Baseball Tip
Pitch Selection
Too many times we as baseball players want to place an immediate blame on our swing when things aren’t going as planned. Though are swing could be part of the reason, we never examine what we are swinging at first! No matter how good or bad your swing may feel, if you aren’t swinging at good pitches you’re not going to get the desired results. Below is a short guide on focusing/hitting in the zone and what to be aware of every at-bat.
In baseball, there are two types of hitters: Selective and aggressive. There’s no wrong or right when it comes to both, but rather a mindset. Aggressive hitters will jump on the first thing they see that’s in their zone, whereas selective hitters are a bit more precise and tend to hit a lot with two strikes. Regardless of which description you feel fits your personality, there is still one very important constant denominator for both. You must swing at strikes!
Below is an illustration of a young player swinging at a pitch up and out of the zone. Notice how his barrel is below the ball and he’s coming up and off his legs. Right there are two key constants abandoned that can take away from our production, all because we decided to swing out of the hitting zone. No matter how good your hands are this is not a pitch for success.
Balance is another constant often abandoned when swinging at pitches out of the zone. When you come out of a strong hitting position your head position and balance is affected, causing you to see the ball differently than when you initially began your attack. If you focus on staying behind the ball it allows you to let the ball travel, improving your chances of hitting a good pitch from a great position.
As you can see, pitch selection can impact your mechanics heavily. In the picture below, all four constants are on display. He’s got a good pitch to hit, his swing path is perfect (barrel above the ball), his head position is awesome and he’s behind the ball.
When swinging at good pitches more of your constants are in tact, resulting in positive at-bats and HITS! Knowing this, let’s strive to stay in the zone changing our approach, not our mechanics. At C5T Baseball Academy we teach our hitters to have a swing plan that consists of pitch selection, being ready to hit, and staying balance at all times.