Older son hit great in travel and struggled in HS. Coach would not allow him to swing at the first strike and not swing at the first curve. After two pitches, he was down 0-2. When the coach finally took the training wheels of and let him hit, he hit over .400.
I always thought his first swing was a timing swing. He would foul it off but would time up the pitcher. The second swing was the aggressive swing to do damage. The third strike is just survival.
look up the batting average on each pitch count. It sucks at 0-2, 1-2, any-2. You have to attack early.
Life is too short to lay off a fastball up the middle.