Any hitting coach worth his salt will tell you that AGGRESSIVENESS is perhaps the most important trait a hitter can have. Yet in the United States our feeder systems are definitely not doing a good job of teaching it. Players are rewarded for walking or getting hit by a pitch and punished for swinging at a ball that’s slightly out of the strike zone. The “win at all costs” tournaments for kids just out of the crib has placed teaching aggressiveness and bat speed on the back burner behind the need to win another trophy or medal at Super Toddler World Series in Las Vegas! It’s scary and the result is we are seeing more and more players from other countries taking over the rosters of MLB teams. Pretty soon the only Americans on TV will be the pitchers.
At any rate, I think it would be good if America would learn from the Dominicans who are sending so many hitters into professional baseball. When baseball first came to the Dominican Republic, they basically had what we had 100 years ago. They play sandlot-type ball all day. No umpires, no trophies, no uniforms, just play baseball. Since there are no umpires until the kids are in their teens, players get one pitch to hit. If it doesn’t bounce or go behind them, basically they are expected to hit it. They literally must learn to hit anything they can reach. In this fashion they can play many more games in a day, learn how to field, run the bases, play the game, and—oh, by the way–they become super aggressive hitters. They know they can hit anything they can reach.
Photo from Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images on April 4, 2006
It stems from years ago when the scouts were only in the D.R. for professional winter leagues and the kids were told “You can’t walk your way off the island. If the scouts come and you don’t show them you can mash by the time you are 15 or 16, they’ll never sign you, and you’ll never leave the island.” That is why so many Latin players are so aggressive in hitting. In the D.R. If a very young kid swings so hard he misses and falls down, they cheer. Players are encouraged to swing hard.
These kids then sign for a song and arrive in the US and the first thing they learn is that American baseball is much easier than Dominican ball because pro pitchers have to put the ball in a little tiny box like hitting off a tee. All you have to do is be aggressive in that little box until you have two strikes and then hit it. What could be easier than that? That is what we call “Dominican Style”.
We take at least a round or two every day “Dominican Style” as part of our developing a two-strike approach. Not only do we think striking out is a no-no in baseball, we believe getting called out on strikes should qualify for jail time. Umpires should never call you out because the ball should never get past you.
Suggested Reading
Mitchel, Andrew. “The Dominican Republic and the United States: A Baseball History”.
June 2021. https://origins.osu.edu/article/dominican-republic-and-united-states-baseball-history
Want to know more about how to hit and pitch like a pro? Visit my website at https://thehitdoctorusa.com/
Get exclusive expert training drills from the founder of The Hit Doctor USA, Coach Joe Barth.
📝 Sign up now and get your first insider tip right in your inbox!