What does it take to make good, consistent, powerful contact with the baseball? Ah yes, this age old question has been the reason for many theories, training manuals, and coaching programs around the country. Among all of the batting techniques a player could use, what should he actually do when contacting the baseball? In short, the answer is to forget about contact! Let me explain.
The key to hitting a baseball successfully is not to focus on contact itself. I know it sounds strange not to focus on the one thing that you are trying to do, but I promise it will make more sense by then end of the article. So where shall we begin? Well if you read my other articles on the mechanics of the swing then you know I believe everything begins with the load, specifically pitch recognition. If we misidentify the pitch early on in our swing, we drastically lower our chances of achieving a base hit. So once again, break the plate down in three separate zones, L for left, C for center, and R for right. As players' progress, I like to break down the height of the pitch into three zones as well, but for now we will just focus on the three.
Now, I want you to picture yourself as a right-handed batter. L is your inside pitch, C is your Center pitch, and R is the away pitch. Let's picture that your foot lands at about the "eve" of the plate post load. Pitches located in the L section of the plate you want to contact at about the front left corner of the plate, pitches located in the C section of the plate you want to contact about the middle of our body or just off the belt buckle. Pitches located in the R section of the plate we want to contact just off our back thigh. As the ball gets further away, we want to contact the baseball deeper in our stance.
When players first see these contact points up and personal, it seems a little deep. Most players will in all likelihood feel that if they let the baseball get that deep, they will be jammed and have bad contact. To that, I say good! I obviously don't want my players to get jammed, but I do want them thinking deep. Why? Players naturally have the tendency to jump out at pitches and attack balls in front of plate. I don't care who you are, this is a sure fire way to have a low average and limit your success. To counteract that, I challenge my players to see the ball longer and better their mechanics to get to deeper contact points.
To compliment that idea, I want every player that I coach to no longer believe they contact just one baseball. I want them to think of contact as a zone where the baseball meets the bat. Very rarely does any player contact the baseball perfectly. Quite the opposite actually. The best players spend their time extending their barrel through the zone making up for recognition errors, an anxious approach, or simply trying to foul off a great pitch. I can't tell you if this is true for sure, but I once heard that the average major league player only has perfect contact 30 times out of over 600 at bats. Even if it that statistic isn't true, it makes a great point.
So what is the contact zone? Well it begins with our contact points, except we add at least 3 more baseballs to it. I want you to picture 4 baseballs through each zone! One, two (where contact is made), three, four, and if we can, five, six, etc. By creating a contact zone, players are actively allowing their barrel to stay through the zone longer. Not to mention, they are applying all of their force to the field they want to hit the ball. This force alignment will in effect generate more power and help increase backspin for further carry. I equate "zone hitting" to landing a plane on an aircraft carrier. Point the aircraft carrier to the field you want to hit the ball, land the barrel of the bat, and extend out and up and after contact.
If that was a lot to take in all at once, I want you to take the time and read the above paragraph again. If you have done so, you may have picked up that I want my players to enter the zone one baseball before contact. A common misconception that players make, is that they want to drive to contact. Not true, driving straight to contact will cause choppy groundballs, late swings, and quick exits out of the zone. Done get me wrong, I am not implying we want a drag or loop in our swing, I just want players to get ahead of the baseball. Why? To "get on plane" and drive through the zone horizontally, instead of vertically. By allowing the barrel to work through the zone, players are able to apply more force into the baseball on contact, which results in increased power, and higher average.
Unfortunately, what prevents most young players from staying through the zone and getting the most out of their ability is a poor finish or follow through. If you have a player struggling at the plate, one of the issues he is probably having is finishing his swing with the barrel below his shoulder and around his body. This action creates two complications.
Before you make corrections, I want you to take the time to really analyze his next swing. A low finish will cause him to sweep around the baseball and work more east/west rather than north/south into the baseball. With that, his hands will be pulled away from the field of play and the knob of the bat will almost be facing the dugout behind him on contact. When you see this, chances are that you player has a constant battle going on with his timing and can't seem to put it all together.
A player should finish his baseball swing out, up, and high above his shoulders. Circling back to pitch recognition, players should also finish to the field they want to hit the baseball. Finish to L if you want to hit to left, Center if you want to hit to center, and right if you want to hit to right. Finishing towards the field you want to hit the baseball helps with staying through the contact zone hitting more than one baseball. As players develop, contact becomes less important and how you hit the concept becomes more important. This simple mindset shift will go a long way for a player and help understand its how he swings that brings him success!
Take a deep breath, collect your thoughts, and refocus because I am about to bring contact and the finish together with a concept I call "Post Contact Weight Transition". Jus a quick prelude, I reserve teaching this concept to only players who I feel are skilled enough and have the understanding to accomplish it. Typically, up until the contact portion of the swing players are working primarily in the rotational style of hitting. There is some linear movement, but the full transfer hasn't occurred yet.
Well, just after contact, we switch in its entirety to a linear style of hitting. Once a player feels the ball contact the bat he should explode forward off his back foot or leg. In reality, this will not be a separate movement like it sounds. It will feel more like the player drives or rotates down to into the baseball and then works forward releasing his weight forward through contact. If done correctly, it will feel smooth and like his weight rolls off his back side into his front leg. And yes, I do have a drill where I have my players walk through contact to understand this concept better.
In reality, walking through contact in a game will most likely not happen. But once again, it helps players to maintain a proactive attitude in actively getting more force into the baseball. If you put the concepts you have learned in today's article into your next batting training session or game, you can rest assured that you will not only have more power, but a higher average and more overall success!
The key to hitting a baseball successfully is not to focus on contact itself. I know it sounds strange not to focus on the one thing that you are trying to do, but I promise it will make more sense by then end of the article. So where shall we begin? Well if you read my other articles on the mechanics of the swing then you know I believe everything begins with the load, specifically pitch recognition. If we misidentify the pitch early on in our swing, we drastically lower our chances of achieving a base hit. So once again, break the plate down in three separate zones, L for left, C for center, and R for right. As players' progress, I like to break down the height of the pitch into three zones as well, but for now we will just focus on the three.
Now, I want you to picture yourself as a right-handed batter. L is your inside pitch, C is your Center pitch, and R is the away pitch. Let's picture that your foot lands at about the "eve" of the plate post load. Pitches located in the L section of the plate you want to contact at about the front left corner of the plate, pitches located in the C section of the plate you want to contact about the middle of our body or just off the belt buckle. Pitches located in the R section of the plate we want to contact just off our back thigh. As the ball gets further away, we want to contact the baseball deeper in our stance.
When players first see these contact points up and personal, it seems a little deep. Most players will in all likelihood feel that if they let the baseball get that deep, they will be jammed and have bad contact. To that, I say good! I obviously don't want my players to get jammed, but I do want them thinking deep. Why? Players naturally have the tendency to jump out at pitches and attack balls in front of plate. I don't care who you are, this is a sure fire way to have a low average and limit your success. To counteract that, I challenge my players to see the ball longer and better their mechanics to get to deeper contact points.
To compliment that idea, I want every player that I coach to no longer believe they contact just one baseball. I want them to think of contact as a zone where the baseball meets the bat. Very rarely does any player contact the baseball perfectly. Quite the opposite actually. The best players spend their time extending their barrel through the zone making up for recognition errors, an anxious approach, or simply trying to foul off a great pitch. I can't tell you if this is true for sure, but I once heard that the average major league player only has perfect contact 30 times out of over 600 at bats. Even if it that statistic isn't true, it makes a great point.
So what is the contact zone? Well it begins with our contact points, except we add at least 3 more baseballs to it. I want you to picture 4 baseballs through each zone! One, two (where contact is made), three, four, and if we can, five, six, etc. By creating a contact zone, players are actively allowing their barrel to stay through the zone longer. Not to mention, they are applying all of their force to the field they want to hit the ball. This force alignment will in effect generate more power and help increase backspin for further carry. I equate "zone hitting" to landing a plane on an aircraft carrier. Point the aircraft carrier to the field you want to hit the ball, land the barrel of the bat, and extend out and up and after contact.
If that was a lot to take in all at once, I want you to take the time and read the above paragraph again. If you have done so, you may have picked up that I want my players to enter the zone one baseball before contact. A common misconception that players make, is that they want to drive to contact. Not true, driving straight to contact will cause choppy groundballs, late swings, and quick exits out of the zone. Done get me wrong, I am not implying we want a drag or loop in our swing, I just want players to get ahead of the baseball. Why? To "get on plane" and drive through the zone horizontally, instead of vertically. By allowing the barrel to work through the zone, players are able to apply more force into the baseball on contact, which results in increased power, and higher average.
Unfortunately, what prevents most young players from staying through the zone and getting the most out of their ability is a poor finish or follow through. If you have a player struggling at the plate, one of the issues he is probably having is finishing his swing with the barrel below his shoulder and around his body. This action creates two complications.
Before you make corrections, I want you to take the time to really analyze his next swing. A low finish will cause him to sweep around the baseball and work more east/west rather than north/south into the baseball. With that, his hands will be pulled away from the field of play and the knob of the bat will almost be facing the dugout behind him on contact. When you see this, chances are that you player has a constant battle going on with his timing and can't seem to put it all together.
A player should finish his baseball swing out, up, and high above his shoulders. Circling back to pitch recognition, players should also finish to the field they want to hit the baseball. Finish to L if you want to hit to left, Center if you want to hit to center, and right if you want to hit to right. Finishing towards the field you want to hit the baseball helps with staying through the contact zone hitting more than one baseball. As players develop, contact becomes less important and how you hit the concept becomes more important. This simple mindset shift will go a long way for a player and help understand its how he swings that brings him success!
Take a deep breath, collect your thoughts, and refocus because I am about to bring contact and the finish together with a concept I call "Post Contact Weight Transition". Jus a quick prelude, I reserve teaching this concept to only players who I feel are skilled enough and have the understanding to accomplish it. Typically, up until the contact portion of the swing players are working primarily in the rotational style of hitting. There is some linear movement, but the full transfer hasn't occurred yet.
Well, just after contact, we switch in its entirety to a linear style of hitting. Once a player feels the ball contact the bat he should explode forward off his back foot or leg. In reality, this will not be a separate movement like it sounds. It will feel more like the player drives or rotates down to into the baseball and then works forward releasing his weight forward through contact. If done correctly, it will feel smooth and like his weight rolls off his back side into his front leg. And yes, I do have a drill where I have my players walk through contact to understand this concept better.
In reality, walking through contact in a game will most likely not happen. But once again, it helps players to maintain a proactive attitude in actively getting more force into the baseball. If you put the concepts you have learned in today's article into your next batting training session or game, you can rest assured that you will not only have more power, but a higher average and more overall success!
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