First Post of 2017

Pictured Left: Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers Pictured Right: 2X World Series Champ David Boomer Wells

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful
holiday.  Mine was busy with a family vacation to the British Virgin
Islands.  My New Year is off and running too, as I just returned from the
ABCA Baseball Convention in Anaheim, CA.  What an experience it was for
me as it was my first time attending this convention.  I have been to
numerous NFCA Softball Conventions during my collegiate coaching days and
have always enjoyed the energy these events bring.

I was there by invitation to work the Sledgebat booth, and owner Phil Ouellette was
kind enough to have me involved with this years show.  Being the only
dealer in Oregon, it was truly an honor.  This was my first time meeting Phil
and his three boys, who are all exceptional ball players.  Phil, being a
former San Francisco Giants Catcher, really knows a thing or two about
hitting.  Phil also manufactures the Top Hand trainer, and the best
hitting tee on the planet - Gorilla tee.  The Top Hand Trainer isn't for
the faint of heart.  This oversized mallet is the real deal when it comes
to taking the top hand to the ball and hitting it square.  Phil's tees
are no joke when it comes to quality and durability.  In fact, they are so good many
Major league clubs are using his tees.  I expect that is why Rawlings is
now carrying them.  His Sledgebat product is so simplistic in what it's
intended for.  It may seem easy, but in most cases newbies to the product
will struggle a bit.  Trying to make contact with a round object to a
round object isn't as easy as it seems.  The idea is to square up with
the ball off a tee or through soft toss.  Once a hitter can master
hitting line drives back up the middle using a Sledgebat watch out!  As
Phil demonstrated hitting from both sides of the plate nothing but seeds
up the middle.

As the owner of this facility, I feel it is my responsibility to
incorporate and research products that have validity to both Baseball and
Softball.  The market is flooded with gimmicks that say they will
improve your hitting.  It's just being able to see what works and perhaps
what doesn't.  I am not naive when it comes to research, as I feel I do my
homework on products I bring in to the facility.  Attending the convention,
I saw some interesting products that really caught my eye and I will
research further.  One is Driveline Baseball.  These guys are impressive
with what they do.  They are cutting edge with pitching and hitting
training driven by data.  More to come from Driveline.  The other product
that caught my attention was Swingguru Hitting.  These folks capture 2D
and 3D imagines of a hitter.  The high speed camera used with this
software is amazing!  Being able to capture still frames of a hitter,
start to finish, with unbelievable clarity, caught my attention.  Part of
educating hitters is being able to show them what they are doing, and in
this case this product is light years ahead.  This product also will give
exit velocity and distance, which is very popular these days.

If you have any questions regarding Sledgebats, please feel free to come in
and test this product out to see for yourself.  Also, as a heads up, we are
offering our defensive and offensive clinics during the month of January
and February.  These are great classes to knock off the rust in preparation
for the upcoming season.  For anyone interested in V-Flex classes we will be
starting a new session next Monday January 23.  These classes will be held
on Mondays and Wednesdays 6pm-7pm for the next 5 weeks.  If there is
anything we can do to help your ball player please give us a call!