7/12/12

Hello and welcome to PURE Baseball!  My name is Bill Hutton and I am one of the organizers and founders or PURE Baseball, along with Brian Yocke. We are entering into a new era at PURE after 2 years of running a fall training program for aspiring baseball players.   Our #1 goal  is to help families pursue a vastly improved understanding of the great game of baseball. We hope to teach the game from an on the field coaches perspective. We want to do more than work with hitters and pitchers, we want to work with fielders and catchers and teach the art of base running and the essential elements of a “good at bat,” as well as many other topics that usually are not broached unless you are in an intense team environment. We want to help baseball players know what it takes to succeed at the high school level, and beyond. We want to help current high school players stay sharp and understand what effort and skill set is needed to play at the college level. We want to be an affordable resource for all your baseball needs, a one stop-shopping place to improve, learn, and have fun.

Hopefully this blog can be a place where parents and players can learn about the realities of high school and college baseball and hopefully produce some “water cooler conversations” about the topics discussed. I hope to be able to answer questions and provide insight into the world of youth baseball from a high school coach’s perspective. Hopefully, this is a blog you want to check often for any new information

I have been a math teacher and baseball coach at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose since 1981. I have been fortunate enough to have coached and brainstormed with some of the legendary coaches in our area and have been fortunate enough to have been mentored by them.

I think that as youth baseball has moved from the cozy world of address based baseball to the frenetic world of club baseball our sport and landscape has changed. Players are playing more games and receiving more and better instruction. We are seeing the skill level of individuals become higher faster and be documented and promoted more. We are seeing families spend thousands of dollars as their children play year round baseball and travel up and down the state and even around the country. Cottage industries have grown and many, many people are “teaching” baseball to anyone and everyone. Parents options are much broader than even as little as 5 years ago. Baseball is exploding in our area and our country, but it is also changing. It is becoming more of a “club” sport that not everyone can afford to play. This saddens me because the overachieving, undersized, determined athlete has a long history of succeeding in baseball later in their playing days. The young man that dominates in Little League often is passed by the once tiny boy that grows and blossoms and “plays the game the right way.” We are in danger of losing that boy as baseball becomes more of a “What can you do for me right now?” sport. We have to find a way to preserve that overachieving, scrappy, determined style of ball while not discouraging boys that might blossom a little later.

I also strongly believe that parents really want what is best for their children and should not be faulted for that, but applauded. We all know what a healthy diet consists of and make our choices accordingly. We can get great health care from physicians that we trust. We know where to go to get information on schools and academic programs. We know what toys are best for our kids and what TV shows and movies we want them to watch. We also want what is best for them in their athletic experiences. I am finding that in baseball, it is not easy to know where to go to get the best and most honest advice and instruction. Parents are bombarded with opportunities for their young baseball player. But what is the best choice for teams and leagues and lessons and camps? I think it takes an educated eye to sift through the myriad of choices and make the choice that is best for your child. Parents can not ever be faulted for trying to do what is best for their children, and in baseball there is pressure at a young age to play for the right team and have the best private coach and get ready for that “next level” whatever that level might be. I hope to be able to add some clarity, based on my experience, to parents and ball players about what is essential, from my perspective to help them achieve their goals.

Just one quick example for today and we can continue this next time. At the high school level, I have never met a coach that I respect that would force a boy or girl to focus on one sport when they really have ability in more than one sport. We LOVE multi sport athletes and actually find that playing more than one sport makes the athlete a hardened, tough, ball player on the diamond. But I am seeing more and more that a young boy or girl has decided to focus on one sport at a very early age and gives up the other sports. There is a tremendous amount of societal pressure to do just that, and this is a debate that has many sides and perspectives that can be discussed at great lengths another time, but when I hear parents say that they were told that to play baseball in high school, they needed to give up football, or that high school coaches do not want their athletes playing more than one sport, I know there is a need to try and spread accurate information, and that is the purpose of this blog…to pass along information that can be helpful to the ball player and their families.

I welcome your questions or comments. I think this will be a fun experience. I hope to provide “food for thought” to families and their young baseball players.

Bill Hutton
purebaseball2012@gmail.com

Bill Hutton has been the Head Varsity Baseball coach at Archbishop Mitty since 1983.  He has been instrumental in building one of the premiere high school programs in the country.  Archbishop Mitty has won 4 CCS Division 1 titles in Coach Hutton’s tenure as well as 5 WCAL titles, one #1 State Ranking (2010) and a #1 National Ranking (2010). Monarch baseball teams have spent the better part of 7 seasons in the National Rankings. Coach Hutton has twice been named the California High School Baseball Coach of the Year (2005, 2010) and Hutton has been recognized at the national level also, being named a Regional (Western States) Coach of the Year (1997, 2001, 2003, 2005) and has been a National Coach of the Year Finalist (2010). During Coach Hutton’s tenure over 200 of his former players have continued their baseball careers at the college level. Coach Hutton is recognized as one of the leaders in the coaching community at both the State and the National level having been selected to address either the CBCA (California Baseball Coaches Association), the BCA ( Baseball Coaches Association), or (ABCA) American Baseball Coaches Association on numerous occasions. In 2013 Coach Hutton will achieve career victory #600. Coach Hutton teaches in the Mathematics Department at Archbishop Mitty and resides with his family in Willow Glen.

The Baseball Summer Camps offer several options for 7th, 8th, and 9th graders:

• Pitching/Catching Clinics
• Hitting Clinics
• Advanced Baseball (for 8th and 9th grade)

Click here to view the brochure for the Archbishop Mitty Baseball Summer Camp Program (pdf).

The spring will be treated as a sort of preseason, and we will be focused on both the development of individual players as well as improving the team as a whole.  In order to get more personalized instruction, we will set up 5-1′s with the coaches. We also plan to have weekly practices and intra-squads to help develop collectively as a team.

The  spring schedule will be fairly light in keeping with the mission of PURE Baseball. The game should be fun, and we do not want to consume the boys’ (and parents’) lives.  Participating in other sports or activities in the spring is highly encouraged.

The summer schedule will be made up of games, tournaments, and regular team practices (with no more 5-1′s).

Our goal is to set up a team of enthusiastic players with a spring/summer schedule that…

• Doesn’t force anyone to be a “baseball only” athlete.
• Helps the players grow individually and improve their skills.
• Allows for training and development in a team setting.
• Allows us to grow as a unit and best prepare ourselves to compete FAVORABLY in summer tournaments and games!

The commitment level would be just two days a week  (one 5-1 and one team practice or intra-squad each week) starting in January or February (depending on your feedback!)

If you’re interested in the PURE Baseball Team, please email:
purebaseballteam@gmail.com

We did a lot of work on the batting tee and covered the different components of an “advantage count swing.” We will be working more on advantage count swings, but this week we put a foundation down that I look forward to building upon with you guys! Finally, we worked on leads, secondary leads, and footwork at second base. Remember your keys as a runner at second base on a ground ball — If you can beat the man or the ball, you can take third base; if you can’t or are unsure, you should stay at second. (You’re already in scoring position!)

This is the best part of the MLB year, and the playoffs are when real baseball starts to re-surface. Try to watch the games and look for things that we cover or work on during our academy. There was a good eample in Sunday’s Brewers/D-Backs game. With runners on first and third with one out, Jonanthan Lucroy (Milwaukee’s catcher) put down a successful safety squeeze that scored the go-ahead run and started a big inning. He managed not only to stay out of a potential double play, he also put pressure on the defense to make a tough play and got himself an RBI for it! You’ll see some great baseball in October, you just have to look closely for it.

We will continue to practice every day, rain or shine. If the fields too wet, we will utilize the batting cages and/or classroom. See you all out there for another great month of PURE Baseball!

- Coach Brian

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Check out the PURE Blog throughout the fall season for important updates, information, and messages from Coach Hutton and Coach Yocke.