Posted by: The Hitting Guru () on Wed Jan 3 16:18:28 2007

Jimmy. Rotational hitters strike out and fly out a lot for a number of reasons.

1. (fault) swinging to hard in an effort to generate homeruns- when the batter swings to hard, he has a tendency to pull off the pitch. This means he is not seeing the ball the full 60 ft. This leads to an uppercut rather than the desired upswing.

2. (fault) uppercutting the high pitch. For the most part the hitter must make an early decision to swing at a high pitch. This means the contact angle has to be precise if the hitter is to hit the high pitch. This is because the high pitch has less downward movement than a pitch belt high or knee high. Thus the normal upswing may be inefficient to hit a pitch that is chest high or shoulder high. And even though the chest high and above pitches are usually not modern day strikes, batters still attempt to swing at them becausue they are closer to eye level and appear hittable. Often a player who starts with his hands high has a better chance hitting a high pitch as his swing plane is more close to the direct line of the incoming pitch. In addition, when a hitter strides to hit a pitch his head lowers slightly as his stride takes place. This makes it harder to swing up once the swing is initiated. This means that a linear hitter will have trouble as well on the high pitch.

3. (fault) lack of situational hitting- back in the day hitters took striking out as an embarassment. Lou Brock once sat out the final game of the season in an effort not to strike out 100 times. Today when a hitter has 2 strikes he still swings for the fences, does not choke up and still tries to pull the ball (for the most part) rather than focus on putting the ball in play. Times change, techniques change, and now management is willing to overlook strike outs if the hitter drives in runs. In addition, players are being paid more if the hit homeruns and drive in runs (especially in the clutch). Barry Bonds is basically the only power hitter who chokes up. Ted Williams used to choke up and or level out his upswing if he was not making contact in his usual fashion.

It should be noted that linear hitters strike out a lot as well. The difference is that since they take less risk for the most part by simply putting the ball in play, their chances for contact are increased. And some rotational hitters wait longer for a particular pitch, which would leave them less opportunities for putting the ball in play.

One of the best players in the game today is Grady Sizemore. He has great speed but strikes out alot. He also has good power and will likely become a number 3 hitter some day. Another player with speed to watch is Curtis Granderson. He too has great speed and has some power. But as a lead off man he strikes out too much and was among the league leaders in that department. But rather rotational or other technique, many strikeouts and flyouts can be avoided by learning the strikezone and what pitches one can handle best. That in itself will allow the hitter to have more productive at bats.