Elijah posted:2019Dad posted:Thanks PGStaff. So strikeouts went down -- as I would expect with hitters being compelled to swing at strikes -- and scoring was similar. Very interesting.
Compelling a batter to swing because he walks to the plate with a two strike count is not a good thing for the batter unless you are using a two strike approach, like actually walking to the plate with two strikes. Otherwise, you gey kids lazily swinging through strikes just to get to the next pitch. A fast ball away might be hittable but is not the preferred pitch to hit.
For showcase purposes, I could see many scenarios that could work, including the one strike approach.
The problem is, they need to learn to hit the fastball away. As kids move up, pitchers get better, miss their spot less often, etc., and an inability to hit the fastball away -- or a consistent taking of a fastball on the outer third of the plate -- is a recipe for lots and lots of 0-1 counts, and maybe 0-2 counts if he takes it a second time. I think it would be interesting, at least, to see how kids learn to hit with these rules. And these rules do not encourage swing-at-anything -- three balls are a walk, so don't swing at pitches out of the strike zone.