Eugene Bleecker: Inventor of ProGrip

By Eugene Bleecker | Published: August 11, 2009

eugeneAbout the ProGrip Inventor Eugene J. Bleecker II has been a student of the game of baseball his entire life. From the time Eugene was 7 until he was 17 he spent the duration of every summer at New York Tech Baseball Academy learning everything he could about the game.

He was selected as an All-American his senior year of high school in addition to receiving many other accolades throughout his high school years. He also received baseball scholarships to each school he attended during his collegiate career. Eugene played his first two years for the NAIA perennial powerhouse Bellevue University Bruins in Omaha, Nebraska where he had the opportunity to play in the NAIA College World Series. He then went on to play at Southwestern Community College in San Diego, California for one season. Eugene played two summers in the highly respected Jayhawk summer baseball league for the El Dorado Broncos where he had some of the best baseball experiences of his life playing in two NBC World Series finishing fourth and sixth, as well as being fortunate enough to play with some of the up and coming stars of Major League Baseball. Eugene finished up his collegiate career at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas where he unfortunately suffered an injury two weeks before his last season began. Since then he’s been giving private baseball instruction covering all aspects of the game including hitting, pitching, fielding and catching.

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About ProGrip

By Eugene Bleecker | Published: August 11, 2009

ProGrip, Inc. is a company that I originally started to sell the batting grip I invented to teach athletes hands the proper way to hold a baseball bat. After moving to Southern California to pursue my own playing career, while giving lessons, I noticed how many of these baseball players were holding the bat improperly and how much they were HURTING their own swing. I had taught lessons since I was 17 but never so many at once doing between 25-35 a week and this problem was EVERYWHERE! At all age levels and players of all different ability levels, not playing up to their potential because of an impropriety in their swing they didn’t know they had, and didn’t know how to fix.

This is when I began thinking of how I could fix this problem. After a whole lot of tireless work ProGrip is here. So many young athletes all over the world enjoy playing the game of baseball and usually begin between the ages of 5-10. All of these future baseball players should be provided with the best possible experience and opportunity to not only see success, but to learn the many valuable life lessons that the game of baseball has to teach. Without proper instruction, especially in the sport specific training era we live in today, kids get left behind. Not because they do not have the potential or ability, but because without proper instruction they will not see the success they desire and most people won’t enjoy something when they feel they are not good at it. Baseball is a fundamental game with fundamental principles that can all be learned, no matter how talented a natural athlete you are. The bottom line is the harder you work, the more results you will see. Private baseball instruction and academies can get expensive and for many it’s just not an option. Due to the lack of instruction at the lower levels from little league all the way through high school, young athletes are not given the tools they need to succeed. They develop bad habits and in turn do not see success in baseball they desire, especially in the hitting department. When a young man comes to me for lessons at 14, 15 and 16 years old, it becomes my job to break these bad habits they have naturally picked up. If they have been doing the same thing wrong for the last 8-10 years of their baseball life, not only is it difficult to break these habits, it is uncomfortable because these simple actions such as holding the bat improperly are ingrained into their memory. Holding a baseball bat properly, although one small action, sets you up for either success or failure at the plate. If you think about it, holding the bat is your only actual connection to hitting the ball and how you hold the bat affects your swing tremendously. Many young baseball players when picking up the bat not only hold it too deep into their hands but they hold the bat way too tight as well. All of the strength, flexibility and dexterity in your hands lies in your fingers and ANYTIME a baseball instructor teaches a player how to hold the bat they tell them to lay it down in their fingers and then pick it up continuing to hold it in their fingers. Also, it is extremely important to hold the bat loosely. When holding the bat tight our muscles are contracted. For our fast twitch muscles to fire properly our muscles must be loose so you see how this prevents the hitter from swinging as fast as they can. I invite you to watch a boxing match or martial arts match. You will never see a boxer tense while fighting because his muscles must be loose to be quick and the quickness of the punch translates into power. The baseball swing is the same exact thing. Quickness equals power and you must be loose to be quick.

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THE PROGRIP MISSION

By Eugene Bleecker | Published: August 11, 2009

At ProGrip Baseball we are dedicated to teaching athletes how to become COMPLETE baseball players. A complete baseball player is a three dimensional athlete who knows and understands the fundamental, physical and mental aspects of the game of baseball. We teach our athletes how to execute all the tasks that are asked of them on as well as off the baseball field. We believe in setting goals and doing everything in our power to accomplish them. We instruct our athletes that success lies in the preparation you take towards your goals and that every great athlete was not born great, but became great through hard work and dedication. We hope that the ideas we are presenting will become a part of your thinking and everyday baseball routine.

We developed and preach the 3 C’s of success to our Athletes

CCC’s: COMMITMENT to becoming a COMPLETE PLAYER = CONFIDENCE in your abilities

Commitment:
In life no matter what you are trying to accomplish, it is important to commit yourself to achieving that goal. In Baseball the road to success is no different. You must WANT to be the best and you must be WILLING to do everything in your power to achieve that. You must understand that there is always someone working harder than you and there is always someone better than you are. Often, players with good physical tools get passed by in high school, college and professional sports because someone who wasn’t as good worked harder. What a shame it must be to have such good athleticism and talent but because you didn’t work hard enough you lost your spot. At the same time what a great feeling it is when you know because of your hard work that you earned your spot.

There are only two things you can control in this game:

  1. How professional your approach to the game is.
  2. How hard you work to achieve your goal.

1. To approach the game in a professional manner encompasses many different things. You must respect the game, your coach and your teammates. You must be willing to do whatever is asked to help your team succeed. You must hustle on as well as off the field and commit yourself to learning all of the intricacies to the game of baseball. You must pick up your teammates when they need it as well as respect and guide them towards success and victory. You must crave knowledge in the game and never act above the game. All of these things are vital to becoming the best player you can be.

2. How hard you work for something plays a pivotal role in whether you succeed or fail. The harder you work, the more of an opportunity you are giving yourself to achieve your goal. If you put in a little time, you will see a little success. The more time you put in, the better you will get and the more successful you will be. Putting in time every day is the only way to be the absolute best you can be. This is true for everything in life. Don’t ever be satisfied with just being good, because it’s about becoming great! No matter how hard you work there is no guarantee you will make the Major Leagues, but if you don’t work as hard as you can, you will never know how far you could have made it.

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky

Complete Player:
A complete player is someone who can do everything that is asked of them when they step on the field. A complete player is always working hard and looking to get better. This player has worked hard to get their knowledge and knows they can handle any situation on the field because they have prepared. This player has worked extensively to understand the finer points of the game such as situational fielding, hitting and running and takes pride in the fact they have this knowledge. This player will always succeed on the field because of this knowledge they have. This player does not rely on ability alone, but understands how difficult the game of baseball is and that it is necessary to work hard and prepare in order to truly succeed. This is the kind of player every coach wants on their team and every team is happy to have. Becoming this player takes Time, Energy, Perspiration, Preparation and Perseverance. Finally, to ultimately become this player one must have DESIRE AND DETERMINATION.

CONFIDENCE:
Confidence on the field is necessary to becoming the absolute best player you can be. The only way to get this confidence is through seeing success in the game. Not just success physically, but success mentally. This kind of success is only achieved through “dedication to preparation” both physically and mentally. Knowing that you played two steps to your right because someone is a pull hitter and you were able to get to a ball you never would have gotten to without making that move. Knowing that you were looking for a 2-2 inside fastball because the pitcher did it to three other guys, and because of that you were able to drive in the game winning run. Knowing that you worked hard to get faster and stronger for next season and you did. This will lead to knowing that every time you step on the field, you have prepared physically by working hard on the field, working hard on the fundamentals and working hard in the weight room. This will lead to knowing that in any given situation you know what to do with the ball and you WANT the ball. This will lead to knowing that every time you step on the field, you will succeed because you are prepared to do so. This will lead to a strut and confidence that will be so visible in you, that everyone on the field KNOWS that YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

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Learning Curve: Episode 3

By Eugene Bleecker | Published: August 11, 2009

From the time Eugene was 7 until he was 17 he spent the duration of every summer at New York Tech Baseball Academy learning everything he could about the game. From the time Eugene was 7 until he was 17 he spent the duration of every summer at New York Tech Baseball Academy learning everything he could about the game.

Videos Coming Soon!

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Learning Curve: Episode 2

By Eugene Bleecker | Published: August 11, 2009

From the time Eugene was 7 until he was 17 he spent the duration of every summer at New York Tech Baseball Academy learning everything he could about the game. From the time Eugene was 7 until he was 17 he spent the duration of every summer at New York Tech Baseball Academy learning everything he could about the game.

Videos Coming Soon!

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Learning Curve: Episode 1

By Eugene Bleecker | Published: August 11, 2009

From the time Eugene was 7 until he was 17 he spent the duration of every summer at New York Tech Baseball Academy learning everything he could about the game. From the time Eugene was 7 until he was 17 he spent the duration of every summer at New York Tech Baseball Academy learning everything he could about the game.

Videos Coming Soon!

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5 Tips to Improve Your Baseball Game

By Eugene Bleecker | Published: August 11, 2009

TIP 1: DEVELOPING A ROUTINE:

As a hitter one of the most important things you can do for yourself is developing some sort of routine when you get into the batter’s box. This will help you to focus in on your task at the plate, as well as making you more comfortable in the box. Being comfortable and locked in are two of the most important things for a hitter. If you look closely when any professional baseball player steps in the box, they will do the same things every time whether it’s wrapping their batting gloves tighter, cleaning the box with their cleats, tapping the plate with their bat or taking the same amount of slow practice swings. Your routine can consist of ANYTHING YOU WANT as long as you keep it consistent and do the same thing every time. This will IMMEDIATELY make you a better hitter.

TIP 2: HAVE AN APPROACH:

An approach is having an idea of what you want to accomplish before you walk up to the plate. Your approach will change every time you get up due to the situation/pitcher you are facing. Traditionally when most hitters think of an approach, they think of things like hitting behind a runner with less than two outs to move him over, or hitting a fly ball to the outfield with less than two outs and a runner on third to trade the out for the run. Those things are important and those are approaches at the plate, but having an approach is much more than just that, it’s not just situational. You can have an approach EVERY TIME you get up to the plate. If you notice that the pitcher is working everybody on the outside part of the plate and you look for a pitch on the outer half and hit it hard the other way, you have had an extremely successful approach even if you make an out. Things like that won’t show up in the score books but they will play a pivotal role in giving you confidence at the plate. Each time you successfully execute an approach at the plate it’s one step closer to getting to that next level of baseball. By using an approach and having an idea of what you want to accomplish every time you walk up to the plate you will ALWAYS be a successful hitter.

TIP 3: HUSTLE:

I know you guys here this from your coaches all the time already but the kind of hustle I’m about to talk about is just a little bit different. It is important to make sure your always running at the field hustling on and off, but the kind of hustle that I’m talking about is in game between the lines hustle. A lot of hitters even in the major leagues tend to get lazy when they hit a guaranteed base hit in a hole or when they hit a ball in the gap they know is a stand up double. Even when you know you have a
base hit it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to the team that you bust it out of the box and make a hard turn at first base. As a runner you never know when a fielder is going to misplay a ball and if you make that good hard turn you can take advantage of the error and take the extra bag. If your just jogging into first and you see the misplay you won’t be able to take advantage of it and help your
team. What if it’s a one run game and the next guy gets a base hit, you would have scored. Now it’s first and second or first and third and the next guy strikes out and you don’t score the run at all! You may have just cost your team the game! Every run counts and in the game of baseball you never know when the team is going to need it. So no matter whether it’s the first inning or the bottom of the ninth, bust it out of the box every time and make sure you take advantage of every misplay and
scoring opportunity the other team gives you!!!!

TIP 4: STEALING BAGS:

This tip is almost unfair it’s so good and if you learn how to do this properly you can steal bases NO MATTER how fast you are. Pitchers tend to fall into rhythms while their pitching and especially with a man on base. Sometimes the rhythm changes and good pitchers will mix it up, but if you are always looking you can find the right opportunity. After the pitcher comes into his set position begin to count slowly “One, Two, Three, Four” and so on until he lifts his front foot and commits to home. In doing this you will find that many pitchers will commit and lift their foot on the same count a few times in a row. If you are looking for this and pick up on it, you can go BEFORE THEY EVEN LIFT THEIR FOOT because mentally you know they are going home before they even know it!!!! For example, if a guy commits on 3 twice in a row then on the third pitch you can steal on 2-2 ½ as long as you time it
properly. This tool will enable you to get HUGE JUMPS and steal more bags than you ever thought you could!!

TIP 5: HARD WORK:

Like anything else in life if you want to get better at baseball you have to commit yourself and work on it every chance you get. Just because you want to get better doesn’t mean it’s just going to happen. You have to put time in each and every day towards your goal whether it’s to raise your average, hit for more power, run faster or become a better fielder. What I can ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEE you is that if you put in 20 minutes a day towards reaching your goal no matter what it is, you will see a TREMENDOUS difference in your abilities. Most of you guys think going to the batting cage once a week or just going to practice a few days a week is making you a better baseball player, but it’s not.

To truly change something you must make changing it habitual and work on it each day. Think about this, if Major League baseball players are still working for HOURS AND HOURS each day to get better and your not as good as they are, don’t you think you should be putting in a little bit more time into perfecting what you love to do. Most of them are required to show up on game days about 5-6
hours before the game begins to get their work in like taking ground balls and extra swings, but the GREAT ONES show up 8-10 hours before the game so they can become the absolute best they can be! The great philosopher Aristotle once said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit”!!!!! Take this and apply it in your life NO MATTER what it is you want to do and I GUARANTEE if you put in the time, you will see the results!

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8 Essential Pieces to a Smooth Swing

By Eugene Bleecker | Published: August 11, 2009

Proper Swing

Swinging a baseball bat, as a whole, is an extremely complex movement in which a whole bunch of different small movements are combined to provide one fluid movement in just a split second. There are many different ways people teach hitting but the principles remain the same. The idea is to remain consistent doing the same things over and over so they become natural movements and you don’t have to think about them. In my opinion there are 8 different things that a hitter must consider when figuring out their swing and how to become a more consistent hitter making as much solid contact as possible. I like to call them the 8 essential pieces to a smooth swing. These are not steps for you to take in order to be a better hitter but merely a compilation of essential things that you must do in order to be a consistent and successful hitter.

8 Essential Pieces to a Smooth Swing

1. The GRIP: Picking up a bat is the first thing physical action that takes place before walking up to the plate and holding the bat is your only actual physical connection to swinging the bat and hitting the ball. If you are not holding the bat properly, you are not allowing yourself to be the best hitter you can be. To hold the bat properly, lay the bat down in your fingers and then pick it up. For most of you, your “door knocking” or “baby knuckles” will be aligned. People with longer fingers will have knuckles slightly off center which is fine as long as the bat is in your fingers. Holding the bat this way will provide you with a much more fluid and powerful swing than any other way you could possibly hold it. It will also allow you to extend through the ball properly. When holding the bat ANY other way, doing these things properly becomes a physical IMPOSSIBILITY. If this is something you struggle with or have been told to do but it’s uncomfortable, I encourage you to check out ProGrip.

ProGrip will re-teach your hands how to grip the bat and make it comfortable for you to hold it properly.

2. The STANCE: There are many different options when it comes to your stance at the plate. Not only can you choose a whole bunch of different places for your hands, but you have a few options for your feet as well. Many young baseball players try to emulate MLB players and their different stances and I encourage you to STOP!! Those MLB players are the best in the world at what they do and just because they do it, DOESN’T mean you should to. You want to find YOUR comfort zone not theirs. I encourage players to keep their stances as simple as possible because remember consistency in the swing is key and the more movement you have prior to the swing to get in the correct hitting position, the more room you have for error. Your feet should be roughly shoulder width apart and in a comfortable athletic position. I tell my players to stand like they would if they were leading off a base with their weight distributed evenly to both sides and on the balls of their feet. An open or a closed stance is ok but both have their disadvantages which is why I like the feet to be in a fairly straight line facing the pitcher. I like the hands in a position not to far away from the body but not to close either, finding a happy medium between the two. Some of you guys are going to want to put your back elbows up and if you really like it fine, but if you are popping a lot of balls up or hitting a bunch into the ground I would encourage you to look at this very small but important part of the swing. When your back elbow is up, the first thing you must do before swinging the bat is DROP IT!!! So why have it up in the first place?? Most guys have a tendency when dropping their back elbow to drop their back shoulderas well and this is the number one cause of pop-ups. Remember swinging a bat is a complex movement so we want to simplify every chance we get and if you start with your elbows down, now all you have to do is drop the bat head on the ball!

3. LOAD/LAUNCH POSITION: Although many different hitters have manydifferent stances, they ALL get to the almost the EXACT same position before swinging a bat, we call this the load or launch position. Many hitters start with their hands in another spot and move them to this position while other hitters choose to start here. I like a little movement to get to this position because I believe not only does it loosen the hands and arms to allow for more quickness but the cocking action provides for a little more power as well. If you were going to punch a block of wood in front of you, would you punch it with your arm in a still position or would you cock it back slightly??? I encourage my hitters to bring their hands back slightly with just a simple movement straight back from where their hands start about 1-5 inches. The length of this movement depends solely on the hitter and what they are comfortable with. Remember though, the more movement there is, the more difficult it is to keep it consistent! Rhythm.

4. BAT PATH: Your bat path to the baseball begins after you launch your hands towards the ball all the way through until the end of the swing. Many young hitters have an extremely poor bat path to get to the baseball. After our hands are in the launch position when we are ready to swing the bat, we want to take the barrel of the bat to the ball in the most direct way possible. Instead of bringing the bat directly to the ball, many of you drop the bat head and sweep the bat into the ball providing for an extremely long swing just to get to the ball. We want to be “Short to it and Long through it” not the other way around. I encourage you to take a look at your swing in slow motion or consult with a professional hitting coach to ask if you are experiencing this problem. Many guys don’t know they are doing this and it is extremely detrimental to your swing. You will also hear a lot of people discuss whether to swing level or swing down or now people saying to swing up to the ball. This is all nonsense. The bat is in a starting position above your head and your hands are starting above the strike zone, therefore you MUST swing down to the ball. The trick is to not chop down on it. Also, after the Point of Contact (PoC) You must swing up through the ball to finish over your shoulder. “Down to it and Up through it” is the phrase I like my students to remember because this helps them understand that you must swing down to the baseball connecting with the middle to lower third of the ball to hit line drives andextend up through the baseball to get carry and distance on the ball. If you just think about chopping down, your going to end up hitting a whole bunch of ground balls and if you think about swinging up your going to hit a ridiculous amount of pop-ups which are the easiest balls to catch in the whole game of baseball. Being a line drive hitter and a difficult out is what you WANT to be. This will provide you with more success at the plate and a higher batting average.

5. POINT of CONTACT(PoC): Looking closely you will find at the major league level that PoC is the second point in the swing where ALL HITTERS are almost the same. When making contact with the ball we want our swing to be at a certain point and our body to be in a certain position. At the PoC we want our lower half turned into the baseball with our back knee in between our feet bent towards the ground. We want a locked out front leg and our weight over the center of our this is a result of rotating hips into the baseball bodies. Our bat should be making contact with the middle to bottom third of the ball and our hands should be “palm up palm down” on the bat. Our back elbow should be slightly bent allowing for extension after the PoC and our eyes should be on the ball. Many coaches will see you can’t see the ball of the bat but many hitters will tell you different especially when the ball is traveling slower. All of you guys facing pitching under 85 mph you CAN see the ball hit the bat and you want to get your eyes used to tracking/following the ball all the way in. Again I encourage you to videotape yourself swinging and take a look at where you are when your making contact. If you are not in the proper position at PoC then your swing needs work and if possible consult a local hitting instructor.

6. EXTENSION: This part of the swing is extremely important in getting distance with all of that solid contact you are making. Think about this, if you swung as hard as you could and then stopped your swing at the PoC the ball wouldn’t go to far would it. Extension is key to getting distance/power into the ball. After making contact I tell my students to think about not hitting one ball but hitting three balls to the field that the pitch dictates so they continue to follow through. At PoC as I previously explained, the back elbow is slightly bent and now you must push through or extend into the baseball. Extension is often seen as the “snap” through the ball right after PoC. Having proper extension turns those week gappers into stand up doubles and those balls off the wall into home runs. Many young hitters have poor extension and a lot of young hitters swings don’t even allow them to extend through the ball because they were already extended. Again I encourage you to check out your swing on slow motion to see if you extend through the ball properly. If not, there are a number of drills used to fix this so consulting with a local instructor is your best option.

7. FINISH: The finish is the last part of the swing after extending through the baseball. Some guys like to take their hands off the bat and some guys keep them both on. As long as both hands are on the bat through extension it is ok to release one afterwards, BUT ONLY if they stay on through extension. You don’t want to become a one handed hitter or get in the habit of releasing too early. As far as the rest of the body is concerned it is ideal to have your back shoelaces, back knee, belt buckle, chest and ear facing towards the pitcher while remaining balanced and continuing to focus on the PoC. That 5 point check will force you to be fully rotated through the ball without over rotating.

8. BALANCE: In my opinion balance is the most important facet of the swing. If you do not remain balanced through the swing you can not be a successful hitter. So many players worry about getting more power and stepping into the ball and what they fail to understand is that the pitcher plus a good fundamental swing is all you need. If you go set the machine on 70 or 80 miles per hour and put an easy swing on the ball but that easy swing is fundamentally correct you will find that the speed the ball is traveling, plus a nice easy swing are more than enough to be a consistent and efficient line drive hitter. The greatest advice I ever got from a coach was stay within yourself and don’t try to do too much. Having said that, when you think about what the pitcher is trying to do to strike you out and how you can combat that, the answer becomes clear. Pitchers are trying to change speeds and throw off a batters timing on the pitch. As a hitter if you remain balanced you are able to react and hit ALL pitches efficiently.

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