Posted by: skip (piks5@sbcglobal.net) on Thu Jun 7 19:27:04 2007

> Ted Williams, in his book, The Science of Hitting, stated that you should always take the first pitch and that you should get a good ball to hit. Not a bad ball to hit. Not even a decent ball to hit. A good (I wish I could put this in italics) ball to hit. Firstly, do you believe know more than Ted Williams? And secondly, what's the point of swinging at something you don't like/can't hit well if the result is at most a sinlge base? Yes, perhaps the a run would score if a runner was on base, but that would require the pitch that is difficult for the batter to hit, to batted well, which often would fail, because its a difficult ball for the batter.
> Kent, I think you should do nothing. You don't want your son to hack more if you tell him to be more aggressive, nor take alot of strikes that he can hit well because you said to take pitches. If he's doing well, just tell him to keep on doing what he's doing.
>
> P.S.: Suppose there are guys on 1st and 2nd, and the batter draws a walk because none of the strikes thrown to him he can hit well. Thus the bases would be loaded. Then, the next batter pops out, because he swung at every strike? Who would be at fault here? You tell the first batter to drive in runs don't you? He does the opposite of popping out: He gets on base.
> Criticizing someone for walking with men on base is ridiculous. Can't the next batter get the RBI(s)?

Ted Williams' advice --don't swing at the first pitch -- worked for him, it doesn't mean that it's necessarily good advice for other incredibly gifted pros, or even for amateurs at various levels.

Home runs are the best hits. By far the most home runs in MLB are hit on 0-0 counts. Ted?

Let's talk about recreational baseball for kids, Little League etc. on the small diamond. Even at its ultimate level, the Little League World Series, the strike zone is oversized and sometimes humonguous. Pitchers are instructed that the most important pitch is "strike one". They're trying to get ahead in the count. Do you want to take the first pitch, which the pitcher is trying to lay in there for strike one, and spend the whole rest of your at-bat defending the oversized strike zone? The first pitch might be the best hittable pitch you'll see the entire AB.

Virtuouso's (such as Williams) in any field can tell you how they succeeded, but their advice and approach may not apply to ordinary mortals.

skip