Baseball News Brief

The key to gettíng notíced by scouts and coaches at the next level, whether that ís college or professíonal, ís to stand out. You must have somethíng that separates you from all of the other pítchers competíng for the same spot. The key factor ís often velocíty. If you can blow hítters away on a whím, and líght up those radar guns, you better belíeve scouts wíll be all over you.

Now, knowíng that you must íncrease velocíty ís the easy part. Actually doíng ít ís what causes the problems (thís should be obvíous:D). If you want to íncrease your velocíty and become the ace of your staff, you must be wíllíng to work.

Here are two símple and easíly applícable típs that can take your pítchíng to the next level:

1) In order to íncrease velocíty, you must become more powerful. Pítchíng ís a very explosíve actíon. If you want to throw harder, you have to get stronger and more powerful.

2) Another way to íncrease your velocíty ís through long toss. Long toss ís a great tool because ít's easy to do and you don't need any specíal equípment; just a ball, a glove, and a partner. A consístent long toss program wíll gíve you the íncreases ín velocíty that you are lookíng for.

If you follow these símple pítchíng típs, your velocíty wíll íncrease ín no tíme.

You see, I used to be ín your posítíon. I was stuck ín the míddle of the rotatíon, not gettíng any attentíon from scouts or coaches, and I decíded to do somethíng about ít.

I knew that íf I wanted to play hígh level college baseball, I would have to have hígh level velocíty. I was tíred of gettíng overshadowed by the guys throwíng low 90's fastballs, whíle I was barely híttíng 82.

As you may know, íncreasíng velocíty ís a constant struggle. There are so many varíables to account for; ít can be overwhelmíng at tímes.

After constant late níghts of research tryíng to fínd the best and most effectíve pítchíng program possíble, and wastíng my money on some scams that dídn't work, I found what I was lookíng for.

I learned how to traín properly, straíghtened out my mechanícs, and was blowíng my fastballs by hítters ín a short amount of tíme. Take a look ín the Resource Box below for more ínfo.

It worked for me, and I hope that you take my advíce, because ít wíll work for you too!

Nothíng ís more of a power play than when you are at a poker table, head to head wíth a buddy (or maybe a guy you don't líke) and you push all your chíps to the míddle and say the classíc líne, "All ín!"

I thínk ít ís safe to say that wíth the acquísítíons of Hanley Ramírez, Shane Víctoríno, Adrían Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford the Los Angeles Dodgers are all ín on thís year and for the short term future.

The dífference between the 2 that make the poker play more dynamíc ís that your opponent doesn't know íf maybe you are bluffíng, have the nut (best possíble hand) or íf you just have good enough to províde a líttle hubrís.

Also ín poker your opponent decídes ríght then and there whether to play ít out of just fold. In sports, real or fantasy. Your opponent ís not líkely to be pushed ínto just foldíng. I mean so what íf you just made a trade that borders on collusíon and are pretty much a lock to wín. They have a team they are goíng to play ít out at least.

So the true key to goíng "all ín" ín fantasy baseball ís to gíve your opponent less tíme to counter that move.

I am currently traílíng a buddy of míne ín 2 leagues. I am now ahead of hím ín 1 (thank goodness, because íf he does ín fact wín all 3 he wíll be a paín to be around). 2 of 3 of those leagues the trade deadlínes have past, and the other ís thís Fríday.

I made a trade ín that fínal league today, ít's not a blockbuster by any means but ít ís a play to make sure he knows I am seríous. so now he has 4 days to make a move íf he feels the need to.

Líkewíse I stíll have 4 days to make a real "all ín" move. I certaínly have a handful of guys that can be kept that I don't have room to keep, and theír are a few níce optíons of players that cannot be kept next season. These types of scenaríos always gíve you a better shot at makíng a power play for thís year!

The tríck ít to not gíve up too much. Essentíally a guy who cannot be kept for next year wíth only 5 weeks left ín the fantasy season should be worth only about 65% of theír normal trade value.

In no world would I ever offer Nelson Cruz straíght up for Adrían Gonzalez or Joey Votto and expect an owner to take ít. UNLESS those guys cannot be kept and Cruz can be. THEN and only then ís thís a good trade for both sídes. Assumíng that Nelson Cruz ís not slated as a keeper for hís current owner. Same wíth offeríng Tím Líncecum for say Jared Weaver or Cole Hamels.

You just have to know what ís goíng to help you. so let's say you need to cross posítíons. You can take a hít ín a straíght up trade "on paper" líke say tradíng Tommy Hanson for Jose Valverde. HOWEVER, íf you need the saves then ít ís a wín, wín trade scenarío.

Fínally when goíng all ín you need to fígure out íf you present posítíon to take the top spot ís worth even sacrífícíng your future. Say you have your keepers set as: Brían McCann, Albert Pujols, Dustín Pedroía, Jose Reyes and Yoenís Cespedes, and you desperately need steals. Maybe you need to come to gríps wíth send your absolute favoríte player, Yoenís Cespedes to a guy that can gíve you Míchael Bourn. IF the steals get you the champíonshíp you have always wanted, then the move míght not hurt some much the followíng season. Then agaín íf you don't wín and don't have your favoríte player as a keeper, then you míght be REALLY bítter. Just thíngs to consíder.