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Baseball's Sixth Tool

by: Mark Gola
en | McGraw-Hill

0071545158  9780071545150  0071545166  9780071545167 

Baseball's Sixth Tool
By Mark Gola




Product Description:

Put your game into overdrive with this complete guide to harnessing your athletic instincts.

In baseball, a five-tool player possesses the five most important skills: hitting for power, hitting for average, defense, arm strength, and speed. But there is one essential skill that brings it all together: the sixth tool. It's that extra something, an X-factor that can make a good player great.

In this fully illustrated, information-packed guide, coach Mark Gola shows you how to use your smarts to channel your instincts, psych out your opponents, deal with pressure, and much more. Whether you're in Little League or heading for the majors, Baseball's Sixth Tool will teach you how to:




Summary: The next level for coaches...creating ballplayers that THINK on their own.
Rating: 5

I got this book a couple of months ago and must say, I am impressed. There are a lot of "Mental Aspects of Baseball" books, but none are as clear and insightful about ways for players to instantly push their game to a new level. Little cues to look for, what to do when you're picked off, how to size up the defense, and much more, covering all aspects of the game.
Baseball is very difficult and requires a lot of practice to master the mechanics of pitching, hitting, and fielding, so much of the literature in the sport focuses on these things. And because even with a lot of practice, the failure rates are so high, much is written about maintaining proper perspectives and postitive attitudes.
This book is a slap at over-coaching and the loss of sandlot play in recent years. It says kids have been playing organized baseball from such young ages that they don't think for themselves anymore. If a coach puts up the 'stop sign' they stop, even when they know they can make it to the next base. They don't bunt or steal without getting the sign to do that first, even when they know it will work. They are afraid of the coaches wrath, and they are not taking advantage of opportunities presented to pressure the defense, to steal on a lazy catcher or a predictable pitcher. They play safe, to avoid making mistakes and their coaches' anger, rather than playing aggressively and using every angle they can to win a game. How do you learn to get a maximum lead if you are not willing to go too far and get picked off once in a while? Coaches need to let the kids play sometimes, not just to win today, but to learn today what they can use tomorrow.

Want your player to be the best he can and make a quantuum leap in his baseball IQ in a short time? Get this book and let the kid have fun abusing all the perfect little robots out there. I have seen this work now, and it is amazing what an average kid with a good baseball head and an aggressive attitude can do even at Varsity High School levels.