How to hit the curveball

Let the ball travel and take it opposite field. Learn to "read it". Better yet, don't miss the fastball.

Thanks. I will try that tomorrow.

I'll take any other advice as well.

I am assuming you are RH trying to hit a rightie curve ball. Natural tendency for most hitters, especially young hitters is to duck which gives you no chance at the pitch once you determine it is a curveball. The key is to learn to not duck your head, but instead learn to avoid an inside pitch by turning your front shoulder inside towards the plate (I know, it sounds backwards). By turning inside, you remain "locked and loaded" and in a position to let the ball travel and explode at the last second to slap or drive the ball to right field. Otherwise, your head ducks, your knees buckle and you are toast. Good luck...it takes hard work and practice to make this adjustment. Just ask all the guys who left the game because they can't hit the curve ball.

Wait longer, focus, swing faster.

In case the terminology may be foreign to you, "wait longer" and "let the ball travel" means let the ball get deeper into the swing zone. Then go with the pitch. You will be more successful driving curves the other way. If you try to pull them you'll hit into a double play. However, if you see a hanging curve (flat break/mostly spin) jump on it, pull it and crush it. A friend's son played at Oklahoma State when they were known as Hitter's U. They were told not to swing at curves until two strikes. At high school and below chances are you're not going to see two high quality curves in the same at bat.

What you have absorbed from the posts above the other key is practice---practice---practice---it may sound trite but it is not---there is nothing like taking long BP against a solid CB pitcher

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They were told not to swing at curves until two strikes.

Surely they weren't serious. It would be nice to start every hitter off 0-2, 4 pitches to get the 3rd strike or make them swing at garbage. Meat is meat, IMO, whether it's breaking or not. Would I swing at a curve on the black on the 1st strike? No! Would I swing at a fastball on the black on the 1st strike? No!

Best advice Ted Williams ever got..."get a good pitch to hit!" It was good advice and he didn't say, "get a good fastball to hit"!

Also, if you are going to try to hit every curveball oppo, I'm going to saw you off on curves coming into you on the inside all night. Hit the ball where it's pitched, period!

Lastly, yeah, I got the terminology down pretty well. I gave 3 suggestions, not one. Even on pitches coming in, if you think in your head, wait longer, you won't get out in front of it and you will stay with the ball. You should pull a curve coming in if it's middle in and you should pull a curve going away from you inside 3rd in. On a pitch going away inside 3rd to middle should be hit up the middle and middle out should be hit oppo.

Don't swing at them until you get two stikes unless it's a high hanger, then park that one in the leftfield bleachers. If it is down and away go with it hard to the right side.

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Surely they weren't serious.

The coach probably didn't know what he was talking about.....

On July 4th, 2008 former Oklahoma State and New Mexico State head coach and current New Mexico State assistant head coach Gary Ward was inducted into the 2008 College Baseball Foundation Hall of Fame. Gary coached at Oklahoma State from 1978 to 1996. He led OSU to 16 straight conference titles, 17 NCAA regional appearances and 10 trips to the College World Series. He compiled a record of 953-313-1 in 19 seasons in Stillwater.

Thanks for all the information. This is really gonna help me a lot.

Thanks for all of your help!!!

You need to develop a trigger phase in your swing. Until you have develop a good trigger, you will be a guess hitter. The trigger is after your stride, when your back heel lifts up of the ground and twists slightly inwards to create tork.

I’m with RJM. Both of my sons played college baseball and both were advised to let curve balls go until they had 2 strikes. The good thing is, I was lucky enough to learn this from dozens of college coaches 10 years prior (camps, clinics, conversations). Even though I have been eaten alive on the Internet for repeating this approach, I still believe it is the best advice you can give a teenage hitter. I always thought mine had an advantage throughout middle and high school using this approach. As a side note, both got many hits in college off of curve balls too.

The Internet is great but sometimes I think it allows us to slow things down a bit too much. There is next to zero time in the batters box to distinguish between a fastball and curve vs. days and weeks on the Internet.

If your son wants to play college baseball my advice is to find the common denominators that all college coaches teach. And “let curve balls go until you have 2 strikes” is certainly one of them (in my opinion).

THop
www.baseball-excellence.com

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:

quote:

Surely they weren't serious.

The coach probably didn't know what he was talking about.....

On July 4th, 2008 former Oklahoma State and New Mexico State head coach and current New Mexico State assistant head coach Gary Ward was inducted into the 2008 College Baseball Foundation Hall of Fame. Gary coached at Oklahoma State from 1978 to 1996. He led OSU to 16 straight conference titles, 17 NCAA regional appearances and 10 trips to the College World Series. He compiled a record of 953-313-1 in 19 seasons in Stillwater.

The sad thing, is that either no one on an opposing team ever figured out his philosophy or they faced Pitchers that couldn't throw their curve for strikes. If you can't throw a strike with your curve when the hitter has his bat on his shoulder, should you really be pitching in College???

quote:

The sad thing, is that either no one on an opposing team ever figured out his philosophy or they faced Pitchers that couldn't throw their curve for strikes. If you can't throw a strike with your curve when the hitter has his bat on his shoulder, should you really be pitching in College???

It must be the Big Eight/Big 12 stunk.

Colorado
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State

Baylor University
University of Texas
Texas A&M University
Texas Tech University

It’s common practice in the SEC & ACC as well. Use the Hanson Principle. Watch some games on TV and chart it for yourself. I’ve done it numerous times and it was always over 90%.

quote:

Originally posted by THop:
It’s common practice in the SEC & ACC as well. Use the Hanson Principle. Watch some games on TV and chart it for yourself. I’ve done it numerous times and it was always over 90%.

Are you talking about borderline curves or meat? No one is suggesting swinging at tough to handle curves, but to let two perfectly good pitches go by, just because you are scared of the curve is just crazy. Why not learn to hit it instead?

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:

quote:

Surely they weren't serious.

The coach probably didn't know what he was talking about.....

On July 4th, 2008 former Oklahoma State and New Mexico State head coach and current New Mexico State assistant head coach Gary Ward was inducted into the 2008 College Baseball Foundation Hall of Fame. Gary coached at Oklahoma State from 1978 to 1996. He led OSU to 16 straight conference titles, 17 NCAA regional appearances and 10 trips to the College World Series. He compiled a record of 953-313-1 in 19 seasons in Stillwater.

How many CWS CHAMPIONSHIPS did he win? Answer 0! Maybe they should have been swinging at good pitches early in the count?

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:

quote:

The sad thing, is that either no one on an opposing team ever figured out his philosophy or they faced Pitchers that couldn't throw their curve for strikes. If you can't throw a strike with your curve when the hitter has his bat on his shoulder, should you really be pitching in College???

It must be the Big Eight/Big 12 stunk.

Colorado
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State

Baylor University
University of Texas
Texas A&M University
Texas Tech University

Do you know of any Professional teams that share this philosophy?

I have a suggestion. Go to the main board and question Gary Ward's ability to coach college baseball and teach hitting to see what kind of response you get. He put a lot of hitters in pro ball. That's why it was called Hitters U.