Geoff:

Today is part two of our conversation with Dr. Bill Harrison and we’re talking about vision and its role in baseball.

Intro:

Welcome to another episode of the baseball and weekly podcast where we dive into the raw unfiltered side of player development. Get ready for some knowledge bombs with Geoff Rottmayer

Geoff:

Welcome to the Baseball Awakening Podcast I’m Geoff Rottmayer. Tulsa Pitching Lessons Welcome back to the conversation with Dr. Bill Harrison of slow the game down.com. Dr. Bill, he the pioneer in sports performance vision. Yesterday we left the conversation talking about picking up the ball and tracking the ball, so for the people who haven’t listened to that, please go back and listen to that Dr. Bill, to continue in on the conversation. I’m picking up the ball. I think a lot of people were not aware of of what they’re trying to do and I’m trying to reflect back on when I played in them, whether I spent a lot of time trying to walk the pitcher or by spent more time looking closer to where the ball would be released and so maybe they’re the level of awareness that needs to take place for. For hitters to understand kind of where they’re looking at.

Dr. Bill:

No, not really. You need to be aware of everything. Yes, but what do you. What do you really zone in on? Because you really don’t zone in very long and you need to be there at the right time. I mean, let’s. Let’s think about this.Tulsa Pitching Lessons  Each pitch is a half a second, right? I can just select point four, point three, eight, whatever, half a second, and this a major league player that I’ve mentioned at 24 bucks, well a point half a second of 2,400 or 1200 anyway. If you do the math, there’s just only a few seconds in the game. It really need to be paying attention, but those have to be ideally really extremely good and you need to be at the right place at the right time is not wasted stuff to start helpful

Geoff:

from a pitcher point of view. You mentioned not to stare, right? So how did the pitcher who is perceived to be staring a zoning in that at the right time?

Dr. Bill:

That one’s a good one and I will tell you there are individual differences, but a lot of pictures, well let’s, let’s look at it this way. What is it? Let’s take it with a picture is a stretcher. The man on second base pitcher has to identify their target, their area. They want the ball to go. I mean a finite area, but they. Tulsa Pitching Lessons They pretty much have to look away, you know, to check the ban on second base and then they start their action. They may come back around but then they start their action pretty quickly and then they can stay focused on their target the rest of the way. Now to me that’s what the other do when they’re in the windup, which is a, you know, hopefully throw most of the time at least they practice that way and that is they don’t need to keep staring at their target to out their delivery. It’s perfectly fine to look at the target and then as they go into motion, raise their leg to look down at the ground and then look back the I should lead the action, but they don’t have to stay focused on the target throughout. Is that, is that. Does that make sense? Where have sent it?

Geoff:

Yeah. No, that makes perfect sense.

Dr. Bill:

 Yeah, because you’re going to have to do it when they’re holding the guy on the second and probably when they hold the guy on first. So here’s really one of the things that’s been baseball in general is keep the ice and motion, keep a movie, let them move, but you want to make sure, and I guess it really kind of goes back really. I should go back to step one and that is every player, no matter what they’re doing, defense running, innovations, hitting, what is your task at hand? What is it that. What is your real task? Because that tells them what to focus on and a lot of them don’t know really what the task at hand is. I would say as a hitter, I mean not ask this question to thousands of players and it’s good to ask them when you go into what your task was to get a hit or it’s too dry. The runner in it’s to, uh, you know, a home run, whatever, uh, uh, no, that’s not your task. That’s desirable. We usually have, you know, good things, but they’re there. That’s a goal. What their task is is to see the ball really well, make solid contact or take the pitch properly. Invite 10. You see the ball really well, make solid contact or take the ball properly. Now, pitching what is my task, my task is just to a quality pitch to a specific target and I should focus on the things that helped me do that. A base running, what’s your task? It’s to see the picture and if I’m moving, it’s too. I’d always found going to steal is to see when he’s moving home and I take off. I don’t wait till the ball’s halfway. I take off because he’s committed to going home, but it’s identifying what’s the earliest indicator? What’s the earliest thing that is a part of your task at hand and then react to that?

Geoff:

 Yeah.

Dr. Bill:

Well, yeah, it’s, yeah, it’s automatic. I mean, and the thing is they might, because you get so many variable answers, it’s amazing and uh, you know, someone might have a pretty good idea. So I just say, well, but usually what you’re focused on is our goal. I mean, you ask them what their task is. Just throw a strike or hit a line drive. No, that should go. What’s the task that allows you to accomplish your goal?

Geoff:

Hey Man, I got, I got great vision. Says I’m good. But what they don’t realize that they’re the different between, they’re the different between sitting in a chair and the ball moving 90 miles an hour and you’ve got to focus and the depth perception and all that stuff. So being able to see lighter than a chair, it’s not the same as hitting a 90 mile an hour fastball moves.

Dr. Bill:

I would say this, if you have a player that’s not responding to your coaching and not performing well, I would make sure he has at least 20 slash 20 eyesight equal in each Ai. That we’re just desirable. That is equal. And the two eyes, and I’ll explain why in a moment, uh, now, uh, ironically, uh, this may sound a little complicated, but I’m not a big believer in dominant. Dominant eye is about really is not a job in a day. What is the aiming so dominant die when it’s been determined by any, any player, by any doctor. Whatever it is, I need to aim a gun with a, the aim, anything with a. and it’s not necessarily the dominant eye. The dominant value is determined by the brain and it’s possible I might aim with my right eye, but my brain pays attention to my left eye. And so here’s a complicated understanding, but the, those players with the best eyes for baseball, their brain does not have a preferred I. It uses both eyes and both eyes feed the brain. And when the, when they feed the brain correctly, that’s when they see slight changes of velocity. Now, the key to slight changes seen cheese’s velocity is, I guess timing that gets visual timing and uh, it gives a natural ability if you can see the slight changes of speed or pitches because even the pitcher doesn’t intend to change the speed, but they hold the ball differently from pitch to pitch. There might be two, three, four miles. Our, our difference of a pitch, even though the pitching motion looks the same. So the best hitters in my experience, including George Brett, got to where they could see slight changes of the last d. and they were known for great timing. And I could mention a number of players at this time. Most players on the other hand, in other words, the majority of players, their brain does not pay attention to both eyes simultaneously. Uh, it might be 20 slash 20 in one eye and 20 slash 20 in the other eye. But the brain has a part of the decision making here. And it says, I just habitually don’t like to pay attention to my left eye if I don’t have to. And then they send, it becomes a one eyed hitter. Now there’s many in the one nine hitters can become very good hitters with great mechanics and they hit the fast ball quite well. Tulsa Pitching Lessons Uh, not necessarily the superior fastball, but a good fastball. They could become very successful. This guy, it a ton of home runs rbis, and he might be a very, very good here, but he’s clearly a fastball hitter and a is not very good at breaking pitches or off feed or slight changes. The speed, uh, that’s a hard one. I’m not many eye doctors know how to identify what I just described and therefore it’s very difficult to say cart blanche, here’s what you do, but you can do it as a coach. You can know this guy is really great. I could, if, if we’re getting fastballs, he’s really right on time, but if we have a guy that might not be a very good teacher because his release points are not good, are not consistent, uh, and, and this really good hitter doesn’t hit that guy or the guy that goes to change, which obviously a lot of guys struggle with the church, uh, that is really based on how well the brain uses the two eyes together. And this is not meant to be a self promotion, but I do believe we’re, we, uh, in our company called slow the game down, which is online under www dot slowed the game down. We have products that are trainable training products that can train that ability to be better. And even George Brett wasn’t very good, but George follmer got training and he got to where he could really use the two eyes together and therefore be able to see slight changes in speed. And his timing was impeccable

Geoff:

up. The, the doctors like Dr Bill, who’s one of the bad. They’ve not been able to help specifically baseball player Ditech, whether they’re using their eyes correctly and whether their eyes are kind of giving them a chance and really everyone can improve, but do be able to detect whether you’re either, whether you’re either working in, allowing them to be the best that they can be.

Dr. Bill:

We actually see the players who are better than 20 slash 20. They may be 20 slash 15, there might be 20 slash 10. The actual vast is remarkable. It’s like they’re 28. I mean these guys can see like insoles, but the brain can’t use the two together. Now, uh, let me, let me mention a couple of things. First of all, players want the best shoes. They want the best clubs, the best path to go along with the best instruction. And uh, and all of that’s great. And obviously they are remarkable in their ability to really get their bodies a stronger and more flexible and all those things. The same thing is with the eyes. Tulsa Pitching Lessons There’s certain things with the eyes it can be improved. And, uh, one of the things you asked earlier about, you mentioned earlier about not all eyes are the same, well, what is a visual reaction seemed how accurately, not necessarily clearly one is see something, but how fast they see it and how fast we’re able to transfer that into their feet, into their hands. So it’s a, it’s, it’s, it’s all part of the reaction time and it’s improvable. Uh, some people are naturally incredibly good, but almost everyone can get better with a little bit of effort. So that’s kind of been our orientation is, you know, we don’t know you’re going to be the best in the world. The best player I’ve ever evaluated and I never will forget, was barry bonds. Barry has a matey had amazing visual capabilities. I remember finishing with him a one long day and the general manager of the team said, thrift. I’d seen a lot of players that fish. So this was 1986. And he said, uh, was there anything that stood out? I said, well, and honestly, most of the players were very good. I said, there’s one that was absolutely amazing. And uh, he says, yeah, I said Barry Bonds before I said that too. I said, I, I, I know he’s got amazing vision comparable to Tony Gwynn. Uh, George Brett, Hal McRae, a rod carew. When I said this player, I don’t know how good he wants to be. I said, if he wants to be good, he’s going to be phenomenal. He said it was a very, well, I didn’t know that I was that much gesture, but I think very, besides being physically, uh, you know, mechanically maybe the best skater ever, it was the best visually. I mean he was better than George because everyone knows, you know, he could see pitchers, recognize them, take them, and never pull the trigger until he sort of itchy wanted. We use the most disciplined visually and mentally and physically. Uh, even if he never hit home runs, he was amazing.

Geoff:

What did that made you say that? This.

Dr. Bill:

Okay. First of all, if I had to take one, one case, I call it scary oxys or it’s called stereopsis. I didn’t even dead stereo acuity, which is a high level of depth perception. But related to that is having it not just in good lighting, but in poor lighting, in dim lighting, so we call the contrast sensitivity and some people can see things in the, in when it’s not very well lit incredibly well. And that was, that was, uh, that was very, uh, some have to have great lighting or they don’t see, well, that’s one of the fallacies of I tested in doctor’s office. It’s just black on white. But in the baseball field, there’s nothing that’s black on white, there are shades of color, shades of gray, uh, and, and some people don’t do so well and that occurs a very good. Tulsa Pitching Lessons Now the other is, it really is, even though we talked about all these things, it’s really about how the eye muscles work. There’s seven muscles on each eye and almost every person, the seven muscles work really well, almost everyone. Tulsa Pitching Lessons But using the two eyes together, the 14 muscles, a lot of times there’s something that just isn’t right for one reason or another, and it could be identified. It can be almost always resolved. And Jeff and I may take this moment, uh, you know, I’ve been so fortunate, a truly there was very little in 1970 about how to get the eyes better, to be a player, to be a better performance. We had to work our way through this. But here we are quite a few years later and I’ve learned a lot. I keep learning every year. But one thing I’m going to tell you, I’ve learned, I wish I’d have known long time ago is all of this that I’m talking about is predicated on a healthy brain. And unfortunately the reality is there’s a lot of brain injuries because we all know and you know, we think a concussion where a guy is knocked out, but there’s a lot of head injuries that aren’t that severe by any means. And almost everybody, you know, they shake it off and they say, well, I’m okay. And they may go to the doctor and the trainer and go through the concussion protocol to, yeah, you’re fine now or take a week off. We’ll test you again two weeks and you’re fine. You’ve passed the concussion protocol. But I’m here to tell you, most of the guys who had a head injury and gals who had a head injury and had to go through the concussion protocol, their eye muscles and the visual centers of the brain do not work properly for quite some time in some never until they go to some very rigorous training to get it functioning correctly. That in almost all cases they can recover. They could even get better than they were before, but a lot of times it takes specific training. So it’s a, there’s a lot of complexity in this game and that had not going to occur, you know, sliding into second base and getting hit, you know, hitting the head on the nea, the second basement or whatever. And sometimes they’re not reported, but this is why it’s so darn complex. You can have a player doing everything performing well and then it’s like they’re not the same player again. And sometimes these hidden factors contribute to it.

Geoff:

Definitely a big part of that.

Dr. Bill:

It’s a sport. Baseball is fabulous and it’s tough, but it is incredibly tough at times.

Geoff:

And going back to Barry Bonds, Barry Actually worked on this stuff.

Dr. Bill:

yes he did, he

Geoff:

and as someone from the outside, we see them all the time, we see them working on the mechanics, but there’s a lot of things that we don’t see. Envision training. Definitely something that we don’t see thos guys do very often.

Dr. Bill:

And you’re right with Barry. Barry Barry was unique more than just about any athlete he wanted to be. She wanted to make. He wanted assurance that he was clearly the best at this. I mean, whatever it was, he wouldn’t be the quickest one to tell. Time wouldn’t be the quickest one to do anything. He had this competitive nature and, and you know, Tulsa Pitching Lessons I don’t know how you’re trained that genetic short, probably part of it. Uh, but yeah, he was unusual. Now let me mention another thing. I’ve had a few players who had extraordinary eyes. I’ve told them, um, and, and you know, my, most of my experiences with professional guys, so, uh, I, uh, do see college players, high school players through the years, but most of them been professional guys. And occasionally I’ll see a guy at all say, oh my goodness, he’s exceptional. Tulsa Pitching Lessons And they never ever perform well. Now why? Well, I think there’s a couple of reasons. One is I think that most of the non performers think too much and they’re thinking it’s like driving down the highway. They’re thinking about everything in the world and they don’t see what’s going on on the highway. They miss her turn, uh, you know, they forget to stop and pick up something. I say that everyone still listing has had that experience where your eyes are open, they’re looking straight ahead, they’re capable, but the brain is elsewhere and you don’t see. And I think that happens to a lot of players who are, who really have phenomenally good eyes and uh, and so thought stoppage. Getting them to get to where they don’t think is a real critical step. Uh, the other, some of them are just so natural. I, I, this is a wonderful guy. I mean, he’s a great guy. I remember seeing a Adam done when he was about 19 years, 20 years old, a Cincinnati reds. It was about 1996. And, uh, he had not yet signed. And he’s trying to make a decision whether he was going to go back and play quarterback at University of Texas or he was going to sign with the rich. And so they have a jet boat Nag me, evaluate a Adam. I remember upstairs and uh, in the, in the clubhouse. And uh, I, when I was finished, I went to Jim Bowden, the general manager. So he did the sky, the key to the city. I mean he’s, he’s, uh, barry bonds. He’s whoever he wants to be and that Adam had the vision capability to be a phenomenal hitter, which at times it was, but it was so good. He was so natural. It didn’t have to work at it. And I don’t think, uh, Adam ever really how to best use his eyes and his body. I don’t think he ever learned how to pick up the ball out of the release point and how to track it effectively. But without knowing anything, he did it successfully 40 slash 50 times a year where he did 40 slash 50 home runs. Tulsa Pitching Lessons But I think added done could have been a, maybe not as good as buried, just about as good as barry bonds if he hadn’t been as disciplined, but he didn’t have the need. It’s like a, he’s a, he’s a great guy, he’s a happy guy. He really was very successful and he didn’t have the burning desire to be great. Like George had the burning desire to be great because, uh, he wanted to be better than his brother and Barry I think would be better than his dad. So sometimes there’s issues that impact where they get the most out of what you’re capable of.

Intro:

Receive a Baseball Awakening decal by subscribing on itunes and leaving an objective review, to claim your decal screenshot and email it to Geoff@baseballawakening,com That’s g e o f f@baseballawakening.com. And we’ll get that your way.

Geoff:

Yeah. So when you look at today’s game, the strikes out or getting up there, you know, the pictures are better than they’ve ever had. Um, you know, so we’re not used steam. The type of velocity and that type of pitching. Now what, what are your thoughts on today’s game?

Dr. Bill:

Well, a couple of days I have no problem with the great emphasis on race, body mechanics and some of the things that have been learned and don’t want to pick on one element, but obviously the common term in the last couple of years has been launch angle, but I think some of these capabilities have to become natural edit for hitters up. They’re thinking about getting the right launch angle or drag on the swing. He didn’t have the right launch angle. Uh, he’s probably not going to have his focus on seeing the ball correctly so they can be a distraction. It can, they can get him off course, I guess is what I’m saying that that’s one thing. Uh, the other thing about today’s game is, uh, I’m, I’m not overly impressed with the pitchers. Velocity’s a, yeah, they’re throwing fast. They’re throwing hard. Tulsa Pitching Lessons But, you know, in, in fast pitch softball and particularly on the men’s game, on an international level, hitters have less time to hit a ball that our major league baseball players have time to hit a ball because it’s all about time. We start velocity. It’s how much time for inside the ball’s released. And uh, the balls were hittable if you see the ball really well. Uh, one of the players that I’ve enjoyed working, I enjoyed working with, uh, many years was Mike Sweeney with Kansas city royals. And Mike, uh, uh, I, I can’t tell you exactly the year it wasn’t, but about five, six years ago was picked up by the Philadelphia phillies. Uh, now that I think about it, it might’ve been seven, eight years ago, but what was it picked up by the phillies in the final month or two of the season? And I remember he was like 38, I believe at the time. Thirty seven. And uh, he had, uh, uh, my mind slipped here, the, the, uh, the fast pitching closer for Cuba. Uh, uh, yeah. Chapman hundred, two mile an hour fastball in the playoffs. And here’s the 37, 38 year old guy, they hit a rocket off of it. It’s doable, but he had to see the ball really well. It’s, I mean it’s really demanding on seeing the ball exceptionally well. So with increased pitching velocity, hitters have got, get you gotta get more solely dedicated to seeing about they cannot be thinking and they cannot be feeling their body. They got to go and natural natural capability and you know, they, they practice all of that. So it becomes automated if it will.

Geoff:

The guy that you saw the other day, 10 percent of the time and obviously you, you might not get to a point where you see the ball well a hundred percent of the time, but what is right? Right?

Dr. Bill:

Well let me say something, if that was the emphasis when you were five years of age, six years of age, 10 years of age 14, 18, 20. You might get pretty close to it. You might get pretty close to it. The problem is all the emphasis on all the other stuff that makes it less important. And if you make it important, make. And here’s why it’s important. I’ll guarantee you if, uh, if I were to play today, Tulsa Pitching Lessons I would make it number one critical issue for me and here’s why. If I can see the ball coming out of the hand and I can, if I see the ball coming out of the hand, I probably will never get hit and hurt. It’s going to protect me if I see the ball coming rial the hand I see it’s trajectory and I know whether I should be turning away or what I should be doing. So, uh, I think that this kids get about two to play little league and you know, other other youth league plane, they don’t know how to see the ball. And I think a lot of them are just scared because they have no idea where it was coming from. And rightfully so. They probably get hit. So for self protection, I think it ought to be taught how to take up the ball early.

Geoff:

No, I agree. Dr. Bill and I get better every year. Then learn more that this has to be a big bulk at the time. And they kind of go hand in hand and if we and improve our time, me and then the swing and fling, you know, at least we have a chance to see the ball and timing. And those are the same. Now a bass playing on time have the chance.

Dr. Bill:

Well let me give you a one, two sons, two, 1311 and he does a great job training them, getting them trained. But the 13 year old is very gifted. He’s got very good eyes and I have no doubt that he shouldn’t be continually successful. The 11 year old is an exception. He might even be a better athlete, Tulsa Pitching Lessons but I wise he’s one of about one percent, maybe two percent of all children, of people who who have a nerve issue with the muscles of the eyes that heretofore no doctor knows how to try it. I mean, I don’t know how to train this. It’s a, it’s a nerve. Is it a, it’s even hard to identify, but the nerve is not working right. Therefore the muscle doesn’t work. Right? So here’s what I know about this kid. He will never be able to see all pitches, breaking pitches and changes speeds and have any kind of timing. He can be a great fastball here and that’s what he needs to learn is my eyes are geared to be a fastball. That’s all I can do now. So what does that mean? Did you better get very. He better get very good at recognizing the pitch early. He needs to recognize the pitch coming to other pitchers hand. So if it’s fastball, he’s on time and he’s there, but if it’s something else, he’s already in the tape because he doesn’t want to be chasing us steep pitches because then the opposing coaches are gonna take advantage of it even more. So if he takes in, spits on that change up or that break into, it’s like, well, I don’t know what I’m going to do with this guy and now they throw the fastball. He hits it again. So the guy that can only fundamentally see the fastball, he needs a really big good fastball recognition and ability to take every other pitch and have a better opportunity to, uh, you know, I, I’d say at least two high school I’ve been able to be competitive, know why get tougher in pro ball, probably will have been a player in provost successful treat a couple, but I really haven’t had a real successful that have that type of issue because he’d get weeded out a good one. I don’t know that I have left. Uh, I mean, I, I wouldn’t. Uh, Gosh. Well that’s a good question. Tulsa Pitching Lessons First of all, using the eyes on a smartphone is very dangerous job. Shocker. And there’s a couple of reasons. What is, is the focus up close is not what a baseball players should be doing. A lot of negative enough to do the studies, but they shouldn’t be locked in a course or the video game hours on here. And there’s damage to the vision that can occur. Some of which can be resolved. Some of which can. Biggest problem is in. This is a whole. I could probably talk in an hour or two on this. Blues White is what makes a flat screen work, which is a smart phone or tablet or a flat screen tv or flat screen computer, but up close, holding a phone just a few inches on the eyes. The, the, uh, blue light comes out of those phones and it does lots of negative things to the eyes and the brain. The first thing on the brain is disrupt sleep and the quality of sleep can really be affected, particularly when one looks at the blue lighted screen a little bit. That’s what it’s called, blue light. When they looked at the screen, say after 8:00 at night, uh, they may not sleep well at all, which then lack of sleep can influence her performance and it can certainly influence the way they practice because they’re tired or lazy. Um, but the blue light in the bigger picture can burn cells in the central vision. Can we call the Folia? The folia has for called cone cells and it has tons of, I forget, 7 million or something like that, but they could get altered by blue light permanently in never recovered. Doesn’t happen overnight, but it certainly can happen over x amount of time. And the irony is it’s more dangerous. The younger one is if they’re 20 years of age, it’s not quite as dangerous as it is for a 10 year old, but it’s more dangerous than it is for a 30 year old. So if I go back to the video games, ideally if they looked at from a distance on a computer on the TV, I think there’s some benefit by getting, uh, the experience of looking for details, just noticeable differences, quick recognition, uh, those are skills that need to be improved and they can be approved, uh, various ways and the video games can have some benefit there. So I guess it’s everything, just like everything. There’s strengths and there’s weaknesses or there’s benefits and there’s negatives, but the Bruin light is something everyone should become accustomed to because we may have a horrible recognition 10, 20 years from now that the blue light that started availability, you know, in the two thousands, a flat screens weren’t available to, I don’t know, two. Oh, five or two. Oh, eight, 10. And uh, obviously the, they proliferated across the world and uh, that there, there may be some real, a price to pay before law.

Geoff:

It is scary. It is scary, man. This is some great information. I need to find a way to incorporate that into my trunk or my, my kid training routine. How much time, you know, because everybody blamed time and the reason not to do something. So how much time should be dedicated to the vision training to have an impact?

Dr. Bill:

Well, first of all, please understand a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing, just about everything. So I can think I knew how to teach hitting or pitching or base running, but I have the knowledge and I, I actually do more harm than I do. Good. In the same thing, own training the eyes, a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous. Now, uh, I’ve been at it too long to have enough energy to fulfill a when I’ve described, but there needs to be coaching clinics and there will be coaching clinics so that some of this knowledge can be increased dramatically. Uh, not just discussed with what I do here are picked up in a book, but really get some hands on experience. Tulsa Pitching Lessons Uh, my partner is my son, Ryan Harrison. He’s worked with him for 20 years with lots of major league clubs, a lot of colleges and he does train players. Primarily. He will train coaches and expects to Nice to have a certifying clinics where coaches are certified on how to do the training and how to get the best results, what to do, what not to do. So, uh, information that can be attained through slow the game down.com, uh, or slow the game down on facebook or instagram or a twitter, slow the game down and he’ll be making announcements of the availability of those. Some on the west coast, somewhere around the country. Uh, but I think that starts with coaches now. The next thing is I think if it’s no more than five minutes a day to a flyer, they should develop something on scene. So what I would do is if, depending on the way I have my practice work out or whatever, I think hitters need to stand in the both in and see pitches a lot more often from close up. Now they don’t have to be in the batter’s box, isn’t pitchers wild. Even if they get behind the catcher and he get into hitting position or get behind the screen and just work on seeing pitchers, they’ll get better. Hitters do not see an pitches. They just absolutely expecting them to hit in games and they don’t have much experience of seeing touches. They need to see a lot more pitch balls and they’ll get better even if they don’t know exactly what to do and they’ll get better. Uh, I don’t know. It’s better than nothing, but I’d rather see it live. Yeah. Let me give you an idea. When did the things that is not utilized enough is a working on seeing the ball playing catch, play, catch with the partner you outta see literally where the fingers are on the balls it’s released and how the ball is spinning and the direction to spend the rate of spend and all you’re doing is playing catch and you’re not trying to get hit

Geoff:

be more pitches than anybody and why do you not use that time to work on picking up the ball and working on even though you know where to come and probably the best scenario that you know what’s coming the now you can work on kind of leading the shape and the pattern.

Dr. Bill:

So let me ask you this. How many times do a catcher?

Geoff:

Yeah, I see where you’re going with that.

Dr. Bill:

Well, that’s a head injury and just so you don’t. Some can tolerate more than others, but you never know who can’t, so now they don’t end up seeing as well. They might see well enough to still catch, but maybe not well enough to hit while we’re on this. Tulsa Pitching Lessons How many empires get hit directed the mask with a foul ball? How well do they handle it? Most of the umpires are not because of their vision and their brain might not be as in depth position to handle that knock as well as a catcher. But you’re both in flunched yeah. Well, I know it’s, it hasn’t been thought and I didn’t do the years. Think about it until more recently. And so Ryan Harrison actually is training Ncaa softball umpires and uh, it’s amazing how well they don’t see the ball because they’d never been trained. And on top of it they have vision problems even trying to do it

Geoff:

right.

Dr. Bill:

So layoff the empire. Darn it.

Geoff:

Would you suggest that them go learn how to see the ball hands best as they could?

Dr. Bill:

Well, that’s important, but it might not be the highest priority tracking the ball, uh, probably 20 feet from the, from the catcher’s glove, and they see the rest of it way in the peripheral vision, which is inaccurate. Tulsa Pitching Lessons And they need to learn how to crack the ball into the glove. And you can do it. They can do it. They just need to learn how to do it. That’s fine. I graduated them, track the ball the last 20 feet into the glove, that and, and having an awareness of the strike zone. Then the, uh, focused on picking it up out of hand initially.

Geoff:

That’s a good point otherwise. Right,

Dr. Bill:

right, right.

Geoff:

Dr. Bill, I learned a lot today and I hope our listeners got a lot out of it too.

Dr. Bill:

Well, I hope I didn’t confuse you, Geoff. Tulsa Pitching Lessons Very complex. Uh, I will tell you this, ready when this listing, I’ve been studying it for over 50 years and I learned something every year. It’s like, Oh, I wish I’d have known that, but you just kinda have to realize it’s important and keep, keep plugging your knowledge based on what you see and what you experienced.

Geoff:

Dr. Bill, sir, I really appreciate your time. Again, I learned a lot.

Dr. Bill:

Do all your coaches. I wish you will be. The coach is such an important job. Uh, and sometimes it’s sort of relegated to pick it up, balls or whatever, but it really has an influence on young people’s lives and can be very, very positive. And usually is,

Geoff:

yeah, thank you again and have a good day.

Dr. Bill:

Okay. Well thank you. Thank you for talking to me and thanked everyone just listening

Outro:

I am Geof Rottmayer and thank you for listenting to our conversation on the baseball awakening podcast. Stay tuned for our recap show tomorrow.