Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: Torque (roscoethewestie@comcast.net) on Tue May 26 09:28:23 2009

> watching mlb batters on the tv hit different pitches at various locations I think I noticed their head angle changed quite a bit on different pitches. it seemed on the outside pitches at contact the batters heads and faces angled somewhat side ways and if a right handed batter were swinging their faces were pointing at the first base coaches box. and on middle and in pitches their heads and faces angle appeared much more upright and were facing the pitcher has anyone elese noticed this ? because it seems to me that head postion is very important the body follows the head. yet head postion is glossed over except for the usual comment keep your head in there !
> or keep your head down and watch the ball.should head postion be taught at contact?

Most professional and amateur hitters quit tracking the ball with their head the last few feet. If you notice their eyes they are looking several feet ahead of the ball at contact. The last few feet are guided by something other than the hitters eyes. Their pitch recognition, mental pitch database and spatial memory calculations appear to take over. Head down and watching the ball still have to be taught because it is better to develop good tracking habits and track as far as possible.

I had Lasik and had 20/10 to 20/12 vision afterwards so I can see anything. I am able to watch a hitters eyes, head and the baseball at the same time. After Lasik I saw that almost all youth hitters weren't tracking the ball. Then I started looking at still pictures of MLB hitters and discovered that nobody watches the ball totally to contact. Spatial memory and anticipation seems to take over the last 2 or 3 feet. Poor contact hitters seem to quit tracking sooner than better contact hitters.

I think good hitters really track with the eyes as moving the head too much is more inefficient and can result in greater mistakes with the head moving. It is much easier to let the eyes take over since we have about 180 degree vision.

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> > watching mlb batters on the    tv  hit different pitches  at various locations I think I noticed their head angle changed quite a bit on different pitches. it seemed on the outside pitches  at  contact the batters heads and faces angled somewhat side ways and if a right handed batter were  swinging their faces were pointing at  the first base coaches box. and on middle  and in pitches their heads and faces angle appeared much more upright and were facing the pitcher has anyone elese noticed this ? because it seems to me that head postion is very important the body follows the head.  yet head postion is glossed over except for the usual comment keep your head in there !
> > or keep your head down and watch the ball.should head postion be taught at contact?
> 
> Most professional and amateur hitters quit tracking the ball with their head the last few feet.  If you notice their eyes they are looking several feet ahead of the ball at contact.  The last few feet are guided by something other than the hitters eyes.  Their pitch recognition, mental pitch database and spatial memory calculations appear to take over.  Head down and watching the ball still have to be taught because it is better to develop good tracking habits and track as far as possible.
> 
> I had Lasik and had 20/10 to 20/12 vision afterwards so I can see anything.  I am able to watch a hitters eyes, head and the baseball at the same time.  After Lasik I saw that almost all youth hitters weren't tracking the ball.  Then I started looking at still pictures of MLB hitters and discovered that nobody watches the ball totally to contact.  Spatial memory and anticipation seems to take over the last 2 or 3 feet.  Poor contact hitters seem to quit tracking sooner than better contact hitters.
> 
> I think good hitters really track with the eyes as moving the head too much is more inefficient and can result in greater mistakes with the head moving.  It is much easier to let the eyes take over since we have about 180 degree vision.

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