Okay new found BFFs...opportunity is knocking.
So say you are actually going to get 4 ABs in a game. I read somewhere else here and now can't find it something about your approach to each AB...like maybe one of them you swing for the fence, one you are looking to put the ball in play without over thinking stuff etc. Or something along those lines.
Hitting bottom 1/3 in the order...what's your approach as the game progresses both if you are winning and then if you are losing?
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Interesting question. Each hitter is different. Each hitter has success using different approaches. The hitter should know himself, his strengths and weaknesses, and take the approach that works best for him for every AB. Of course you have to react to the game situation and execute to the best of your ability whatever the team boss is asking of you. But you also have to play within your capabilities. If you are not a power hitter, it is counter-productive to try to hit the ball out of the park even when your team is down 3 with two on and two out in the bottom of the last inning. Situations are nearly endless, so I won't go much further into that.
Funny you mention the "swing for the fence" scenario. I talked to college soph son last night, getting the game recap. He is not a power guy. He came up in the ninth and the team had a solid lead, his fifth AB. He decided he was going to look for one to turn on and let it rip. This goes against his usual approach. He squared it and it sailed over the LF fence. Just foul. Then he grounded out. My first instinct (and somewhat true feeling) was to tell him he just wasted an AB. His approach has been working well this year, why stray? But I actually thought about one of the recent threads here that discusses the grind of the college athlete. I thought about how disciplined and focused he has otherwise been this year, how excited he would have been with his first college bomb. I let it go. I guess my point is there are rare circumstances where it may be OK to step in the box with an approach other than the one that works best for you but they are rare. And, considering you referenced the bottom 1/3 of the order, this would make it even more important to put your best foot forward every AB to show the coaches you deserve to be there... or maybe higher in the order.
BTW, is this question for your son or in regards to your observations of other players?
This is very much age and ability dependent. It kills me to see LL age kids taking strikes etc when they should be learning how to swing the bat, no matter the score or inning. If the player's a good hitter at the HS level my strategy is to swing hard and often, no matter the score, no thinking involved.
When my son played in the ACC his entire team did not take pitches no matter the score or inning. They rarely bunted. Their leadoff hitter even swung/hit first pitches. They did attempt to situational hit behind runners and hit sac flys with runners on third etc, however they pretty much had the green light 24/7..
This is very much age and ability dependent. It kills me to see LL age kids taking strikes etc when they should be learning how to swing the bat, no matter the score or inning. If the player's a good hitter at the HS level my strategy is to swing hard and often, no matter the score, no thinking involved.
When my son played in the ACC his entire team did not take pitches no matter the score or inning. They rarely bunted. Their leadoff hitter even swung/hit first pitches. They did attempt to situational hit behind runners and hit sac flys with runners on third etc, however they pretty much had the green light 24/7..
Okay new found BFFs...opportunity is knocking.
So say you are actually going to get 4 ABs in a game. I read somewhere else here and now can't find it something about your approach to each AB...like maybe one of them you swing for the fence, one you are looking to put the ball in play without over thinking stuff etc. Or something along those lines.
Hitting bottom 1/3 in the order...what's your approach as the game progresses both if you are winning and then if you are losing?
I don't think you can plan every AB in advance and be successful. First off, the game situation is often different every time a batter gets in the box. The game tends to evolve.
As far as "swinging for the fence", a long time ago my son's travel coach told him HR's are "accidents" - it's a line drive that just didn't come down. If you go up trying to hit a HR the odds are you won't be successful. He's hit 3 HR's this year and every one of them has been a surprise - especially the grand slam.
As long as the coach gives my son the "hit away" sign, he's usually working to "hit the ball hard somewhere."
This is very much age and ability dependent. It kills me to see LL age kids taking strikes etc when they should be learning how to swing the bat, no matter the score or inning. If the player's a good hitter at the HS level my strategy is to swing hard and often, no matter the score, no thinking involved.
As the Dad of a pitcher, I want to thank all of you hitter Dads for wanting to always hit the ball. 
Sometimes the pitcher ain't on. Take advantage of it.
I agree. I think it's a really bad idea. Ideally, a batter would be unconscious of what at-bat it was. Amnesia, except a memory of the pitcher's tendencies.
I've never heard of such an approach: At-bat specific planning.
The goal every time a hitter comes up to the plate should be to have a quality at bat.
BTW, is this question for your son or in regards to your observations of other players?
Well it was for him, but when reading your response, some other kids kinda popped into my head.
This is very much age and ability dependent. It kills me to see LL age kids taking strikes etc when they should be learning how to swing the bat, no matter the score or inning. If the player's a good hitter at the HS level my strategy is to swing hard and often, no matter the score, no thinking involved.
When my son played in the ACC his entire team did not take pitches no matter the score or inning. They rarely bunted. Their leadoff hitter even swung/hit first pitches. They did attempt to situational hit behind runners and hit sac flys with runners on third etc, however they pretty much had the green light 24/7..
"If the player's a good hitter at the HS level my strategy is to swing hard and often, no matter the score, no thinking involved."
I LOVE THIS. But he has a hitting coach who coached at the pro level and has him thinking a little too much for a 16 year old. I guess when you get little to none ABs you better dispense with the strategy and just swing.
I've never heard of such an approach: At-bat specific planning.
The goal every time a hitter comes up to the plate should be to have a quality at bat.
And I thought the goal was to hit the ball. There was a kid last night who struck out 3 times, but all 3 registered as QABs on gamechanger. Oy vey.
I've never heard of such an approach: At-bat specific planning.
The goal every time a hitter comes up to the plate should be to have a quality at bat.
What do you define as a quality at-bat? Hitting the ball hard, helping the team out by hitting behind the runner, etc?
I've never heard of such an approach: At-bat specific planning.
The goal every time a hitter comes up to the plate should be to have a quality at bat.
And I thought the goal was to hit the ball. There was a kid last night who struck out 3 times, but all 3 registered as QABs on gamechanger. Oy vey.
maybe it was the number of pitches it took for him to K
As a HS coach I understood the strengths of my hitters. The one's in the line up and the one's not in the line up. Some coaches have a team approach at the plate. They attempt to run up pitch counts. They routinely take on 0-0 1-0 2-0 3-0 3-1 counts. Some coaches are big on situational hitting. Runner on 1st no outs will be a totally different approach than runner on 2nd no outs. In scenario 1 they are either in sac mode, drag mode, take and see until you are either in a hitter's count, or take and see if you can get a good pitch to run on, hit and run on, run and hit on.
My approach as a HS coach was to teach my kids how to actually hit. I always believed that the more you had in your head that had nothing to do with actually driving the baseball, the less success you were going to have driving the baseball. I figured if I could maximize their potential to actually hit some college coach could use that abiltiy the way he saw fit.
Over thinking the game, over coaching the game. Know your strength's when you get in the box. Know the pitcher's strength's when you get in the box. Are you watching the game? Are you communicating with the other hitters? Are you looking for what you want or what you are going to get? Is the pitcher working fastball's away and breaking stuff in the zone? Can he command his breaking stuff? All of this is information that is readily available by the second at bat of the game. And for some in the first at bat of the game.
I asked one college coach why he had his team take so many pitches. Why they routinely took pitches in hitters counts. He said the whole goal was to drive up pitch counts and get in the bull pen early. I said "You can get in the bull pen early scoring no runs by driving up a pitch count. And you can get in the bull pen early with some runs by making the pitcher pay for falling behind in counts."
HS hitters need to learn how to hit before they learn how to situational hit. Your asking a kid to hit behind a runner and he is just trying to square a ball up. Personally my opinion is you should step in the box with one thing on your mind. And that is getting a good pitch to P iss on. And when you get a hitters count be ready to unload. Not standing there hoping you walk. Not standing their surprised you got a grooved fb over the heart on a 2-0 pitch. Or standing there with a take sign on a 3-1 pitch over the heart. So now your in a 3-2 count and he puts you away on a slider.
So my answer to you is go up there each at bat with one goal. Mash. Once you can mash what you should be able to mash, it will all clear up for you.
I didn't read all of Coach May's post because I know already it's great. When I have more time I will get to reading it but right now I just want to say the overall goal is to hit the ball hard every time up.
You accomplish this by....
1. Knowing the strike zone
2. Pay attention to how the umps is calling balls / strikes
3. Recognize fastballs early in the zone
4. Recognize breaking pitches and to lay off them early in the count
5. Be aggressive on fastballs in the zone
6. Know how to cover the plate and hit to all fields
7. NEVER take borderline pitches with 2 strikes
8. Be able to foul off pitches with 2 strikes to get a better pitch to hit
You do those things (and the ones I'm forgetting to put down because I'm in a hurry) then you will have successful at bats.
And when you get a hitters count be ready to unload. Not standing there hoping you walk. Not standing their surprised you got a grooved fb over the heart on a 2-0 pitch. Or standing there with a take sign on a 3-1 pitch over the heart. So now your in a 3-2 count and he puts you away on a slider.
So my answer to you is go up there each at bat with one goal. Mash. Once you can mash what you should be able to mash, it will all clear up for you.
Agree 100%. I would add: knowing which pitches you can mash. Just because it's a strike doesn't mean it's a pitch you can drive. 2019Son's coach on 2-0 or 3-1 counts will say"Double or a take!" -- in other words, be ready to unload, but if it's on the black knee-high, don't get yourself out.
In terms of QAB, I think the OP is referring to the ridiculousness of GameChanger's definition. Here's an example: runner on third, one or zero outs. A line drive RBI single on the first pitch is NOT a QAB according to GameChanger. A medium distance fly ball on the first pitch that scores the runner (sac fly) IS a QAB. It's bizarre.
That's what I meant by saying "once you can mash what you should be able to mash." QAB- The feel good doctrine of baseball. Don't be upset you were 0-4. Three of your ab's were QAB's. Jimmy was 2-4 but he hooked around a pitch and blooped in a lucky single. He got another hit scored a hit that was really an error. And he had 2 ab's that were not QAB's. So really you had a better game at the plate than he did.
The average is important if you have a good average. It is meaningless if you don't. It then becomes all about QAB's. Once you put in a players head that the only thing that matters is going up there and having a QAB then the goal is to have a QAB. Push up the pitch count. Foul off some pitches. Work the count. Find a way son get that QAB!
Now of course this is just my opinion. The only QAB is the one that either finds you standing on a base without an out recroded, touching all the bases, brings in someone for a run, moves a runner into scoring position with your ab and now it's just one out. Outside of that it is a non productive out and I am not going to reward you with the QAB trophy.
