Posted by: Jimmy () on Wed Nov 14 12:51:41 2007

Hi Bill,

The best advise I could give you in hitting the curve ball is this: Early recognition of the pitch coupled with the early recognition of the location of the pitch is very important in hitting any pitch.

Recognizing that the pitch is a curve ball is only the first part. Recognizing that the curve ball starts UP in the zone and will in fact end up being a pitch to hammer is the important part.

Swinging at curve balls that start in the strike zone and end up down and out of the strike zone will make even the best hitters in the game look foolish.

Guessing when the curve ball is coming is an approach taken by hitters that do not trust their recognition or their swing. If the hitter does take this approach and he gets lucky with his guess, he still must make sure the curve ball starts up in the zone and is a good pitch to hammer.

I think hitters that have a good approach and swing should be ready for a good fastball along with the ability to stay controlled and balanced enough to hit a hanging breaking ball.

Keeping this a simple as possible without getting into too many mechanical details, I would say this: VISION and BALANCE are the two most important fundamentals in hitting.

Improving these two fundamentals should help with hitting the curve ball.

Jimmy