Youth-Athlete's Sport Blog

Practicing Selecting Hitting
Selective Hitting and Adjusting the Strike Zone, the motivation for selective hitting, the definition of the strike zone and hitting zone, and adjusting the hitting zone based of the situation were described. If a team is getting runners on base in scoring position but unable to push the runners across home plate, then situational selective hitting can increase the team's run production. Teaching a batter to adjust his hitting zone based on the pitch count and base runner location can increase a team's run production and turn losses into wins.

Part 3 will focus on effective practice drills and the results from players and teams who have worked to develop selective hitters.  More...

In Selective Hitting, the motivation for selective hitting was described, and the strike zone and hitting zone were defined. If your scorebook shows a player is hitting the ball weakly and rarely getting walked, then this is a strong indication that the batter needs to develop a selective hitting technique. Although the strike zone is from the knees to armpits based on the natural batter's stance, the pitches a batter should swing at are defined by his hitting zone (the area encompassing two or three baseballs centered on his sweet spot).

 

In Part 2, the concept of adjusting the hitting zone based on the pitch count, fielder location, and the batter situation will be discussed.     More...

Coaches of youth hitters who are struggling in their plate appearances typically focus on the mechanics of the batter's swing, which many times can be the problem. But if the swing is solid, then the challenge is in the player's mental approach in determining when to swing. If the athlete's swing looks good, stance is correct, and stride is compact, then the coach should ask the following questions:

1. Is he constantly making contact but hitting the ball weakly?
2. Does it seem like the batter's at bats are over quickly or he is hitting tough pitches with less than two strikes?
3. Is he rarely reaching first base via base on balls?

Then the answer is probably that the batter is swinging at pitches More...