get this game over with. Never give away in a

bat. Yeah. Because that will catch up to you eventually when you're in a slum going one for 19. Absolutely. Having average or your some of your numbers drop and man, I really shouldn't have given away that bad there or that play appearance there. Dammit. Dammit. I could have went four for four rather than three for four. That's right. How does that play out after six months?

That's right. Not after the one day. Pedal on the gas. Always pedal on the gas. Never give away a play to parents. That's where the selfish part of the game comes into play. I don't care if you're up 16. I never bought into that. I guess it's a ghost rule. Gentlemen's rule, if you will, of backing off a little bit, like not stealing up eight to

one. Right. I mean, look, I get it. I'm stealing. I mean, I, I, I, you never know what could happen. We saw last year the Mets did it, right? They scored what eight runs in the ninth. The Nationals did it a few years back. I mean, teams or teams can do it. And the athletes are so good. So it's the same thing with hitting, right? Well,

I went three for three today. This is bad. Doesn't really matter. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. You go four for four. You get up there or you walk or you get on base. It does matter. I don't care if your teams up 16 to two. I don't care. That's that's that's their problem if they gave up 16 runs. And I you're right. Right. That's right.

You mentioned some hitters in there who wasn't out of the pool. I'm going to ask you a question here. I'm going to put you on the spot. When I was a kid, though, I want to tell a little story. When I was a kid, I think I've told you this story before. I used to come home from my games and I used to early, Legion games,

whatever. And I used to turn on the 10 o'clock edition of baseball tonight, right? With Karl Ravage, Peter Gammons, Tim Kirchen and Harold Reynolds, which arguably was the best panel of baseball tonight of all time. I used to watch. I used to it was really, and they were on every night. I used to watch that show just so I can watch certain hitters hit because I

like to watch certain star. And that's again, I think what's missing in Major League Baseball today. They don't market the stars enough to younger people, teenagers. I used to watch that show just so I could see what my favorite hitters did that night on baseball and within the game. I can't remember who my favorite hitters were, but I had a bunch. And I would watch the

show just to see what they did. So I'm going to ask you right now, who are your favorite hitters? I'll tell you some of mine. I'll just I'll lead off with this. All right. Bow. Vlad Gunner Henderson of the Orioles, who by the way, the Orioles, they look like a real postseason team. I'm telling you. They look good. Look out. I'm getting a, I'm getting a

real 2012 Washington National vibe. Yeah. This is going to be their next five years, right? I don't know. I'm starting to get the feel here that maybe they're playing good fundamental baseball. That's what young people need to do. They can't get away with, you know, relying on their stars like the Yankees could if they don't play good fundamental baseball. And so when the Orioles have to

play fundamental baseball and they're doing that. Let me see who else I really like to watch hit. No one are not. Oh, Kareya, just to name a few. So who are your favorite hitters right now in baseball, cross major league baseball and why? We're all like stop and watch a game because they're coming up. Cow shorbers. You love shor. You love seeing, you love seeing those

shwar bombs. Yeah. No, but it's right. It's not even as much as his swing or his style or his rhythm. It's his competitiveness. He rises to the highest stress level there is. But yet he's super relaxed. His heartbeat is down. He's breathing. There's no stress. He gets, you know, he just kind of waddles into the box. And he just never, he never gives up like he

falls off tough pitches. He battles. He battles. He about that, that bad he had in the World Baseball Classic. That was the last a bad. I actually saw him in the last game. And it may have been the last inning or the second to last thing. We're hit that home run after seeing eight pitches and battling and fall it off tough pitches. It was just like

he's, he's going to win. He, he just focuses his focus at the plate and his determine. And that's really what why I like watching him from an, from an ability standpoint, I really enjoy watching. Manie Machado hit at the plate. I, I enjoy his swing. I enjoy his rhythm. I enjoy the line drives. He backspins out to right center field all the time. I was going

to say Machado. I forgot about him. Yeah. He just covers the whole plate. He really does. And he, he's another guy relaxed. Kind of an upright stance guy. I like black because I really like to play. I really do think Vlad's hand path is, is the best in, in Major League Baseball. And I, I said that. I don't know how many years we've been going on

since he's been in the big leagues. I was, I was kind of on his bat bandwagon like you're on both. You know, I've, I've always liked Vlad. I feel bad. I saw both the other night. Well, a couple of weeks ago now against Kansas City, he hit a rocket line drive straight away center. Yeah. And it was just shy of the warning track. It was caught.

Those are the abats though. When you, we talked earlier in the show. Yeah. I went three for three and that last event doesn't really matter. It does because there are bats that you're going to have or you're going to just absolutely scold the ball. Yep. And you're going to hit it right at somebody like Bo did. Yeah. It's a shame. Baseball sucks, man. Baseball. You hope

they fall in, but I really don't think they do. I don't think they quite even out. They don't. They really don't. I hate when an announcer say that too. Well, it all all even out. It won't. Yes. If it all evened out, then hitters would hit 500 every year or the great hitters would hit close to 500 every year if it all evened out. So that's

another myth of baseball. We should really be like that. You looked at a barrel percentage. Right. How many balls does this guy hit, you know, a hundred miles an hour or more? Right. Right. Because those are well struck. He was on time. He hit the barrel. Whatever. Is his barrel percentage on on balls and play above 50% then he should, you know, if it all evened

out, then you would essentially hit 50. 500. So those are your favorite hitters. Okay. I like Olsen too. I like Matt Olsen. I forgot about him. Again, he's a lot of guys. I like him with Oakland. You know, he's kind of funky. Right. He holds his hands weird and upright. But then he really gets into his swing. He gets into his legs. His hands go pretty

high. Like Bryce Harper. I'm not going to say I don't like watching Bryce Harbor because I could watch him hit all day too. But Bryce Harper was usually the guy I would compare players hand position and watch. So he's the highest. Okay. Actually, I'm at Olsen. Okay. This, this, this, sorry, this is into my next question. I was going to ask you. You're talking about now

watching and studying hitters and certain, there's certain attributes. When you watch games and you watch your favorite hitters, some of these hitters across Major League Baseball, how do you study them and how would you suggest that kids hitters trying to get better study their favorite hitter to get better and and take those attributes from those hitters? Emulation. You know, my dad said that's how players always

learned. Yeah. That's how Babe Ruth learned by watching Sheelus Joey said and and then everybody watched roof. Right. You know, Ted Williams watched Ruth and then people watched Ted Williams and emulation was the key before there were hitting coaches. Remember, there weren't really hitting coaches in the big leagues. I don't know the exact number. But until the 70s, I don't know if it was 75 or

before that. I'm trying to remember what my dad said. But you might have like a third base coach that helps some guys out. I remember my dad saying Joe Rudy, you know, as a good friend of his and obviously, you know, I think Joe probably won three World Series with the A's during the 70s and he was talking to my dad. They were, you know, just

sharing ideas, you know, what works for you and, you know, totally different, right? My dad was a left handed power hitter and Joe was a, you know, right handed hitter with, you know, had some power, but he wasn't, you know, quite as beefy as big Michael as. And my dad said, you know, what you should do is just close your stance off and try to go

to the right center field by yourself some more time. So Joe said, okay, and then he played like the next 15 years of his career. However long he played with a huge closed stance. Like if you look at all videos, that's how hitting used to evolve. Hey, try this, try that. And when I was a kid, I just copied everyone. And I think people of my

generation, that's what we did. We all copied King Riffy Jr. We copied, I copied Jose Conceco, some people copied Mark McGuire or Ricky Henderson or I copy Chase Utley a little bit. Yeah. Right. Chipper Jones, you had guys that you liked and all we did, we didn't have social media. We, I guess we had video games at some point, but I grew up in Southern California.

Once I was 12 years old and older. So we went outside and we did stuff. You know, we had a tennis ball and we play strikeout or we play Wiffle Ball or we play over the line. And anytime we played that game, we played it as our favorite player and our favorite player. If you were going to be, Jose Conceco, which I was all the time

or King Riffy Jr. the right head version, of course, I had to stand that way. And I had to kind of shake my shoulders and get my elbow in the same position. And that's just what we did. And that was emulation. You know, nobody really taught me how to hit. I guess my dad put the bat, you know, against my shoulder when I was about 13

or 14 when he started, you know, getting into the teaching more. You know, I was the guinea pig, right? For he was trying to create a system for Ted Williams doing, you know, to endure. And I was the guinea pig and that was really the first hitting instruction I ever received. And I was 13 or 14. I don't even know if it did anything because there

was no video back then. You know, he just kind of stared at a certain part of the swing and hope that it turned out good. You had to have a real watchful eye. Now it's slow motion. Really anybody can can be knowledgeable. Yeah, there's a big debate out there that, you know, can, can, you know, Joe Smith, who's, you know, a computer for during the day.

No, Smith, Joe Smith, sorry is a picture, Mary do. All right. Well, this is Joe Smith senior. Okay. I don't think they're related. Okay. Now it's a different Joe Smith. Yeah. But, you know, Joe Smith educates himself and those that the bat needs to be here in this position. And the legs need to work this way. And can Joe Smith help his kid to hit can,

can Joe Smith, who maybe never played baseball in his life, can he put his kid on the right path? Well, he absolutely can because with proper information. With an app that can do slow motion video, he can match up and say, oh, it looks like your back foot spinning backwards. Instead of coming forward. Okay. Don't do that. You know, Jake said to make sure your heel

goes this way. Okay. And it works. Okay. Now can that same guy Joe Smith help his kid, you know, create a plan when he gets to minor league baseball. Probably not. Right. He doesn't have that experience of the mental side and creating an approach and thinking along with a picture. But I'll tell you what at a young age parents are very, very resourceful and very useful

to a kid's upbringing because kids aren't going out and pretending to be chipper Jones for two hours a day, hitting balls with their friends. You know, their parents kind of have to take, take some initiative and help their, their son or daughter on the way from age probably seven to 13 or 14. Yeah. And they're not kids. They're not learning how to stand in the batter's

box, which happens to be today's topic, episode 137. It's true. They're not studying that enough. They're looking at highlights. Yeah. Right. Looking at highlights and wanting to emulate those highlights rather than really studying. By the way, this week on cross functionality. We talk about establishing proper goals, making the process of your assessment of your talent, your positive attributes, identifying where you are at, let it clean,

how to get better. That is all this week on cross functionality. That is cross dash functionality. Myself and Cassie Riley Bocha, one of the best coaching podcasts in my opinion out there, but I'm biased. Don't forget the dash. No, you say that, but it's true. Don't forget the, it's cross dash functionality. People sometimes forget and like, oh, yeah, it's dash. Oh, okay, I can find it

now. Cross dash functionality. New episodes every Wednesday, by the way, at 9 a.m. All right, we have a listener question that I want to get to here. This might be, and we've been doing this show for a while now. episode 137 here. This may be the best listener question that I've ever. So you haven't told it to me yet, but one of my online. It is

from one of your own. Yeah, I said, I'm thinking of sending in this question. Would it be beneficial? And I was like, it was a great question. I don't know what you already seen. I've done like a hundred cents, but. Okay. All right. Go baby. And we've had a lot of good questions, by the way, on this show. So I don't, I don't want to take

that away from anybody. We've had a lot of good questions. That have come in at Jimbo podcast 21 at gmail.com, but this one might take the cake because we can finally figure out or at least help answer this question as it pertains to a topic that's pretty controversial. Now as it pertains to showcases with baseball and softball and our goal here with this question to pronged

approach explain. What how we feel about this and help baseball and softball parents with kids who are 13 14 15 16 year old. Okay. Here's the question. And by the way, Chris is from Christopher. Chris also provided more context with this question. He actually provided the email, which I'm not going to read the whole thing, but an email he received. Kind of like a flyer type

deal from this showcase that I'll read off a little. I'll read off some points to it. So it adds even more context. What we're talking about here. Okay. Listen to her question. This is from Chris sent to us via Jimbo podcast 21 at gmail.com. He writes, Hey Jim and Jake. Both of my boys. So my boys 14 and 12 have been the online academy for almost

a year now and they look forward to receiving your feedback and their improvement has been significant. I highly recommend it, meaning the Epstein online hearing Academy. Right. He sends at this age or is it just a money grab? It would be cool to get some stats on him and video of him in the field. As he's a pretty smooth shortstop. I like to hear that good

hands. I'm sure, right? But I remember though, don't funnel it in when you have to flip the second turn double play. Young short stops always forget that. But I just feel that it's way too early. Thanks in advance. And that is from Chris Christopher. I don't know where he's from now. And I say that because the email he sent with the perfect game flyer pulling it

up right now. The Chris is the East Coast guy. I think that gets. So the email. This is, I don't know, this is just weird, but not weird. I small world, I guess. And I don't know if it if it's the same person. But the email that was sent to Chris was from B Flannery at perfectgame.com. Yeah. B I don't know. If it's the same Ben

Flannery that grew up in my town who is a couple of years older than me who played against me in college at Temple. I don't know if he works for Perfect Game now. I don't know if this is from him. But this email was from B Flannery at perfectgame.org. I don't know. Yeah. So it might be. I'm sure it's an East Coast. Well, okay. So I'm

guessing Chris is from New York because. Well, maybe not. I don't know. So this, let me explain the email. I'm all over the place here. Chris, you said Chris is an East Coast guy. Yes. So, okay. The flyer here says the perfect game used to be 699. Now it's 499. So it's $400. And it says register for 13 you 14 you sunshine New York showcase today.

Sunshine. Yeah. Right. They have sunshine in New York. Okay. It's be fucking sunshine for. It's gonna. Good winner. It's been a good winner though. I'm sure it has. Um, it says, okay. So this is the this. This is where things get a little bit. Um, a little bit, a little bit murky, a little bit murky here. It says congratulations. Andrew, you've been identified as potential prospect

that would benefit from a perfect game showcase. The 13 you 14 you sunshine New York showcase. Say that three times fast will be held at Brentwood State Park in Brentwood, New York, June, whatever. Players be selected from the showcase to the 13 you and 14 you national showcase. Many top players. Okay. Um, I'm gonna give the showcase four. Yeah. So it's a great format. So it

goes to Chris's point. He wants to get his son on video. So you get some swing analysis. Live games. Bating practice. Um, you get a written evaluation performance metrics. Player videos. New era hat. I, you know, if you want a new era. Perfect game hat. God bless you. I like to stick with my hats or my, you know, um, headband I'm wearing today. But okay. Fine.

Um, anyway. So that's the, um, that's the email there. Let's get to the first part of the question. One is, one is Phi NEU number one of the thin and most fkl defendants so it's, um, a local amateur and basketball player. So I mean, too, the interview was the same conditions. And yeah, I roll. Yeah, so I'm guaranteed to tell ya why they got to see

their kids Trkiye district speakingczella at 1 someone who needs immediately a bunch of brands. And so, and she kinda roll, let's say 14 to 16 year olds, not just perfect game, but our showcases in general, are they worth it? Yeah, someone told me a long time ago, don't go to a showcase unless you're showcaseable. Okay, do you stay out amongst the others? I think what I,

what I told them, you know, in their analysis was, what are your strengths are, you know, is he bigger physically? It's he hit the ball 10 miles an hour harder than his age is he running a six eight or six nine. Is he the fastest guy that you ever play against? Are you a unicorn? Okay, because at 14 years old, a 14 year old showcase, they're

looking for unicorns. And I, there's one I work with here in Colorado, who's a unicorn. He's six foot four. I just saw him last week at 190 pounds and he's in eighth grade. And he hits the ball 90. He's something miles an hour off a machine with a drop three. Okay, like this, this dude stands out. He walks on to a showcase and they're like, oh

my God. So when, when he goes in there, whether or not he's the greatest athlete or hitter, or he's just a big strong dude, he's going to hit the ball harder than everyone else on a tee. He's going to his K vest metrics are going to be faster and whatever more and say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna hit the ball harder than everyone else on a

tee. He's going to his K vest metrics are going to be faster and whatever more and he's going to look good on that. He's going to look good on video. He's going to look good in a uniform. He's going to look good when they say player X six foot four, 195 pounds runs a seven flat 60 hits the ball 96 miles an hour puts him in

the 100th percentile for players his age. Okay. Now whether he, what if he has one eye, right? What if this poor kid lost his eye in a snowmobiling accident? Right? And he has no depth perception and he can't catch a fly ball or he can't hit a ball that's moving at him. Guess what doesn't show up on a perfect game showcase list. Right? There's nothing in

there about vision. It's just like, here's the guy's metrics. Here's how hard he hit it off a front toss or a tee or whatever it is. So there's a lot that goes into it. Is it a money? Look, it's a business. What do businesses try to do? They try to, they try to earn money. They try to earn as much money as they possibly can. For

their owners, their investors and their employees. Okay. So they're not doing it out of the kindness of their heart. Does it help players? Sometimes? Yeah. Like I'm not against the full showcases, but I wouldn't go to a showcase if you're going to get lost in the mix. You know, if I may, I'm sorry to cut you off. You do a lot of good stuff there, but

I want to make just quick two points. I'm going to take this lesson with me when I have kids one day. If they want to go to a showcase. Although with each day passing, I kind of hope that they just forget baseball. Just forget something. Forget softball. Just play hockey. I would love to be a hockey dad. Oh my God. That would be like, yeah, talk

about the amazing expenses. I have a three time baseball. I know the equipment. I have a friend who lives in the DC area, lives in the DMV and his two sons. They were really little when this friend that I worked together. His two kids are hockey, hockey kids. I'm just watching them grow up and they become hockey players. It's great. It's like, that's great. It's like

any dream for a dad. I have a son who's a hockey player. Anyway, but I'm going to take this rule with me when it comes to showcases as, you know, when I do have children, you know, if that day ever comes. For a showcase, and you put on a good show now, they can properly evaluate what your ceiling might be. And that adds stock to you

as a player. And to your evaluation. And helps your future going forward. That's point number one and point number two. I want to say this about perfect game. And they are a business. And we're not bashing them by the way. They're a business. There's a lot of showcases out there like them. And they're one of the more repute. It is a good service. And it's a

good service is players get older for college coaches. And we're giving them a free plug here. But we're also being fair. With perfect game and all these showcases that are out there. Their evaluations. And this is why I don't think players should really go to a showcase until they're 16, even 17 years old. Because those evaluations oftentimes they're not right. So somebody else's opinion. They're not

pros scouts. They're not even college evaluators. They're good evaluators. But that's just their opinion of what you are as a player. So my point to all of this. When it comes to these showcases. And I want to give an example. I played against a kid. You may remember him. His name was Billy Raul. I told the story on cross functionality with Cassie. Billy Raul was two

years older than me. He was drafted in 2006 by the Baltimore Orioles. I think it was eighth overall. He was drafted before Tim Linsicum. By the way, first high school player drafted in that draft. He played for my rival high school. I was playing first bases of sophomore. He hit a ball so hard. If I didn't put my glove up, I wouldn't be here talking to

you today. I wonder what that exit velocity was. He hit a ball so hard that I probably. If I didn't catch it or put my glove up, I wouldn't be here right today. I don't know. God forbid. Billy Raul went seventh overall to the Orioles. Perfect game ranked him as one of the best prospects of all time. Billy Raul didn't get out of bed. I've seen

him grow and put on muscle within the last two years. There's a lot of players at that age do, do indeed put on that muscle. Things could really change between age 16 and 25. People have to keep that. Yeah, but the problem is everybody wants to go to a showcase when they're 14. But we're suggesting I'm suggesting here. I don't think that you actually should do

that. I don't think it's smart. Number one, because then they're going to put a cap on your ceiling of what you are as a player. And number two, you might not like the metric. That you get back because you haven't fully grown into what kind of player that you possibly could be in the future. Yeah. And so I mean, that's that's the problem is is puberty.

My friends. I mean, I'm sorry, but puberty hits people at different times. Some people, the kid that six foot four and an eighth grade. I have kids that are like 16 years old and they're 140 something pounds. And they're trying to make a high school baseball team. I mean, that sucks. And it's hard, right? No matter what their skill up. They're better than most mechanically. They

have great baseball smarts. The coaches like them, but the kid can't hit a double because he just he's not strong enough yet, right? He doesn't have hair under his arms. So that's the whole showcase part. You get on a list. So if you're 14, you're a unicorn. You post numbers. You're in the top 98% tile of every other 14 year old. Hey, that's a really good

thing. Go to that showcase. Get your listing. Get your rating. Then when you go again in a year or two, they're going to be like, okay, what were the top ex players in the 14 year class a year later? Let's go watch them. Yeah. Okay. But if you're just like everyone else, if you're like the other 95% of the people there, it's just it's like the

minor leagues, right? 90% of minor leaguers are there for 10% of the prospects. Okay. They have to fill out a field for the prospects that are out there. Sorry, that's just kind of the way it. As always been not as much anymore because there's not, you know, 45 rounds or 50 rounds or 60 rounds like there used to be, but you have your 15 round backs.

And everyone is there to make sure that they can get their innings in. Okay, we have to feel the team at every level. Now doesn't mean there's not other players that are going to make it through that aren't part of that 15 top prospects in the organization. But, you know, that's that's what it's like. That's what the showcases for too. Most of those kids that go

to the show. Okay. So that are really good and have really good numbers. They don't pay for that showcase. Okay. They just want them there to have a perfect game. Social media posts. They want. And I just want to say, when showcases, like I'm not again, I don't want to say perfect game. All the showcases do it. This is just part of the marketing. When showcases

say you have the opportunity and putting that flyer as it was with Chris in his flyer. When they say you have a chance to move on to some of the best part of a group of some of the best 14 or whatever was 14 15 year old prospects in the country. That's again, that's all marketing. That's to get you to pay. And that's their business. Every

business has marketing, right? The podcast marketing. That's what you have a chance to do that. And you have a chance to do that. And you better be a unicorn. And you better not put too much credence in my opinion into what showcases say and worry more about what you need to work on. And there's showcases for everyone, you know, know who you are as a player,

know where you are. And if you're a high academic guy, do the high academic showcases, it's a much better fit. If you have above a 3.6 or 3.7 in high school, obviously 14 year olds may not even be in high school yet. But, you know, go to your head for showcases, go to your, oh, I can't remember the name of the other one. But there's a

couple high academic showcases with smaller schools, you know, which is great. It helps those coaches. It helps them evaluate players in masses. You know, they don't have to go to every single high school game all, you know, all summer long. They can go to these showcases and be able to see players. So there is, there are benefits to showcases. I don't want you to say that

you shouldn't go to a showcase. But I wouldn't go to a showcase until you're ready. And you have to have the funds. You know, how are you going to spend with that fight? This is a tough time, you know, for for people and families right now. My grocery bills are like $400-$500 every month, more every single month right now. So do you have the excess money?

You know, maybe you invest that money somewhere else. You know, you let the kid take extra batting practice at the batting cage, or you rent a cage a couple times, couple times a week. You know, is it worth spending that big number at that age? If, you know, you're in kind of that situation. So there's a lot of things to weigh. But I, you know, the

fact that Chris is on his, is a really good shortstop. Okay. Maybe, you know, maybe you do want to get him seen. You know, maybe he is that good. I don't know. I don't, I don't do videos. I, I get game videos, you know, sometimes they'll put in, you know, defensive plays. But the big thing is, you also want them. It's kind of like the SAT,

right? Everybody gets super nervous the first time they take the SAT. Oh my goodness, or the ACT. This is my future. If I do poorly, boom. And they start freaking out, right? And then they take it. Another time, and it's like, hmm, that was, that was a lot easier. And then all of a sudden, you know, their, their heart rate comes down. It's the same thing

with a, with a showcase. Yeah, throw him in. Look, if you're going to want to go to a showcase when you're 16 or 17, maybe it's not a bad idea to see what they're like. Right? Get out there. Throw the ball around. See how the older guys that are more seasoned do it. You know, how did they throw the ball across the infield with eight Crow

hops? You know, how do we throw the. Let me get that miles per hour. Yeah, it doesn't matter where the ball goes. If the first baseman catches it, you know, how do they take BP? They're probably not taking the first three swings to the opposite field on the ground for a hit and run, right? They're probably trying to hit every ball out of the park and

hit. What is the process? So for that, hey, not a bad learning experience, you know, to go to one of those. Does it mean it has to be a, you know, really high end perfect game or can it be just a local showcase that that maybe some schools are doing. So that's never a bad idea to is to kind of see how they were. I remember

they didn't have showcases. I was going to have the area code, the area code games, which was still going on today, which. If you make that you at least back then if you were on the area code team, then you were pretty much going to get a scholarship. You're offer because you were the best. Big players from. Say. California, Northern California, wherever your team is out

of. And I remember the first try out I went to I was a freshman. They let me try. They usually didn't take you. But I got to try out as a freshman, which was really cool. And I think I got one at bat was all at the trial, but it was like insane. Like I was so nervous. All these dudes. So I caught Jared right. I

don't know if you remember. Jared right. You're very pissed. Like everything like 98 miles an hour. Yeah. I was a catcher and I was like 14 or 15 and had to go catch him. You know, in front of I don't know how many scouts that were out there. And I think I probably. May have dropped something at home. I was so scared and nervous, right? And

then I knew I wasn't going to make the team. And then the next year I got an invite to. To take part in the try out again. It was a little bit easier and then by my junior year. Right. I was more comfortable. So. That's never a bad idea to to be exposed to the situation so that they don't freak out when it does matter most.

I'll say this. As we wrap this up to be about 10 more minutes left in our show. We got to talk about the damn batter's box gym. We got to get to our main topic. By the way, for those of you who lack faith. And we've we're we're going to get 50 minutes out of today's episode. I'll say this about showcases. All of them. Except the

area code. Chris is great question. Yeah. I was a that might be that's the goat of questions on the lab. Epstein hitting bot. We may never get another good question. I think it was quick or mechanics either. It's great. Yeah. Yeah. I'll say this about showcases. And I take this for what it's worth with a grain of salt. Just going off experience and what I know.

Okay. Major League scouts. Scouts who work for team, big league teams and a little department. They don't really look at your showcase rankings or numbers because you know why they don't because they rank you themselves. That's that's their jobs. That's the get paid to do. That's that they get their 401k's to do. All right. So that's take it for what it's worth. Yeah, but they're all.

They're valuable. But keep that in mind. Yeah. All right. Chris, great question. Any other questions. email us. Jimbo podcast 21 and Gmail.com and good luck. This is boys are awesome too. By the way. Good luck to his his kids as they go forward. Yeah. Maybe we can get a little one. Real fiery. Well, perfect. Very good. Yeah. He gave me. I'm trying to think he really

cracked me up. I'll never forget him. Because my kids are like his age. And I think they turned the video on to record him the first time when like I hadn't even met this kid yet essentially with the online camp. They turned the camera on and he's like, Hey, Queen. And then he just started hitting. And this kid. I don't know how old he is. I

think he's like 12 maybe or 30. I mean, it cracked me up. Like I, I don't think that they knew that I could hear the audio when they. Because it's all slow motion. And I totally busted them on it. But it tells me that kids get a good place is he's going to be a locker room locker room star one day. Episode 137. Again, Chris, thank

you for the question talking about standing in the batter's box, the proper place to stand in the batter's box. But there are so many more elements to that in the one element number one that's at the top of the list for me. It's to gain more time. Right. I'm going to give you some perspective. You're at a hitter's reaction time. Give or take they've got about

point 40 seconds. Right. We're for 10th of a second to react. The average launch to contact is point 15. Therefore, if you connect the dots. The hitter has a point out point 25 seconds to make a decision to swing or not. Give or take because guys are going to sell math that it's finest baby. Yeah. Guys, you're throwing a lot harder nowadays. So my Los Al

math good ultimately. I think that's a 90 mile an hour. If I'm not mistaken, 90. So point four. Okay. So give or take you shave off a few seconds. You probably get the proper Harvard or George Washington University math, not Los Al. Okay. All of this, of course, is soon. I mean that you have good mechanics at the plate and your mechanics in that moment are

very solid. But those numbers just give you contacts and make you better understand. Hey, look, we have to really think about where we position ourselves in the batter's box and how it relates to our approach. So Ted Williams. I mean, if we go back to really the first person that talked about where to stand in the batter's box that at least I remember from his book

was you want to make contact in fair territory. Yeah, you want to make contact in fair territory, which is right at the bottom. So if you're at the front of home plate, so if your barrel is kind of at the front of home plate, you're going to be you're going to have more of the field to essentially hit with if you hit it deeper in the

zone, your angles, because don't the foul lines come off the point of home plate, right comes. That's where the, you know, first base and third base. You're going to be with your hands for those. If you make contact in front of that, essentially your your angle is slightly larger to hit a ball fair. Right. So most players when they stride there. Right. So I think that's

the way I'm going to say that. So what I usually do to start with is is all have a player figure out how far their stance is and make sure when their front foot lands, it's at the front of home plate. Now that's just baseline. Here we go. I don't really know how good your mechanics are yet. I don't know how quick you are to the

ball, but that's fairly, you know, for a small part of the game. The player, it's not quite the back of the box because they're small, but for a fully grown player. If their front foot starts at the like the first point of home plate. I should say the second point working backwards like the front point is the front of home plate. And then there's the second

point behind it. If they started that second point and stride to the first point. Someone that six foot will be in the back of the batter's box. Somebody that's four foot five right that's a little kid. They'll be more in the middle of the batter's box. So that all depends. Now the other thing is, you know, how big are they? So I'm six foot five and

have, I don't remember how long my arms are. You're going to be five inches large. Like that. I have long arms. You've got joelle and bead wingspan. Yeah. I have a long bat. I sawing a 34 or 35 inch bat 34 and a half when I was, you know, in pro ball. I could cover a lot more of the plate than than a kid that's 12

years old and and five foot one with, you know, 27 inches. So those younger players really, if they're trying to cover the plate efficiently, efficiently without pre extending their arms without casting, they have to be closer to the plate. Okay. The plate doesn't change. It's always 17 inches. In fact, at the young ages, it's more like 24 inches. Right. I mean, that's a big plate that

those little kids have to cover. I'm pyres are, you know, usually airing on the side of the pitcher throwing a strike. So it makes it more difficult on the young. So if I was basing it, you know, if you were going through kind of my online stuff, or if you've attended some of my seminars or certifications, the length of a player's foot. If you take the

length of their foot and they put it against the batter's box line, whatever that is eight inches to 14 inches, that's kind of where I would start a player. Okay. So a smaller player with smaller feet essentially will be closer to the plate. Again, this is all, I don't know you as a player. I don't know what your swing is like. This is where we should

start. So you're going to be in the rear, you know, half of the batter's box. I would say the rear third of the batter's box. And you're going to be fairly close to the plate. Now other, do you have anything to say or do you want me to keep going? Because I, well, I'm going to ask you. What about standing closer further from the plate? I

mean, everybody now, I think, stands in the back of the box. And I mean, that front foot, I'm a left, I was a left handed batter. So that front, right foot, always matched up with the back corner of the plate. Yeah. And my stance was wide enough to where I pretty much. Were standing in the back of the box. Yeah. Thinking that would give me more

time, which did, but there's other factors to this as well. But what about where you stand in the box relative to horizontally, not to the plate, whether it's, you know, standing in the middle of the box, standing a little bit off or standing a little bit off the plate closer to the plate, where do you stand when it comes horizontally to the plate? And some of

that has to do with fear. So with younger players, they're usually more afraid of the ball than an older player. And so they'll tend to step out. Okay, they'll, they'll step out. If they're right handed to the third base side or even if it's an inch or two inches, this is, this is not good. They'll tend to do that. So what do they do? Okay. So

they'll start closer to the plate. Because they're going to like, hey, they're not covering the outside part of the plate or dads like, you know, you're, you're, you're bailing out, you better get closer to the plate. So the kids like, okay, I'll get closer to the plate. So the kid gets closer to the plate. And then they're more scared, right? They're like, Oh, my God. Now

I'm right on top of the plate. What do they do? They start stepping out even more. Okay. So a lot of times when I have players that are scared and they're stepping out as I move them farther away from the plate to give them a little bit of like, Oh, okay. Yeah. I got a little less stress. But then I have them step into the plate.

I have them dive into the plate to overcompensate what they were doing. So remember, was that two weeks ago, we did, we did a player breakdown of the great Derek Jeter. And if you go. Episode 135 go back in the archives and listen to watch. Yeah. Go, go watch that one. Cause it shows you video of exactly what he does. But you see where he starts

and where he steps. Like he closed off a lot. And sometimes I'll do that to break players habits. So sometimes if I have a player that's scared, I move them off the plate. Then I get him to step. Towards the plate. So in the beginning, they're, they're relaxed. Okay. I'm off the plate. But then they know they can't cover it. So they better get back in

there with their stride leg. Okay. Now that's just one thing you can try. The issue is when are they stepping? So now we have to deal with that. So I had a player the other day, who's a little stud. He's like 10 years old. I don't know where they're from. I don't know if it's Texas or California. I can't remember. But I did his video yesterday.

And he's got like the best 10 year old mechanics. That I've seen. Like you can't really get better. But all of a sudden you got drilled. And so now he's moving late. So what he's doing is when the ball comes out of the hand, when you're little, they don't throw very hard, right? So the ball comes out of the hand. Then he decides to step. So

if the balls coming at him, he's stepping left. If the balls go into there, he steps right. So he's stepping all over the place because he's stepping late. He's reading the pitch and then stepping. So for him, the fix is, okay, we need to get you. Off the plate. And then we need to get you to stride sooner. So your foot is already moving by the

time the ball is released. Because he's making life too complicated. You have to stride before that ball is. Doesn't mean you have to have your foot down before the ball is released. It means you have to start the process of striding the before the ball is out of the hand. That will help him. So instead of taking him. So he's bailing out big time. Like his

whole posture comes up and out while the ball is in the way. So I have to get him off the plate and get him striding back into the plate. But that only will work if he starts striding at the right time. So there's so much that goes into it. And that's why having another set of eyes, you know, kind of looking and seeing. Because most people

are like always stepping out. Hey, you know, Joe Smith, the third Joe, don't step out. You got to step in. But it won't be fixed unless he changes his timing and starts moving and starts loading a little bit sooner. Okay. So there's that. If you pre extend. You need your lead arm a little bit. Allah. Mani. No, I teased. What's up? No, no, you're right. I

was thinking of. I was thinking of somebody else. But I have a cool. A cool. A cool. A Michael Young used to do that. By the way, but shadow Michael Young did do that. There's that photographic memory. Yeah. Right. And. And so those guys may feel more comfortable being off the plate. Maybe you have guys that like to hit the ball. They like to extend their

arms more. Okay. So into. I would tell you, the one thing I have is experience. And I see a ton of players, right? Whether it's on video or in person, I see a lot of players. And I will tell you now that probably 80% or more of the players that I see will hit more balls off the end of the bat. Then they will get jammed.

Okay. Then they will hit towards. I'm not talking about bad. I'm talking about we miss the barrel by one ball. So our exit velocity is like 80% of a barrel 85%. But 80% of those balls are towards the end of the bat, not towards the jam part of the bat. Even though these players aren't far away from the plate. And it's because of what is taught.

Everybody is like. Rotate hard, rotate fast turn. You know, load the hip and release it. And so everybody is over swinging. And they're running out of bat. That's why you have the farm board guys who I have. You know, I don't have opinions either way. I have opinions actually about everyone. I think there are some things the farm board guys are really like on to 100%.

I think they are on to things. I think teacher man has some awesome stuff too. Right? But that's something or no. But if you go all in, you want to the other. How you see it? You might, you might. The key is to like, you know, kind of figure out what works best for you. If somebody over rotates, then the farm boards, some of the farm

board stuff will work for you. I think if somebody doesn't really rotate it all, then I think some of the other guys stuff would work for you. I will say that I take fits and pieces of everyone that I ever see or come in contact with. Because people are smart and people do good things. But people also try to make money. Okay. And they're not J

Gapstein who's renowned. Yes. And the only way to make money is to kind of like come up with something new, right? To come up. I'll be honest like everything that's taught today was like my dad's stuff in the late 90s. I agree. I just say something though. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'll take Richard stuff, teacher man over the farm board. Every day of the week. I'm sorry.

The farm board with that back foot sliding just fucking hurts me. It does. But that's a that's 150% of probably what they're trying to get a point. Maybe not. We're trying to get. But I'm just having the idea of I should say this. The idea of swing. I should say that I should be domed down in the direction I get and I I get what they're

doing there and I get what they're trying to overdo by creating that. Okay. Now if you just had a player do that for three months straight. I'm not sure it would be beneficial anymore. If you had somebody that just loaded their back hip and then unwound everything. I'm not sure that would be beneficial, but I think if you had someone that could. could teach the person.

I think that's how that's needed and I'm not saying that those guys don't. Okay, because I'm not in their way. For the record, I take Jake, Jake, Epstein, my former coach over everybody. I'm just trying to get if I had to compare the two. Yeah, but I'm not. And I hope Jake is still coaching. He will be, but I hope he is willing to coach my

kids. I've said before coach my I will. I'm not having any dark hair left, but I'll still be. If they're not what I do. They may be hockey players. People. I think I told you. Broadcast, I worked with my first like second generation player. So I worked with a kid in college and I was young when I started. Teach. I was right out of baseball when

I worked with him like 24 maybe. And now I've worked with his nine year old kid the other day. Wow. That's pretty cool. Yeah. And then I had another call yesterday of a kid. I worked with when he was like 10 now. He owns a back company and they make really, really good. So once I get some samples, we'll. And then we'll sponsor the podcast or

what? What's that? Do they want to sponsor the show or why maybe? Yeah. I mean, their bats are really beautiful. He he takes a lot of pride at them. But anyway. So we'll talk about bird bats. Yeah. Maybe they'll be our sponsor one day. But get it getting back to getting back. We got we got a wrap up where we stand in the box. Right. If

we have a close. If we close off when we stride. Yeah. We need to start further away from the plate. If you're like Chris Davis back in the day, Chris Davis. With a K Oakland. I get him's kind of go break down off him by the way back. If you kind of open up and step out with your front foot, you have to be closer to

the plate. Okay. If you cast a little bit, you have to be farther from the plate. If you don't extend very well and you over rotate. Or you rotate really hard. And you don't know how to decelerate on pitches away. You have to be really close to the plate. So. There are so many variables that. That go into where we stand. But it has to do

with individual hitters. I'll tell you a story of my dad because it's a funny story. It's a great story. He goes to spring training in 1965. Maybe maybe 1966. He wins the he was the A ball MVP. He skipped A ball went to triple A. One the triple crown at triple A. He's like 23. They sent it to Big League camp with the Orioles. And he's

in a hitting group with like, you know, Frank Robinson and Bugpal and Brooks Robinson. Whoever I mean like studs, right? Hall of Famers. So Frank Robinson. Most people don't. They probably remember who he is. But they don't. He used to stand really close to the plate. Okay. If you look at videos of Frank Robinson, he used to really close to the plate. And he was a

unbelievable hitter. Right. It was like a three to one batting titles. I believe. So Frank's my dad used to step off. He was kind of far away from the plate. And he had a lot of balls to like left center. But my dad was massive. So his last round of BP. My dad hits like four balls over the palm trees. And these guys are like, holy

cow. Mike, you got some serious power. You know, and so Frank Robinson says Mike, you know what you should do is you should you should get closer to the plate. If you get closer to the plate, those outside pitches, you'll be able to pull right. Baseball is a little different back then, right. The balls weren't as hard and the stadiums were pretty big. So you had

to pull most of your home run. There weren't a lot of opposite field home runs in the 60s. Okay. So here's Frank Robinson, future Hall of Famer tells my dad, hey, you need to get closer to play. So what does my dad do? Guess what he's like, okay, Mr. Robinson, I get closer to play. My dad said, and he's going a big bat. Like it was

hard to break 35, 34 ounce bats with giant handles. He said he broke six bats in the next like four games because he moved closer to play. And he didn't have the swing to do it. So you can't just go in and out. You have to know who you are. Who you are is a hitter in order to be successful. And where you're standing in the

box and the better your mechanics, typically you can be a little bit closer. I'm talking about younger players. So younger players that aren't fully developed. We're a hundred pounds. Yeah, I was talking about my own kid, right. And she's she weighs like 92 pounds. I don't know, 91 pounds. Like how hard are you going to hit the ball at 91 pounds? Right. What are we trying

to accomplish here? I don't know yet. So this is where we stand. But as players get bigger. And when they're stronger, then essentially they can move further away from the plate. But when players are small, what are the big muscles in their body? Their core, their abs, their obliques, their back, their shoulders, their glutes. So what do they do to create power? They spin. Okay. And

they turn fast. And when they turn fast, you have to be closer to the plate because you're barrel. Unfortunately, probably isn't going to have, you know, the right direction to cover the entire plate. I honestly talk another hour on that. But this is what I do with the online academy. It's like, that's why I always want to see game video. I always want to see game

video to see what the feet are doing. Because that will tell me, Hey, maybe we should do this or that when we're in the batter's box, be closer or further away from the plate. Well, we might be able to do that. Yeah. Another hour on it. You know why? Because next week, episode 138, by the way, for those who thought, Hey, standing in the batter's box,

how are you going to get 40 minutes out of that? We just got an hour mother. Not to mention we got a lot of about what 25 minutes of that of the actual topic. So we've got the 30, the net, the net time 30. Right. Episode one, the 38 next week, talking about pictures, moving a hitter's feet. Very important. It kind of pertains to what we're

talking about today. See how I did that little connectivity there. Yeah, that's good because we can, we can kind of revisit this topic a little bit more in expand. That's next week episode 138, anything coming up before we get out of here? Anything going on? No. No. Okay. Yeah. No, everything is going on. Everything's going on. Send me all you online guys. Keep sending in those

game videos. I love game changer. This is like, if I had enough money to advertise on game changer, I would because you can see that send me your game clips so easily. And I can evaluate your stance where you're standing in the box, your rhythm, where removing, I will tell you, over 90% of players under the age of 12, stride at the wrong time. So that's

like the biggest thing. So those of you that are part of the academy or not join. I mean, even if it's for one analysis, like figure out where our timing is because if you stride at the wrong time in a game, your mechanics will totally break down. And it won't matter how good your swing is. All right. Well, good stuff this week. We're on fire. Episode

137 was in subscribe. Watch on YouTube, the lab upstairs hitting podcast page. And we will talk to you next week.