Posted by: John F. () on Sat Jun 30 19:26:25 2001

HI I AM HITTING THE BALL HARD AND I AM MAKING VERY GOOD CONTACT BUT I AM HITTING EVERYTHING EITHER TO FIRST OR SECOND BASE, I AM A LEFTHANDED BATTER, I DONT WANT TO CHANGE MY SWING BUT I WOULD LIKE TO HIT THE BALL TO THE OUTFIELD ONCE IN AWHILE.PLEASE HELP,
> > JEFF
>
> Jeff,
>
> If you are not briging your bacK elbow to your side before you start your forward movement with you hand you can bring the bat to the ball at a very steep angle. Usually you will hit the top half of the ball on this angle driving the ball into the ground. Once in a while you will hit a weak pop up to the infield or short outfield.
>
> Look that the frame by frame on this site. The elbow has to come in before the hands start forward.
>
> Joe A or B, I forget.
>

It also sounds like you just might be a little in front of the ball. If you swing with a slight upswing (like almost everybody naturally does) and you're making contact too far out in front you're going to hit the top half of the ball.

As Ted William's said in his book:
"Ground out a lot? You're probably swinging too early. Popping up? Probably swinging late. It's a slight upswing, remember, and when you're late you're under the ball, when you're early you're on top."

(you can read his book online for free at TedWilliams.com)

To fix this I'd go to a batting cage and working hitting slow pitching up the middle.