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In game Hitting

D 2015 Dad10+ posts
i have a player that just crushes BP. Line drives, Gap shots, everything you want to see out of a 3,4,5. Hitter. Totally opposite during games. he sees the ball well, but gets tired of getting walked and swings at something out of his zone, and well you can guess the result. I am looking for something to change his mental Preparedness at the plate. any suggestions.
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standballdadstandballdad5,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by 2015 Dad:
i have a player that just crushes BP. Line drives, Gap shots, everything you want to see out of a 3,4,5. Hitter. Totally opposite during games. he sees the ball well, but gets tired of getting walked and swings at something out of his zone, and well you can guess the result. I am looking for something to change his mental Preparedness at the plate. any suggestions.


What I have notice are the ones that are selective during BP are also selective during the games. A lot of hitters are very good during BP because they know you will usually be around the strike zone so they are free swinging. In a game the opposing pitcher or coaches kinda of know who the free swingers are and pitch them accordingly. So I would start during BP and emphasize swinging only at pitches that are strikes and to take the pitch if not. Hopefully this will translate to the game.
Bolts-Coach-PRBolts-Coach-PR10,000+ posts
You might want to advocate being a little more aggressive in his approach at the plate...

In BP instead of having him stand in the box at his normal distance away from the plate, have him move off the plate 6-inches for some swings, and then in on the plate 6-inches... have him swing to drive the baseball, and just not to make contact... If he has success, you have shown him that he's such a good hitter that being too selective can be a problem as well, and that he can expand his strike-zone an extra foot and still do damage that other players can't...

Good luck!
standballdadstandballdad5,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Bolts-Coach-PR:
You might want to advocate being a little more aggressive in his approach at the plate...

In BP instead of having him stand in the box at his normal distance away from the plate, have him move off the plate 6-inches for some swings, and then in on the plate 6-inches... have him swing to drive the baseball, and just not to make contact... If he has success, you have shown him that he's such a good hitter that being too selective can be a problem as well, and that he can expand his strike-zone an extra foot and still do damage that other players can't...

Good luck!


The OP says the hitter is already overly aggressive during games. How does expanding the strike zone help? Being selective (in general) is a good thing. As you get older pitchers are very good at pitching to contact allowing the hitter to get themselves out.
Bolts-Coach-PRBolts-Coach-PR10,000+ posts
Being selective is a good thing... In moderation.

I want my 3-4-5 guys to be the most aggressive hitters in the lineup... They need to drive in the most runs and not just walk all game long. He may have a great eye, and may be taking pitches just off the plate or out of his comfort-zone that he can actually do damage on...

The hitter the OP described sounded, TO ME, like he was desperate to get a hit - after he was walking too much... He would then swing at balls out of the strike-zone with bad results... I'd like to see this hitter become more aggressive early in the count, then use his good plate discipline later in the count...

I'd also maybe put some more hit-and-run swings on for a player like this as well...

That's just me...
Stats4GnatsStats4Gnats10,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Bolts-Coach-PR:
Being selective is a good thing... In moderation.…


I sure agree.

I’ve got a fair amount of HS data that shows there really is no one size fits all answer to this conundrum. The fact is, some players do much better being patient, and some do much better being aggressive. Unlike the ML where both hitters and pitchers are of a much higher caliber, at the HS level, there’s not even a significant chance the pitcher will be able to throw another pitch even for a strike, let alone make a mistake that puts a pitch in the batters optimum spot for being able to drive it. So rather than wait for that perfect pitch, taking a hack at a pitch at least somewhere in the strike zone may work pretty well.

Of course things are very much dependent on the batter’s ability to judge the strike zone, and the ability to hit the ball when he does swing. The better he can do that, the more chance there’ll be for success whether he’s patient or not. The thing is, since unlike ML parks, there’s no way to get the kind of accurate information about pitches like PITCH and HIT(f/x), so its all pretty much a guess as to what’s really happening.

If you take a look at this link http://www.infosports.com/scor.../images/batstuff.pdf I think you’ll see that there’s really a wide disparity between the success of our players since 2007. The very best hitters though, have been the ones who’ve tended to swing early, or at least as soon as they see a pitch they feel they can hit.
standballdadstandballdad5,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Stats4Gnats:
quote:
Originally posted by Bolts-Coach-PR:
Being selective is a good thing... In moderation.…


I sure agree.

I’ve got a fair amount of HS data that shows there really is no one size fits all answer to this conundrum. The fact is, some players do much better being patient, and some do much better being aggressive. Unlike the ML where both hitters and pitchers are of a much higher caliber, at the HS level, there’s not even a significant chance the pitcher will be able to throw another pitch even for a strike, let alone make a mistake that puts a pitch in the batters optimum spot for being able to drive it. So rather than wait for that perfect pitch, taking a hack at a pitch at least somewhere in the strike zone may work pretty well.

Of course things are very much dependent on the batter’s ability to judge the strike zone, and the ability to hit the ball when he does swing. The better he can do that, the more chance there’ll be for success whether he’s patient or not. The thing is, since unlike ML parks, there’s no way to get the kind of accurate information about pitches like PITCH and HIT(f/x), so its all pretty much a guess as to what’s really happening.

If you take a look at this link http://www.infosports.com/scor.../images/batstuff.pdf I think you’ll see that there’s really a wide disparity between the success of our players since 2007. The very best hitters though, have been the ones who’ve tended to swing early, or at least as soon as they see a pitch they feel they can hit.


What is your definition of success? Is it batting average, Slugging %, OBP?
SdleftySdlefty500+ posts
This kid is probably pressing. This is not unusual. To me the secret is to get him to relax at the plate during the game. Get a routine going while preparing for your at bat and stick to it. Something very simple as deep breathing to relax yourself and take the tension out of your body. Hitting with tension throughout your body is not good.

Once in the box your focus is see the ball and put a good swing on it. That's it! Simplify...

I would also suggest you put him in game situations in practice to put some pressure on him. Get him use to being in a game situation but in practice.

Keep at it and he'll figure it out in time.
H headstillhitter10+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by 2015 Dad:
i have a player that just crushes BP. Line drives, Gap shots, everything you want to see out of a 3,4,5. Hitter. Totally opposite during games. he sees the ball well, but gets tired of getting walked and swings at something out of his zone, and well you can guess the result. I am looking for something to change his mental Preparedness at the plate. any suggestions.


Sounds like player has done the necessary work to lay foundation to be a good hitter. Couple of suggestions:

Mental approach- try and teach we are always looking fastball and trying to drive everything back through middle. Also want hitter to be in mindset of "I am attacking every single pitch until i read ball and then shut it down."

Can actually work on this during practice. Obviously need to do fundamental tee work daily progressing through front toss into live bp. Have session in live bp where you are working on counts. 1-1 is a great count to work. You have 1 strike and are going to expand zone a little. 2 strike count- basically expanding more both up and down trying to battle and foul off enough pitches to get one you can handle. As a coach you will want to work the angle as well if i am working and 0-2 count i want to bounce the breaking ball or come up at letters with fastball. At this point you are working on strike zone, as well as making bp as game like as possible. Like to do this with group of 4-5. After their at bat is complete, next guy steps in with same count. Can play 7 inning game with this or set number of at bats. This by no means is a substitute to getting in 100-150 cuts working on specifics, but is a great supplement to bp progression.

www.headstillhitter.com

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