Hit and Run Baseball

With hundreds of new books monthly claiming to reinvent the bio-mechanical wheel, "Hit and Run Baseball" is still the model of intelligent and insightful thinking on developing a sophisticated approach to the game. His approach continues to work.

I haven't done many of the suggested drills, but simply as bedside reading this book does a fantastic job breaking down critical elements of the game. I've used many tips I learned from it, especially in baserunning, with success. In baseball you can think too little, and you can think too much; this book finds the right level.

Rod Delmonico tells you a lot of things in this book you probably have heared before. But then I'm sure even an experienced coach will find some great new hints. Also, I have never seen so much vital information about how to play the game of baseball put together in one place in such a consice and easy to read way. Rod teaches you basically about bunting and base running. A chapter covering the basics of hitting (again mentioning everything important in just a couple of pages) is included as well. Curiously though the actual hit and run play isn't covered. Only bunt and steal plays, as well as general base running are included. Those are covered expertly though. I will make this book required reading for my players (since it's not too long, you can read it within four hours). I loved the fact that Rod didn't relate any boring stories from his own experience, like many other baseball book authors do, but just put down material you could use directly.

This book is a great guide to an aggressive style offense. As a player I like to take the game to the opponent and make them work. Coach Delmonico shows the essentials to an aggressive offense. I plan on incorporating some of the ideas in this book into my own coaching style. Sitting back and waiting for the big inning can win some games, but aggressive offense can win more games. I recommend it highly to all coaches.