batting leadoff

If you swing at the first pitch every time, the advise have to be given to your coach that put you as a leadoff hitter.. To be pacient or not at home plate it is kind of natural approach, but learning the strike zone and pitches reconigtion may help.

shood i want to be getting deep into counts, and see the pitchers' pitchers, or do i want to be aggresive and get on base.

slappo

As a lead off guy your job is to get on base, no matter how you do it--- The Mets SS Reyes today got his first BB as a lead off hitter this year--that isn't normal but his speed and bat keep him there--also keep in mind that you will be the lead off batter, in most cases, only once in a game--the first time up

You take it from there

thanks for the advice

slappo- get a good pitch to hit- no matter what the count- as a leadoff sometimes its good to take the first pitch- next time they will pipe a strike if they think you take it every time, keep them guessing and be aggressive on fastballs in your zone- what [part of quincy are you from, i grew up on gridley st -in quincy- right by the milton line

wavehog-
thanks for the advice,

I am a leadoff hitter and i usually try to take a couple pitches first, to see what the pitcher has. Usually the second pitch in the zone is the one that i usually drive for base hits.

Heres my take on this. You are leading off the game and then that role is over. You might not lead off another inning the rest of the game. What I want in my lead off hitter is this.

#1- Mash the first pitch fastball over the plate.
#2- Be disciplined dont get out on a bad pitch especially the first one you see.
#3- Be agressive if you get a good pitch but be patient if you dont.
#4- Be a good baserunner.
#5- Be a good bunter.

The fact is anyother hitter in the order could lead off more than you in a any particular game. You are guaranteed to lead off only once a game. I dont believe in taking good pitches for the sake of taking pitches. I want a kid in the leadoff role to send a message to the opposing team. That message is this. If you think you are going to get ahead of us by throwing a first pitch fb for a strike you are wrong because we are going to hit it. If you think that we are going to chase bad pitches you are wrong. Other than that just get on base anyway you can. Just like all the other guys in the line up. Good luck.

thanks for the advice

Maybe your coach put you in the leadoff spot to get you as many ABs as possible. One year we did not have a prototypical leadoff hitter, and about halfway through the season, we had one kid who was just mashing all the time. We moved hit to leadoff cause we wanted him to get lots of ABs.

I agree with WaveHog and C. May

Sometimes we pipe the FB on the first pitch if we think lead off is up there to work the count. You cannot get behind in the count having taken a great pitch to hit. If you do, you get this forboding feeling that was the best you were going to see and you can have a confidence lapse

To be a good leadoff, you simply must understand your role: To be the ignitor of the offense. It really doesn't matter HOW you get your offense firing on all cylinders...it only matters that you CAN. I have had leadoff hitters that walk a ton, some with high averages, some with great speed, etc....but the way I judge their effectiveness comes down to one concept: RUN PRODUCTION. Are we scoring runs with them in that slot? Do they generally find a way to get us rolling? I personally don't care about a guy being a "conventional" leadoff guy...I simply need a guy that provides the spark for our team offensively.
Good luck - leadoff is a lot of pressure, but it is a great role for a confident player.