Youth Baseball Coaching changes in the latest edition

The 3rd edition arrived at my house on 6/14/13. Here is a list of differences between the 2nd edition and the 3rd.

• 286 pages versus 284 in the second

• removal of over-age 12 material (that is now covered in my book Coaching Teenage and Adult Baseball)

• new chapter 21 on persuading other coaches to support my iconoclastic approach to baseball coaching

• discussion of Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers with regard to the importance of youth athlete birth dates

• discussion of a new safety device: the fielders helmet and mask

• discussion of the bat manufacturers surprisingly switching from labeling bats that are too heavy as appropriate your various youth levels; now they seem to label them correctly so youth players will swing more appropriate weight bats; I can’t help but wonder if my first two editions inspired that. I chewed the bat manufacturers pretty good for that in those editions.

• addition of recent stars to evidence that throw-right-bat-left is the best combination

• detailed description of pitcher’s body parts during correct pitch

• additional books in the bibliography

• additional stats websites

Below are the differences between the 1st edition and the second edition:

2nd edition has 284 pages versus 254 in the first edition

more on thinking too much during certain game activities

more on the Zen of pitching

discussion of the reptilian portion of the human brain and its importance in some baseball skills

discussion of baseball’s unwritten Code of Ethics (e.g., Don’t steal catcher signals when at second base)

greatly expanded discussion of cheating in youth baseball drafts and prevention of it via a blind draft

Great story about Derek Jeter backing up first base in foul territory all the way from shortstop

Oakland A’s emphasis on drawing walks in their minor league teams

new, electronic strike zone equipment used in Major Leagues

new discussion of two-strike bunting

how Boston Red Sox hitting coach talks to his batters

expanded discussion of baserunning including Sports Illustrated material, reader success stories and suggestions, ‘bases beyond batter’ stat in the Nineteenth Century, more on stealing home when the pitcher uses a full windup, cases histories about Barry Bonds no hustling into double plays and lost bases, injury case history on breaking up double play, case history where A’s beat Red Sox on baserunning blunder,

expanded baserunning defense with regard to pickoff throws

tables showing what to do in different situations with regard to infield pops with runners on base, different outfield grounder techniques, baserunner strategy in final inning with tying run or go-ahead run at the plate, how to take a lead at each base with different numbers of outs, batter behavior when runner has base stolen or when runner is stealing home, batter strategy for all different pitch counts

corrected dominant eye discussion based on more recent medical research

additional evidence that lighter bats are best