Swing Smarter Hitting Training Podcast | ⭐Hitting Performance Lab⭐: Recent Episodes

Joey Myers

Joey Myers is an Amazon Bestselling author with the book: "Catapult Loading System: How To Train 100-Pound Hitters To Consistently Drive The Ball 300-Feet". On the Swing Smarter Hitting Training Podcast, the founder of HittingPerformanceLab.com (over 360 free blog posts on hitting), Joey interviews experts in the field of hitting training and hitting trainers for baseball and softball players. We talk about how to get athletes moving better so they can perform better, in addition to those who understand and coach the mental side of the game.

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Learn about this automatic, cordless battery powered pitching machine for home use and is affordably cheap, under $500, in this interview with Hit Them All inventor Felix Fernandez. Remote controlled. Purchase protected with a 30-day money back guarantee AND a 2 year warranty.

In this interview with Felix Fernandez, inventor of the Hit Them All smallest pitching machine, we talk about:

What’s your 2-to-3-minute elevator pitch for the Hit Them All?
What were some of the injuries that you had to deal with?
What were some of mental baseball challenges you weren’t ready for in college?
Where did your habit to tinker and test come from?
What’s the origin story of the Hit Them All pitching machine?
What makes the Hit Them All unique and who is its competition?
How long have you been working on perfecting the Hit Them All?
What age groups have you tested the Hit Them All with?
What's the frequency of when it spits out a one of the little balls and is there an indication light?
Tell people where they can find you?

In this interview, we discuss the following:

Many things that differentiate you from others and it's MAT, explain MAT a little bit...
Talk a little bit about some of the things you're seeing out there the pitchers that are coming to you...
“I've got one research paper with 3D mathematical models showing you need over 2000 pounds of force, as compression shearing to get even a 1% change in length. And a 1% change in length for, ligaments that's called a grade one strain or sprain.”
Is all stretching bad or is there a time and a place for it?
What’s your view on weighted ball throwing programs?
What’s your view on the force plate metrics some experts are relying on?
The Kinetic Arm reduces stress on elbow-shoulder and guides arm into the right positions, is that a fair assessment?
And pitchers are using the Kinetic Arm to rehab Tommy John surgery?
Is the Kinetic Arm available in youth sizes yet?
Where can people find you, Jason?

In this interview with Physical Therapist Dr. Jocelyn Vartanian in Fresno, CA, we discuss:

You've had a huge influx of new clients, athletes... what are you seeing coming in right now?
What do you see different in softball, girls coming in with injuries versus the guys? Or is there any difference?
What's your advice on the ankle side of things?
What top two things would you suggest they do to help with those ankles?
On low back stuff, what kind of advice would you give the ladies?
What's your advice on shoulder? You mentioned that the boys are the elbow really elbow heavy shoulder...
“And your shoulder blade strength starts to pick up, your shoulders start to feel better. You add like 2, 3, 4 miles an hour on your velo like that, but I didn't throw harder”
Let people know where they can find you...

In this episode I interview one of my former Fresno State teammates, who was a pitcher and is now a Chiropractor. Here's what we cover:

If you could go back in time and give yourself some advice, what would that advice be?
What were some of the pain symptoms you experienced in your pitching shoulder in college?
The dangers, causes, and how to fix reverse cervical curve in young athletes
What is a “Denner roll”? Not sushi?
What other things are you seeing in young athletes; besides neck stuff, that we need to look out for?
Where can people find you?

In this interview with clinical Sports Performance Psychologist, Dr. Bhrett McCabe, we go over:

What are the top two mistakes that athletes make when it comes to dealing with those injuries? Psychologically?
Dad's saying you need to tough it out. You need to get out there. What's your advice for some of those?
What’s your advice on a player that is VERY hard on themself?
“To me, the first thing we can do as the coach is never assumed that they're going to be better. I think we must assume that they're going to struggle.”
What do you, and it leads into some tough talks where, we're talking about suicide rates and things like that. What's your initial analysis?
“Every coach strength, coach hitting coach, every coach should know what to do. If a player comes to them and says, coach, I just don't think about living anymore.”
Where can people find you? Do you have any, so that could be social. That could be the website. I know we mentioned the beginning any kind of workshops or anything coming up?

Here's what we go over in this episode:

“...hitting approach, something we've really used this fall to help assess our hitters and swing decisions”
What would you suggest, to say a little league coach, if you were to pick one of those [Blast, Hitting Approach, Quality At-bats,etc], what would you say would be the best for 12U?
“...you manually put in where the pitch crossed the strike zone, and it's almost like having a spray chart, but just digitally and the cool aspect of it, from what I've gathered, what I've seen, is that it creates a heat map.”
You mentioned competitions in the outfield. Take me through that. What does that look like?
The four-seam spin, just by putting a thin piece of athletic tape on the four-seam, in the middle. Talk a little bit about that...
One of the other drills that you mentioned you didn't go into it too deep, but I'd like you to here, from Sammy's podcast, was a bucket drill. I think it had to do with the fly balls at the peak...
What do you see as being the top two things when it comes to organizational practice at the high school level that maybe is missing?
Where we can find you, give us a talk about your book Rounding Third and where people can buy it?

Here's what we go over in this interview with hitting academy owner, team coach, and one-on-one hitting instructor in Tennessee, Nate Headley (brother to Major Leaguer Chase):

“I woke up to my first morning of college with the cops knocking on our door at five o'clock in the morning...”
What do you see as the top two mistakes that academy owners make?
“I think the toughest conversations I have are the ones with the parents that are so over the top that you have to sit them down and say, hey, look, man, if you don't back off, they're not going to make it.”
“I think ultimately that's where you start to lose traction in the development process and building teams and I think that the more you can continue on a daily basis to pick up, if it's one thing a day...”
What's your filter? How do you know to follow a guy or two to give it a try, what's your filter for that?
“There's so much information available. If you're just paying attention to the game, if you're just paying attention to how they're attacking hitters in front of you, we force all our guys to get out of the dugout, out onto the field when they've got a guy getting loose.”
“We can give you all the information you need to be successful, but what you do with it is ultimately all that matters, because the development process is not going to be there.”
Where can people find you if they want to reach out, ask you questions, you got a website, social media, any of that?

Here's what we cover in this episode:

What are the top-3 kid raising pitfalls parents fall into in middle school and high school in before college and professional ball?
The DANGERS lurking in self-comparison from ages 14-18 years old
“Getting repetition because through repetition, we're going to gain our retention....
“They won a college world series. It was a great moment. But suddenly, everything's winding down. I suddenly realize that journey had concluded...”
“I use the term and I've used 40 years where I tell parents the whole objective is to trade athletic ability for academic excellence.”
“What's the difference of success levels between your son who just played through college and the one who went pro in the way you treated them and brought them up?”
Where to find the book Committed and purchase, and where to find you guys on the socials?

Here's what we go over in this part-2 episode with Joe Yurko:

Joe’s 10 Sports Psychology principles that are a part of his hitting system
Fear: “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod Crane, in the story, he was afraid, but it was his own imagination that caused him to be afraid, there was no Headless Horseman.”
“These kids were walking around saying, we're going to face a guy throwing 95 miles an hour. I'm trying to counter that.”
Conscious Brain: “...your thinking parts, the parts that land rockets on the moon and invent sticky notes and whiteout and things like that.”
“The moment you said, I don't care anymore, you just turned your brain on.”
“He called it the paradox that the upper parts of our brains invent the games that we play... Then the lower parts are the ones that play it.”
Where can people find you Joe?

Here are some of the topics to be discussed:

What video analysis software do you use?
Who is Chaz Henry? What’s his background in?
The fascinating history of Powerchalk and machine learning...
Difference of amateur hitter’s up shoulders at landing versus professional hitter’s down shoulders...
What machine learning, aka “Artificial Intelligence” (AI), means to the future of video analysis...
“What I've done is I've kind of shown how the machine can grade you, can look at these frames and grade you [the swing] ...”
How to objectively take a swing “red” light and turn it “green” ...
“I don't pretend at all that I'm doing away with, or that I'm automating a real hitting coach; I see it as a second opinion...”
Using machine learning to recognize dysfunctional movement like immobile joint and diagnose corrective exercise, so that a hitter moves better...
Where can they go to find Powerchalk obviously, and then is there a place they can go to check out this new AI machine learning stuff?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/chazhtranscription

Click short link for video of interview: https://gohpl.com/chazhvideo

“You Can Have Average Mechanics and If You Have A Good Approach, You Can Still Be Successful” Mark Gonzalez, @EastBayMark on Twitter, and inspirational parent coaching his High School Junior hitter Here's what we talk about in this episode:

What do you find to be the biggest mistake, one or two mistakes on hitting that you see out there?
Was there an aha moment at some point where you finally said Oh, you know what, I might be over overdoing this being the helicopter parent?
“You can have average mechanics and if you have a good approach, you can still be successful...”
Is it all about hitting dingers and doubles?
What ever happened to playing Whiffle Ball in the street, and can kids learn anything from video games?
What things have you guys been doing on the recruiting side?
“If this college wants a certain type of hitting approach and if that's the hitting approach you really don't like well maybe that's not the school for you...”
Any other parting thoughts that you would give to those parents out there with freshmen, sophomores, juniors in high school, coming from a dad who's coaching their own kid?
Where can people find you Coach Mark and powerful BONUS tips???

In this episode with Joe Yurko, a retired teacher and baseball coach who taught a Sports Psychology class, we go over:

Teacher-coach, what you were teaching, the psychology side, give everybody a little bit of a background...
Joe Yurko’s 10 Rules for Sports Psychology Success
What do you mean by you can't ‘try’ to hit?
“The more you forget, the better you are at doing it, and the better you are doing it, the more you can forget.” - Lawrence Shainberg
How did you get out of your head and just react when you play?
The ‘Pattern Interrupt’
“The mind is a great thing unless you must use it.” – Tim McCarver
Joe, where can people find you?

Here's what we talk about in this episode:

Stephen was accelerating his barrel early, which is what we were teaching at the time, but by the time he got to contact, it was slowing down. Talk a little bit about that...
When I looked at Javy Baez, I was seeing him really turn, they say when the pitcher shows you their back pocket, then the hitter shows the pitcher their back pocket. I think that’s flawed...
It’s not how much hitter loads their upper torso that’s the issue with getting to inside pitch, it has to do with the barrel path...
It was this way [swing down], but his barrel [Bonds] stayed this way [flat], and you'll look at videos, and it just stays flat to the ball that's up in the zone or inside in the zone. He was one of the best...
There's a problem there if we want lower strikeouts, and we want a higher batting average, which some can argue isn't as important in today's game, but I still think it is...
Where can people find you to get more information?

Coach Neil McConnell, the founder of MaxBP whiffle ball pitching machines, et al. products What Does It Mean To ‘Build The Database’ When It Comes To Hitting? Here are some of the topics to be discussed:

You're doing a lot of really big things over the last year or two? Go ahead and let them know what you guys are up to?
What are some of those tools? I know you have a bunch of them, but say like top two or so outside of the actual pitching machines?
It's not just about a whiffle ball pitching machine to hit on?
What does it mean to ‘build the database’ when it comes to hitting?
You guys have done a lot of cool stuff with using max BP with catchers, how do you guys use that?
“Where you're making them make a decision and ignoring one color versus being locked into another color...”
“You can honestly get work in and probably 10-15 feet. 20 feet is a good space....”
Do you guys test them before they go out?
Where can people find you, the website, the social media, all that good stuff?

Bill Masullo of Ultimate Edge at GoodSports “I saw 6000 guys; I didn't see anybody who could hit a curveball. It's like, how are we not hitting a curveball?” What we go over:

Give me your sales pitch on you guys' Academy, what you guys do, where you’re located, etc.
How long has it been since you started following me Bill?
Do you guys do different experiments and stuff like that? Do you show those kids a part of your learning process?
What's your advice on the biggest mistake you see some of these hitting academies making in the beginning?
How are you guys applying Perry Husband’s stuff?
What hitting strategies are you talking about to your guys? And how are you practicing them?
Why ‘keep hands inside’ the curveball is a myth...
Bill and Joey on the state of youth baseball and softball: ‘free play’
Where can people find you Bill?

Strength & Conditioning Coach Joey Wolfe, owner of Paradigm Sport of Santa Cruz, California

Do You Have Data Showing the Difference of AFTER Putting Athletes Through a Movement Screen & Do Corrections?

Here are some of the topics to be discussed:

Where did you end up on the baseball scene?
Give me the origin story of Paradigm Sport. Why Paradigm Sport? What is you guys' main mission?
Is there a specific kind of screen that you guys use a movement screen?
Do you have any kind of data that's showing the difference after you put them through the screen and do the movement corrections?
I could imagine that a lot of our shoulders were just dynamite waiting to explode...
Is there a difference between your males and females? Or is there a pattern that emerges there?
Yeah, it's like an incubator. You guys are creating an incubator for the result, obviously being the athlete and beyond performing the game, but there's a lot...
Talk a little bit about the future of Paradigm Sport being online...

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/joeywolfetranscription

Geoff Rottmayer of StrategicHittingGuy.com

“I Think We’d Like To Tell Guys More Than Seeing How They’re Pitching Him...See How They’re Adjusting To Them...”

What we go over:

What are your 5 Pillars to Preparation Success?
Who is Geoff Rottmayer?
What are some of the two-strike mindset approach type things that you guys talk about?
Basing plan at the plate on pitcher observations & PBR?
“Pregame data research, where you combine on and try to figure them out...”
“Every pitcher is different, his fastball, not his fastball, his curveball, not his curveball. It's really individualized and everything. That's the key to it individualizing as much as you can...”
“I think we'd like to tell guys more than seeing how they're pitching him...see how they're adjusting to them...”
“There are three mindsets that we've been able to identify over the last five, six years, and then it's really been an eye opener...”
What are some of the questions that you ask to take a player from compare-convince phase to compete-contribute?
So where can people find you as of today?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/geoffrtranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: https://gohpl.com/geoffrvideo

Shawn Wolf, who I refer to as the “Team Whisperer”

Did You Separate Your Kids Being A Parent, Being A Dad And Being A Coach? How Did You Do That?

Here are some of the topics to be discussed:

Give us a little bit about your background on the coaching side, what you did with your boys, when you started coaching, and then when you let go...
Did you separate your kids being a parent, being a dad and being a coach? How did you do that?
How to find the balance of not coddling your kid on the team, and not ripping them apart...
How to not be the micromanaging or hover coach/dad...
Advice on how to treat your kid after an awful game (e.g., 0-6 with 5 K’s in the box)
Advice to overly organized coaches, checking all the “boxes”, but team still isn’t winning,
Any advice that you think that we missed on the call for maybe new coaches out there starting or maybe some of those veteran ones?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/shawnwolftranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/shawnwolfvideo

Michael Gillen of PitcherPerfectPro.com

“Top Two Mistakes That Coaches Are Making In Teaching Pitching?”

What we go over:

Give us a little look at your setup over there...
Who you are, the kind of your mentors on the pitching side, who guides you and your training?
Top two mistakes that either pitchers or coaches are making in teaching pitching?
What do you feel with the whole Tommy John stuff? What do you feel like the top two issues that are leading to that?
When reading about spinal engine springy fascia, were you were able to apply those principles to pitching?
What are those two things that you go, alright, we need to fix those right away?
Like hitting, is there such thing as over-rotating when pitching?
Tell people where your website is, your social media, any kind of deals or what kind of deals that you do, obviously, locally, right? But are you doing some online lessons? Let people know that kind of stuff.

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/mikegillentranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/mikegillenvideo

“When It Comes to Guys, The Performance Determines Their Happiness. When It Comes to Girls, The Happiness Determines the Performance”

What we go over:

Come to find out you are an Aerospace Engineer,
Where did you get White Zone Coaching from?
When it comes to guys, the performance determines their happiness. When it comes to girls, the happiness determines the performance...
... You can give them more and more and more as long as you know where their edges at,
“The Surfer’s Code” and what softball and baseball players can learn from it,
How do you coach your softball girls to deal with the 2020 challenges?
Amanda, where can people find you?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/amandasmithtranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/amandasmithvideo

Ray Camacho of Fat On Fat Baseball & Softball Academy

I Don’t Use A Glove When I Throw BP, So I’ll hold Curveball Like This. I’ll Hold It. I Want to See If They’re Smart Enough to Look at My Hand

Here are some of the topics to be discussed:

Tell me a little bit about your nonprofit, where you guys are and what it's about,
Who are your top one or two follows for strength and conditioning?
“It's ever evolving with me because one kid teaches me how to do something for another kid...”,
"It's extremely tough as a parent to watch our kids struggle, fail, and be rejected. But if we don't let them experience it, while they're young, they'll have no idea how to handle it when life shows up later down the road. Our job is to love them and teach them how to work through it."
“I like to pride myself in not being just like a scratch a surface guy. I get deep.”
I think baseball and softball hitting a baseball softball consistently hard is the hardest thing to do in any sport,
The toe tap to me is the most adjustable swing that I've ever had,
I don't use a glove when I throw BP so I'll hold curveball like this. I'll hold it. I want to see if they're smart enough to look at my hand,
Where can people find you, talk about the social media platforms...

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/rayctranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/raycvideo

Taylor Gardner of BackspinTee.com

If One Of The Best, Mike Trout, Is Giving Up An Average 20-mph Of Ball Exit Speed, How Much Do Mere Mortals Give Up Doing The Same Thing?

Here are some of the topics to be discussed:

What do adjustments mean to you when it comes to talking to your hitters?
True or False: Hitters MUST straighten their front leg to be effective
What if hitters used a more precision approach like golfers when operating between 90-degrees?
Instead of writing off the arm bar as it doesn’t work, why not ask how can it work?
Is there ever a time when ‘swing down’ or ‘barrel above the hands’ cues can work?
If one of the best, Mike Trout, is giving up 20-mph of ball exit speed, how much do mere mortals give up doing the same thing?
Where can people find more about you guys?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/taylorgtranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/taylorgvideo

Derek Mayson of LockedInMentalTraining.com

“What Anxiety Disorders Do You See with Young Athletes Today & How to Fix?”

What we go over:

Give us a Little Background from where you Started – you have a Great Story...
What Anxiety Disorders do you see with Young Athletes Today and How to Fix?
What's your advice to a young player that is putting a lot of pressure on themselves and is almost given himself deadlines if this doesn't happen?
Contrarily, what is your advice to parents who have kiddos that don’t have motivation or inspiration to practice?
What was the one big thing or was it a few other factors that helped you to break out of your anxiety disorder?
Explain just a little bit about what the product is and walk us through that, where we can find your website, any kind of social media, YouTube, all that kind of stuff?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/derekmtranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/derekmvideo

“Gain an Average of FIVE To SIX-mph Ball Exit Speed In A Couple Sessions Using Square1System”

Here’s some of what will be discussed:

What is the origin of the Square1System?
What is your elevator pitch for the Square1System?
Where was that aha moment where you saw the rabbit hole, then you started digging?
Why is the traditional model of ‘stretch what’s tight and strengthen what’s weak’ not so effective?
What does the timeline look like using your system? When do you see the benefits?
After using your system, what are you seeing on the ball exit speed increase for hitters and the velocity increase for pitchers?
What does the fixing movement compensation look like?
What has your experience been with Tommy John, maybe athletes that are looking at that or have that?
Where can people find you? What kind of projects you got going on now?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/shawntranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/shawnvideo

Justin Lewis, Softball Hitting Coach for the Fresno State Bulldog softball team.

“What Are You Looking for When Recruiting Hitters?”

What we go over:

How did you get to being the hitting coach for Fresno State softball?
What do you do when you come into a new program?
What are you looking for when recruiting hitters?
Do you guys do game planning?
Do you have your girls hunt the rise ball?
Do you do pitch recognition stuff with the girls?
You're getting ready in a short amount of time? What's high priority right now?
Anything else that you’re working on?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/justintranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/justinvideo

Lee Comeaux, Professional Golf Instructor in Beaumont, Texas

“How to Apply The ‘Precision’ Golfing Principles to Hitting?”

Here’s some of what will be discussed:

“You’re going to ruin low backs if you teach that!”
“Golf is about accuracy. If you ain't accurate, you're not gonna play a good score”
“All of a sudden, I realized, turn your rib cage, and then boom...”
“You got to understand how the fascia and these trains all play because there's layers upon layers in the body”
Hitting for targets and areas on the barrel
How to apply the “precision” golfing principle to hitting
How to take pressure off the low back by flaring front toe out

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/leepdf

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/leevideo

Part-2 Perry Husband of HittingIsAGuess.com and father of Effective Velocity, interview titled:

“Mike Trout reduced to a high school baseball player on fastballs on the inside part of the plate?”

What we go over:

What consequence does loading up 80-90% of your weight on back leg?
Powerful forward momentum demonstration so easy a 4yo can understand
Mike Trout reduced to a high school baseball player on fastballs on the inside part of the plate?
The hanging fastball?
Why don’t instructors experiment and test hitting mechanics off the tee?
Twin 13yo girls with 72 and 73-mph exit speed?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/perrytranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/perryvideo2

Curtis Nelson, premier hitting instructor at Atkinson Baseball Academy in Kirkland, Washington

“Random Pitch Training: How to Transition Cage Swings to The Game”

Here’s some of what will be discussed:

Rapsodo getting used as a paper weight?
What are the top two mistakes that you see coaches doing when they're teaching hitting?
Random pitch training. Explain that a little bit, how you guys do that, and how that looks...
How to transition grooved cage swings into the game
Do you teach your hitters any kind of plate or pitch approach?
How do you evaluate hitters and teach them to make an adjustment?
How do you get a pull happy hitter go oppo, and how do you get an oppo happy hitter pulling the ball?
"Curtis, so and so said that timing cannot be taught?" What do you think about that?
What are some of the adjustments you have hitters make to slow pitchers?
Where can people who want more information find you?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/curtispdf

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/curtisvideo

Jedd “Napalm” Johnson of DieselCrew.com, foremost expert on grip and forearm training

“Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball & Softball Players”

What we go over:

Where did the nickname “Napalm” come from?
Why “finger” pullups aren’t a good decision...
What are eight principles you guys work on for grip strength?
Why elbow issues can be solved through the shoulder or wrist, not the elbow...
Why the traditional wrist roller isn’t good for ball players, and how to make it more functional...
Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball (and Softball!)

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: http://gohpl.com/napalmpdf

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: http://gohpl.com/napalmvideo

Jeremy Frisch founder of Achieve Performance Training, youth athletic development

“What Do you Think About Totally Shutting Down Overhead Shoulder Development for Baseball or Softball Players?”

Here’s some of what will be discussed:

What do you feel the biggest mistake is when those kids are being trained by strength and conditioning coaches?
What do you think about something like that, where you’re totally shut down any overhead shoulder development for baseball, softball players?
When you do an evaluation of a hang, what do you look at? How long if a player is poor in that, versus is good in that? How long can they hang for?
When you get a kid like that a high school, junior high school on up, what do you do with that kid? Do you have to go back in time, work that out? And how long does that usually take?
“...you had them wrestling or something similar?”
Are you looking to do some franchising or something like that, to where people can have access to that around?
Is there a certain formula like maybe the four or five things that you look for that we make sure in one hour that we're getting done?
Where can people find more about you? And so that's number one. And two, are there anything new? Any kind of projects you're working on right now?
Any other parting thoughts before we go?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/jeremypdf

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: https://gohpl.com/jeremyvideo

Jim Macarelli, hitting instructor and founder of BoomStic

“I’ll have kids doing fielding drills, and then I'll stop and I'll say, I'll have mine up and I'll go you, you and you, you can't touch your toes, can you?”

What we go over:

People just lockstep obeyed the order, instead of questioning it, and going into the science is that about, right?
Give me an example of a cue that you wouldn't use?
When teaching, it goes back to something you said in the beginning, trying to have an open mind, trying to think of different ways...
How do you get the kids to take their work that they've done with you and to actually work on it at home?
To me, I think stay back is a good thing
“I’ll have kids doing fielding drills, and then I'll stop and I'll say, I'll have mine up and I'll go you, you and you, you can't touch your toes, can you?”
BombStic: Why the design and how does that benefit the hitter?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/jimtranscription

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: https://gohpl.com/jimvideo

Rob Bruno, co-founder of NorCal Baseball development program

How to Recruit Like Cal Berkley Football – ‘Our Kind of Guys’

What we go over:

Very unique approach NorCal Baseball took when COVID hit
If people call your program a travel ball program, why is that so offensive?
Advice for players to do, evaluation wise, to get picked to play in your program?
What factors do players need to pay attention to when shopping for college programs to play for?
If player doesn’t have strength and conditioning program, do you guys provide them one?
Where can they find some information on you guys?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/2FQhmhJ

Click short link for YouTube video of interview: https://gohpl.com/2Thp5IL

Danny Cahill, aka HitDr LLC, hitting instructor out of Connecticut, and Northeast hitting director and regional evaluator for Area Scouts

Area Scouts: The “Carfax Report” for Athletes

Here’s some of what will be discussed:

Tell me what the difference is in what you're doing on the scouting side...
Area Scouts: The “Carfax Report” for Athletes
How long has Area Scouts been online with this program?
Program will reveal those effective hitting trainers, and most importantly, those ineffective
Do recruiting coaches get to see a player’s injury report?
Why you should not be training towards the “number”
How the best make more frequent swing adjustments...
What’s real and what’s feel are two totally different things
What are some of those costs with Area Scouts?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/3mjbzB7

Taylor Gardner co-founder of the Backspin Tee, in this Part-2 interview (Part-1 was in Issue #1)

ANSWERED: Most Hitters Want to Pivot OnBack Foot Instead of With the Hip, A KeyTo Prevent That?

Here’s some of what will be discussed:

What is the role of the hands in a swing? Removing the "arm-yness" of youth swings. I struggle getting them to not want to pull the bat forward linearly.
“Because your spinal engine is what dominates our swing, we know that the swing kind of starts inside out not so much ground up...”
“I like to take the weight of the bat completely out of the equation. And let them self-organize by swinging a wiffle ball bat...”
Most still want to pivot on foot instead of with the Hip, a key to prevent that?
“What you have to keep in mind is that there is mobility, ankle mobility issues at work here as well...”
“We like to use the coaching cue of ‘hit it first, rotate second’. And it's just a cue...”
“I fear for the coaches that there's a lot of them out there that don't understand timing or buying time...
BOGO Sale: Buy one Pro Model Tee, and get a Pro Standard Lite FREE!

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/3kLoNFN

Matt Nokes, former 11 year Major Leaguer, 2-time All-Star, and Silver Slugger Award Winner.

Dangers to Performance of Over-Rotating the Lower Half

What we go over:

What’s the Major Benefit to “Staying Sideways”,
What is Making the Hips Turn?
Dangers to Performance of Over-Rotating the Lower Half,
What is Directional Force? And Why is it Important? And,
Around the Zone Drill for Staying Sideways.

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/33XxDcI

Matt Pierce in Houston, Texas, private instructor, Houston Christian High School coach, and works with DFT training facility

“Does the ball go up because the swing goes up? Or did the ball go up because the swing was too steep?”

What we go over:

What kind of advice have you been giving players during this time of COVID?
What advice do you give Seniors in High School?
Do you see any Big Hitting Gems, like could be one or two on hitting Twitter?
Please give some Advice to a New Coach coming into Twitter, what to Watch out for...
“Being able to control your verticals or your horizontal, so your line to line approach on the field, I think is a lost art. Is that something you do with your hitters?”
“Does the ball go up because the swing goes up? Or did the ball go up because the swing was too steep?”
When you’re looking at Evaluating a player for power, what exactly are you looking for?
What are the top one or two drills that you do to help with timing?
What do you see the biggest mistake that some of these coaches are making?
For BBQ’ing, what's your favorite meat of choice? What's your favorite method of cooking it? What kind of rubs are you using? Time on the grill? Give me your best shot.

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/3jrTz6b

Aaron Miles, 9-year Big Leaguer, played for Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals (with Pujols), Chicago Cubs and ChiSox. Career slash line: .281/.320/.352

How to make 95-mph pitching look like it’s 85-mph

Here’s some of what will be discussed:

“...players in dealing with this COVID layoff like to return at the top of their game? What would be your advice in that?”
How Bunting can help players learn how to hit better
How to make 95-mph pitching look like it’s 85-mph
What are the two-mission critical one or two mission critical hitting skills that you think are, that need to be really reinforced in today's game?
How the lost art of “hitting” is disappearing
How to use “tinkering” to get the dial on the right learning channel when teaching hitters
Do the best in the game make adjustments consciously or unconsciously?

Where to find Aaron Miles...

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/3hBjGXu

Jeremy Johnson, well researched hitting instructor in Louisiana

Locomotion, Reciprocal Movement, andMentioning ‘Rotation’ in the Cage will getyou Kicked Out?

What we go over:

Pushing the Hands versus Getting the Hands Connected
What is the Greatest of All Time Athletes Way?
How did GOATA et al. Methodology Increase Ball Exit Speeds by 7-mph?
Teaching Surfers the Skateboarders Halfpipe via Talent Code?
When it comes to Coaching Cues, How Less is More...
If you were to Choose, which would you pick?
Locomotion, Reciprocal Movement, and Mentioning ‘Rotation’ in the Cage will get you Kicked Out?
Where can we find out more about Jeremy Johnson?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/2WMrYUd

Click for YouTube video of the conversation: https://gohpl.com/3jwJZj1

Dr. Joe LaCaze of RotexMotion.com

You Too Can Experience More Flexibility & Better Movement Patterns In 5 Minutes A Day with Rotex Motion

Here’s some of what will be discussed:

What do you Find to be the Biggest Mistake Coaches, Instructors, or Strength & Conditioning Coaches make in training Athletes?
What makes Rotex Different?
The Secret ‘Cat’ ‘Cow’ Rotex Exercise
“Every Single Natural Movement in the Body is some Form of Rotation.”
How Long do the RotexMotion Benefits Stick?
Moving Better in TWO to FIVE Minutes per Day
One Handheld Model: Half the Price of a Metal Bat
10% OFF Discount Code to Apply to Checkout

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/2WH9GUs

Jaime Cevallos of TheSwingMechanic.com

Never Suffer from Hitting Paralysis by Analysis Again

Here’s some of what will be discussed:

What was the Biggest Eye Opener when you came back on the Baseball Scene with Hitting?
What Changed (for better or worse) in the Hitting Community that you Noticed when you came back from Reclusion?
What were Key Aha Moments in all your Research with Hitting Gurus
How do you know what you’re Looking at, if you don’t know what you’re Looking for?
Where can Others get more About your Work?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/2BzFdzO

What we go over:

Best Mental Approach for Hitters in Coming Back from COVID Layoff?
Do you find Young Hitters Nowadays are Visualization Challenged because of Mobile Devices?
What do you feel is the most Underutilized Mental Skill, Approach, or Practice?
How to use the Breath to Lower Game Anxiety
How Building Routines can help Hitters ‘Clean the Slate’
Anything new that you’re Working on Right Now?
Where can we find more about you?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/3etSad5

Retired Major League & Professional Hitter Daniel Robertson

PART-3: “How To Turn Failure To Learn Into Flow That Works For Mike Trout”

Daniel Robertson played baseball at Oregon State, then played 4-years in the Big Leagues from 2014 to 2017 (Rangers, Angels, Mariners, & Indians). 11-years total in professional baseball. 4-year 162-game MLB averages: BA: .262, 2B: 18, OBP: .314, SLG: .328. He is now helping to coach the players at Oregon State.

In this Part-3 expert interview with Daniel Robertson, we discuss:

Opinion on Latest Astros Scandal...
Who would you Rather Pitch to: Hitter Roided out of his Mind or Hitter who Knew What’s Coming?
How are you Working as an Educator, Working with your Players with this Whole COVID Thing?
“With almost reckless abandonment, study and research before you attempt to do something like that...”, and...
How do I Help my Player Understand that Failure is not Life or Death?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/2Tvzm4D

Perry Husband of HittingIsAGuess.com

“Effective Velocity: Adjustable Swing Dies Slow, Hanging the Fastball, & How Jacob DeGrom Cut His ERA in Half by Locating This Pitch in This Location”

What we cover:

What is the biggest mistake you see a lot of hitting coaches make?
What are top 5 MLB and college fastpitch softball teams using EV right now?
10,000- or 30,000-foot view of what EV means?
The death of the Adjustable Swing, Mike Trout case study
Is there such things as a Hanging Fastball?
Coaches, do Perry’s little Hitter’s Attention Experiment...
What does it look like when Pitchers are Throwing balls into Barrels?
Jacob DeGrom Dropping his ERA from 4 to under 2 by Locating this one pitch...

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/2A4ot36

I've been doing research on an upcoming project called The Science Of Sticky Coaching. I did an interview with legendary Coach Bob Bennett (my coach at Fresno State from 2000-2002), and Thomari-Story Harden (founder of Team Avenue Travel Baseball, and an 8-year Los Angeles Dodger Pro), and just thought I'd share it with you.

Sorry, the interview audio may not be the best because we did it in a semi-noisy restaurant over lunch...

Here's a rundown of the questions I asked Thomari and Coach Bennett:

What makes Team Avenue different? Who influenced you?
Have you trained others in your coaching system? Have they replicated your results?
What are the biggest mistakes and myths you see in training (coaching) youth athletes? What are the biggest wastes of time?
What are your favorite instruction books or resources on the subject of training (coaching) your youth athletes? If people had to teach themselves, what would you suggest they use?
If you were to train me for four weeks for the Little League World Series and had a million dollars on the line, what would the training look like? What if I trained for eight weeks?

In this interview, we went over the following:

About 1:20 min. mark, where it all began for me when I started teaching hitters to "swing down". Dark time for my hitters then, and they weren't getting consistent results. My knowledge stagnated at the time. Where everything turned around for my hitters and my system. Book resources included.
About 5:00 min. mark, how to debunk conventional teaching cues using today's technology to test and compare swing mechanics such as Zepp, SwingTracker, and Blast.
About 8:00 min. mark, what is a "sticky coach?" Taking a hiatus from hitting industry teachings, the challenge is translating information from coaches that are very technical to the end user. Can the information be taken from the expert to the coach to the player? The more effective teaches are the ones who can do this. If we can effect the coaches, we can exponentially effect more players. Coach Daryl talks about how doing coaching clinics can be REALLY powerful when it comes to effecting more players. The book we were talking about was: The Science Of Sticky Coaching: How To Turn Ordinary Athletes Into Extraordinary.
About 14:00 min. mark, this interview started when Coach Daryl asked me to answer the following question, which he included in the following blog post: "Do you have ONE TIP to help coaches and parents motivate athletes to commit to training consistently and with intensity…WITHOUT “burning them out”?Read that post because he polled other effective coaches and they gave their responses as well.
About 15:00 min. mark, how to apply the Minimum Effective Dosage model (MED) to young athletes. 4-5 days per week, and 5-mins per day of hitting homework practice. This is outside of organized practice time. Be happy with 5-mins per day. It's not about how many swing you get in a day, it's quality deep practice swings that matter. And when you're dealing with a demotivated hitter, set them up for success with the MED model.
About 19:00 min. mark, Coach Daryl likes to remind his athletes that it's okay to fall off the wagon, if you don't get the MED practice time in. Life happens. Set yourself up for success, by starting small and don't overwhelm yourself early on.
About 21:15 min mark, I talk about Karen Pryor's book Don't Shoot The Dog, using positive reinforcers to inspire athletes to put the work in. I shared the story of the Professor lecturing students 10-mins every day, who didn't turn their homework in...changed to positive reinforcement, and went from only 1/3 of students turning in homework, to three weeks later, 3/4 of students turning homework in. Praising hitters for the days they DO get in, motivates better than lecturing on the days they didn't get in.
About 24:00 min. mark, Coach Daryl shares about his weigh-in struggles with his wrestlers. Coach would tally up weigh-in numbers before practice, get frustrated, and proceed to negatively lecture his wrestlers at the start of practice. This wasn't good, so Coach had his coaches report weigh-ins to him AFTER practice, which freed him up to give a positive motivating speech at the start of practice.
About 26:30 min. mark, how to keep youth athletes from leaving the sport after only a couple years. Coaches "bullying" players. Encouraging athletes to open up communication lines with coach about playing time at the High School level on up. 12u on down is in the parent's court. Dealing with coaches who teach hitting based on conventional wisdom. Using the "bobble-head" strategy. Ask your players at the end of a session: are there any questions on what you're doing, how you're doing it, and why you're doing it? If players understand what they're doing, then contrasting information at practice won't confuse them. They'll be more prepared!
About 36:00 min. mark, talked about the approach a D1 softball player was going to use with her hitting coach, who has a professional baseball background and teaches conventional hitting wisdom. She interned for me this past summer, sitting in and helping out on my hitting lessons, and we worked one-on-one about a half dozen times.
About 43:00 min. mark, coaches have to start asking more questions. Question what they've always been taught. Question what they're learning now. Question ME because I don't mind. The quality of your coaching is directly connected to the quality of questions you ask. Gain knowledge and test.

Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training

here are some time-stamps to help you navigate the interview:

About 2:30 minute mark, Dr. Hanson talks about his experience coaching baseball at UVA and D3 Skidmore College. It's a challenge to find someone who has a PhD in psychology and experience coaching the game at the college level.
About 4:30 minute mark, I talk about how I stumbled upon the first version of Heads-Up Baseball, and how the information helped me cut through the white noise at a time when I felt overwhelmed with hitting mechanics, reading every book I could get my hands on.
About 6:00 minute mark, what were the top two or three things you and Dr. Ken Ravizza changed in the 2.0 version of Heads-Up Baseball? One was this idea of changing "Trust" to "Compete". The purpose of a routine is to compete. Give 100% of what you have right now to the next pitch. Problem right now is players are coming to college with a "showcase" mentality. The importance of hitters being patient AND being aggressive. Thoughts on including quotes and anecdotes from fresh coach and player faces in the book.
About 11:30 minute mark, if you could direct coaches to two concepts in the book, what would they be and why? I liked the "Heads Up Practice" Chapter, but Dr. Hanson suggested "Chapter 2: The 3 Levels of Learning to Compete", Know it, Do it, Own it. He also recommends reading Mike Scioscia's Introduction of the book. The Goldilocks Golden Rule, what's right for the hitter right now (or today - know yourself).
About 18:00 minute mark, Dr. Hanson talks about the importance of having a model to explain the questions that come in about the mental game. He goes into the RAMP-C model: Responsibility - the ability to respond, choose what you focus on, great question to ask: "How did you choose to respond?" Awareness - being conscious of and how you typically respond under pressure or when you're hitting well, extrovert/introvert, how are you feeling right now. Dealing with "yellow" or "red" lights. Mission - what would you like to have happen, purpose or swing intention. Preparation - what can I do to get myself to feel a "green" light, training in the off-season, what am I going to prepare for the next pitch or season. Compete (changed from "Trust") - give 100% of what you have right now to get to win the next pitch. Nobody on the Cubs felt like they had a "green" light for Game 7 of the World Series when they win it. Control, Plan, Trust changed to Control, Commit, Compete
About 30-minute mark, what have you found most valuable utilizing information in this book with your own kids while navigating the craziness of travel baseball, son C.J. is 14yo and daughter Angelina is 11yo. First edition of Heads Up Baseball was before kids, now 20-year reflection period to version 2.0. Before 13/14yo Dr. Hanson wanted to create an environment of fun for his son. Helping kid fall in love with sport. Not constantly picking the kid apart. It's all about Relationship building. No matter the message, if the relationship isn't there, then the message doesn't have its optimal effect. Joe Maddon talked about building relationships as his priority in first 3 weeks of Spring Training with Cubs that first year, was building relationships with players.
About 39:00 minute mark, can you be a coach that can stretch out of being the best at conceptualizing and doing, and get more into understanding relationship. Knowing your players, where they are in life, and how to relate is huge with players.

Unfortunately, the phone recording app I was using cut off another 20 minutes of the interview. Here are some nuggets that were inconveniently left out:

How to change an athlete that has an emotional "red" or "yellow" light from his book Play Big: Mental Toughness Secrets That Take Baseball Players to the Next Level. Using the ABC model:

Act Big,
Breath deep, and
Compete.

Dr. Hanson shared a conversation he had with Reggie Jackson, where he asked Reggie if he was confident all the time. Reggie responded with, "Heck no!" Reggie said he faked it a lot of the time. Act Big.

Dr. Hanson shared a conversation between Mike Trout and Dr. Ken Ravizza. Mike Trout likes to finish his exhale before getting in the box. If he gets in the box without doing that, he steps out and finishes it. That's Breathing deep. Mike Trout also said he likes to stride slow to the plate in order to slow down the moment.

We also talked about where you can find Dr. Hanson online and the socials:

HeadsUpPerformance.com - his coaching and consulting company.
HeadsUpBaseball2.com - Heads-Up Baseball 2.0 book website where you can sign up for a paid subscription which includes the book, monthly training with Ken and Tom, LIVE Q&A video broadcasts, exclusive interviews with top players and coaches, interact with community of like-minded coaches, and more.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tom.hanson.100
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrTomHanson
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DrTomHanson

Play Big: Mental Toughness Secrets That Take Baseball Players to the Next Level

Heads-Up Baseball 2.0: 5 Skills for Competing One Pitch at a Time

Jaime Cevallos Interview (1-hour, 1-min total time for interview)...here are the time-stamps of the audio interview, so you can skip around:

I asked Jaime, "How do you explain to people what it is you do?" Talks about his interest in movement, and how he got invited to Golf's Safeway Open as a swing coach [about 1-min mark]
Talked about how Jaime's book Positional Hitting was a fantastic transition for me from when I used to teach Down & Through. Here's the Jaime Cevallos Four Hour Work Week Blog post featuring him titled: How I Did It: From $7 an Hour to Coaching Major League Baseball MVPs [about 3-min mark]
I asked Jaime, "I understand you started in golf analysis before jumping into the baseball swing...what were your takeaways from golf that made a difference with the baseball swing?" The pain from quitting baseball, made him obsessive about figuring out the swing. Importance of bent back arm impact position of good Golfers - noticed similar thing in baseball. Comparing Ben Hogan to Babe Ruth and how similar their swings were. Learning the "Slot Position" and spotting patterns. [answers about 10-min mark]
The challenge of teaching amateur hitters to hit the ball as hard and as far as you can, and that only fixing ineffective mechanics - or not. Teaching high level mechanics to youth hitters. Player definitely needs to be curious about hitting, hard work not necessarily needed at a young age. How many young hitters would read Charlie Lau's book at 12yo? If teaching doesn't allow hitter to not be robotic, then most likely it's the coaching cue that's the issue. [about 14:30 mark]
I asked Jaime, "A question I get asked all the time is, do you believe the baseball and Fast-Pitch Softball swing are two totally different things?" Differences being reaction time and stride timing...no real difference in what you're trying to accomplish with the swing. Understanding cricket and how golfers don't care about Golf "Ball Exit Speed", they care more about precision and accuracy. [about 21-min, 30-sec mark]
Jaime quote that addresses those coaches that ask, "So how many Big League AB's do you have?" Should we take what MLB hitting instructors say as gospel? Here's Jaime's quote I mentioned in the interview, "MLB hitting coaches are motivated by keeping their job, not developing innovative principles. If they change a franchise player’s swing, and that player gets worse, their name is forever blacklisted. Word will spread that he makes good hitters bad. And regardless of how many hitters he has helped, the one he “ruined” will be the bane of his career. GMs will attach his name with money flying out the window. He can just take a seat next to Jose Canseco in the list of people who will never be offered a contract. Because of this, MLB hitting coaches develop vague hitting methods, appearing to help when the team is doing well, yet standing on no specific method when the team is struggling. It’s common for them to wait until a player on the team gets hot, and associate themselves to that player as much as possible. I’ve seen it time and time again.” We're in a swing instruction revolution. The MLB hitting coaches are catching up. [about 28-min mark]
If you have something of value you can offer to a professional ball player, then go and seek them out in the winter to work with them. It doesn't matter if you have baseball experience, if you have a passionate curiosity for finding out the swing, then go for it! The fallacy credibility indicator of "30 years of coaching"...it's not the year in your coaching, it's the coaching in your years. The willingness to take chances and experiment with your teaching/coaching young hitters. [about 31-min mark]
Jaime talks about his new product the PitchView Pitch Recognition Training Aid. Biggest area of opportunity to solve a problem in a sport. Hitting is four different skills: Eye Hand Coordination, Mechanics, Strength & Speed, and Pitch Recognition. Jaime feels eye-hand coordination is pretty much tapped out. How juggling at a young age helped Jaime's eye-hand coordination, however he feels it didn't help him that much in hitting - more so in fielding. What steroid-era taught us about the Strength & Speed category. Swing mechanics is going through a revolution - opportunity here right now. Pitch Recognition is untapped right now. [about 36-min mark]
The WHY, HOW, and WHAT of the PitchView PR Training Aid. How PR is currently being trained now. Protecting the hitter freeing them up to actively learn how to make their PR better during pitcher's bullpens. Connecting release motion to flight of the ball to hitters movement (timing). Currently working with Berkeley University baseball team as a LIVE case study. Your team record will depend on how effective and efficient your practices are. [about 40-min mark]
I mentioned Dr. Peter Fadde and his Pitch Recognition software GameSense, CLICK HERE for this written interview I did with him. And CLICK HERE for Perry Husband in this interview about his Effective Velocity program on tracking and timing. [about 45-min mark]
Jaime mentions the new book he's working on that will be a fantastic compliment to his last book Positional Hitting. This book will talk more about feel to transition the positions of the swing. [about 48-min mark]
I asked Jaime, "If you could put anything on a ballpark jumbo-tron, in any MLB ballpark, what would you put on it?" Don't give up. What this means to him isn't what you think. Focus on movement - perfect most important movements. [about 51-min mark]
I asked Jaime, "What advice would you give the beginning Positional Hitting Jaime?" He wouldn't change much, but would tell himself not to swing as much. He's someone who wants to perfect the swing, doesn't necessarily enjoy teaching. Swing motion is pretty hard on the body especially one-sided dominant hitters. Raul Ibanez told Jaime at 35yo to save your swings. Jaime's work on Gymnastics now to take care of his body. You need to start swinging from the other side - your body just needs it, and makes your preferred swing better. GymnasticBodies.com [about 55-min mark]

Where you can find more about Jaime Cevallos online:

Twitter: @JaimeCevallos
TheSwingMechanic.com - for the MP30/MP28 training bats

Positional Hitting: The Modern Approach to Analyzing and Training Your Baseball Swing

The Art of Hitting .300

Blog post accompanying this episode:

https://hittingperformancelab.com/improving-pro-hitter-from-75-mph-ball-exit-speed-to-85-mph-in-one-hour/

James Ernest from The Grueling Truth recently interviewed me on his sports podcast episode, “Sports of All Sorts: Joey Myers Author of “The Catapult Loading System” Baseball Hitting Book”. Thanks again James for having me on!

(PLEASE NOTE: the audio isn’t quite the best on my end, since he was interviewing me over the phone.)

I’ve included time-stamps below, so you can freely navigate through the audio interview…ENJOY!

At about 0:10 second mark, James asked me to tell him about the Catapult Loading System (CLS) book, working on the second edition of the book now and new additions to it.
At about 2:40 minute mark, what the Hitting Performance Lab is all about, applying human movement principles validated by REAL science, to hitting a ball, Anatomy Trains by Thomas Myers, The Spinal Engine by Dr. Serge Gracovetsky, Dynamic Body by Dr. Erik Dalton. Base system off higher standard: REAL science, not “bro-science”, data (experiments, stats, etc.) and technology (Zepp, SwingTracker, BlastMotion, HitTrax) are great to measure, test, re-measure.
At about 6:30 minute mark, James asked what the difference between hitting “philosophy” versus hitting “principles”, talk about bowling “bumper” analogy, “Theories” are okay but MUST have a REAL science to back them up, is body-weight a good indicator of batted ball distance? Are athletic “freaks” the only ones who can triple their body-weight in batted ball distance?
At about 10:30 minute mark, James asked me to clarify “body loading”, is the body just a rubber band system? The difference between compression and tension forces and springy fascia, what is fascia and why the secret to consistent power is found in it. How an elite hitter loads these compression and tension forces, the Springy ‘X’ Pattern, and the Goldilocks Golden Rule, how to match the plane of the pitch, not teaching hitters to hit “pop-flies” or ground-balls.
At about 15:30 minute mark, James asked how we teach the Springy ‘X’ Pattern to younger hitters, ‘Showing Numbers’ and “back eye test“, using back elbow for Downhill Shoulder Angle, to get the ‘Scap Row’ we use “hiding their hands from pitcher” cue, “Finger Pressure”, the “Hollow” or “Hunched Position“, head positioning and following the “One-Joint Rule“,
At about 21:00 minute mark, James asked who taught or supported me in this information? Where learning this originated from, self taught, started from trying to fix a chronic knee tightness, reverse engineered the swing through human movement principles validated by science, Aaron Judge and Sierra Romero as great models for an effective swing.
At about 24:00 minute mark, follow up question on the difference between first and second edition of the CLS book, the path to finding the truth to consistency in the swing, how the tens of thousands of coaches reading and applying the principles are getting the same results – if not better – with their hitters that I am with mine! How we improved free agent Professional hitter recently using a wood bat off Backspin Tee, 75-mph Ball Exit Speed to 85-mph in one hour.
At about 28-minute mark, where can people learn more about what we’re doing here at Hitting Performance Lab? Where you can find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, etc., BIG ask from the audience: SHARE, SHARE, SHARE

Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists

Dynamic Body® Exploring Form, Expanding Function

Catapult Loading System: How To Teach 100-Pound Hitters To Consistently Drive The Ball 300-Feet

The Spinal Engine

Retired Major League & Professional Hitter Daniel Robertson

PART-2: “How To Turn Failure To Learn Into Flow That Works For Mike Trout”

Daniel Robertson played baseball at Oregon State, then played 4-years in the Big Leagues from 2014 to 2017 (Rangers, Angels, Mariners, & Indians). 11-years total in professional baseball. 4-year 162-game MLB averages: BA: .262, 2B: 18, OBP: .314, SLG: .328. He is now helping to coach the players at Oregon State.

In this Part-2 expert interview with Daniel Robertson, we discuss more deep mental aspects to the game:

What were some of the one or two major adjustments that you had to make either mindset or training style?
Now as a coach or educator, how are you dealing with the COVID-19 lockdown?
About being “all-in” and willing to sacrifice a swing or an at-bat to make an adjustment…

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/2VAom7J

“How to Train ‘Side Bend’ Like Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, & Ted Williams”

Get ready for an adventure! DISCLAIMER: if you have any minors around, then I don’t advise you let them listen. There’s occasional bad language. It’s a good thing. Why? Because it shows how fired up David Weck is about shielding our youth from easily preventable injuries (specifically the lats and low back). He cares. And unfortunately, this IS NOT the norm in the industry.

That being said, in this expert interview with David Weck, of WeckMethod.com, we discuss:

What is the #1 Biggest Mistake that Coaches make?
44-year-old Olympic Sprinter made Faster? 40yd Dash: from 4.7sec to 4.5?!
Is there a Certification or Training for the RMT Ropes?
How to Deal with the Fragile Male Ego Online
“…So that you Live up Pain Free, you're not Inadvertently Hurting Yourself every Step you Take.”

I think you’re going to love it. In the spirit of move better to perform better.

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/2VUYT7H

Full blog post accompanying this podcast episode:

https://hittingperformancelab.com/attn-college-coaches-covid19-risk-hiding-in-your-recruiting-process/

(CLICK HERE for the full transcription of the interview)

“Little Known Hitting Drills to Get On-Time More Often”

In this expert interview with Taylor Gardner, co-founder of Backspin Tee, we discuss:

Top 2 Timing Drills they do with their hitters (yes, they work with hitters too!)
What Does the “Ride” part in ‘Ride & Stride’ Mean?
The ‘Snap Drill’ & What it means to Hitter’s Timing…
How Does the ‘Ride’ Help Hitter Out with Backspin 2 Tees Drill?
What Does it mean to ‘Buy Time’? And How do you Teach it?
What’s the Difference Between Backspin Tee Pro Deluxe model versus Pro Lite?

I think you’re going to love it! Lots of timing nuggets in their you can use right away, at home.

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/2wFKqUH

Retired Major League & Professional Hitter Daniel Robertson

“How To Turn Failure To Learn Into Flow That Works For Mike Trout”

Daniel Robertson played baseball at Oregon State, then played 4-years in the Big Leagues from 2014 to 2017 (Rangers, Angels, Mariners, & Indians). 11-years total in professional baseball. 4-year 162-game MLB averages: BA: .262, 2B: 18, OBP: .314, SLG: .328.

In this expert interview with Daniel Robertson, we discuss deep mental aspects to the game:

How to Get Out of Your own Way & Make Adjustments,
What’s Your Perspective on Dealing with Failure? What Does that Look like to You?
To You, What Does Motivation and Inspiration Look Like? What’s the Difference?

Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/2Un9qcx