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Listen to Holden Kushner's radio interview
with Mark Wetzel on XM Radio Channel 175 MLB Home Plate.
Broadcast Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007. |
Click image to watch Fox News' Shepard Smith's interview with Mark.
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CALL
NOW TO ENROLL!
2009 Fall Instructional Line Drive Hitting League
When: Sept 13, Sept 20, Sept 27 , Oct 4, Oct 11
Where: NP Dodge Park- games will last approximately
2 hours.
Price: $295 per player
Two Divisions: Grades 7-12
5 Players per team. Eight official at bats per game per player.
Quality pitching will be supplied. Several college games will be
available for advanced players In addition to Mark there will be
four high school coaches providing instruction at each game. Defense
will be played and instructed while the opposing team is hitting.
Mark has hand picked an exellent staff of eight area high school
baseball coaches. All coaches will instruct Mark's hitting system
to the letter. LEARN MORE>>>
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Click on the video clip on the left to see
Six-Time National League MVP Barry Bonds connecting with a pitch
for his 586th career
home run. |
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| Mark
Wetzel (right) discusses hitting drills with his friend
Tony Gwynn at Tony Gwynn Stadium, home of the San Diego
State Aztecs. Gwynn and Wetzel have been friends and
associates for several years and have frequent discussions
about hitting technique. Gwynn, head baseball coach
of the Aztecs, was inducted into the Major League Baseball
Hall of Fame in 2007 alongside Cal Ripken -- two exemplary
players, each of whom spent his entire career with a single
ballclub. |
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Wetzel Students Macri and Eymann Progress as Pros
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| Mark
Wetzel (left) talks to Matt Macri about squaring up the
ball during a hitting lesson prior to Macri's departure
for 2008 spring training with the Minnesota Twins. |
Two
longtime students of Mark Wetzel are coming off strong seasons in
professional baseball and are looking forward to moving onward and
upward in 2009. Matt Macri, a Des Moines (IA) Dowling Academy
all-stater who has studied hitting under Coach Wetzel for the past
ten years, was called up to the Minnesota Twins from AAA Rochester
on May 24th and got two hits and an RBI in his first two major league
at bats. Macri played in eighteen games for the Twins, going
11-for-34 (.324) with a home run and four RBI's. After the
early season stint in the majors, Macri spent most of the season
at Rochester, but was called back up to the big club on September
1. The Twins contended for first place in the AL Central Division
but, after finishing in a tie with the Chicago White Sox, were eliminated
in a 1-0 playoff loss. | More
about Matt Macri |
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| Eric Eymann
hit .299 for AA Chattanooga Lookouts in 2008. |
While
Macri was getting a taste of "The Show," former Creighton
Prep standout Eric Eymann, who has been a Wetzel student for the
past eight years, had a strong year with the Cincinnati Reds' AA
affiliate, the Chattanooga (TN) Lookouts, posting the second highest
batting average in the Reds minor league system (.299) and playing
in the All-Star Game.
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More about Eric Eymann |
Both
ballplayers credit Wetzel with having a significant impact on their
success at the high school, college and professional levels.
"What Mark teaches is a great way to hit," observed Eymann.
"It's just a great blueprint for a swing. I really bought
into what he was teaching before my senior year in high school,
and I still believe in it today. I come back here and work
with Mark on my swing whenever I can." Macri observed
that "what Mark teaches works beautifully for me. And
he has the ability to help me out of slumps just by talking with
me on the phone. That's a tremendous help."
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| "A
blind hitting instructor? No Way! You've got to be kidding!"
That's
the common reaction when folks first hear about Mark Wetzel, widely
known throughout baseball circles as "The Blind Guy."
But Mark has demonstrated a tremendous talent for turning skeptics
into believers during his career as a personal instructor for hitters
from pre-teens to pros.
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| Mark Wetzel |
From
his hitting facility in the rolling Ponca Hills on the northern
outskirts of Omaha, Nebraska, Mark conducts lessons and consults
with hitters who are serious about improving their performance at
the plate. Working with a well-trained and experienced crew
of assistants, Mark has helped many an aspiring hitter realize his
or her dream of achieving success and moving on to the next level.
So
what's his secret? How can a blind guy teach someone
to hit a pitched baseball, arguably one of the toughest challenges
in all of sports?
First
of all, Mark is not completely blind. Although an incurable
eye disease known as macular
degeneration has robbed Mark of most of his central vision,
he retains sufficient peripheral vision to perceive what hitters
are doing with their heads, hands, hips and feet -- the building
blocks of the Wetzel swing. He teams up with his son Lance
and other long-term assistants to analyze swings and prescribe drills
intended to improve bat speed, contact and power.
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| Mark
Wetzel is shown here in an instructional session with two-time
First Team All-Nebraska Designated Hitter Mark Waldron,
a recent graduate of Creighton Prep. Waldron, a student
of Wetzel's for the past seven years, has recently committed
to play college ball at Butler County Community College
in Kansas, one of the top baseball JUCO's in America.
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Secondly,
and more importantly, Mark's success is the result of an all-consuming
desire to comprehend and master the science and art of hitting --
a journey that has to taken him to major league front offices and
clubhouses, where he has developed professional associations with,
and earned the respect of, some of the top names in baseball, including
newly-elected Hall of Fame member Tony Gwynn, and long-time hitting
instructor, Merv Rettenmund. As a result of this quest, Mark's
knowledge of the fundamentals of successful hitting at every level
is extraordinary.
Explore
this website to learn more about this remarkable man and the remarkable
success that he has had instructing young hitters. If you
or someone in your family has the desire and commitment to become
a top hitter, a visit to the Blind Guy is one of the best things
you can do to help to realize that dream.
We
invite you to explore this website and contact Mark at mark@blindguyhitting.com
for further information.
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Number of visits since 6/15/07:
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