How to shake off the rust?

[jmccurry]

Hello, all! It's that time of year again in Ohio. I have some questions about shaking off the rust. My association only had one day that we were able to sign up to volunteer for a scrimmage, and of course Ohio being Ohio, it was cancelled. I have my first game on Thursday, a freshman baseball game. Do you have any recommendations on how to "shake off the rust", if you will, before my first game? I'm pretty nervous going in without any warmup. Any advice is appreciated!

[Stan W.]

One pitch at a time.......

 

take your time, focus, work hard and hustle.........rust cant stand up to hustle and hard work

[maven]

If you can get to a practice in the gym, take your gear and call some pitches.

 

If not, make sure you are behind the plate making a silent call on each and every warmup pitch for the entire game. It'll give you up to about 76 extra pitches to help you get the rust off.

 

And: slow down. If you're rusty, your eyes and brain will need more time than usual to process pitches.

[Mick]

Ask your umpire organization about getting cage work in this time of year.  Here in upstate NY, there's a sports facility with batting cages that high school teams use to get live pitching.  They welcome us to come and call balls & strikes.  It's good for everyone.

[JaxRolo]

Just go out there and do what you know what to do. You will be fine.

[scrounge]

Hey, I'm right there with you here in central Ohio. I had four scrimmages planned - all cancelled. Varsity opener on Friday (they had some special showcase or something, official opening wasn't supposed to be till Saturday) - canceled. Varsity DH on Sat - canceled (just because it was 25 degrees - wimps).

 

Just get out there, slow down, do your best, you'll be fine. The teams and everyone else are pretty much in the same boat.

[RingEmUp]

Because I moved cross country I didn't do any training events and so my first few games here in SoCal have been all about knocking off the rust.  I am finally feeling more comfortable now that I have a few games in but I've been forgetful on a couple of plays here and there when on the bases.  Just get out there and do it and you'll be fine.