Posted by: jwbbslo (jwbbslo@charter.net) on Wed Jan 2 20:17:34 2008

Guys,
Lots of talk here about having a hitting plans.
IMO if you want to develop young hitters they must learn their strike zones by swinging the bat.It's about controlled aggression.The more strike zone competency you have, the tougher out you become.That small zone you can control, opens up a larger area for the pitcher to access. You start to get into two strike counts because you are taking too many pitches, you are in trouble. Just look at the 2 strike batting averages in the Big Leagues. Tommy Davis, 2 time batting champ in the NL, when asked how he hit with 2 strikes said "hit the ball before you get 2 strikes on you."

AS a young player you don't learn to effectively cover a larger strike zone by taking pitches & shrinking your strike zone.You learn what you can & can't hit by swinging the bat. Then you try to master the areas that give you trouble & after time eliminate those areas of the zone that you can't handle. Of course if pitchers can consistently access those areas you have to keep working on them.

Forget about wearing pitchers out, knock them out. There is no way a walk is as good as a hit unless it's the bottom of the 9th in a tie game. The thing that gets in the way of hitters' development is the scoreboard and coaches who are more concerned about the W's & L's over the development. There is plenty of time for that as well as playing within the team concept, etc. With all the year around play we are seeing know, isn't there more time to develop players?( The test is always the game environment.) IMO if you walk in a travel league game or tournament, you put in a runner & hit again.That way you are eventually on or out by virtue of your ability to swing the bat. This benefits your better players who get walked all the time & it forces your lesser players to swing the bat.

Sorry for the rant.

JW