National WIFFLE®

Tim and Paul preview the 3rd annual Winter Classic coming up on Saturday, February 22nd! Timestamps are below.

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00:00 -02:30 - Intro / Winter Classic III overview

02:30 - 07:30 - Past Winter Classics

07:30 - 13:00 - Winter tournament approach (spring training vs. “normal” tournament approach)

13:00 - 34:00 - One minute(ish) team previews

34:00 - 36:40 - What match ups are we most interested in seeing?

36:40 - END - Wrap Up

Bob and the Foodman bring in special guests Kenny Rodgers Jr, and John Denaro--with phone guests Rob Sutton, Sean Erhardt, and local celebrity Geoff Bansen.

Discussion includes: NY, MA, PRO Schedule Release, New Yard Roster Rule, and GAUL Invitational Hype.

Carl Coffee and Tom Gannon span the wiffle globe and give their thoughts on a number of hot wiffle topics. They discuss WILL, MAW, HRL, WSEM, MLW, NWLAT, RPWL, Wiffs Champions Cup, Northern IN wiffle and more!

On this episode, we test out a new format - “3 Strikes” - where the three of us choose one specific subject to speak about from a more general Wiffle Ball topic. In this episode, the general topic is historical/”retired” Wiffle Ball pitchers. Nick, Paul, and Tim each choose a pitcher from a bygone era of the game to discuss. Find out why these pitchers were on our minds, what stood out about them when they played, interesting stories from our interactions with them, where we think they stand historically, and much more!

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00:00 - 01:00 - Introduction

01:00 - 10:00 - Dan Cryan [1991- 2004? | Good Times Tavern, Team Trenton, Lakeside Kings]

10:00 - 22:30 - Matt Weller [1998 - 2001 | Shamokin Busers]

22:30 - End - Nick Tariela [1998 - 2006? | Rhode Island Kings]

Following the pitching projection/evaluation discussion, we turn our attention to the other side of the ball. Some wifflers believe that hitting a wiffleball is one of the hardest things to do in any sport. It can also be difficult (if not impossible) to replicate top-level pitching outside of game situations. So how do young hitters grow? What are the fundamental aspects of a good wiffleball hitter? How long does it take to develop into the hitter you are ultimately going to be? We tackle all of this and more in this edition of The DROP Podcast!

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00:00 - 06:00 - Winter Classic update

06:00 -  08:45 - The challenges of practicing and developing as a hitter in your “backyard” (i.e. away from facing quality pitchers in a game situation)

08:45 - 10:10 - Wiffleball / Soccer analogy re: low scoring environments.

10:10 - 17:00 - Given that low run scoring environment, what do you look for in a young hitter (power, patience, etc.)?; combination of patience & power (Ryan McElrath)

17:00 - 29:15 - Are there are fundamentals to baseball hitting that may need to be “unlearned” for wiffleball or is a baseball background always beneficial?; Number of plate appearances until a hitter is who/she is going to be (1,200 PA’s is the MLB benchmark, 500-600 PA’s for wiffs?); The Naturals as an example of top level baseball hitters transitioning to wiffleball.

29:15 - 32:35 - Yellow bat talk

32:35 - 36:00 - What makes Ben Stant such a good hitter?

36:00 - 40:15 - Favorite hitters to currently watch in MAW (Stant, Kenny Rodgers Jr., Jimmy Cole); What can young/inexperienced hitters learn from watching those three players?

40:15 - 49:00 - Putting the barrel to the ball rather than a big swing (using a pitcher’s velocity against him); Guessing/anticipating a pitch or location (Tom LoCascio).

49:00 - 52:50 - What “young” hitter in MAW do you think will take a big step forward in 2020 (Gino Joseph, Tommy Loftus, Cam Farro)?

52:50 - END - Wrapping up (2 strike count, lineup protection)

Mike Boyles is back in the wiffle scene interviewing Brendan Leonard, the star from the original Wiffleball video many have seen, "Wiffle Ball Stadium".  It's one of our longer commutes, but very much worth the listen!

Justin Tomkins is back to end Season Two of Holey Commutes morning shows!

Carl ends his Season 2 shows with Indiana wiffle legend, Jeremy Ratajczyk. J-Rat gives his thoughts on the red hot wiffle offseason, the NWLA Tournament, next generation of Indiana wifflers and much much more. sYa in April!

Trent and Auston are back with their normal nonsense except this time: it's on a Wednesday! Oh wait...

In the second part of our discussion on projecting & evaluating pitchers we do deep dive on ball prep, take a look at what information might be gleaned from a pitcher’s underlying statistics, and more! The projection & evaluation discussion continues next episode with a look at offensive players.----more----

00:00 - 10:00 - Ball prep talk (finding what works best for you; the value of being able to throw well non-scuffed as a base; importance of “perfecting” one style  initially)

10:00 - 16:00 - is this is the best level of pitching talented that there has ever been?; access to more resources; technology; floor has risen over time.

16:00 - 20:00 - What knowledge (if any) can be gained by a pitcher’s ability to throw a prepped ball by watching them throw a clean ball and vice versa? (velocity / movement)

20:00 - 26:50 - Clean ball discussion; more velocity vs. movement discussion; live and die by velocity?

26:50 -37:00 - Projection systems in wiffleball; using statistics to project; pitch selection; throwing too many strikes; analytics vs. eye test

37:00 - 39:40 - No minor leagues, young pitchers get thrown right into the fire

39:40 - END - Takeaways and wrapping up the discussion (mental aspect, motion, set up, etc.)

Referenced in the podcast: The Art and Science of Pitching a Wiffleball