Jared Carrier
Director of Scouting, NY

Note: Article originally run March 14, 2017 after a large snowstorm had hit the Northeast. Once again the Empire State feels the wrath of Mother Nature, this time on the verge of the first day of practice this coming Monday. ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

As most of New York and the Northeast is getting pounded by a major mid-March Nor'Easter, we take a look at what lies ahead for most coaches and players. Inconveniences of indoor practices at odd hours and in cramped spaces will be the reality once again. Personally, as an 8th grader playing junior varsity baseball in 1993, the blizzard that struck in March (almost exactly 24 years to the date) was one of the most crippling storms in the history of the east coast. The memories of that week were all non-baseball related: 3 days off from school, road graders used to clear the roads, ample sleigh-riding and snow drifts to your ribs. The thought was that we would never get outside again as close to 3 feet of snow or more blanketed the Northeast.

Only a few years ago we had a few bone chilling winters with several feet of snow on the ground, but for the newcomers or those who need a reminder, here's what to expect:

- You'll lose the ball not in the sun but against a white wall, due to poor lighting or in a snow bank in the school staff parking lot.
- Your entire team hits the ground to avoid a ricochet after an errant throw that hits a bleacher or wall.
- Get familiar with using the yellow dimpled balls with no seams on your tennis courts or parking lost so that you don't lose them in the aforementioned snow bank. That and they are semi water proof.
- You'll take close to 25,000 tee and soft toss swings (give or take a few thousand) over the next 3 weeks. 
- You may get hit in the back, shoulder and helmet during ONE simulated at bat against live pitching in the cage. 
-  Cabin fever has led your coach to snow-blowing/shoveling out the mound and plate to create more practice space. 
- You'll have practiced at 6am, 3pm, 5:30pm and 8pm all within a week. Either that or have  split a gym with JV and 7 & 8th grade teams and maybe softball, lacrosse and track as well for variety.
- You'll have practiced your in & out pre-game routine on something smaller then what would be a little league infield
- Bunting drills in the cafeteria
- Baserunning in the hallways, mostly through the bag work at 1B (your turns may be cut short) or primary and secondary leads, straight steals..
- Outfielders will have run close to 5 miles combined being the runners for 1st & 3rd and bunt defense. 
- Your team will have broken the following: a bleacher, a window, a fire alarm, a door, the glass case that keeps the fire extinguisher, a headlight or taillight of the principal's car and quite possibly a teammates nose (from an errant throw, not a punch...). 
- You'll have mastered hitting from the opposite side during your team's indoor spongeball/wiffleball games.
- Your coach, now sporting a Hunter Pence type look, will hit a fungo bomb from the parking lot onto the roof of your school out of pure insanity.

The list can go on and on. Here are some ways to combat the winter time duldrums. Variety and creativity are the key:

- Go for a swim...well yeah, indoors of course. If your school has a pool, what a fantastic way to condition.
- Long Toss can be done indoors...use your batting cage to extend throws at an angle and with effort. May need to go two at a time with a bucket of balls but it's better then nothing.
- Freeze tag in the basketball court. If your "it" put on a helmet. Great way to work on your stop and go, first step acceleration and change of direction. Use the side and end lines as your boundaries. 
- Take the team bowling, play snow football (2-hand touch recommended), snow soccer or go to the movies. Snow football or soccer in your outfield will help break of the snow and promote the melting process. Great team building practices that can break up the monotony.
- Backward baseball...an indoor wiffleball/spongeball game where everyone plays both offense and defense from the opposite side and baserunners run the bases in the opposite direction. You've never seen a more impressive 4-6-5 double play by a left handed middle infield.
- Have a bake sale or fundraiser to rent a turf field for a day. Even if it's a football field. Fresh air and sunlight does a body good. If the turf field is snow covered, find an indoor facility that basically didn't exist in 1993 but now are within 30 minutes in any direction.
- "Baseball sign Jeopardy". Coach gives the signs and contestants must answer in the form of the question. "What is the suicide squeeze sign?".
- Watch Rocky IV for winter weather cross-training ideas...or at least to get fired up for a weight room session.
- Team "Grab a Shovel Day". Attack the two most important areas on the field, the plate and the mound. The field needs a hole poked in it, otherwise it will remain the frozen tundra, give it a melting point. Another option is rolling giant snowballs off the field. Dark surfaces absorb the sunlight and it might be the difference in getting a game or two in before May! 

There's only so many times one can review a standard bunt defense or the trick play that you'll never use. Focus on the basics and perfect them. Team communication, holding runners and varying sets, knowing your signs, making throws to 1B from the infield (practice where the majority of your outs come from), hitting your cutoff man, getting the bunt down, proper leads. Be creative, some of the best drills out there were probably done in the spur of the moment by a team in the north. Best of luck to all and think spring!

Looking further ahead? How about our summer Campus Series...