Hit It Here

There is so much junk out there on hitting and hitting mechanics. And I literally mean junk. One might call it crap. I watched a video today of a guy who is a minor league hitting coordinator for a Big League baseball club who said that the swing should come through the hitting zone flat & level, not down or up. Can someone please tell me how a hitter can perform this guy’s swing on a pitch at the knees??? And this guy coaches at a high level of baseball. He then proceeded to have a high school player demonstrate the swing(in slo-motion) which had NO RESEMBLANCE whatsoever to one single player of his own Big League club.

Have you ever seen a big league hitter on his best swing ever swing like these silly illustrations below? Watch a big league game and count how many times you see players swing like this. In watching a months worth of games, I would be shocked if you needed one finger to count on.

You know this game is not much fun hitting a buck fifty. If you want a really low batting average, then hit a lots and lots of ground balls. And do it by modeling your swing after this example I found to demonstrate the baseball swing. Swing like this and you will certainly have a low batting average with little power if any AT ALL.

Then I found this quote from a guy who actually played at a fairly high level of baseball. “…The actual swing path is a downward motion from the cocking position to the ball at the strike zone. As we have all heard at one time or another, baseball is a game of inches. Therefore, actions must be done as efficiently and effectively as possible. In terms of the swing the hitter must take the most direct route to the ball (shortest distance between two points is a straight line), which is the downward chopping motion…”

Why don’t we teach what we ACTUALLY see the great hitters ACTUALLY performing in game situations? I do. That’s exactly what I teach. Try the swing from the following video instead.Watch this compact powerful swing of a player from the Cleveland Indians organization.

Or…follow the examples and quoted hitting advice above. Just know, however, that teaching, instruction, and advice like that are the key reasons why interest in soccer by young athletes is exploding. Because this game is no fun hitting a buck fifty.