Posted by: Dave P () on Thu Nov 13 23:49:43 2008

> > > > > Our players have a habit of going after high pitches a lot. They all drop their hands below the level of the ball and swing up on the ball. What is the proper way to hit a high pitch?
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> > > > >>I think your guys would benefit best by learning to lay off high pitches and I am not sure how high you refer to.Discipline at the plate however is your best friend.To be short on a low pitch you tilt back and over the plate more and thus swing up more ,on high pitches since you usually start the tilting action for the low pitch you then have to adjust your tilt more upright in both tilts as you begin your swing ,this levels out the swing and allows the bat to swing 90 degrees to the spine as it does with the tilt on low pitches.It is hard to make this adjustment even when you train for it and that is why the high heat dominates so often and laying off is the best answer usually.However if you choose to look for it stand taller in the stance and stride and think about a high pitch.Let them learn with a tee on top of a 5 gallon bucket and see how hard a letter high is to hit and feel the difference in leveling out.
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> > > If they insist on swing at high pitches they will have to eeither 1) swing sooner (anticipate the high pitch) as to effectively get their bat on the plane of the ball or 2) use the tomohawk approach in an effort to get on top of the hich pitch. (See Dusty Baker's book and or video "You can Teach Hitting".)
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> > Sorry THG but never teach them to tomahawk the ball. It leaves a huge hole in their swing and is the wrong way to hit the high pitch. You hit a high pitch the same way you hit every other pitch and that is with your hands above the ball. Your top hand must punch up to get the barrel up high enough to get to the ball.
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> > You are right though about hitting it sooner. You must hit high pitches out in front of the plate so th ehands can get higher.
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> > Dave P
> >>Dave a couple thoughts have you ever seen a ball chin high hit,I have many times in the show some out of the ball park,why dont you try putting a tee on a 4 foot ladder so the ball is chin high then figure out how your going to hit it with your hands above the ball,go ahead and get back to us on that thought.Next if you have to hit the high ball out front of the plate and the barrel has to be behind the hands to hit a ball the other way then how far out in front of the plate is your hands going to be to hit oppo.Could it be then that you can only pull high pitches and if thats the case why dont major league teams just have their pitchers throw high pitches and move all the fielders to the pull side.There are adjustments in the swing that have nothing to do with the hands.

Hi RQL

Yes high pitches are hit further in front then low pitches and yes the chances of hitting a high pitch to the opposite field is lower then hitting a low pitch, especially a low outside pitch. You tell hitters to hit it where it is pitched so their chances of getting a hit has a higher percentage. As the ball gets higher you have more of a problem hitting it to the opposite field because you can not get your hands high enough at the beginning of the swing to get the barrel to the ball and by the way if you do tomahawk the ball your hands need to roll over in order to do this which also causes the barrel to angle so the ball is pulled so you still would pull the ball (experiment with this and you will see what I am talking about).

Major league pitchers throw high fastballs becuase you have less time to react to the ball because you have less time before the ball gets to the ideal hitting area which is out front of the plate. They throw change ups away and low because you need to let the ball travel to hit it back in the stance so you can hit it the other way. High and in hard and low and away slow is the hardest combination of pitches to through off a hitters timing.

THG has replied also and we agree to disagree but we do agree that the ball must be hit in front. I do agree with him that if it came down to making contact some time and not making contact at all that some time is better then not. I just think that you can be trained to hit it the same way by getting your hands above the ball if you can learn to reconize the pitch soon enough. I believe sometimes this is the problem that the player is not taught how to reconize the pitch soon enough and then they are always late.

By the way I do put the tee on a stand for my students to learn how to hit the high pitch but I am not sure why I would put the ball at the chin if the strike zone ends at the chest. I will on occasion do this to make a point about how high the hands can get and where to hit the ball but not to practice hitting a ball. Players have enough trouble hitting all the strikes let alone hitting the balls also.

The hits you see 'in the show' at the chin are not common place and they are the exception. Manny hit a homerun off his shoe laces but are you going to practice hitting the ball this low to say that you can. Work on the higher percentage locations so that you have a higher percentage in the batting average.

Dave P