Offseason Work as a Manager

If you're a die hard ball player, you're missing it already. The best thing to do if you fall in to that category: manage a team; November and December give you lots to do.

First off, league meetings and wrap ups happen in November (usually). Nobody has other ball commitments and there is the time to discuss changes and such. It's hard to talk about changes in the spring right before the league starts and in between spring/summer/fall leagues.

The best part of this time of year though, is getting your team set for tournaments in the next year. Planning your tournaments before the year turns over is useful for a number of reasons:

1. Lots of people have to put in their request for vacation time at the beginning of the year. Knowing when a tournament is allows them to make sure they book the required time off for travel, etc.
   
   
2. Tournament organizers have time to answer questions about their tournament and their responses will be received much sooner.
   
   
3. Decisions don't have to be made right away. You can 'sleep on it' for a couple weeks if you have to. There is no rush.
   
   
4. Fundraisers can be planned. You have lots of time to work out what fundraisers you will do and when.

There are a lot more reasons specific to each team, but these should set a good framework for starting some managerial items now. Hang in there slopitch fans, only 5 more months to go.

Batting: On Deck

When you get on deck, there is more to do than to just Swing that bat. The idea of being on deck isn't to just warm up, you could do that from the other side of the fence. When you're on deck, you're getting your timing and watching the pitcher.

What kind of spin is on the ball? What kind of delivery (or deliveries) is he using? Is there any break in the ball? How flat does does he throw it? How many pitches in between flat pitches? Does he have a sequence he's using? These are questions that you need answers to for an effective at bat every at bat, and the on deck circle is your last look.

Often, I will stand parallel to home plate as if I were batting, and I get my timing with the pitcher, swinging as if I was batting. This is also where I can see the top to bottom ball movement where it is harder when looking directly at the ball.

Lineup Boards

As a coach, I love products and tools that do work for me. At the beginning of the season I found an Easton Magnetic Lineup Board online and had my local supplier (Sun Valley Source for Sports) bring it in for me. I love it.

The product is a simple 16 position batting lineup with room for subs and positions. It has magnetic strips for all baseball, fastball, and slopitch positions. It comes with a ridiculous fat tip dry erase, but grab yourself a sharpie and permanently put names on the blank magnetic strips. Write in the male and female names in different colors so that you can easily see mistakes in batting too many guys together.

To get this board, you can google "Easton Magnetic Lineup Board" and get a slew of results. Home Run Sports carries it for only $14.99.