r/Homeplate • u/New-Information-5113 • 1d ago
Question Got to learn quick!
So, let's get right to it. Never played a lick of baseball in my life, but going into my second year of university here in the UK, and my university is making a team for baseball. I'm gon try it and hopefully get good at it too! So what's some stuff i got to know at the start and the main thing im thinking is where to play and how in the hell do they hit the ball. Thank u!!
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u/Ctrecruiter2018 1d ago
Throw throw catch catch.. if solo, find a stairs or wall.. I’m guessing you haven’t used your hand-eye as much…
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u/gpisces 1d ago
See if there’s a batting cage anywhere nearby and if anyone could give you a lesson or pointers after seeing your technique. Good luck and hope you have fun!
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u/We_R_the_Penguins 1d ago
I’m really curious how many batting cages there are in the UK.
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u/Jetter23x 1d ago
Hello! Where in the UK are you? Regardless, I would recommend watching some games on tv/youtube. Luckily, MLB posted a lot of their games in full on YouTube, which you can learn how to search for in this post.
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u/lkhoodwin 1d ago
I would go get a wiffle ball bat and ball. You only need 1 friend to be able to play. The bats skinny so if you can hit with the skinny bat, you'll hit a baseball fine. Even if the baseball thing at your university doesn't work out, you'll have still gotten the opportunity to play some high level wiffle ball.
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u/pitchingschool RHP 1d ago
throwing and catching are the major ones. And it's not even because those are the most important skills. They're relatively easy skills to develop, but baseball is very punishing if you don't have a baseline of those. You can get away with being slow and you can get away with not having a strong bat. If you cannot throw a ball more than 50 feet and you can't catch a ball coming towards you 100% of the time, you will struggle
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u/Betterfly83 20h ago
In terms of physical preparation, trains a lot on sprinting: in baseball it is essential to start from a standstill and manage to run about twenty meters as fast as possible.
In terms of technical gestures, as for throwing there is a very simple way to train it: go on a lawn and see how far you can throw it. Ideally there should also be a wall to use as a target to try to direct it in the right direction.
I can't explain to you in writing the wrist action and hip action you need to use to maximize power and speed in the throw, but there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube that can help you.
As for batting, here if you don't have a minimum of equipment it's tough because unfortunately you need it: just remember that it's not the arms that have to go looking for the ball, but that it's all based on the rotation of the torso.
It's much more complex than that but, reducing everything to the bone, I could tell you that you have to hit the ball by rotating your torso, the arms only move at the last moment before impact because for the rest it's just rotating the torso quickly (around an imaginary pivot) to get to hit the ball with all the weight of your body.
These are generic tips valid for all positions, the truth is that you will discover which is the role you feel comfortable in only by trying them all: me and my best friend started as second basemen and he feels great there while over time I became a catcher 🤣
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u/Charming-News8253 1d ago
I'd say make it fun. If it's your universities first year with a baseball team they probably aren't expecting much. The better you are the better your team does. And the more time you put in the better you'll be. So instead of trying to drag yourself to the fields everyday find something you want to do to make it fun. Don't feel like throwing on an off day? Swing a bat. Don't feel like swinging a bat, go for a run.
Second, watch MLB, college games, little league world series. Doesn't matter. If you can go to local games that's even better because the camera won't always show where the players are on different hits and plays, etc.
Few people realize this, but baseball is a game about speed. The faster you swing the bat, the further the ball goes. The faster you throw the ball, the more likely you'll get the out. The faster you run the bases the more likely you'll make it safely. The faster you run down a hit ball on defense the more likely you'll make the play.
GLHF