What do you do at practice to get your players to hit descent pitching and put the ball in play more? More balls in play creates more runs.
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Practice Zone coverage. Some swings and misses are ok and you want to swing hard and hit the ball hard but you don't want to have a grooved swing that only can hit certain pitch locations.
Hitters who miss a lot often have a "hole in their swing" which means they can't move the bat on an efficient path to every location in the zone on time.
Could hitters need to learn to move their bat through the zone and square the ball up hard in most parts of the zone.
Many coaches are afraid of teaching zone coverage and are afraid this creates a chase habit but I think those are two separate things, you need to work on plate discipline but you also need to be able to cover the whole zone.
I let my hitters (especially younger) do a drill I call "4 corners drill" for warm up which is setting the ball on the tee (and later flips if they master that) on the very corners about an inch off the plate and work to have a good bat path on each location to hit a clean line drive to the back top corner of the cage, oppo gap for the outside ones and pull gap for the inside ones.
The path needs to be clean, often the hitters will lack a good direction and are not able to hit a consistently clean high line drive. But once they master that good path they can work on implementing that against faster pitching.
If you are able to move the bat through the zone efficiently you will swing and miss less and hit the ball hard to all fields.
Other factors like pitch recognition, pitch selection and timing are very important too but I think most often when a player has issues with contact he is lacking the bat path variability because he has a grooved often hooked swing.
Are you asking about hitting higher velo or just overall good pitching. The facility where my son hits has been having them hit 85-95 (equivalent) out of the machine for a while now. Since they started that my son has had no problem catching up with kids throwing hard.
Question was pretty vague but I'll try...
I have found through the years that hitting has a lot to do with approach at the plate. Sure if they have a giant hole in their swing then fix that, but at higher levels you going to find this isn't the real problem. The real problem I've seen against "quality" pitching is being late or even taking the pitch the kid should have hammered. One of the cues that I have the player do at the plate is repeat Yes, Yes, Yes in his head prior to the pitch with the intent to square up the thigh high fastball mistake. The better the pitcher the less of these you see, so you better be ready. I also believe that kids need to have a 2 strike approach. I'm not talking about becoming a slap hitter to just put the ball in play, what I mean by that is I challenge them to become "an athlete" with 2 strikes. Fight it off and live for another pitch. The more you do this the more likely the pitcher makes one of those mistakes, and then remember Yes, Yes, Yes....
Also it should be mentioned that the more you see something the better you generally get at it. This might include having to move the L-Screen closer to home plate during BP, as my wing starts to lessen with age, just saying 
Here is a novel idea. How about choke up a bit and shorten the swing when you get to a 2 strike count?
Bunt.
When I played with two strikes you choked up and put it in play..... I don't think I've heard a coach tell a player to do this ever. Just an observation, not sure if choking up has been "debunked" or something.
@adbono posted:Here is a novel idea. How about choke up a bit and shorten the swing when you get to a 2 strike count?
Just saw this reply too. Exactly.
Shorten the swing, be quick to the ball, load up early.
I used to be down on pitching machines, but have seen that regular practice on a pitching machine that “throws” 85-90 mph can really improve contact rate in games. Kids need to regularly see velocity in order to hit it. BP vs old man Grandpa arm throwing 60 mph ain’t gonna do it
I agree high velo pitching machines should be a part of BP. It was big part of my kid's ability to time high velo pitchers without sacrificing mechanics
Adbono
"choke the bat" with two strikes is absolutely required by any teams I coach. Stress the importance of RBI's. Goal is [1 for 6 ab]. Ted Williams, Barry Bonds choked the bat and they had the best "bat speed" in the history of baseball.
With 2 strikes, focus on opposite field eliminate the "pull field" and swing "hard"."you might hit the ball"!!!
Bob
Derek Jeter, Career:
Batting Avg. -- .310
Batting Avg. with 3-2 count -- .276
Batting Avg. after count was 2-2 -- .238
Batting Avg. after falling behind 1-2 -- .222
Batting Avg. after falling behind 0-2 -- .221
Simplify the swings. Fewer strike outs means more balls in play. As pitching gets more advanced at each level, the swing needs to get simpler. A short, compact stance with little movement in my opinion gives the batter the best ability to adjust to various speeds and locations of the pitches. The team needs a culture of working counts and sacrificing the long ball (which will come occasionally no matter) in order to build "crooked" number rallies. Nothing destroys it more than strike outs with RISP.
Author of "Going with the Pitch: Adjusting to Baseball, School and Life as Division I Athlete" (Amazon link)
Interesting stat, more than half my son’s HR’s were with 2 strikes. I think it’s because he used to take a ton of pitches due to lack of aggressiveness early in the count. Glad the taking pitches thing is behind him. Can’t remember the last time he had a called strike on him
During my coaching years in Santa Rosa, a few of MLB players Rob Deer, Mike Diaz, Jason Lane made a home. When possible I organize clinics for the HS players. Mike was a great teacher. He played with the Pirates and in Japan.
His approach with 2 strikes with to eliminate the Left Field [right handed hitter] move the foul line to left center, shorten up on the bat and focus on the "white" ball from the pitchers hand.
Question: if you desire a longer look at the ball, do you move "off" the plate", "closer" to the plate or back in the box???
Bob
@GoingwiththePitch posted:Simplify the swings. Fewer strike outs means more balls in play. As pitching gets more advanced at each level, the swing needs to get simpler. A short, compact stance with little movement in my opinion gives the batter the best ability to adjust to various speeds and locations of the pitches. The team needs a culture of working counts and sacrificing the long ball (which will come occasionally no matter) in order to build "crooked" number rallies. Nothing destroys it more than strike outs with RISP.
Author of "Going with the Pitch: Adjusting to Baseball, School and Life as Division I Athlete" (Amazon link)
I just ordered this book- it looks like a great resource. Thank you!