This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Kevin Long has been one of baseball’s best hitting coaches for years. Sometimes, though, being a hitting coach is like being a manager making out a lineup. Everybody at home thinks they can do it, too.

“Son, you’re teaching hitting and everybody is dangerous to you,” Long’s father once told him.

Long asked why.

“Because everybody knows just enough about hitting to be dangerous,” his dad said. “They’ve all played Little League. They’ve all at one point played baseball.”

“Most dads are going to try to teach their kids the best way they know how,” Long said.

But oftentimes, it’s not the best instruction.

Father’s Day is on Sunday, so we asked a few Phillies coaches about the baseball tips they would give parents.

Hitting coach Kevin Long

Keep it simple
“I would just get them in an athletic stance, squared up. I would not have them stride. I’d have them go from here [hands above the back shoulder] to there [the ball] and that’s it. Take away a load, a stride, spread out, get athletic. No step. It’s going to give them the most success. With limited movements, they’re going to be better. The more they try to incorporate a stride into it, it gets complicated. Especially for kids.”

Dry swings
“Before we do any drills, we do what we call dry-run hitting, where you don’t even include a ball. You just try to get the feel for it. So try to go through it without a baseball at first and just get them to see if they can repeat their swing a little bit. And then incorporate the baseball.”

Forget elbow up
“I hear ‘elbow up’ all the time. Major Leaguers are so strong, so a lot of them have it up. But I would say stay relaxed with your arms, with your elbows. I want your hands off your back shoulder, about that high [near the ear]. I don’t want them way up. I don’t want them way down. But pretty much right off your back shoulder. And if my hands went down, they’d be off my back knee.”

Pitching coach Caleb Cotham

Grip
“I tell the kids every camp, how you grip the ball is very important. You want to grip the ball ... the same way as much as you possibly can. Gripping it four-seam to throw the ball as accurately as you can. If you’re not a pitcher and you throw it two-seam, the ball is going to move too much. You won’t be as accurate.”

Eyes
“It’s very simple, but look exactly where you’re trying to throw it as much as possible. That scales all the way to the big leagues. Because your eyes dictate where you stride, your eyes dictate where you walk, your eyes dictate where your balance is. So if I’m looking somewhere and my eyes are lazy or late, I can get off balance. It impacts your balance and perception of the environment. You wouldn’t walk straight and look to the side. If you want to turn a doorknob, you don’t look away. You might miss.”

Be a thrower
“I really encourage parents to emphasize throwing the ball and being a good thrower rather than commanding the ball. Skill takes time to develop. If you develop the intent to throw hard -- not necessarily throw hard, but the right way for a good throw -- you can be a good pitcher, you can be a good shortstop, you can be a good outfielder. Don’t overemphasize perfect mechanics or the skill of pitching, which is throwing your pitches to certain spots. Be athletic every time you throw the ball. Don’t be a robot.”

Infield coach Bobby Dickerson

It’s not an egg
“I hear people say, ‘Catch the ball soft, catch it like an egg.’ It’s not an egg. I also hear, ‘Get your butt down.’ You want your back flat [parallel to the ground] and your glove out in front.”

Third-base coach Dusty Wathan

Two hands! Two hands!
“Most people don’t realize why they teach kids to catch with two hands. The reason you teach kids to catch with two hands is because it makes them move their feet. If I’m going to catch a ball [to my right] with two hands, I need to move my feet. That’s the biggest thing. Move your feet. When you get older, everything becomes a one-handed game. But when you really want to teach a kid to move his feet, you tell him to catch with two hands, because he has to move his feet. Everybody says catch with two hands. Well, this hand [barehand] doesn’t do anything, really, other than it makes you move your feet to the ball.”

Wiffleball
“I think Wiffleball is an amazing thing -- or hitting bottle caps and things like that, because it gives you multiple swings, instead of one standard, perfect swing. It teaches you to adjust swings, adjust your hands, adjust to balls. You look at a lot of good hitters, especially from the '70s, '80s, '90s, they could handle the bat, and they’re going to hit for a high average because they’re putting the barrel on the ball. A lot of it comes from Wiffleball or Beteyah, which is the game they play in the Dominican. You can buy that version of the game now. My son has it.”