Ken Griffey Sr. once hit me with a hitting lesson I’ll never forget. We were talking shop one day—breaking down swings—and Griffey, long-time Reds star and hitting coach, posed a question that stopped me in my tracks: “If a player has a 10 Swing on the 10 scale and a 4 Body… or a … Read more
Now that we have established the importance of having a two-strike approach let’s discuss some of the different approaches one can employ and how someone can work on them. Let’s begin with the “Splendid Splinter” Ted Williams–one of the greatest hitters of all time—who, as manager of the Washington Senators, took the team from the … Read more
In this the age of technology I would like to issue a word of caution to all the aspiring hitting coaches: it ain’t that easy! There is no one way to hit! Need proof? Turn on the playoffs or the World Series and look at the great hitters. They are all different! Every great hitter … Read more
One thing that I learned well after my playing days was the fact that there can be no significant improvement without failure. Watching hitters in my batting center over the years I noticed whenever they couldn’t hit a high pitch, they immediately hit the button so it threw only low pitches. If they couldn’t … Read more
Over the years, many promising baseball careers ended because certain hitters couldn’t hit breaking pitches if their lives depended on it. I remember playing against a couple of big bonus babies after they were released, and they were still playing in semi- pro leagues. The worst curveballs got them to swing and miss, but … Read more
One modern day philosophy I will never adhere to is the idea that striking out is no worse than any other way of making an out. It had to be a metrics analyst who never played the game to come up with that one! Nor did he watch the Arizona Diamondbacks upset the Phillies in … Read more
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 … Read more
All moves start with the P looking at the split (1) halfway between H and 1B (3). Drill 1 Turn sideways. Look at 1, step at 1, throw sidearm to 3. Bad Move: Come to set looking at 1, lift leg, look at 3, step at 3, throw to 3 chest high over bag. … Read more
It’s a given that very few players hit quality breaking pitches well and it’s also a fact that hitters see nothing but fastballs in practice and games 99.9% of the time right from the beginning. When they are finally introduced to breaking pitches at the middle school level most of them are outside of the … Read more
Hitting coaches world-wide will agree that TIMING is the key to hitting! Ask them to define “timing” and the methods they use to teach it and they are stumped. There are a ton of drills to teach swing mechanics, bat speed, etc., but not a lot of ideas on how to teach TIMING once our students … Read more