Posted by: george stanley (saint_george13@yahoo.com) on Sun Feb 24 13:25:20 2008

> George, Sounds like practicle, good advice, thanks. One question. Instead of turning to the catcher 10deg. why not take your timing step closer to the plate and also allowing deeper contact? This way the 'read' on the pitch will be during not before release.Your thoughts would require knowing pitchers intentions and possibly getting an inside pitch because of the give away stance.

HEY COACH!!

any front step other than a line parallel to the ball's flight line will create a vector... unfortunately depending on the location of the pitch, you will have little control over where the ball is going...
stay home!! let the pitch come to you!!! don't be changing anything midswing... this is a fatal errror... for every guy who steps forward at an angle to the ball, bends at the waist, drops his power hand off the bat & turns into a backhanded tennis player & manages a "nioe piece of hitting", there are 10 guys who fail, fouling off, popping up or dubbing a grounder, or missing completely ... the percentages are not in your favor.. keep the statistical chances in your favor!! don't change up.. let the pitcher come in there with YOUR pitch that you can do someothing with... otherwise you are playing into his hands!! don't help him get you out!! this kind of discipline is very difficult to acquire... but if you can be disciplined, your success will grow at a great rate. it is the difference between the winners & losers.

concerning your giving away your intentions, when there is a man on 2B, less than 2 out, it HAS to be on the mind of the defense that you will be going to RF.. therefore you have a tough row to hoe right from the gitgo... the only way you are going to get your pitch to hit is on a mistake... pitchers make mistakes all the time.. so be ready for a middle/away pitch from the moment you step in the box...
you are not going to sneak up on a pitcher.. a successful hit to RF is going to result from a pitch the pitcher put in the wrong spot... so anticipate it & be ready to rip!!! if it is in tight, let it go, & hope the next one is a mistake.. when you step into the box awaiting your 1st pitch, i like to tell my hitters to disguise their
intentions by taking their stance, then rocking from front to back foot prior to windup, slowly shifting their stance those 10 degrees i spoke of, over a span of 3 or 4 shifts... even then a smart pitcher will get some idea of what you are trying to do... THE PRIMARY POINT OF IMPORTANCE IS TO SWING AT A PITCH YOU CAN DO SOMETHING WITH... therefore, it is of prime importance that you be looking for that pitch & be ready to rip... THEN DON'T MISS IT! otherwise let it go..
now when you have 2 strikes, all bets are off. step up closer & move forward in the box, & don't forget to look for a good pitch to hit... so many hitters go into a "see-the-ball-swing-at-the-ball regardless" mode when they have 2 strikes, & forget to be looking for a good pitch to hit.. this comes from the macho-man mindset, where other players will think less of you if you take strike 3 rather than be hacking at anything that comes up there.. in their eyes you are more of a man... at least you were hacking rather than taking strike 3..
there will be times when the pitcher makes that perfect down/away pitch...it wasn't a strike, but it was called strike 3.. you looked at it & took the pitch..you did the right thing, by not swinging at the pitcher's pitch which, had you been swinging, you probably would not have been able to do anything with.. sometimes you get the pitcher, sometimes he gets you..
if you can eliminate swinging at all those bad pitches , you will improve..
i ask hitters & coaches what is it they expecct to accomplish on a day to day basis.. the most comomon answer is "consistency"... NOT!!!
with that mindset, according to logic, you will not ever be better today than you were yesterday!!!
i want my hitters to say "i am looking to identify my weakness & determine what would be the best action to eliminate this weakness so i can IMPROVE!!"
PLAYERS WHO ARE NOT GOAL SPECIFIC ENOUGH TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WOULD BE THE BEST BEST BEST ACTION TO TAKE ARE DESTINED TO REPEAT THEIR MISTAKES.. in this way they will be consistent.. CONSISTENTLY MEDIOCRE..not good. IF YOU CANNOT CONCEIVE OF SUCCESS, YOU WILL NOT ACHIEVE SUCCESS! more hitters & coaches need to make more radical changes in order to make improvements..