February 13, 2020

Kyle Wilson- MiLB Hitting Coach, Tampa Bay Rays

58 minutes

During this episode of Ahead of the Curve, I interviewed Kyle Wilson, Milb Hitting Coach for the Tampa Bay Rays, OBU-TPI-FMS Certified, and Owner of TPA (The Performance Academy) in Apex, North Carolina. Kyle Wilson talks about how he got into coaching, starting his own performance facility, keeping players interested and engaged, making training more like real games, the importance of balance in your swing, and giving back to younger players through training and mentorship.

Episode Highlights:

How did Kyle Wilson get involved in baseball and as a coach?

How did Kyle start his own performance facility?

What does he wish he had known last year that he knows now?

What were his main goals for the off-season?

What are some things they do for teenaged players?

What are some ways they train for adjustability in the swing?

How can we train better for decision-making?

Are there any competitions that he likes to use with players?

What are things that he is looking for when watching video?

How does he help players whom English isn’t their first language?

How does he go about individualizing training in the team setting?

What is something that Kyle Wilson is excited about learning and applying?

What are things his players get excited about doing during practice?

Is there anything that he believes that other coaches might disagree with?

What is something we would notice at one of Kyle Wilson’s practices?

Are there any resources that Kyle Wilson would recommend?

3 Key Points:

If you are not balanced through your move it becomes hard to control and adjust when you are swinging.

Facilitate environments that are more game-like for players.

The average attention span of people is 8 seconds. The attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds.

Tweetable Quotes:

“The game of baseball has taught me so much about life and how to overcome adversity and just the team camaraderie and the friends. I wanted to get into coaching to mentor kids through the game, which has taught me so much.” – Kyle Wilson (02:15)

“I think why I truly enjoy coaching is just purely being able to impact and see the development of kids turn into young men and learn things through this beautiful game.” – Kyle Wilson (05:05)

“Guys that are in professional baseball or have an opportunity to have a little bit of a break, I highly encourage to try and to get set up with some type of facility to give back to the youth, for one. For two, to maintain your craft .” – Kyle Wilson (08:51)

“I set up evaluations. They come in and it’s an hour evaluation. We are sitting down, first and foremost, and I'm asking them a bunch of questions about what that player’s goals are.” – Kyle Wilson (13:05)

“It should be a goal of every hitter in my opinion...become more adjustable, to have and create movements that allow you to sit on a fastball and adjust to an off-speed and still be able to do damage with that.” – Kyle Wilson (16:32)

“I think we can learn to reward guys for taking good pitches.” – Kyle Wilson (21:55)

“At the end of the day, if you aren’t competing and having fun, then it is going to be a long, long season.” – Kyle Wilson (25:29)

“I personally believe there’s a lot of really, really good things from, call-it ‘old-school baseball.’” – Kyle Wilson (45:03)

Resources Mentioned:

Ahead of the Curve Podcast

Twitter: @AOTC_podcast

Kyle Wilson: Twitter

The Performance Academy: tpanc.com

Kyle Wilson’s Email: [email protected]

Book: Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson

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By Jonathan Gelnar, bleav

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