The Science of Hitting
by Parker · 29 things on Twos
- Ted Williams
- Most hitting faults come from a lack of knowledge, uncertainty, and fear
- To know yourself takes dedication
- Experiment. Try what you see that looks good on somebody else. Try different bats, a bigger handle, a bigger barrel, anything
- Get in the game, know what’s going on, know the reason when that pitcher takes the bread out of your mouth
- Practice, practice, practice
- Most players don’t take as much batting practice—as much extra batting practice, and that’s how you learn
- Want the information and want to put it to use
- Hitting a baseball is 50 percent from the neck up and 50 percent according to your style
- Whatever you do, don’t let anybody change you
- It’s not really so complicated. It’s a matter of being observant, of learning through trial and error, of picking up things
- The observant guy will get the edge
- A great hitter isn’t born, he’s made. He’s made out of practice, fault correction and confidence
- Rule #1: get a good ball to hit
- Rule #2: always take proper thinking to the plate
- Rule #3: be quick with the bat
- A good hitter can hit a pitch that is over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a questionable ball in a tough spot
- There is no question that some strikes are called balls, and some balls are called strikes, but you’re far better off forgetting the calls that hurt you and concentrating on that next pitch, or that next turn at bat
- Be natural, it’s the most important thing
- Have an extremely firm grip, the pressure applied by the fingers and not against the palms
- It’s important not to drop your hands too much because you’ll have to bring them back up and that costs time
- Once pitchers find a batter is going to swing at bad pitches he will get nothing else
- The way you bring your hips into the swing is directly proportionate to the power you generate
- With only 60.5 feet from pitcher to batter, if the pitcher throws the ball 90 miles per hour, it takes less than 0.4 seconds for the ball to reach the batter, even without allowing for the four to five feet a pitcher comes down the mound before releasing the ball
- You must learn to make your first time up at the plate a key time by striving to find out as much about a pitcher as possible, and you do that by making him pitch
- The more you make him pitch, the more information you get
- Every player should have goals, goals to keep his interest up over the long haul, goals that are realistic and that reflect improvement
- Goals keep you on your toes, make you bear down, give you objectives at those times when. You might otherwise be inclined to just go through the motions
- You can’t go through the motions and be a great hitter