Posted by: Richard Schenck () on Wed Jun 26 08:03:16 2002

> Epstein believes that the challenge of getting the timing right is severe enough that you should anticipate(be selective/zone hit) inside or out on a full swing with less than 2 strikes.It is also useful to think of each swing as a go until aborting if it then doesn't fit your plan.Have an appropriately aggressive plan for each pitch.
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> Agreed. I still teach the "zone hitting" concept, which basically states shrink the zone on a hitters count, and open it a bit on a pitchers count. Since reading Epstein and others, I've gotten a bit more sophisticated, though. Epstein says that you can't defend both sides of the plate, i.e. guess your pitch and inside or outside.
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> Obviously, the "zone" will change will the situation, including type of pitcher, how much success he's having, how you're hitting, how many outs, stike/ball count, score of the game, etc.. But I think it's vital for hitters to set their own zone, anticipated pitch, and strategy for each pitch in the AB. Lots of guys have fundamentals that looks like Bonds or Gwynn, but only a few seem to be able to focus their attention for the quarter second they have to make their hitting decisions. The "plan" and "zone hitting" makes the difference, in my opinion.
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> But then, I haven't gotten a single hit or HR in MLB this year, so I defer to all those who have.
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> Regards.. Scott B

Either the big league hitters are superhuman or they hit with a plan, within a zone, and drive the ball when they get the location they expected. I firmly believe in determining before the pitch "where" you will swing and then only swing if the ball is there. Location is way more important than whether its a fastball or a curve. The difference in batting averages with and without 2 strikes is clearly an example of zone hitting. Why would you hit better with less than 2 strikes if you didn't have a different approach? The number of times big leaguers launch good swings indicates that they make the pitcher throw to their zone before they launch. If they were trying to adjust to both speed and location on every pitch they could not complete as many good swings. They'd have their 2 strike batting average for their total average.