Lately, I have had numerous parents brag to me that their son had recently gained 10-15 mph bat speed or exit speed and the first thing I ask them is, “Did he get better or worse?” The race to increase bat speed and exit velocity has actually confused the issue and in many cases made hitters worse, not better! It’s very important that aspiring hitters know the relevance of bat metrics and how they have impacted baseball at every level.
First let’s consider some facts.
- The ability to generate exit speed is worthless without the ability to hit the ball with the barrel. The highest batting average in baseball for the past 3 yearswith the highest averages in decades was compiled by Louis Araize who just so happens to have the lowest bat speed of any starting player in the MLB–67 mph!
- The ability to barrel a baseball and hit it square is so rare that there no longer are more than 3 or 4 players in each league who can do it consistently
- After 40 years of asking MLB All Stars how much effort they put into their swing I still get the same answer time and time again, 70-80% effort!
- When Jeff Pentland transformed Sammy Sosa from a .231 strikeout machine into a .305 70 HR super star he had him cut down his swing speed, not add to it. What he asked Sosa to do was be quick but don’t muscle up and move your head. You have to have rhythm and tempo in order to time a pitch. You cannot control a spasm or overswing. What’s more, if you swing as hard as you can your head moves and it’s almost impossible to square the ball up!
- One has no adjustability when their swing is a spasm. The sheer effort of little guys to produce more bat speed by overswinging is causing an epidemic of strikeouts that are allowing guys who have no pitchability to survive in MLB. Sure, we use 5 relievers a game, and sure, at least one or two of them might implode and walk the ballpark, but heck, they sure are striking out a lot of people.
- Take bat speed for what it’s worth. If you train to increase your maximum bat speed and it gets better, it probably means your 70-80% bat speed got better also. That’s a good thing.
- If your exit speeds in practice increase substantially it means you are squaring the ball up more consistently and that is a good thing as well.
- If you can maintain good launch angles and your barrel gets delivered in a short time because you take a short path to the ball that is also a good thing.
- Timing is rhythm and rhythm is timing and you have to have both in your entire swing movement in order to have control of the barrel and adjust to various pitches and locations.
- Superstars all have had more success than most hitters because they have a two strike approach. Today’s swing-from-your-butt overs wingers would rather strike out with the game on the line than utilize a two strike approach, hence all the low scoring playoff games. It’s HR Derby, not baseball.
To sum up, what comes around goes around. Focus on hitting the ball squarely with the barrel using your natural movements, not a “sit and spin spasm” approach taught by people that couldn’t hit a bull in the butt with a snow shovel. It’s just a matter of time before MLB people realize the value of table setters getting on base in front of the actual sluggers. It’s just a matter of time before MLB people realize that if the rabbits get on base the rhinos will feast on fastballs. Remember Hank Aaron hit a lot of HRs but he didn’t hit many 500 footers. You don’t get extra points for distance. Learn to square the ball your way with your swing!
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