The Youth Baseball Edge Podcast with Rob Tong: Coaching | Drills | Strategy

What is the kinetic chain? How does it work with pitchers? Is it important to know? What do we need to know about it? Dr. Chris McKenzie, a board-certified sports & orthopedic physical therapist, goes over these concepts in Part 1 of a three-part (yes, three part) interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about drills for helping a 7-year-old work on his swing with a tee and net setup....

Rob Tong answers 8 more Question Of The Week submission, including some tryout questions, how to help a team frequently striking out looking, how to teach back picks to a 9U team, and more. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by  giving us an honest review & rating  on iTunes!

Rob Tong devotes this entire episode to answering several Question Of The Week submissions and hopefully you can gain something practical & actionable from the answers. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by  giving us an honest review & rating  on iTunes!

How do you help develop competitive toughness in players who aren't by nature that way? There's no silver bullet but Milwaukee Brewers minor league pitching coordinator Jake McKinley shares some pro tips to help us help our players be more competitively tough. Plus Austin Wasserman has the Wass Strength Tip of the Week on kettle bell front rack reverse lunges. And Rob answers the Question of the W...

Milwaukee Brewers minor league pitching coordinator Jake McKinley discusses how to build competitive toughness in youth baseball players. Plus Austin Wasserman has the Wass Strength Tip of the Week on single leg RDLs. And Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to help hitters who adjust to umpires making bad strike zone calls. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by ...

Do details matter? This is baseball, not science, right? Doesn't focusing on details suck the fun out of the game or practice? Highly successful high school coach Trent Mongero of Glyn Academy (Ga) explains the detail he goes through with his players. Plus Austin Wasserman is back with the Wass Strength Tip of the Week on managing athletes with Osgood Schlatter's Disease. And Rob answers the Quest...

The siren call of sexy-looking drills is a temptation to many a coach. We wouldn't want to be called "the boring coach", would we? Fast-forwarding through the fundamentals can be a dominant thought when we want to be "the cool coach." In this episode, Trent Mongero, the head coach at Glyn Academy (Ga) encourages us to focus on the fundamentals and shares his foundational drills with us—drills he u...

We do a deep dive in ground forces to improve hitting. What is "leg-to-leg transfer speed"? How do you troubleshoot? What about coming up with swing mechanics by analyzing swing video? Justin Stone of Elite Baseball Training explains key concepts to help you help your kids improve their hitting. This is Part 2 of 2. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by  giving us an hones...

When we think of improving power in the batting swing, how often does "ground forces" come to mind? Probably never, for most people. So does that mean it's not important? If it is important, how do we tap into it? Justin Stone of Elite Baseball Training shares what he's learned regarding ground forces and how to teach it. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by  giving us an...

What lessons have you learned while coaching in 2018? Now that the year is in the books, it's a good time to reflect back on what transpired and see if there's anything you learned that you may be able to apply in 2019. Rob Tong shares seven coaching lessons he learned in 2018, and Paul Niggebrugge and Trent Mongero share the lessons they each learned in 2018. Please let us (and others) know how y...

We've heard about the mental game but how do we actually apply it to our baseball coaching? How do we make the concept of mental game more practical? Brian Cain, #1 international best-selling author, speaker and coach, helps us with exactly that. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by  giving us an honest review & rating  on iTunes!

When one of your players doesn't feel confident on a particular day—or even throughout a particular season—what do you do? When a kid isn't having the results he wishes he had, what do you do? When you are looking for team leaders, what do you do? Brian Cain, a #1 international best-selling author, speaker and coach, helps answer some of these mental game questions and many others to help you give...

Last time, Rob Tong gave several small tips that can yield big improvements. They were small in the sense that they are minor changes to what you already do for your team. In today's show, Rob gives several big tips that can yield big improvements. This round of tips is "big" in the sense that they will change the culture of your team or program and generally will require a long-term vision and im...

Did you know that if you are traveling from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. and are off-course by just one degree, you'd end up in Baltimore? Small changes can sometimes have big consequences. And sometimes that applies to coaching youth baseball as well. Many times we're looking for that magic bullet that will make our kids enormously better—yet sometimes we just need to make some small, fine-t...

Can pitch recognition skills separate the good batters from the great batters? Can pitch recognition training help overcome some common hitting flaws? Peter Fadde, author of "The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition", explores this and other topics related to pitch recognition. Plus Justin Stone of elitebaseball.tv answers the Question Of The Week about what is the best hitting aid for...

What is "pitch recognition"? How is it different from "vision training"? How do you recognize pitches anyway? Peter Fadde, author of "The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition", shares his thoughts. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by  giving us an honest review & rating  on iTunes!

How do you become an ump in youth leagues like Little League? How do you become a high school ump? College? Pros? What makes a good ump? Brandon Jackson, a long-time and well-respected collegiate umpire, shares his thoughts on these and other umpire-related topics. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by  giving us an honest review & rating  on iTunes!

Ever wonder what an umpire's thinking? What IS an umpire's strike zone supposed to be? Here's your chance to find out. Brandon Jackson, a long-time and well-respected collegiate umpire, explains umpiring philosophies and goes through some commonly misunderstood baseball rules that you might need to know someday. Plus Justin Stone of elitebaseball.tv answers the Question Of The Week about whether t...

How is the health of your relationship with your baseball-playing child? How would you know? Is pushing your child always wrong? Rob Tong addresses these questions and introduces the Open Baseball Journal. Learn ten questions you should ask your player(s) after each season that will help keep your relationship with your player(s) on the right track—or to get on the right track if you've been derai...

If you had $5,000 to spend on youth baseball, what would you spend it on? Pitching coach? Hitting coach? Travel teams for exposure and experience? Strength training? High tech gear? Ben Brewster, founder of Tread Athletics, explains why strength training should be the majority of your budget. This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Plus Justin Stone of elitebaseball.tv answers the Question Of The Wee...

YBE has devoted several sessions to strength training. But how important is strength training anyway? Ben Brewster, founder of Tread Athletics, explains why strength training can help you bust through your current limitations. This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by  giving us an honest review & rating  on iTunes!

Does your batting practice consist of you pitching, one kid hitting and everyone else standing around in the field...while telling the batter to swing level? Josh Rodrigues, assistant coach at Salve Regina University, discusses some modern hitting concepts and practical ways to help your hitters. This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Plus Justin Stone of elitebaseball.tv answers the Question Of The...

What are the hitting philosophies you teach your players? How did you come to embrace those philosophies? And what evidence do you have to support your philosophies? Josh Rodrigues, assistant coach at Salve Regina University, talks about modern hitting philosophies that's backed by stats and research. This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Plus Justin Stone of elitebaseball.tv  answers the Question...

How does brain training for athletes differ from, say, doing a bunch of Sudoku puzzles? John Kennedy, founder and primary neuroplastician of Combat Brain Training, explains more about brain training and how it can benefit athletes. This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Plus Justin Stone of elitebaseball.tv  answers the Question Of The Week about how to help hitters adapt to pitchers with wildly var...

You've likely heard of the mental game of baseball—especially on this podcast. But you may not have heard of brain training, which is different from the mental game. John Kennedy, founder and primary neuroplastician of Combat Brain Training, explains what brain training is and how it can benefit youth baseball players. This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Plus Justin Stone of elitebaseball.tv  ans...