Whats the best way to get players ready for batting??

quote:

Originally posted by themez:
Does anyone have any good tips on batting that I can relay to my son etc..

The team has been seeing pitchers that throw in the 60's and the next game the low 80's, then back to the high 60's then 80's. I guess the batting cage is set for 70's. It has been giving them a rough time.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by themez:
Does anyone have any good tips on batting that I can relay to my son etc..

My thought would be to tell him to listen to his hitting coach and make sure he has a plan for his AB's.
I don't think parents belong in discussions of that type with high school players, unless of course you are a coach or involved in the program in some way so you are there everyday and understand what they do from day to day, from AB to AB.

The biggest tool a batter can have is being able to make adjustments at the plate. adjustments and having a plan at the plate.They are going to see all kinds of diff. speeds esp. when you start facing guys with a 90mph fast ball and a 78 mph change up or curve ball.
It takes seeing a lot of pitches, a lot of at bats to be able to do this.My son has a Batting instructor that he sees just to throw him a batting practice and work on game situations, diff. pitch counts just the overall plan.At this point in time mechanics are sound and its just for the reps because sometimes they dont have time to get everyone a lot of reps at practice.Esp. live pitching for 18 kids on a daily bases.
learning to be a good hitter at the HS level takes a lot of discipline and work. Some kids can face the mediocre pitching but struggle up against the above avg. pitching. I see many players have no plan when they get up to hit.

quote:

Originally posted by themez:
Does anyone have any good tips on batting that I can relay to my son etc..

The team has been seeing pitchers that throw in the 60's and the next game the low 80's, then back to the high 60's then 80's. I guess the batting cage is set for 70's.

Thanks

I think you should get in your coach's face and demand he teach your kid how to hit.

quote:

Originally posted by KnightTime:

quote:

Originally posted by themez:
Does anyone have any good tips on batting that I can relay to my son etc..

The team has been seeing pitchers that throw in the 60's and the next game the low 80's, then back to the high 60's then 80's. I guess the batting cage is set for 70's.

Thanks

I think you should get in your coach's face and demand he teach your kid how to hit.

Now that WAS funny.

I agree with IFD.

Some say that a pitching machine is a bad thing. I am somewhere in the middle. Lot's of preaching takes place regarding just doing soft-toss drills, seeing live pitching, etc.

If you see 60's one day and 80's the next, there isn't one answer as far as what speed to have them hit in a hitting tunnel. It's a matter of keeping them swinging constantly -- the more reps the better. Hand/eye coordination comes into play with the speed of pitches.

Funny you bring this topic up. Our approach is teaching a very compact short swing and letting the baseball get deep. The tough thing in hs is one day you might see a guy throwing 75 and the next game a guy throwing upper 80's to 90. In our first tourney of the season we saw two extremes. In the first game we faced a rhp with a fb that topped out at 74 a cu that was 67 and a cb that was 62. We were no hit going into the fifth inning and lost 6-3. We were out in front all day long and we were flat out dominated by this kid. In the second game of the day we saw a 6'5 rhp who has signed with a major D-1 program. He was 87-89 and hit 90 several times. He had a cb in the 74 range and a cu in the 80 range. We chased him in the fourth putting up 7 runs on 7 hits.

Now the first kid hit his spots and the second kid did not. But the fact is the constant dramatic changes in velocity you see in hs requires that kids have an approach that is sound. See the baseball deep in the zone. Do not try to hit the baseball out in front of the plate. You dont swing harder if a guy is throwing harder you just swing sooner. The swing intensity should never change just when you swing depending on the pitch.

Be late once in awhile. See the baseball deep. Dont be afraid of being late. If you have a short compact stroke you can trust your hands allowing the ball to get deep in the zone.

quote:

Originally posted by Coach May:
Funny you bring this topic up. Our approach is teaching a very compact short swing and letting the baseball get deep. The tough thing in hs is one day you might see a guy throwing 75 and the next game a guy throwing upper 80's to 90. In our first tourney of the season we saw two extremes. In the first game we faced a rhp with a fb that topped out at 74 a cu that was 67 and a cb that was 62. We were no hit going into the fifth inning and lost 6-3. We were out in front all day long and we were flat out dominated by this kid. In the second game of the day we saw a 6'5 rhp who has signed with a major D-1 program. He was 87-89 and hit 90 several times. He had a cb in the 74 range and a cu in the 80 range. We chased him in the fourth putting up 7 runs on 7 hits.

Now the first kid hit his spots and the second kid did not. But the fact is the constant dramatic changes in velocity you see in hs requires that kids have an approach that is sound. See the baseball deep in the zone. Do not try to hit the baseball out in front of the plate. You dont swing harder if a guy is throwing harder you just swing sooner. The swing intensity should never change just when you swing depending on the pitch.

Be late once in awhile. See the baseball deep. Dont be afraid of being late. If you have a short compact stroke you can trust your hands allowing the ball to get deep in the zone.

Quick question: That sounds very true re: hs speed varies all over the place. But does a player also need to think about getting out in front to pull the ball especially on inside pitches? Just curious.

Just dusting, filing, and doing a little tidying up around here,...
( RZ, how many times have I asked you NOT to leave the remote on the back of the camode???? ...geesh! )

....from a secretarial/organizational stand point, maybe someone should move/re-file this topic over to the Hitting forum. (?)

Curious to see the response to that question. esp from Coach May. Is there ever a reason to get go out in front to get a ball to pull it. my answer is no. your balance point should remain the same just as coach May says its when you react to the ball how deep it gets into the zone.Even on a off speed pitch you see kids go out in front and they cant hit it. you have to stay back on that pitch and drive it to opposite field.
maybe im wrong, but have sat throught hundreds of hitting lessons over the years. My son s balance point seems to stay the same, he hits to all fields depending on where the pitch is thrown and what kind of pitch.
curious to hear other thought s on this.

fan, if your son's approach is to see the ball deep, or long, that is the first thing some organizations will try and change in professional baseball.
Professional ball in the minor leagues is hitting out in front, for the most part, to generate more power. Hitting out in front isn't the equivalent of pulling the ball, either. It truly relates to driving the ball with more power.
You need to be a very good hitter in Milb for them to be willing to let you stay within an approach of seeing the ball long.

I think Coach May hit the nail on the head in regards to a compact / quick swing and let the ball get deep in the zone. This is what you have to do to be successful. I think one wrong idea that people make is when you say let the ball get deep in the zone it implies always hitting to the opposite field - they probably mentally see a "check swing" approach.

That is not the case because if you let the ball get deep WITH a quick / compact swing you will still pull and inside pitch. The reason you let the pitch get deep in the zone is to see what type of pitch it is and then allow for adjustments and / or adjust to the outside pitch to be able to drive it to the opposite field gap.

This is all things / information that should be taught and worked on in the off season and preseason. If you try to put it in during the second week of the season you are barking up the wrong tree.

If you know the type of pitcher you are facing then you can take what you know of the above and take pregame BP and work on the timing aspect of it.

If I know the pitcher is going to throw gas then I have my guys take short cage BP before the game. We get pretty close and throw the ball pretty hard. It simulates the higher end fastballs. It forces your guys to get the foot down to start the swing. Lastly, it also allows your guys to get used to the quicker reaction time it takes.

If I know the pitcher is going to throw slow or junk then I have my guys take long cage BP before the game. We get pretty far away from the hitter and throw slightly slower than normal. We tell the guys to maybe take a higher leg kick to help keep the hands back.

If I don't know the pitcher then we just take a normal cage BP before the game. We get a comfortable distance away and throw normally to the guys.

Great example - we were going to face a guy who ended up being drafted but signed DI. Only reason I knew he was pitching is a scout from the Reds called and asked for directions to our school. I didn't think the other school would be pitching him but I guess we feel into his normal rotation or they thought we would be a good game to dominate because the kids previous start wasn't so great.

Before the game I had a former player of mine come out to throw BP because he was a pretty good pitcher for us and got it up there pretty quick. We did the short cage because the guy was throwing low 90's.

We scored three runs in the first inning and knocked him out by the 4th. One of the scouts I talked to before the game came over and said we might have cost him a round or two.

Themez why don't you print out this information from Coach May and myself (because it's pretty good) and wad it up and throw it into the coaches face. He might learn something from it.

I thought that the ability to hit to the opposite field with power was a positive attibute, and one that would lead to a higher batting average. My Son has been taught to let the pitch get deep also. Pitch recognition is of greatest importance though, and if you get an inside fastball you don't think about it, you react and turn on it and yank it over the fence.

Good post Coach B2709.

Great posts Coach and FF. You react to the inside pitch. Its a pure instinctive swing. It does not take discipline to hit an inside pitch. Waiting on the baseball does take discipline. The better the pitching the better bat speed you better have. This enables you to see the ball longer which allows you to make better decisions on when to swing or if to swing.

Hitting a pitch down the heart back up the middle takes a disciplined approach where you allow the baseball to get deep enough in the zone to hit it back up the middle. Alot of times this pitch is "rolled over" and pulled for a 6-3. A pitch on the outer half must get even deeper in order to be driven back side with power. This again takes discipline and alot of work over time. Most good hitters have no problem simply reacting and turning on an inside pitch. This pitch will be hit out in front of the plate but not too far or it will be fouled off or missed.

Learning how to have the discipline and confidence to allow the baseball to get deep will allow you to hit foul pole to foul pole instead of being a one dimentional hitter.

And Im sorry but ML do not teach hitters to hit out in front of the plate. At least the one I work for does not. Try and hit a slider breaking down and away out in front of the plate. Try and hit a cb breaking down and away out in front of the plate. And try to pull a 90 mph fb away out in front of the plate. You are way off base here or maybe I totally misunderstood your post.

See the baseball as long as you can. Let the middle pitch get between your legs. Let the pitch away get to you back thigh. Hammer the inside pitch just in front of your left thigh. Trust your hands and be disciplined at the plate. And above all have a swing that is short , compact (short in the zone - long through the zone) or as we say - Short to it - Long through it.

Power does not come from hitting the ball out in front of the plate. Power comes from hitting the baseball in your core area of power. Not before it gets to your core. Hitting out in front of the plate reduces your ability to hit for power. The only pitch we want to hit out in front of the plate is the inside pitch but just in front of the left thigh deep where your core can rotate ( or turn on it).

quote:

Short to it - Long through it

That's a great phrase coach - mind if I borrow it?

I love little phrases to help emphasize various points. Here are a couple very quickly before I get to my point.

"Hit the zone" - telling kids to stay inside the strike zone and not expand it. Helps to increase the discipline of not swinging wildly at pitches. If you hit the zone then your walk total will actually go up.

"Attack the fastball" - this is actually more of a philosophy. We want our guys to really attack and hit the first fastball they see in the zone. By having discipline to let the ball get deep and hitting the zone then you can usually hit the ball pretty hard which is what you want.

Now if there is a certain pitch they cannot handle then they take it even if it is a fastball strike. We still want them comfortable at the plate.

Anyway....

Another drill we do to help visualize the ball getting deep is our ABC drill.

The guys either stand over a home plate or draw one on the ground and get three balls. They get situated in the batter's box at the plate.

They lay the balls down

A - inside and out front of the plate
B - **** shot - pretty much middle of the plate
C - back leg like coach May said outside just off the back corner

We tell them to set up and visualize a pitcher. Coach says stride and they take a stride and freeze. Look to make sure they are landing softly and not shifting forward. We look at back leg - if it straightens then chances are they shifted forward. Also, you are teaching them to seperate the stride from the swing.

Then we call out "A" and the guys take a swing and stop the barrel at the "A" ball.

Then reset and do the same for each letter.

Basically we are showing them that they take the exact same swing for each pitch location. Only difference is you have to wait for it to get deep in order to hit it.

It's a really quick and basic drill but I feel it helps to visualize what you are teaching.

quote:

My son s balance point seems to stay the same, he hits to all fields depending on where the pitch is thrown and what kind of pitch.
curious to hear other thought s on this.

Agree 100%. I've always taught kids to try to hit a slow Pitcher to the opposite field to help make them wait and in another thread in the hitting forum beemax suggested trying to pull a fast Pitcher and I think that is very good advice. I have also always taught my students to time their swing while in the on deck circle.

How good are you? How good is the pitcher? Most very good hs hitters have to wait and wait and wait against average hs pitchers. By trying to hit the ball oppo you are actually forcing yourself to wait and see the ball deep and not allowing yourself to get yourself out by being out in front. If your trying to go to rf but you are a little early you end up hitting the ball to cf. But if your trying to pull a slow pitcher and you are early you are going to whiff.

If the pitcher has a fastball that he can throw by you if you are not sitting hard on it then sit on it and make him prove to you he can throw his off speed stuff for strikes. Sit on his best pitch because that is what you will get eventually. Then attack this pitch with a short compact swing. By doing this you can take away his best pitch and force him to try and beat you with something else.

quote:

And Im sorry but ML do not teach hitters to hit out in front of the plate. At least the one I work for does not. Try and hit a slider breaking down and away out in front of the plate. Try and hit a cb breaking down and away out in front of the plate. And try to pull a 90 mph fb away out in front of the plate. You are way off base here or maybe I totally misunderstood your post.

Coach, thanks for the insult.
In order to check how "off base" I really was, I checked with the minor league player who worked with Merv Rettenmund for over one month in Spring training.
Merv wanted him to stop seeing the ball long, or as you call it, a "cockshot," oh sorry, seeing the ball deep.
The approach was to stay inside the ball and hit it out in front.
From that dumb a$$ minor leaguer, I was asked the following: How do you have your players take BP?
Are they taking the ball in BP "deep?"
Rettenmund's view is that BP should replicate the game approach, which is out in front and inside the ball.
He actually asked my son "who taught you that approach?"
When Merv learned it was "my Dad," Merv commented "you need a new Dad."
Well, who knows, maybe there is an approach in baseball other than Coach May? Or, by inference, Rettenmund does not qualify as a MLB hitting instructor?
I am done on this.

All I know is my son has hit too homeruns his first week in hs baseball. One against a guy going D1 throwing 90 mph field and another tonight against a D1 high school. he is 7-11 for his first week with 12 RBIs. he was approached by the coach of the other team tonight to ask him if he has signed anywhere and told him he was going to make calls.The jc coach was there and his batting coach and they told us that he was a very good, smart hitter. So maybe Im explainng things wrong but whatever his hitting coach is doing with him its working. and he is hitting very well.
I said an outside pitch should be taken to right field not necessarily a slow pitch. are you saying you should pull a outside pitch?
I guess I just dont understand what you mean by going out in front to get a ball.

quote:

Originally posted by powertoallfields:
I have also always taught my students to time their swing while in the on deck circle.

You list yourself as a carpenter in your public profile. I wonder if your "students" practice batting while reparing "deck" in the on "deck" circle.

Just kidding, please update your public profile.

Please accept my apology if I came across as insulting in my post. Believe me that was not my intention. It may just be a difference in terminology. It may be that we just disagree. Either way Im sorry if I offended you. That was never my intention.

quote:

Originally posted by coachbwww:

quote:

Originally posted by powertoallfields:
I have also always taught my students to time their swing while in the on deck circle.

You list yourself as a carpenter in your public profile. I wonder if your "students" practice batting while reparing "deck" in the on "deck" circle.

Just kidding, please update your public profile.

No need to update the profile, I build great swings and hitters who are adept at using wood.

quote:

Originally posted by powertoallfields:
No need to update the profile, I build great swings and hitters who are adept at using wood.

You are a very good hitting instructor, why not take credit on that? List as a carpenter make people think you are not serious. If I were you with those baseball knowledges, I would brag myself as a college/HS coach or private instructor or something to get people's attention. Too bad I am just a LL amateur coach.