Hitting and Hitters Discussion 4 Keys for Hitting with 2 Strikes

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Some excellent information from Cindy Bristow:

Coaches Corner4 Keys for Hitting with 2 Strikes ? Softball Excellence

 

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great read

 

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Thanks for sharing the article! Very informative!!

 

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I'm going to throw out a few things from this article for the sake of discussion.

IN: This does take away the inside for pitchers that don't have the confidence or ability to hit their spots. For those pitchers that can hit their spots with confidence the hitter just put themselves at a disadvantage. If you can hit when you move in maybe you should be there in the first place?

 

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We do not have a strike zone. We teach we have a hitting zone and it is not IF we are going to hit the ball it is WHERE are we going to hit the ball.

As a visual for the hitter I have a wooden dowel rod with 5 white wiffle balls which is the official strike zone. On either side of those I have a green and a pink one. This makes our hitting zone 9 balls high and nine balls wide.

We measure off from the back corner of home plate using the length of the bat and adjust our stance so we are getting a good two eyed look by using a slightly open stance of two to four inches. I only have three students who use a closed stance and they all had lazy left eye surgery.

We have tees that can be adjusted to hit at shoulder level and below the knee so it is not new to the hitter during a game.

Tim Duncan and I work with Strohbro's girls and he can explain it in more detail if he chooses.

Kavin and Les use these methods and their kids can be tough outs and they have been know to hit intentional walks a long way.

In my opinion, teaching them to be aggressive pays off for the future when the ball has more movement and speed.

It appears that by Les and Kavin playing up is helping their girls by challenging them mentally and physically.

Maybe Les and Kavin can share their thoughts or approach.

Howard

 

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We do not have a strike zone. We teach we have a hitting zone and it is not IF we are going to hit the ball it is WHERE are we going to hit the ball.

As a visual for the hitter I have a wooden dowel rod with 5 white wiffle balls which is the official strike zone. On either side of those I have a green and a pink one. This makes our hitting zone 9 balls high and nine balls wide.

Howard

I always enjoy your simple solutions to things I've been wrassling with, mind if I borrow this idea?

I have a whole corner of my basement full of things I've built to demonstrate or enforce ideas, mechanics, etc. About 1 in 3 is something I keep. I'd like to add this to my arsenal if you are ok with it.

 

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Howard you mentioned the slightly opened stance. Obviously if the stance is open you are taking away from the outside pitch just a bit. I assume you feel the payoff of having the open stance is enough of a tradeoff for the slight disadvantage it gives for the outside pitch?

 

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If you get John Tschida hitting video we took this idea and some others from him. The stance it to get a good two eye look at the pitcher. If you have attended any of Howard's camps or clincs he will demo this. Most kids are not looking at the pitcher with both eyes. Without a slightly open stance you have stress on the neck that doesn't allow the player to turn the head correctly. Give you an easy way to check this out. Take a pencil and tie a plastic golf whiffle to the end of the pencil. Tape it to the center of a helmet. Then have the hitter stand an face the pitcher. Most you will see the ball facing second base on a right hand hitter. So they are not using both eyes. If the eye that is not looking at the pitcher is the dominate eye , they reduce the change of hitting the ball.

I will let Howard go into more detail. I also use John's Milk Crate idea to let the player feel how the back leg comes thru as they swing. Great way for them to feel it.

 

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Howard you mentioned the slightly opened stance. Obviously if the stance is open you are taking away from the outside pitch just a bit. I assume you feel the payoff of having the open stance is enough of a tradeoff for the slight disadvantage it gives for the outside pitch?

Ted Williams used it and it basically amounts to a five to ten degree open or closed stance. Look into a mirror as if you are the hitter and look at the position or orientation of the nose and lets use it as a source of direction.

Now look at your left eye if you are a right handed hitter and look to see if you can see the white of eye all the way around the eye. For most hitters you will not see it on the left side. This is not a good two eyed look.

Now try to just turn your head further and you may feel some tightness in the neck. Look down at your feet and see if you are in a closed stance, even or slightly open. Now move your right foot towards first base a little until the tightness in the neck goes away. Notice the position of the nose will be more towards the pitcher and you will see white all the way around the eye. The tightness in the neck will be reduced.

We stride on the release so we can stride linear and hit a ball ten inches off the plate so we loose nothing on a outside pitch. Take a tee and set it up at the back corner of the plate for an outside pitch exactly ten inches from the white of the plate and not the black. Yes it will be off the end of the bat however we are not splitting hairs as we are building confidence they can hit anything they practice for.

With an intentional walk we line up the same way and then stride to the batters box chalk line and usually put it to the fence or out of the park. I have had coaches ask why did you do that? My answer is because we can!

If I remember correctly one of Les's kids did this last year during the ASA East Coast Championship which they won.

Landing on a soft front knee as if you are throwing a ball or fielding a ball makes a hitter be able to adjust much more efficiently in my opinion thus giving them a better way to adjust.

We have and use a 20 inch window to hit in and it is measured from the back corner of the plate forward towards the pitcher. The back line is red, the next line, is blue, the next line is blue and the next line is green and the separation is 5 inches each.

This gives our hitters a visual of where you can hit the ball and stay in fair territory.

Thanks Howard

 

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Thanks to both of you for taking the time to go into detail and talk to the outside pitch. I agree with both eyes being better than one but was worried about the outside, especially on an expanded strike zone with some of the umpires.

I will continue to creatively borrow all ideas and techniques you and others post, thanks a bunch.

I will also check out John Tschida as I've never heard of him.

 

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If I remember correctly one of Les's kids did this last year during the ASA East Coast Championship which they won.

Sure did. Called time out... had her come up the line... told her that both of her next two pitches would be high and outside and to open up and go get them! See it... hit it! She crushed a line drive to Right field so hard the girl caught it just inside the line at about 175'... and get this... took her glove off her hand and the out never occurred (obviously)!!!! Ball stayed in the glove, lol. Did this with 2 outs, we went up one. The place went crazy. The coach said... "so much for intentionally walking her to our dugout in the very next inning" (great guy BTW). Now, the player gets all the credit! She actually did it!

 

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I have always loved Howard's logical approach to everything about hitting. His methods just makes sense - and he explains WHY. The problem I have always had with some coaches is that they will tell a kid with two strikes: "Expand your zone". In the kid's mind, she's asking "What the heck does THAT mean?" We adults just assume a kid knows what we're talking about, but most times it requires NOT ASSUMING any understanding and breaking it down step-by-step so they fully understand.

Since I have been following Howard's teachings, I have paid close attention to MLB hitters. These are a some observations:

Many MLB hitters use a VERY open stance. A "pitcher's view" shows whites of both of their eyes, proving they have a good "two-eyed" view of the pitch. It is a fallacy that an open stance takes away the outside pitch. If a batter properly prepares to swing at every pitch, their stride will take them linear towards the pitcher, NOT down the baseline! It is only the STANCE that is open, not the stride/swing. The batter goes back to neutral in their swing preparation. If an open stance is giving up the outside pitch, you need to go back and re-think the whole hitting approach. There is probably something else going on.

MLB batters also have a hitting zone - NOT a strike zone. You have to let that sink in awhile before it really become clear. I saw an Indians game the other day where a batter with two strikes reached outside FAR beyond the strike zone and hit a ball below his knees over the right field fence. It was an obvious ball - NOT even close to a strike! Now, which would you prefer? These guys KNOW what they can hit, and it ain't just strikes. I'm convinced that the methodology Howard teaches about ignoring the strike zone and knowing YOUR hitting zone should be gospel to any kid wanting to reach at least the college level. Believe me, my DD had to pitch to many of Howard's "products" in college, and that, my friend, was no walk in the park!

 

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If you start with an more open stance then close it during the stride, isn't that taking away from using both eyes? It was with that in mind that I asked about taking away some of the outside. If you close it back up as you suggest then I am in agreement but that negates using two eyes, at least all the way to contact.

 

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If you start with an more open stance then close it during the stride, isn't that taking away from using both eyes? It was with that in mind that I asked about taking away some of the outside. If you close it back up as you suggest then I am in agreement but that negates using two eyes, at least all the way to contact.

If you watch video of some of the best hitters, you'll notice the stride foot doesn't plant until the pitch is about half to two-thirds of the way to the plate. So the hitter has seen the path of the ball with both eyes at least to this point. Science tells us that it is physically impossible for the eyes to track the ball all the way to the bat. So the brain takes over in that blind spot, and uses what it knows from previous experience to calculate the rest of the pitch path. This speaks volumes for having superior bat speed, because that allows slightly more time to "see the pitch longer" and make adjustments. By starting open, then going neutral with good timing as the ball approaches, you expand your "vision zone". At least that's the way I understand it.

 

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If you watch video of some of the best hitters, you'll notice the stride foot doesn't plant until the pitch is about half to two-thirds of the way to the plate. So the hitter has seen the path of the ball with both eyes at least to this point. Science tells us that it is physically impossible for the eyes to track the ball all the way to the bat. So the brain takes over in that blind spot, and uses what it knows from previous experience to calculate the rest of the pitch path. This speaks volumes for having superior bat speed, because that allows slightly more time to "see the pitch longer" and make adjustments. By starting open, then going neutral with good timing as the ball approaches, you expand your "vision zone". At least that's the way I understand it.

Sounds good and I understand that. Just trying to ensure that I am understanding your point of view on this. So really you just need to be in sync and do your dance along with the pitcher.

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

 

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Well, that's pretty simplified and there's certainly more to it than that. To take this one step further, a really cool concept (that I still don't fully understand) is Howard's explanation of "pointing the belly-button" in controlling where the ball is hit. Combine that skill with all the above and you've got one tough out at the plate.

 

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I understand what's being said. The pointing the belly button has validity but that assumes the hands are in the proper position. If the hands take the proper path, hips have done their job, contact point is right, etc. then the belly button will be in the proper position.

 

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As an example of "know your hitting zone", note Michigan's Becky Marx in video #12 (see link below) literally golfing one out of the park.

Fastpitch

 

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I'll watch that when I get home.

I stress to my daughter that she has to know three things:

- The strike zone
- The UMPIRE's strike zone
- What she can hit well, regardless of strike zone

My daughter draws a fair amount of walks because she knows the strike zone well. Where that breaks down is when the umpire does not agree with her (this irritates her, HA!). It also breaks down because I'd rather her be more aggressive earlier in the count instead of working the count (as much).

 

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Think in terms of the concept of rotate as needed, that might help you understand the belly button comment. Most young kids tend to pull the ball, because they over rotate and release the wrists too soon. .