Dec 16, 2002

Next week is it. I'll shut down the secrets for a while. Take a break over Xmas and rev up for lots of new stories and features in the new year.

 

By the way, the "ultimate philosophy" should be changed to a better name, I'm gonna call it the "Hennigar Philosophy" cause that's where I got the idea. From a guy named Stan Hennigar who wrote a book about pitching and coaching on Al Doran's list a couple of years ago.

 

Stan is the father of Jody Hennigar, who is, and has been for years, one of the best pitching/hitting packages in the world. Stan was a pretty good player in his day too, and went on to win several National Championships as a coach.

 

Anyway, that philosophy is introduced next week.

 

This week is all about the fancy stuff that you might need if the other team catches on to your system - which is ridiculously simple.

 

Hennigars philosophy requires that the catcher be very active behind the plate and set extreme targets.

 

It makes sense that the catcher should be one of the most agile players on the team.

 

I think Schellenburg should be a catcher!

How's that for a secret?

 

It's possible that the batter could see where the catcher is setting up and know what's coming.

 

Obviously that's not a good idea - so you need a trick.

 

 

This week's secret:

 

"Have a decoy signal"

 

Your catcher will probably pick up the batter's tendancy to sneak a peek better than you - so the signal comes from the catcher.

 

The easiest and most obvious trick is when the catcher calls for a "change" and then sets the target "high".

 

If the batter was looking, or if a teammate barks out "up", he could be in big trouble.

 

 

Next week's topic:

 

"The Hennigar Philosophy"