Posted by: Jimmy () on Wed Feb 13 11:29:43 2008

> > > > > The fact is the longer you can track the ball to the bat the greater the probability of making contact with the pitch. The good hitter's head goes down with the swing of the bat as the ball enters the contact zone. Those who can not discipline the eyes to go down with the swing will never be successful in hitting any pitch that moves or breaks after the 15 foot you reference in your email. There are multiple pictures of hitters like Boggs and Ichiro who look as though they actually see the contact of the bat and the pitch.
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> > > >
> > > > nick,
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> > > > You don't see contact on a 95mph fastball. Once the ball is in that 10' range you can't make any adjustments anyways, your swing is what it is. Balls that have a sharp break that is late are called "nasty" and you hopefully realized this when you launched your swing.
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> > > > You mentioned to guys that didn't have tremendous power. If your head goes down to track the ball generally your swing goes down as well. So, keep your head up and see the ball out front.
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> > > > Graylon
> > >
> > > Than why not just teach kids to close their eyes for the last ten feet.
> > >
> > > Weather you can or can't isn't the point. The point is that you should try to. Especially when creating habits in practice. If you create the habit of cutting your vision off early for any reason, you will cut it off earlier than you should in the game.
> > >
> > > Ask the best in the world if they don't see 95 mph in the 10 foot range and you'll hear a different story.
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> > > Jimmy
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>
> Jimmy,
>
> Overemphasizing keeping the head down to see the ball puts undue stress on the neck muscles. That was the point of the original post. Of course, every batter wants to see the ball as long as possible. But having the head "down" at contact puts hitters in an restrivtive posture. I see many youth hitters overemphasize having their head looking down at home plate, and they have very unnatural, unathletic swings.
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> The eyes can track the ball without the head moving much. Head still is a better cue than head down.
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> >
> >

I agree that overemphasizing isn't going to help anyone. Looking down at home plate isn't going to help either. What does help is having your head position in a manner that your face is comfortably facing the hitting zone which is in front of the hitter.

Watch any video of Major League hitters and you will see their head in the position that I advocate...on the ball in the hitting zone.

Jimmy