Practice #2

First, make sure you check the right-hand side of the page for today's photo gallery from practice. Thanks to Erin for all her great photos.

Today's practice was pushed back from 9 to 9:30 to take advantage of the dramatic warmup from 31 degrees to 33 degrees. By the time the Mudcats took the field, it felt almost tropical.

There was a heavy emphasis today on some basic baseball fundamentals: throwing and catching. It might sound simple, but it's the foundation of almost everything we'll do. The first throwing game included the losing team having to do 10 push-ups. Colin, who was a member of the winning team, is so ripped he decided to do the push-ups with the losing squad just to make sure he didn't lose any muscle.

After the throwing contest, the All Blacks split into two groups, and half worked on infield drills while the other half worked on outfield drills. Each group rotated to each station, and Coach Brett is at home right now icing his arm after throwing dozens of towering pop-ups.

The on-field portion of practice ended with a basic drill emphasizing good throwing and catching form. Coach Sean reinforced that whenever a player is catching a baseball, he should be moving towards the ball instead of away from it. He also encouraged the players to practice at home as much as they can--even if that just means grabbing a tennis ball and throwing it off a wall (only after getting parental permission to find a suitable wall, of course).

Practice concluded with a hitting session in the cages, with top hand, bottom hand and two-hand work off the tee, plus front toss and live pitching in the cage. The next Mudcat practice is Tuesday at 5:00. Expect it to either: A. Snow B. Rain C. Be below freezing or D. All of the above.