Posted by: george stanley (saint_george13@yahoo.com) on Sat Dec 29 08:53:38 2007

> George,
>
> Did you ever think that Sheffield might look other than a fastball sometimes?
>
> Jimmy

happy new year, jimmy!

good question! he might,(sorry, he is not on my list of the smartest hitters around... he has great physical skills, but the fact is he does get fooled alot) but when he's got that bat going back & forth all the time, that guarantees the only pitch he will FOR SURE hit on the button is the one he is timing himself for, to the exclusion of any other pitch..the LOGIC tells you if you are set up for that one pitch, great, but any other pitch at any other speed, or in a location you have to reach for, or adjust your swing to, is going to result in NOT hitting the ball on the button... make sense? understand there are 2 factors involved... the mental part where you look or guess or expect a certain pitch in a certain spot.. that you must do.. especially on the 1st pitch, or in hitter's counts..1-0,2-0,2-1,3-1.. to look for the fb on those pitches & BE READY TO RIP INSTEADING OF BEGGIN FOR A BALL is what is going to make you a winner.. i do NOT subscribe to the take-lollipop-pitches-in-an-effort-to-drive-up-the-pitch-count-so-we-can-get-in-the-other-team's-bullpen mentality.. especially early in the game..statistics show the majority of games the winner scores more runs in one inning than the loser does for the whole game.. so i believe you must be looking for a big inning, especially early.. teams that jump out in front early have the advantage & are more likely to win..so don't let the other pitcher off the hook by taking lollipops on the first pitch.. in your perfect world, a hitter should be GOAL SPECIFIC.. i ask my students "when you get in the box, what are you trying to do?"... i always get something like, "i dunno, try to get a hit!"... which is ok, but not the best answer becasue it is not GOAL SPECIFIC enough for the situation.. ALL my students will answer "i am looking for a first pitch straight-as-a-nail fb below the belt on the inner half.. & I MUST BE DIALLED UP & READY TO RIP.. AND IF I GET IT, I MUST NOT MISS IT!".. if you are successful in that mindset, then you will hit .350 in MLB.. kirby puckett had that mentality.. i don't see it enough in MLB..believe me, if you look for a specific pitch in a specific spot in the hitter's count, & BE READY TO RIP, you will exceed all your expectations... if the pitch is anything else, leave it alone..so sheffield is helping hiimself with his mentality of looking fb on the first pitch.. so if you have any hopes of throwing a fb by him on the 1st pitch, it must have some extra giddy-up on it, & it must be up & in, where he will have the least amount of time to get the bat there..
the second part, is the physical part.. the stance & the swing.as a hitter, i believe you must set up in exactly the same position with your stance & bat on every pitch..(with adjustments, of course for certain game situations, such as when you have 2 strikes, you must move up on the plate to make sure you will be able to reach the 2" off-the-black pitch the pitcher has been getting from the moron umpire all day).. to have any part of your body or bat in motion prior to the pitch means it will be virtually impossible for the bat to be in exactly the same position from one pitch to the next.. when the bat starts out from a different position, this means you will be making a small adjustment at the beginning of your swing AFTER THE PITCH IS RELEASED.. which is a fatal error.. you must eliminate any variations in your position & your bat position at the beginnging of the launch.. to change any part of the equation is to change the final result.
imagine a missile getting ready to be launched at a moving target like a jet bomber..imagine if it were in motion prior to launch, such a revolving on its platform at the moment the missile is fired...
make it a lot togher to hit the plane, no?
sheffield is waving the bat trying to generate greater batspeed to the detriment of his accuracy... not a good tradeoff.. if you start from the same point after pitch is released, you stand a much better chance of hitting the ball on the button, expecially on an offspeed pitch..
i didn't come up with this theory by myself... i observed what are the actual events as they occur..that is how i have constructed my whole theory... according to what the events tell me has been hapopening... pitchers who implement a little variation in the speed of their windup, or delivery, or throw offspeed breaking balls or straight changes to sheffield with 2 strikes get him out in front most of the time..
i distinctly recall watching javier vazquez of the whitesox, using & abusing sheffield the last time they played.. pounded him up/in twice,, fouled them off.. then off speed breaking balls a couple times, left them alone, then fouled one off reaching badly for a pitch he should have left alone (no patience)... then a fb belt high inner half... strike 3, go lay down, suckah!! made him look really really bad...that's where i got my book on sheffield, i didn't dream it up!!
i'm not making this up... go watch that game if you can... see for yourself..
best of luck to you in your attempts to improve on a daily basis!
unlike mike, who thinks your muscle memory is what it is, & that is the one & only overpowering thing that will make you successful & there's nothing your mind can do to help you.. poor soul.. don't be bound by other people's expectations for you, jimmy!! the only way you will achieve success is to conceive of your success YOURSELF..