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Check out Kory's article that was published in Baseball The Magazine

Baseball The Magazine — #3, 2013

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Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn't Work Hard

Kory Dehaan

WORLDWIDE BASEBALL PROSPECTS MENTOR, HITTING COACH, PITTSBURGH PIRATES, DEHAAN BASEBALL

There are many reasons why kids play .M. high school athletics. Here are a few: they love the sport; they are competitive; their friends are doing it; their parents want them to play; the school needs more numbers to fill the team; and/or they want to get a scholarship to play in college.

Kids that enjoy competing at a sport, are having some success playing it, and are passionate about getting better need to understand that by your junior year in high school, you need to be dedicated full time to that sport or your chances for playing above high school diminish rapidly. If there is still a desire to play multiple sports through high school, expectations for competing for starting positions in college need to be lowered.

Having success at the sport you love is not all about talent. In the end, it all boils down to the time and commitment you put into your practice, and your desire to be the best at the sport. Unfortunately, many athletes are common and will do the minimum amount of work required to play the sport and have some success at it. They will allow other distractions to interfere with their practice and workout time because they want to have fun and want to enjoy the immediate gratification over the future gratification. More often than not, kids who show the uncommon desire and focus for achieving success and getting to the next level oftentimes do. Kids who want to get noticed at try out camps or ravel ball tournaments need to stick out somehow. They need to separate themselves from the herd by doing the extra stuff that normal kids do not. In doing that, their parents, high school coaches, future coaches and scouts see that desire and will oftentimes want to help them achieve their goals.

Personally, as a parent of female athletes, my wife and I do our best to spur on and help support them so they are able to maximize their talents and abilities to their full potential. We know that this does not happen overnight. Together, we set short-term and long-term goals to help guide them down their path of learning and striving to be a little bit better every single day. When young athletes do this, it is preparing them for the next level, whether it is junior high to high school, high school to college, or even high school to professional ball.

Four Hitting Essentials to Work Hard On!
Balance — Balance has become a lost art. Hitters tend to think they need to be in a stance that is just like their favorite major league star to have success. What young hitters do not understand is that the person who hits like that has evolved into that swing. He has probably taken thousands of swings, making small adjustments along the way, to get to where he needs to be to have the most success per their own unique development.

A great starting block for getting balanced is to talk about being athletic. When you get into your hitting stance, a person of equal size should not be able to push you over with a gentle nudge to your upper body. An athletic position is having your feet a little wider than shoulder width apart. Your knees should be bent and inside your feet. Your head should be over your feet, which forces your weight to be towards your toes, not your heels. When a hitter first gets set in the box, he needs to start at this athletic position. Balance should be maintained through the finish of the swing by sinking into your legs as you rotate through the ball. If you feel yourself coming out of your legs, or having your waist rise up during your finish, there will be balance issues.

Rhythm — Rhythm is an important part of hitting because it allows you to move and react quicker as you look to square up the baseball. Usually the more athletic players are able to dance and keep a beat going. If this does not come easy to you, practice doing some dance steps or even playing a musical instrument. This will help develop your rhythm and overall athleticism.

Rhythm can be a small movement in the hands and fingers as the ball is being pitched, or it can be a small controlled sway between the front and back leg. Whatever you choose to do to keep loose going into your swing, aim towards keeping it simple. The more movement you have pre-pitch, the tougher it is to be consistently ready to swing.

Vision — Being able to see the ball is the most important part of hitting. Pitchers are constantly trying to hide the ball and be deceptive in their pitch delivery so it makes it harder for the hitter to see what is coming. Many of the pitchers have a way of hiding the ball until the last moment, which to the hitter turns a 90 mph fastball into a 96 mph fastball. This is a huge difference.

Controlling what you can control, the hitter needs to find the area that the pitcher is releasing the ball in and use their hard focus as he is delivering the pitch. Before pitchers are in their motion, hitters can be in soft focus mode around that release point area, which tends to be the pitcher's head, throwing shoulder, or cap. We tell the hitter to keep their eyes on the ball, but when it is moving 90 mph plus, it is physically impossible to see the ball hit the bat. The main reason coaches tell kids to keep their eyes on the ball is to keep their head still at contact as long as possible. When hitters keep their head still at contact, it develops a great habit that will keep them from pulling off the ball.

For the past 10 years, vision drills have become increasingly popular. Teams are using eye charts, brock strings, high velocity tennis ball machines, and random highlighted dots on electronic boards to help strengthen the player's eye muscles. These are valuable tools to integrate into your practice routine to help maximize your opportunity for success.

Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn't Work Hard
Timing - Timing is the key to putting together a great swing. You can have the best mechanics and prettiest swing on the team, but it does you no good if you are not on time with the pitch. Pitchers normally throw their fastball in a three-to-five mile per hour range (82-85 or 89-94). The curve ball and change-up will normally be eight to ten miles per hour slower than the fastball. As a hitter, our mindset needs to focus on being ready for the fastball every pitch. If we are ready for the fastball, we can do our best to adjust when an off-speed pitch is on its way. If we are ready for the off-speed pitch, very rarely can we adjust and be ready to hit the fastball. We will be late almost every time.

Most times pitchers want to throw strike one with a fastball on the outer half of the plate. If that is the case, hitters should be looking to hit a fastball on the outer half of the plate. If you think that is not a good pitch to hit because you cannot hit it very well, you need to practice hitting that pitch off the tee, during soft toss, and in batting practice. Good hitters know how to hit the ball to the opposite side of the field and are able to do it consistently. If a hitter gets into pull mode, he is susceptible to the off-speed pitches and will normally strike out frequently.

About the Author
Coach DeHaan was signed during the 1997 amateur draft as a seventh round draft pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He then went on to play professionally from 1997-2003 with both the Pirates and Padres organizations and made his major league debut in 2000 with the San Diego Padres. After playing professionally he then went on to coach professionally in 2009 with the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League. In 2010 and 2011 he was a minor league hitting instructor for the San Diego Padres. He currently is a minor league hitting instructor with the Pittsburgh Pirates, operates DeHaan Baseball out of Bradenton, Florida, (www.dehaanbaseball.com), and is a dedicated baseball mentor for high school players in the Worldwide Baseball Prospects High School to College Baseball Recruiting Program found at www.WorldwideBaseballProspects.com.

The Rooster Logo

DeHaan Baseball decided to use a Rooster as the logo for many reasons, but the main one was because of the Dutch heritage of the meaning of DeHaan.  If you translate DeHaan into the Dutch language, you get “The Rooster”.  In life, your name is a big deal because it represents who you are and where you have come from.  It was important to DeHaan Baseball to create a logo with special ties to who and what they were about. 

A Rooster is intriguing because it truly is a leader. 

• It is a consistent, reliable, morning wake-up call that lets you know it’s time to get going.  It’s going to be another great day!  
• The Rooster is an over seer.  Often times, he perches on top of the barn to look out for trouble and to make sure everyone is being cared for.  
• Roosters like to be the main bird and will fight viciously to defend its honor and stay the top bird.  
• They have pride in who they are and what they do.  
• Roosters have a quiet confidence in their eyes, and know what they can do.  
• They are very agile and can be quick and responsive when adjustments need to be made.  
• Roosters can come from many different countries, in many different colors, shapes, and sizes, yet a Rooster will always stay true to his core values.

It’s going to be a great day, so Wake Up the Player and start your day the Rooster way with DeHaan Baseball.

Welcome from Kory

Welcome and Thanks for checking out our site!  DeHaan Baseball was established to help serve the needs of players and their parents by bringing elite, professional instruction and training to our local neighborhoods.

When I was growing up in Pella, Iowa, I would have given anything to talk and learn from a former Major League baseball player.  Through hard work, resiliency, and a willingness to be uncommon, I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to play in the Major Leagues.  Now as a professional baseball coach, I am able to serve and teach aspiring Big League players what it will take to play at the highest level.

I have gained valuable experience from playing and coaching over the years, and I still have much to learn.  Our desire at DeHaan Baseball is to meet you where you are at, communicate how we can best serve you, and then form a growth plan we can both commit to.

We understand that Rome was not built in a day, and neither will your baseball mechanics and habits be transformed over night.  Together, we will trust in the process knowing that every day we need to show up ready to learn and grow our talents and abilities towards championship baseball.

I am looking forward to working with you as we pursue baseball excellence together!

Sincerely,

Kory DeHaan

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