ABOUT THE LAB
Mission Statement/About the LAB
The LAB provides an “OPEN” training environment where our clients are given the opportunity to develop and improve their hitting skills through a technologically advanced and challenging hitting environment.
This environment has been programmed to accommodate high school level hitters and scales from entry level through college level competition.
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The culmination of our practices end with “ON-FIELD” hitting practice at our Los Altos and Mountain View High School baseball facility.
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We utilize “Top of the Line” computer controlled pitching machines which are programmed to place precisely thrown baseballs at various points in the strike zone. Speeds, locations, and types of pitches can then be programmed for set sequences, random sequences, and at its most complex level; “Game Day Competition”.
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Are you ready to test your hitting skills against these various levels of hitting competition?
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OPEN Training Environment
We are an “open” training environment; meaning we will not advocate our successful techniques over the objections of our clients. Most clients are satisfied with their existing hitting techniques and have spent considerable time and effort to perfect. And you need an environment to challenge and develop you.
However, many are curious about the hitting techniques ushering in the POWER ERA in Major League baseball and may wish to discuss the basis for its success. And, perhaps after much reflection, you may even wish to test-drive this program.
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If you are looking at joining our successful program on hitting at the high school level; or refining your hitting skills and techniques in a technologically advanced and challenging environment, we have a very special and unique facility awaiting you.
Daniel's Coaching Journey
"I started researching what the MLB players were doing back in 2013. I started seeing a spike in home runs and I wanted to know why. The new school way of hitting is swinging up more on the ball, hitting line drives, and going gap to gap. But at the same time we are preaching the philosophy of having that old school mentality of putting the ball in play, cutting down on strike outs, and working the count for walks. At the end of the day you want to be tough out and put the ball in play." - Daniel
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Daniel Rodriguez has 15 years of coaching experience. He began his coaching career at Los Altos High School as their Junior Varsity head coach in 2007. He left in 2010 to go work at his alma mater of Hillsdale High School. In 2014, in his lone year at Hillsdale is where he began teaching his hitting techniques. Which at the time the baseball community looked at as abnormal. The Hillsdale Varsity team led the league in homeruns and made it to the league championship game. In 2015, Coach Rodriguez returned to Los Altos as their Junior Varsity head coach. He continued his success and in the 2 years he held a 47-11 record with a league championship title to show for it. In 2017, he was called up and became the Varsity hitting coach. In his first year he helped lead the team to the CCS Championship in an eventual loss. On a mission to get back, in 2018 the team avenged it’s 2017 loss and won the CCS Division 1 Championship vs Bellarmine High School. Beating a team that was ranked top 5 in the nation and with a pitching staff who had 4 pitchers go Division 1. In 2019, Los Altos began the year 22-1 and yet again was the top hitting team in the league. They ended the year by reaching the league championship game. In 2021, even with an extremely young team that started 3 sophomores and 1 freshman they were able to make it to the Division 3 CCS championship game. He has reached the championship game in 7 consecutive seasons dating back to 2014.
Dealing with Youth
Coach Rodriguez has been working in education since 2010. As a special education instructor at Los Altos High School, he understands the impact a coach can make on a teenager's life. Coach Rodriguez's biggest influences have been his former coaches. It has always been about teaching life skills over any swing that has been most important to him. He still keeps in close contact with his former coaches and players. It’s the relationship building “outside of the lines” that he cherishes the most.
Mindset
The LAB gets you mentally and physically prepared for the highs and lows of a baseball season. There is a cliche in baseball that ” baseball is 90% mental.” But why don’t most programs spend the time building mental fortitude? At the LAB we take a deep dive into preparing our players to become mentally tough. The LAB spends time reading book passages, practice mindfulness and meditation so that our players are game ready.
Testimonial
Former Player
Former Player
Former Player
Alex Reelfs University of Santa Clara
Ryan Baum
Cal Polytechnic State University
Kiyoshi Taylor
Cal Lutheran University
“Coach Rodriguez helped me immensely in my time at Los Altos High School. At the start of my four years with him he told me to set a goal. We went over our goals and he proceeded to help me achieve them in any way he could whether that was through mental toughness, top of the line training equipment or one on one time to develop my swing step by step. Daniel Rodriguez is very knowledgeable on successful hitting techniques and how to develop young ball players into great ones.”
“Daniel really takes pride in making each player the best they can be. His emphasis on the process led me to embrace continuous hard work, trusting the results would come. The LAB also incorporates training of the mental side of the game, which is overlooked by many programs. The biggest separator at higher levels is a players mental discipline, and I first realized its value in high school when Daniel introduced the topic.”
"Back in 2012 Daniel saved my baseball career. After being cut my freshman year he took me under his wing and developed not just my game but my physical and mental strength. He took me from a kid who struggled for playing time to a kid who won multiple MVP's in his summer leagues. While training with Daniel I was a able to develop my skills to get multiple college offers to play across the country. With his teaching and conditioning my first year of college was easy because I was used to the daily grind and mental toughness it took. His hitting philosophy also enabled me to unlock new levels to my game and I was able to hit over .300 my first year even though I could never hit a slider."
