Hitting Faster Pitchers

You have to believe that you can drive the ball hard. Be patient and let him get himself in trouble if he is as wild as you say. Take some pitches but be ready he will serve you up a hittqable ball if he is struggling with control.

There is a natural tendency, when you see the harder throwers, to try to swing harder to catch up. This creates a lot of arm tension that makes it harder to square up your contact.

What you want to do is relax and just focus on putting the sweet spot on the pitch. Let the pitcher's power work for you.

This will also help to keep you from chasing balls out of the zone.

Hey Midlo, how ya been?.....

To be able to hit at the next level, the bat speed must approximate the ball speed. If you swing at roughly the same speed as a pitcher, then the ball has to get in the air and you cannot initiate your swing until the pitcher has completed his pitch.

The point of above, even if you swing at 78 mph, you have to let the ball get in the air. Trust that.

My son practices against 80, 85, 90 and 95 mph pitches in a cage. He determines his timing mechanism across the speeds. When he is on deck watching a pitcher, he determines about the velocity the pitcher is throwing and attempts to execute on that velocity.

Another thing, it's just a ball in a rectangle. It is not you versus the pitcher as a good hitter. When the ball gets to your hitting zone, let the bat go. Do not focus on the pitcher.

I think baseballpapa has very good advice, especially about you v the pitcher.

I find most kids (and a lot of adults) who have trouble catching up to the heat initiate thier swing with thier arms or hands. They need to learn to hit with thier body and that includes initiating the swing with good rotation of the torso and having the hands locked into this rotation through the shoulders.

They need a quick swing not just fast batspeed.


Alan

We have had positive results using a method that I learned from listening to the current coaches at LA Tech. The method involves getting the front foot down "earlier", where you only have to heel drop and go. They are not advocating "no stride" hitting, just getting the stride foot down earlier. They practice this with a drill called the 90 mile per hour drill. The drill consists of the thrower setting up very close to the hitter (15-30 feet) and taking his stride to throw and stopping in the power position (glove arm up, arms forming a T, the ball up in the throwing hand). At the same time, the hitter takes his stride and stops. After a brief pause, the pitcher throws the ball, with velocity, to the hitter who heel drops and swings. Our hitters have been amazed at how close we can get to them and how hard of a pitch they can handle using this method.

Ryno, in all due respect, I must say this.....

The drill which you have described, is one which I would very highly recommend not to do.....

This drill promotes no momentum, improper use of vision, weak rotation at best and improper use of posture assured.....And, it eliminates the eye-brain connection which is at the heart of the motor control system......

Drills won't do it--- if you are a "hitter" the faster the pitcher is throwing the better you will hit-- JMO

G,day Ryno

Your drill sounds like a drill I use with a pitching machine.I agree with blue dog that the drill does not promote momentum but disagree with all the rest of what he say's.

You do need your eyes open and it promotes very strong rotation if performed correctly.

I use it to teach proper connection of the torso with rotation, you cannot be an arm swinger and be successful with this drill. I also stress this IS a drill and not perfect mechanical position for game swings. For a video clip search this and other hitting sites and do a search for the stop swing drill.


Question for TRhit:What do you do if the drills don't work? what if you are not a hitter how do you improve? Is it just this drill that won't work?

You guys are probably in bed as I write this so I will wait for answers this time tomorrow

Alan

AUSSIE AL

First of all I truly believe that the real good hitters are born not "made"

I believe you can take a .250 hitter and perhaps make him a .300 hitter but he will never be a .400 hitter--I am talking at the HS level here

To learn to hit fast pitching one needs to face live fast pitching over and over---if the truth be known the real good hitters hat to face pitchers throwing in the low 80's

JMO

Plp,
What we have had success with is working with our hitters to take a compact swing and make solid contact. We try to hit the ball from middle to opposite field and not try to do too much. We get ready early in the box, expect a fastball for a strike and try to contact it back through the middle. A guy throwing that hard you should not try to focus on swinging hard to pull the ball, you will just jam the heck out of yourself. Stay relaxed and think quick up the middle. Good luck.

Timing, Timing, Timing and, yet again, TIMING.

You should practice BP before the game with the machine or the BP pitcher a couple of feet closer than usual. During the game, watch the pitcher as he throws fastballs and get a rough idea of your planned "start" of your swing and when during the moment of release and while the ball sails to the plate you want to "start".

In your first at bat, practice your timing by beginning your "start" sequence every pitch regardless of location without swinging until he throws a strike. Then go for the next strike and just try to put the bat on the ball. Were you early or late? Make the adjustment and go from there. By the next at bat, you will have it.

Good Luck.

TW344

quote:

I also stress this IS a drill and not perfect mechanical position for game swings.

Aussie, great reason not to do it.....

quote:

You do need your eyes open and it promotes very strong rotation if performed correctly.

Aussie, connection and rotation does a hitter no good without the correct use of posture.....Posture changes on every pitch, and, posture must be set before foot plant.....

Teaching the top half to connect and rotate without producing the power with the middle is a recipe for disaster, assured.....

Of course he will have you so focused on his fastball that he will get you with a change up!

Hey Blue dog, Always love feedback.

You must know the stop swing drill or youv'e been sneaking a peek at my hitting sessions. How do you know posture is not set? What if it is used with no stride but only heel drop? Why would posture change if the machine puts the ball in the same spot?

The other option is that you teach everything at the same time, a skill I wish I had.

You don't believe in drills that isolate different aspects? Sprinters do leg bounds and exaggerated arm movements as they practice thier skills,tennis players practice backhand footwork and body position that does not resemble game speed,why not hitters?

The stop swing drill is used on players who hit the ball too far in front, have too much arm extention and don't initiate thier swing with thier body.

How do you teach a lunger, Tell him to wait on it? Tell him to let it get deeper in the plate?

Or let him feel what it like when the ball is hit in the sweet spot with a practice swing that can be developed.

Always learning


Alan

P.S. TRhit
I understand what your saying but don't fully agree. With dedication from the hitter and correct and timely instruction I believe anything is possible.

quote:

How do you teach a lunger....

Aussie, why think in terms of fault fixing?.....If he's lunging, his motor control system is way inefficient....And, his motor control system includes his eyes, brain, muscles and nerves....How do you know which segment of this system is causing him to lunge?......

quote:

You don't believe in drills that isolate different aspects?

Aussie, drills are great for a coach's ego....Here kid, I know a drill that can help you......They make the player dependent on the them to find what they believe are faults and to fix them......

Where this fits in with the players development as a hitter striving to figure out how to develop a high level swing is what I question....

IMO, there must be some form of emulation involved in the teaching/learning process....It's one thing to learn something, yet another to retain what you learned.....

One of my favorite sayings is...."Children have never been very good at listening to what their parents tell them - but they never fail to imitate them"....

You'll find that you tend to swing under a pitch that is faster than you are used to seeing. When you face a faster than usual pitcher make more of an effort to get on "top" of the ball. Once you have seen enough pitches at that speed you'll get used to it and stop swinging under the ball as much.

It also helps to lay off the high pitch if you can by looking for a lower pitch to hit.

One caution is that trying to get ready for a faster pitcher by facing somebody who is throwing from a shorter distance probably does very little to help. Facing that speed of pitching from the correct distance is what is really needed, though often hard to duplicate.

TR,
So how many hitters hit better for average against Ryan than against average speed pitchers?

Once you get more than a few mph faster than hitters are used to seeing, then all else being equal, (location, movement, etc.), the faster it is the harder it is to hit for any hitter.

Hitters hate seeing any speed that is more than about 5 mph different from what they are used to seeing so 82 mph fastballs are a problem for MLB hitters, but they'll make the adjustment to 82 mph fastballs a lot quicker than they will to 100 mph fastballs.

Good hitters will do better against the best fastballs than weak hitters but they won't do better against a 100 mph fastball than they will against an 88 mph fastball.

quote:

Good hitters will do better against the best fastballs than weak hitters but they won't do better against a 100 mph fastball than they will against an 88 mph fastball.

Agreed....The only way to duplicate a 100 mph fastball is to actually throw one....

There is a big difference between facing a slower pitch at a closer distance, with the same reaction time as a 100 mph fastball, then actually facing the 100 mph pitch.....The slower pitch, although the reaction time is the same, is not closing through the hitting zone at 100 mph....

BlueDog,
I have a very small brain. Can you tell me in simple terms why the 90 MPH drill does not promote the things you mentioned?

Specifically, if stride and swing are seperate (which they are) and heel drop starts rotation how does it negatively effect momentum and rotation? And also, how does the drill impact vision or "eye-brain connection"?

Ryno, heel drop should not initiate rotation.....Rotation should initiate heel drop....Weight shift momentum plays a big part in allowing this to happen......

Saying the swing and stride are seperate can be misleading....There are things happening in the stride which are a huge part of the swing process which this drill totally ignores......

Your eyes and brain are having to figure out a timing that you will never see in a game....The ball is moving slower.....And, you don't have to spend time striding...So, you can wait longer to swing the bat....Your body has time to make adjustments it would never have time to make in a game....You are teaching your motor control system movement and timing that is contradictory to real game situations.....

Not to even mention that this drill totally ignores posture and cusp in the swing......Which, both are at the very heart of the swing process.....

I think the drill is fine as a starting point.

To "learn" to catch up to good pitching sometimes it's a good idea to go too soon and get the foot down early, which I agree is not he best "end result", and then work backward to getting the foot down at the right time. A real key is to get the foot down but MAINTAIN THE LOAD. If you lose the load, it won't do any good to get it down early.

If you're always late getting the foot down, you'll never hit. If you're early, and if you've maintained the load, you'll hit it now and then. If you hit it now and then, then and only then can you learn to hit it more often.

I say go early with the goal of eventually finding the "right" time.

quote:

Originally posted by plp556:
Every wed. for my fall ball team we will be facing a team which has a kid who throws 93. I have only faced this once before and I struck out. What are some tips for hitting the higher velocity picthers. He is wild and when my HS Team faced him (I was younger) he let up 8 runs in 2/3 of an inning. I was not a part of that game though, so I did not face him. We are both seniors and I want to have success againt him in the spring too. What cage drills can I do to prepare for the games?


Thanks

Relax.........think positive........swing hard.

quote:

I say go early with the goal of eventually finding the "right" time.

quote:

If you're always late getting the foot down, you'll never hit.

Neither way is efficient, IMO.......

In a high level swing, the brain tells the body when to swing.....This happens before front foot plant....The intent to swing forces the front foot to the ground....The lower body accepts momentum, then begins rotating.....This is when cusp (instant reversal of the knob of the bat) takes place....

Your brain will not find the "right" time anywhere near often enough if your body movement is inefficient (not in the proper sequence).....

Understanding motor control function is necessary, IMO, if your intent is to perform hitting drills.....

And, IMO, if you're gonna work a drill backwards, it's pretty important to have it right in forward.....

quote:

Originally posted by BlueDog:
In a high level swing, the brain tells the body when to swing.....This happens before front foot plant....The intent to swing forces the front foot to the ground....

I don't believe this is accurate. The placeing of the foot to the ground has nothing to do with the "when to swing" signal.

My best evidence is how hitters adjust to off speed pitches. When the toe is down and they detect off speed, they shift momentum, sit, lower, hold the load and then drop the heel and swing. So, the placing of the toe on the ground is really not related to the swing decision.

I will agree that the best hitters have very little time from toe touch to heel drop...or from toe touch to swing launch.

But, I think your analysis is slightly flawed. And for this reason, I think the drill can be effective assuming the ultimate goal is to "get the d a m n foot down on time".

The "offspeed adjustment technique", that high level hitters use, can be used by low level hitters with high hitter goals, to learn to hit fast pitching.

After all, no-stride hitters have the foot down plenty early.

Actually, the way MLB hitters make adjustments to offspeed is to hold the stride foot in the air a litle longer....

If the foot comes down early, they are fooled and cannot make an adjustment at that point....

The ball is to close to make an adjustment once the front foot hits the ground.....

http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/dunn_adam.mpeg

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?p=12&n=1&m=12&c=4&l=0&w=4&s=0&z=9

CADAD

Do you realize that Ryan was barely just over the .500 mark---the guy struck out a load of hitters but look at his record--taking nothing away from him but he wasn't a winner

quote:

Originally posted by BlueDog:
Actually, the way MLB hitters make adjustments to offspeed is to hold the stride foot in the air a litle longer....

If the foot comes down early, they are fooled and cannot make an adjustment at that point....

The ball is to close to make an adjustment once the front foot hits the ground.....

http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/dunn_adam.mpeg

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?p=12&n=1&m=12&c=4&l=0&w=4&s=0&z=9

Actually you are dead wrong.

I believe I've read you say the stride is separate from the swing. That means the toe is down and then the swing is launched.

Something significant happens from touch down to heel drop.

And that significance is off speed pitch adjustment. Barry Bonds, Manny, Pujols, all the greats, will sit more and hold the load between touch down and heel drop as they adjust for off speed.

What you're describing is not a stride separate from the swing.

In Ryan's early years - with the Mets - he was horrific.

So bad - in fact - they had to get rid of him.

Would have been nice if the Metsies had him later - rather than sooner.

quote:

Originally posted by BlueDog:
Actually, the way MLB hitters make adjustments to offspeed is to hold the stride foot in the air a litle longer....

This really is quite funny.

The hardest adjustment in hitting is to get the foot down when it's up and you need to swing.

It's simply a quite slow move, relatively speaking, and there is not enough time.

The time from touch down to heel drop is easier controled than the time it takes to hold the foot up, decide what to do and put it down at the right time.

Actually - most MLB players utilize the strength in their arms - wrists and hands to deal with off speed pitches.

When they are fooled - that is how they get by.

Optimal swings - of course not. THEY ARE FOOLED.

That is real baseball - not lab baseball.

It happens all the time.

The stronger your arms - hands and wrists are - the better you will be able to deal with the inevitable - which is getting fooled by some really great pitchers.

This is not a concept that the Lab guys can deal with - because in the lab environment - every swing is perfect - and every pitch is recognized immediately.

Just silly stuff - not related at all to the game being played on the field.

IMO

"The hardest adjustment in hitting is to get the foot down when it's up and you need to swing."

Really?

http://e.1asphost.com/retkag/SO%202.gif

http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/L._Gonzalez03.mpeg

http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/nomar3.mpeg

http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/sorianoside.mpeg

http://www.hitting-mechanics.org/HMOFTP/AlKalineDET_01.gif

You're out of your league sir.

How did he adjust?...Do you really think he waited on his front toe?

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?p=45&n=1&m=12&c=4&l=0&w=4&s=0&z=9

So, when was the "need to swing" on these clips, Mr. Clairvoyant?

Didn't you say the stride and swing are separate?

Pretty hard to reconcile this isn't it?

In the clip you posted, the bat is moving at front foot touch....

There is no squish the bug in MLB hitters....

quote:

Originally posted by BlueDog:
In the clip you posted, the bat is moving at front foot touch....

There is no squish the bug in MLB hitters....

I've seen several backed into the corner before.

You're cutting new ground on how to escape.

OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE....SIR.

The video of Giambi is PROOF POSITIVE that hitters sit, lower their center of gravity while maintaining the load between touch down and heel plant in order to deal with offspeed.

Concede?