Posted by: Ed Howell (howellto@home.com) on Thu Sep 14 21:43:07 2000

I HAVE BEEN CHARTING PITCHES THIS SEASON OF A NUMBER OF M.L. BALL GAMES ON SWINGS. I HAVE SPLIT MY CHART ON SWINGS OF GOOD PITCHES,HIT GOOD AND HIT BAD.2ND SWINGS OF BAD PITCHES HIT GOOD AND HIT BAD.MY FINDINGS HAVE BEEN ABOUT HALF THE SWINGS ARE USUALLY AT BAD PITCHES,AND1OUT OF THIRTY ARE HIT GOOD.THE OTHER HALF OF THE SWINGS ARE AT GOOD PITCHESAND50% TO60% OF THEM ARE HIT GOOD.25%OF THE SWINGS ARE AT GOOD PITCHES AND HIT BAD,HALF OF THESE BAD SWINGS AT GOOD PITCHES ARE FROM BEING FOOLED AT OFF SPEED PITCHES.TOTAL 75% OF ALL SWINGS ARE NOT HIT WELL.IT SEEMS TO ME IF WE CAN COME UP WITH A SYSTEM TO TRAIN HITTERS MORE DISCIPLINE TO GET A GOOD PITCH AS BOGGS ,GWYNN.AND THE BATSPEED OF A LONGER ROTATION TYPE SWING AS SOSA GRIFEY,WE MAY SEE ANOTHER HITTER LIKE WILLIAMS AGAIN WHO DID GREAT THINGS FOR AN ENTIRE CAREER NOT JUST AGUY HEAR OR THERE TODAY WHO THROWS IN A GREAT YEAR ONCE IN A WHILE.MANY ARE BEGINNING TO USE THE BIG SWING AND GENERATING MORE POWER IT IS OBVIOUS BUT IT SEEMS THEY HAVE TO COMMITT EARLIER TO GET ALL THE WAY AROUND AND ARE GETTING FOOLED WITH BAD PITCHES MORE OFTEN.IF WE DISCUSSED OR HAD A SIGHT THAT DEVOTED ITS TIME TO VISION MECHANICS AND PITCH RECOGNITION EARLIER OUT OF THE HAND AS MUCH AS THESE SIGHTS DO TO MECHANICS WE WOULD THEN BE ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF HITTERS.
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> > > > RQL do you know how to train hitters to recognize different pitches. If so I could use some help. Do you know anyone who can teach pitch recognititon? RUEBEN;IM NO EXPERT I WAS HOPING TO HEAR SOME IDEAS FROM GREATER MINDS AND JUST SUGGESTING SOME OF THE ATTENTION TO HITTING NEEDS TO BE DIRECTED IN OTHER DIRECTIONS BESIDES JUST MECHANICS. WHAT I DO KNOW OF HOWEVER IS THAT YOUR VISION HAS A COUPLE OF MODES,I THINK OF GENERAL AND ACUTE,GENERAL YOU USE WHILE PITCHER IS ON RUBBER AND YOU ARE ACCLAMATING YOUR EYES TO 60' 6" WHEN THE PITCHER STARTS TO WIND UP YOU GO INTO ACUTE MODE WITH COMPLETE FOCUS ON ONLY THAT LITTLE BOX WHERE THE BALL WILL BE RELEASED FROM.I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CAN ONLY KEEP THIS INTENSE FOCUS FOR 3 -5 SECONDS BEFORE YOUR EYES BEGIN TO DISTRACT TO OTHER OBJECTS.I BELIEVE THIS IS WHY YOU OFTEN SEE M.L. HITTERS CALL TIME,SOMEHOW THEY MAY START THEIR FOCUS EARLY AND LOSE IT BEFORE PITCHER STARTS THEIR WINDUP.AS FAR AS PITCH RECOGNITION WADE BOGGS SUGGESTIONS SEEM TO CARRY CLOUT WITH ME.YOU PICK UP THE BALL RIGHT OUT OF THE HAND AND START READING SPIN.THE CURVE WILL ACTUALLY GO UP A LITTLE FROM THE HAND AS IT IS RELEASED,THE SINKER,SPLIT FINGER ECT SEEMS TO BE TUMBLING IN AND THE GOOD SLIDER WILL HAVE A DOT IN THE MIDDLE.TRAINING YOUR EYES TO FOCUS THIS ACUTELY WILL LEAD TO EARLIER RECOGNITION AND BETTER DECISIONS HOPEFULLY WILL HEAR SOME IDEAS ON HOW TO TRAIN FOR THIS.
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> > I know of several drills that help with pitch recognition. One of the best is to have live pitchers throw to hitters standing behind the outside of the batting cage. The pitcher mixes pitches and the hitter calls out pitch and location ASAP. Another drill is to use a marker to mark circles on baseballs you use for batting practice (bright or neon orange work best). Have the batter take the colored balls. This teaches early recognition. When they can do this have them hit behind the runner with colored balls. I also use wiffle golf balls with different colors marked on them. I use 3-6 colors depending on the ability level of the player. We pitch from 10-15 feet away and do different things with different colors. ie. Red=take, Green=swing away, Blue=bunt, no color=hit behind runner, etc. There are also many training aids on the market that teach vision and pitch recognition.
> > Ed Howell ED EXAMPLES OF THE AIDS AND WHERE IS THE MARKET WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED,THANKS.

Sorry I took so long getting back to you. Examples of these type training aids would be: Vision Rings, Vision Stiks, colored wiffle balls, BatRacs, eye poppers, porcupine balls, Howell To Hit System. We sell all these products at www.howellto.com.
Ed