GETTING A Good Pitch To Hit

Ted Williams said, “The key to hitting, is getting a good pitch to hit.”

The most important word of that quote is GET; it is not HIT a good pitch or SWING at a good pitch …IT’S GET! Hitters have two options, swing or don’t swing.

Pitchers use four things to get us out.

-Velocity 
-Pitch movement 
-Change of speed 
-Location

Then there’s variety with those 4 things they can be a left-handed pitcher, a right-handed pitcher, they have a side- arm, three-quarters, high three-quarters or the over the top arm slot, they can throw off the timing with the speed of their delivery and there are different heights of the pitcher that will change the trajectory of the ball coming to the plate.

The different combinations are dizzying.

Does your your hitting training train you to GET a good pitch to hit?

The Swing and Repetition Scam

Coaches preach and teach repetition. The average hitter sees four pitches per at bat and gets up 4 times a game. That means they will see 16 pitches in a game. The average hitter swings at 46% of those pitches. That means the average hitter is going to take eight swings per game. How do mindless repetitions train us to focus in on taking eight swings at quality pitches?

We preach and teach repetition, but in a game what happens? In practice, a hitting coach will say,

“Get your swings in!”,

“Get your time in the cage!”,

“Make sure you’re getting your swings off the tee!”

I did an informal survey of hitting coaches: most hitting coaches were anywhere between 50 – 200 swings a day per hitter. Let’s take the low end of 50 swings per day. This number indicates we are training our hitters to swing, swing, swing, swing, swing, swing, swing!

Repetition, repetition, repetition!

But, when they get in the game what do they hear from their coaches?

“Get your pitch!”

“See it, Hit it!”

“Be patient. Be selective.”

“Have discipline up there!”

We teach and preach repetition, but in a game, we expect discipline, patience, as well as, a good eye.

Does your hitting training prepare for this: or is it just mindless repetition?

How The Tee Makes You A Worse Hitter

Don’t take my word for it! I will show you two of the greatest hitters in baseball hitting off a tee! Then, I will show you how what they practice on the tee is NOT what they do in a game. Did you know, practice time is actually wasted engaging in things not used in a game.

You will be shocked at what you see!

Hitting Coach Tricks

Boxers will spend half of their time sparring and tactical sparring.

This means, there is somebody in the ring with them, actively trying to defeat and attack their weaknesses. How many times does your hitting coach actually throw to get you out? Are they just lobbing in 70mph fastballs that are teed off from a pitching machine or soft toss?

This is a trick they use so they can make you feel confident and good.

It is not their job to make you feel good. It is their job to make you good.

Are you paying for swinging lessons or hitting lessons?

Is Your Strength Training Making You A Bad Hitter?

I love strength training. I think it is equally as important as skill training.

You need to have a base of functional strength to support hitting mechanics, but here’s the deal… Most strength coaches do not know anything about hitting. I’m going to show you that what your strength coach is trying to do for you, despite how talented they may be, may actually be hurting you.

Hint: it is not your strength coach’s fault.

The Heart Of A Hitter Is The Eye

30% of a hitter’s swings are outside the strike zone. 96% of hits come from pitches inside the strike zone, which means that virtually all swings outside the strike zone do not produce hits. Our goal is to be able to train hitters so they can recognize which pitches they can hit one’s pitches they cannot: eliminating unforced errors. Swinging at a pitch out of the strike zone IS a huge deal, but when you throw 15 pitches to a kid in batting practice, what do they do? They swing at all of them.

Are you training to hit or just to swing?