Posted by: rql () on Tue Sep 25 15:43:10 2007

> rql -
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> more on mental approach shaping training:
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> I agree with the Epstein approach after Williams' "Make history on the inside".
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> You have to at least be able to make the pitcher pay for coming inside.
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> Then as you improve, the goal is to be able to trust your swing so you can handle fastball, ideally/eventually almost anywhere in zone/almost any speed.
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> This total coverage does not work vs highest level pitching, so you have to look in or out and adjust up/down until the 2 strike or other situation demands something else.
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> Jack's info explains better how to power the more outside ball. BUT you can not look out then try to adjust in and still be able to handle a decent inside heater with power. You do want to handle it with less than power in the 2 strike situation when you shorten up, but that is another subject from the leas than 2 strike power situation.
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> You have to look to make history on inside, not just put it in play, then try to develop the swing/timing to handle almost any fastball and adjust offspeed.
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> Here is a recent thread related to this including Aaron:
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> "I looked for the same pitch my whole career, a breaking ball. All of the time. I never worried about the fastball. They couldn't throw it past me, none of them."
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> and Ruth:
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> "All I can tell them is pick a good one and sock it. I get back to the dugout and they ask me what it was I hit and I tell them I don't know except it looked good."
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> http://hsbaseballweb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8291034941/m/1841047342
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> And here is Gwynn on how he agrred with Williams and evolved from contact approach toward make history on inside approach and what advice he liked and how he approaches college coaching:
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> http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FIH/is_4_73/ai_n18616625/pg_1
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> GWYNN: I was a contact hitter my whole career but I learned how to handle the ball inside. And Ted Williams played a big part in that. He gave me the advice on how to handle inside pitches.
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> Over my first 14 or 15 years in the big leagues, the pitchers knew I was going to get the bat on the ball, but didn't really consider me a threat to hit the ball out of the ballpark. And when they came inside, they didn't expect me to be able to handle that pitch, either
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> Towards the end of my career, after I learned how to handle the inside pitch, it changed. When pitchers came inside, I knew I had a chance to hit it out of the park. It made me a completely different type of player. And if you look at my numbers from 1993 on, they were much better than they were for the first 13 years of my career. I hit for a higher average and put some numbers on the board--I hit some homers and drove in some runs.
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> Good things began happening when, after hitting first and second most of my career, I was moved down to third. I became a better hitter at three because I was still willing to try something different after 13 seasons
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> We [Ted and Tony] talked about hit and run. We talked about driving in a run from third with less than two outs. We talked about how pitchers tried to pitch to me and ultimately, the thing I remember most, we talked about the ball inside because that's where he really got testy.
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> By the time I walked out of there, I started to realize that this guy was the supreme authority, so why shouldn't I go ahead and try out some of the stuff that we had talked about?
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> It took me a year and a half to figure it out, but he had been absolutely right. It made a huge difference for me in the last five full seasons of my career.
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> GWYNN: I've had two pieces of advice that have really stuck with me. Willie Stargell told me in 1982, exactly what I just mentioned. That when you are rushing out there, you are telling everyone you are scared of hitting a fastball. And if you have to cheat to hit a fastball, you are not going to make it.
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> And Bill Madlock told me when he was with the Dodgers, around 1985--slow feet and quick hands. If you're jumping out there in your stride your hands are going to be slow. If you are nice and easy on that front foot, your hands are going to be quick.
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> COACH: How do you begin the process of coaching young hitters? What do you like about it?
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> [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
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> GWYNN: I just break them down. We start out in the fall doing simple things like hitting off a tee, doing some soft toss so I can get a look at their swings. Get a look at their set-up.
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> My philosophy of hitting is getting your foot down, taking your hands back, and bringing the knob of the bat forward. That's it. There is nothing more to it than that. It puts you in a position to hit the ball anywhere with authority.
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> If you are a big guy, you should be able to do that better. If you are a small guy, a contact guy like I was, then you really need to be in a position where you can hit the ball anywhere.
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> Unfortunately, it changes when there is a guy on the hill with a ball in his hand. That same basic thinking that you talk about in the cage, is sometimes tough to carry over into the game.
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> That's what we found out last season. I played a lot of freshmen. At times I had four in my lineup, and all four of them had been studs on their high school teams. They hadn't been the ones who were asked to bunt, or hit the ball to the right side to get a guy over, or expected to do the grunt work.
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> With freshmen, you have to sort of set aside some space for them to make mistakes, swing at bad pitches, to be
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> ABOUT HIS PLAYERS:
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> "I'd rather let them swing. But if I'm letting them swing, I want them swinging at strikes." overly aggressive. And I have. I haven't really jumped down their throats as much as I would have with juniors or seniors, players who had been around a while and were supposed to have learned all of this stuff.
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> [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
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> Then again, Coach Jim Dietz, who preceded me, had been a whole lot different than I am. I kind of let the players play. I didn't want to have them sacrificing outs to get a guy into scoring position, unless late in the game.
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> I'd rather let them swing. But if I'm letting them swing, I want them swinging at strikes. I've pretty much harped on that every game.
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> COACH: What are the checkpoints you look for when a hitter is in his ready stance?
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> GWYNN: How much in control is he once the pitcher gets ready to release the ball? Is he rushing forward or is he taking his time going forward? If he is taking his time going forward, I'll take what I can get. If he is rushing going forward--especially with my freshmen--1-0, 2-0, 2-1, they're looking for a fastball, they're jumping out there.
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> If they don't get the fastball, they don't have the discipline to take it. They go ahead and swing at it anyway. A lot of times they'll hit a little weak ground ball or weak pop up and come back to the dugout upset with themselves. And I tell them, 'You have no one to blame but yourself. If you're jumping out there, you are telling me you don't trust your stroke.'
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> [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
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> As the season went on, they started to get better. To me, that's a good sign because one of the reasons why I like to recruit freshmen is that I know they're going to be here for three years and are going to get a good understanding of the program.

>>Tom that is good stuff but I never took much from the 1 phrase quotes from hitters to the press,I always responded to the reporters when asked what pitch I hit out that it was a slider away on the black at the knee.However all of that stuff from gwynn is good solid advice,all the stuff told to him about not rushing and the feet coincices what fred mcgriff told me about balance being of most importance at toe touch for his swing.Gwynns move to learn to hit inside is similar to my story and style and metamorphosis from linear away hitter,your thoughts are good,IMO good hitters can handle the plate coverage on day to day pitchers in fact I often looked 1 side or the other with no strikes on even the avg pitcher based on the situation but once I got 1 strike I was looking for a ball I could hit hard gap to gap,drive the ball away up the middle and turn on the inside ball and hit it out or really hard,what is tough to do is try to hit the away pitch to opposite field proper and turn on the inside pitch and catch up,I think ortiz and bonds do this very well,when ortiz is slightly behind in his timing it is driven to oppo gap which he does well,I just cant believe these hitters think inide 1st and adjust to the outside,just as you have mentioned they set up the swing the same for away pitch then abort for inside adjustment.