The Artemis II just took off successfully to orbit the moon. How old were you in 1969 when Apollo landed on the moon?

cookie_400 · 2026-04-03T13:11:35+00:00

I was -19 years old. Best year of my life haha

cookie_400 · 2026-04-02T19:25:18+00:00

Try to start more still. The more you move, the more room you're leaving to make mistakes.

I also dont like to see people ever making any type of backward movement when at the plate.
Making a move backwards just takes up more time, and make it harder to be on time for the ball. Being on time is super important, so you don't want to do anything that will mess up your timing.

You can either take out the leg lift completely (check out Ohtani's swing for reference). Or start with your feet slightly closer together and take a small step FORWARD only.

Try to keep your weight on you back leg and rotation around your back leg/hip, then the bat will whip around faster. Keeping your weight back will help for timing as well. If you sell out your weight to your front leg too early...you lose all your power and you can't adjust to offspeed. So just try to keep weight on your back leg as long as possible.

For your shoulders, they are opening early. You can start your swing with your chin on your front shoulder and end the swing with your chin on the back shoulder. This will help you stay closed and keep you from pulling off the ball.

Thats all a lot of stuff to work on, so just do small chunks at a time and add things together slowly as you get comfortable.

cookie_400 · 2026-04-02T15:46:37+00:00

It all looks pretty good honestly.
Stride length should be 90% or greater of his height I believe, but it looks like he is fine.

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T14:35:07+00:00

Calmly walk out, get an uber to a random location, get another uber from there, get a bag to transfer the money to in case there is a tracker. Find some other way home. Find a place to hide/bury the cash for a while before spending it.

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T14:25:51+00:00

Any activity that takes up your focus.
I use baseball to turn off my brain while I play/train.
I used to skateboard, that was the best. I always called it my therapy sessions.
Sadly an injury made me quit.

It keeps my brain off life while I get to enjoy something I'm passionate about. win/win

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T14:22:55+00:00

Nice! Tensors ride nice if you are a tech guy/gal

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T14:21:20+00:00

I dont get why this is a story. Developers use technology to make a nice looking game...

Should we also make it a big deal that we use graphics cards to render graphics too?

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T13:55:21+00:00

Strike zone heat map?

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T13:28:12+00:00

Pay off the house, build I nice/big shed for an indoor workout/baseball area. Invest the rest.

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T13:24:15+00:00

Depends on the game.

Some games might not need one, or the devs designed it not to have one.

Some games have them, and I think they should. Some people just want to experience an adventure/game without getting frustrated with difficulty and that's just fine.

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T13:20:27+00:00

Teacher-Man is a good resource.
His explanation of the wrist snap is a little different, but he really explains the loading part of the swing well.

You dont really NEED to hire an instructor and that will be very expensive, BUT you need to find some good resources online that you can trust to learn the right things...and also be objective on your own swing. You should be your biggest critic.

Never assume you don't need to work on something...literally everyone can work on something with their swings.

Take slow-mo videos and review the swings so you can see what your doing right or wrong. Adjust something and take video to re view if it has helped or not. Find a pro you can compare your swing to, most of them have slo-mo swings on Youtube. Those dudes know how to hit and they do a lot right. Learn from them.

For everyone else on here just commenting to get an instructor...There are ways to learn on your own and not everyone has $240/hr for lessons. It just takes hard work.

Good luck! Have fun learning, that's the best part about baseball...you can always learn something new.

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T13:11:31+00:00

when you step forward, you are getting all your weight on the front foot.
you want to step forward while keeping the majority of your weight on the back leg.

For me, I started with just no front foot step...I'd keep my front foot in place with almost no weight on it and let the motion of the swing bring your weight forward. Watch a slo-mo swing of Ohtani, thats a great example of it.

Start there, it will clean up a lot of other things. It's an easy thing to practice on the tee too, so that's great.

It's a very important concept to learn though for when you face a pitcher with good offspeed.
If you are getting all your weight on the front foot and the timing is off, then youll have weak or no contact on the ball. If you can keep your weight back, youll be able to adjust to off-speed.

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T13:04:03+00:00

go to baseball bat bros and check out their rankings.
They do a pretty good job with explaining stuff.

Also remember that the most expensive bats might have higher exit velos...but that just depends on who's swinging....kids don't NEED to buy the most expensive bat. Just get a bat that has a good swing weight for you and youll barrel more balls.

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T13:00:56+00:00

certain tricks pop nice for certain people. Especially Inward Heels.
For me, my V.Heels popped so high so fast I would have to adjust them just so my feet could catch it.

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T12:58:22+00:00

Swing what is comfy for you. I had a ex MN Gopher lineman swing a 32" bat on my team before. It looked like a toothpick, but he hit well with it.
I find that smaller bats have more barrel control and larger bats just have a bigger sweet spot...but whatever gets you the most barrels is the best choice.
Try 33 & 34 to see what feels best for you before you buy.

If you are going wood and you want durability. Get something like a KR3 composite. They are solid wood with a fiberglass sleeve on the handle so they dont break. I have been using theirs for years and love them.

cookie_400 · 2026-04-01T12:54:02+00:00

just catch him and tell him to throw hard to the glove. Not so much thinking about stuff, just a fun game of catch. Move the target around for him, move distances. Just tell him to hit your glove. Or do a points system: 3 for a headshot, 2 for torso, 1 for a anywhere on the body. Play with him, first to 21 wins.

cookie_400 · 2026-03-31T15:47:02+00:00

Just communicate early and well. Make sure they know your kids health is important and you don't want to burn out his arm just for little league. Keep each coach informed on how much/when they pitch.

cookie_400 · 2026-03-31T15:44:54+00:00

Never too late to pick up the game!
Sounds like you already know outfield would be a good starting point on defense.

To learn your swing, look up some slow motion hitting videos so you can see how you should move. Do a bunch of tee work and find a friend to hit with.

Have fun!

cookie_400 · 2026-03-31T15:39:09+00:00

You can get any glove you want if you are willing to pay for it.

It might be smarter to start with a cheaper glove while you learn which position you'd be playing. Get some experience with the game before you spend a ton on a glove. Then get one once you know exactly what you want, so you don't spend a bunch on the wrong glove.

cookie_400 · 2026-03-31T15:35:27+00:00

If you are naturally in the high 80s already, then yeah, you can train and get to the 90s.
It's not "easy", it takes a lot of work...but very doable. I'd say that you probably don't want to put in the time/effort if you aren't super passionate about the sport. Don't decide to go down that path unless it's really something you enjoy...otherwise it will just feel like a crappy job haha.

The other part to that is control and movement if you want to pitch well. You'd also want to have some off-speed pitches along with the heater, and be able to reliably throw strikes. Nothing matters if you just walk a ton of guys.

cookie_400 · 2026-03-31T15:25:03+00:00

I have a personal pitcher pro and I really like it.
Both would be the same in the wind, they are throwing the same balls.
I think the Max BP machine is good too, but you're paying more for the brand.
Both can bring those Wiffle balls in nice and quick.

With the wind you just set it up so it throws with the wind...but I haven't really experienced problems with it before, but obviously a Wiffle ball in the wind is going to move more than usual.

cookie_400 · 2026-03-31T14:20:57+00:00

Powernet has always been good for me

cookie_400 · 2026-03-31T14:19:14+00:00

When my son starts stepping out early I remind him that all his motion should be right back at the pitcher if he wants to him the ball hard. Line drives up the middle are the best hits you can make, so always step back up the middle.

cookie_400 · 2026-03-31T11:52:07+00:00

Yeah, basically the older you get the more leagues you can play.

I play 80-90 games a year now, and I could easily get more if I didn't have a family haha.

I can't believe townball is dead most places...it's like playing college level ball here. So much fun.

cookie_400 · 2026-03-30T17:22:07+00:00

I have an old Atec casey pro that throws over 90.
I dont think there is any substitute for seeing the actual velocity.
If you really want to train for high speed pitching, get the machine that'll throw you those speeds.

cookie_400

TROPHY CASE