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Baseball Physics
Want to Hit? – Stop Swinging Down!
You do not swing down or “chop down” on the ball. This technique was popular in the 90’s. There are coaches and “hitting instruction” web sites that still teach this method of hitting. It’s wrong – Why? Here are three simple facts about a pitched baseball: The pitching rubber is 10 inches above the ground therefore the pitcher is elevated/ above the batter so to throw to the strike zone he has to throw down. Once the ball leaves the…
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Products
5 Hitting Tools to Increase Bat Speed
Bat speed is developed through strength training and repetition. To improve our bat speed, we can use a number of hitting tools including a swingaway, an overload bat and a swing tracker. Using a swing tracker is a great way to measure progress. Bat speed is what separates high school players from college players, and college players from pro players. Now more than ever, college and pro scouts are using exit speed and swing tracking metrics in…
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Baseball Physics
Batted Ball Speed – The Holy Grail of Hitting and Where to Find It
Simple physics description of hitting a baseball: It’s the transferred energy from a batters body to his bat. Then from the bat to the ball. The transfer of energy from bat to ball creates Batted Ball Speed (BBS) which propels the baseball forward. So how do we get optimal BBS? Let’s face it, BBS is what everyone cares about. BBS determines how far the ball will go once contact is made. One of the biggest questions that has been debated…
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Mental Approach
The Best Hitters in the World Fail 70% of the Time – WRONG!
How many times have you heard: “The game of baseball is a game of failure – even the best hitters fail 70% percent of the time.” This statement is wrong and factually untrue yet most believe it because you’ve been told it over and over. That belief alone already puts you in a negative mental state before you ever get to the plate. What you need to understand is that just because you didn’t get a hit to get on base you…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Swing Path and Hip Rotation
Bat Path Every time I work with a new hitter, I ask “How would you describe your swing to me?” I like to get their thoughts and see if they match the actions of their swings. I can honestly say most kids say, “Swinging down to create backspin.” It’s really frustrating for me to watch hitters start off hitting ground-balls and they think they’re swinging properly because they’ve been instructed that way. It’s also frustrating that coaches now want hard…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Go With the Pitch – Every Pitch!
Every player at one time in their life has heard their coach tell them to “go with the pitch”. Unfortunately, the only time players usually hear that phrase is when it’s an outside pitch. What most players don’t understand (and some coaches) is that you should be doing that for every pitch. The batter must be taught to “go with the pitch” wherever the pitch is thrown. This is a quick overview and will cover the three general pitch locations…
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Baseball Hitting Drills
The Pre-Stride
The drill that we’re talking about here is what we’re gonna put Brian in, the Pre-Stride Position, to eliminate some of the problems of swinging the bat. First thing we do with Brian is we find out what Brian’s power base is. Okay. With his power base what we’ll do is ask him to get in to the position where he feels comfortable. And what we’re gonna do is make sure that Brian is not outside the length of the…
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Mental Approach
4 Reality Checks for Young Baseball Players
Two real stories: I was speaking to a New York Mets scout out in the parking lot before a game. He told me when he goes to a game to scout a player, he likes to sit in the parking lot before the game and watch for the prospect. He went on to say that he already knows the kid has some skills or he wouldn’t be there to see him. What he’s looking for is the player’s baseball attitude…
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Uncategorized
Why I Love BBCOR Bats
I love to hear the discussions over the BBCOR bats. Well here’s my two cents on the subject. I love it! I’m not getting into the safety argument, that’s a whole other conversation. I’m talking about making hitters hit and let pitchers pitch. The days of the wimpy swing with a BESR bat that’s a double in the right center gap are gone. That wimpy hit will be a ground out to the second baseman with the BBCOR. Your “true”…
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Brain Speed
by Tim Keown ESPN The Magazine Jason Kidd sees more. He sees more on the basketball court, on the freeway, in the movie theater. After he and his wife watch a movie, he routinely asks her if she noticed some subtleties in the film’s background. She rarely does, even though she has learned to look for them. Reporters who have spent time with Kidd say he invariably finishes their sentences, slightly under his breath, as a prelude to his answer.…
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Baseball Physics
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
The Key to Solid Contact
Throughout this website you will see so many tips and swing concepts that deal with hitting the ball this way and hitting the ball that way. How about something that concentrates and simplifies the basic fundamental of just “hitting” the ball? After all, isn’t this the most difficult task in sports? In this article we’re going to review those critical basics that allow the great hitters to make consistent contact. What is it that they do at the plate that…
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Mental Approach
Are You a Right Brain or a Left Brain Ballplayer?
Well, do you know? Let’s take a little test and find out which side of the brain you use the most. After the test I’ll explain why it’s important to know. Read the following list of words. Say the color of the word instead of the word itself. For example, if you see this: RED say “blue” which is the color of the word NOT what the word reads – “red”. See how fast you can go through the whole…
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Mental Approach
Slowing the Game Down
The most important mental game concept for maximizing talent in baseball. There’s an old saying in baseball that speed never goes into a slump. Not true. In fact, the saying is completely backwards…it’s SLOW that never goes into a slump! Invariably, regardless of the level of competition, from the Big Leagues to Little League, the most important factor for producing baseball players who can perform under pressure is the ability to slow the game down. Slowing the game down is…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Bat Speed Often Determines Success
Let’s keep this very basic and simple. Forget all other baseball tips on hitting. Very simply, the faster the head of the bat is going when it hits the ball – the harder a baseball hitter will hit the baseball. There are hundreds of baseball tips on hitting, but when it’s all said and done… don’t the hitters with the quickest bat speed hit the baseball the hardest? You can talk about many things that are required to be a…
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Get’em On, Get’em Over and Get’em In!
Baseball is a complicated game in many ways. Yet, as complicated as it is… it can be just as simple. It is very important for the offensive player to simplify as much of the game as possible. Especially in his thinking. Yogi Berra’s famous quote that “You can’t hit and think at the same time” should be the mantra of the good hitter. Keep it Simple. From an offensive standpoint, the name of the game is to score runs. Without…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Hand Position for a Powerful Swing
In this article we will cover the basic batting stance, including how to practice the right style sure to increase bat speed. You will learn tips that include how the bottom hand takes you to the ball. And the role of the top hand, which is the power hand. Also taught is how and why the back arm forms a ‘V’, and how to keep your hands inside to perform the ‘Power V’. Begin with the hand position. Get in…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Developing the Proper Bat Path
First, let us understand the direction the ball comes to us. A pitcher pitches off of a 10 inch mound and because he is elevated when he pitches the ball, the ball will come to the hitter diagonally down. If you can visualize a ball coming to a hitter on a downward plane and the hitter also swinging on a downward plane, the hitter has only one chance to intersect with the ball on contact. When hitters hear the term…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Eliminate the Strikeout
A baseball player has to be able to keep up with better pitching these days. As a former Division 1 baseball coach, I have the answer for this. The principles for the correct stroke are the same for fast pitch softball as they are for baseball. So, boy or girl… baseball or softball… listen up! In today’s game it is absolutely essential that the good hitter is “short to the ball” with a good compact stroke. A major part of…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
4 Inches of Power – The Sweet Spot
The Philosophy at BABH is always centered on taking time tested principles of hitting from the great hitters that have played the game. Some of these principles have their roots set so far back in the game that they bring back names like Cobb, Ruth, Mantle, Aaron and others. Typically, these hitting principles focus on some mechanical aspect of the baseball swing. On occasion, we remind hitters of the proper thought process and mental approach to their at bats. This…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Shrink The Batter’s Box
If you are going to be a hitter, a good hitter, one your teammates and coaches can depend on… then you need to know this: Learn how to “Shrink the Box”. OK.. you are probably saying “What the heck does that mean?” Well, this is a fundamental skill that all good hitters possess, and you should too. Shrinking the Batter’s Box is having the ability to know when you are in the driver’s seat against the pitcher. You may be…
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Mental Approach
Change Your Attitude – Change Your Game
Since we’re smack in the middle of the high drama, high stakes, atmosphere of October playoff baseball, I think it might be appropriate to share my experience with pressure situations and how I dealt with them. Make no mistake about it, baseball, whether you’re in Little League or the big leagues, is filled with stress. It’s how you handle it that separates the mediocre player from the great player. It also separates the player who enjoys the game from the…
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Mental Selection Characteristics of MLB First Round Draft Choices
Predicting success of Major League Baseball draft prospects is a difficult task. A multitude of factors must be considered by baseball organizations who pore over scouting reports, stat sheets, speed gun readings and stopwatch times to find that crucial piece of information that can be used to find future stars. Physical, mental and social factors contribute mightily to which players live up to their potential. The following is a review of the attentional and interpersonal characteristics of players selected in…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
Hips, Knees & Elbow in Baseball Swing
Lets take a look at the correlation of the back elbow, back knee and back hip in the baseball swing. It’s my finding that the synchronization of these in the backside motion are critical to the success of a hitter. On the elite hitters in the game, such as Albert Pujols, these three separate parts of the body work in complete harmony. It is the ‘connected motion’ of the back hip, knee and elbow that drive the hands to the…
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Out-Train Your Sport..The Great One’s Do!
We know that the physical demands of baseball are particularly lower in comparison to other sports, and what a coincidence, so is the motivation and desire of baseball players to train at a high intensity. Baseball is one of those sports where you truly can “out-train” the sport, meaning you are able to train at a much higher level than the sport actually demands. With this being said, ask yourself if you are training to meet the demand, or exceed…
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Fun Baseball Articles
Ty Cobb’s Hitting Tips
“I have observed that baseball is not unlike a war, and when you come right down to it, we batters are the heavy artillery.” – Ty Cobb 1. DON’T GRIP YOUR BAT AT THE VERY END; leave say an inch or two. ALSO, LEAVE AT LEAST AN INCH OR MORE SPACE BETWEEN YOUR HANDS; that gives you balance and control of bat, and also keeps hands from interfering with each other during swing. Cobb was a contact type of hitter…
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And now Batting… Eddie Gaedel
Along with ill-conceived promotions that have backfired over the years, baseball has also been the home to many strange gimmicks, used either to hype the game or simply to gain an advantage over an opponent. None is better remembered than the one engineered by Bill Veeck when he owned the old St. Louis Browns in 1951. The Browns were floundering in last place as usual, and Veeck decided to create a little excitement. The Browns were hosting the Detroit Tigers…
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Mental Approach
Crush The Mistakes
One of the great barometers for a hitter is his ability to really tee off on pitches that look like they should be crushed. You know the ones I’m talking about. Say you are watching a Major League game on the tube, your favorite team is up to bat and your favorite player is in the batter’s box. The count goes to 3-1 and you are just waiting for that pitcher to make a mistake with his fastball. You know…
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You Vs. them – Compete!
I think there are times when hitters lose the realization that they are competing. I don’t think they place enough importance on this simple fact: You must compete against the pitcher for each and every pitch! Every single pitch he throws has one purpose; to get you out! If you are not placing the same amount of importance on each pitch, I guarantee you are at a disadvantage. You must compete. Every pitch! If you are one of those players…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
The Pro Six Step Baseball Swing
At BeABetterHitter (BABH) we have learned that the easiest way to teach young players the baseball swing is to break the swing down into parts. Elsewhere on this site you will find the 6 Steps to a Sweet Swing and other articles that refer to this approach. As complex as the baseball swing can be, it can also be quite simple. If you ingrain the six step sequence into muscle memory, your task of hitting becomes much easier. The swing…
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Baseball Hitting Drills
Pull it, Pure it & Paint it!
Coaches, teaching your players to understand the strike zone and to hit the ball where it’s pitched is a huge advantage for your offense. Offense is of course a key component to the game, you must score to win. We all know that It’s not always easy to keep the interest of players during practice. Having a team lose focus and walk through a practice is a sure bet your team will walk through some of it’s games during the…
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The Batting Average is Satan
When I was a freshman in high school, I was 4′ 11″ and 90lbs and when I graduated high school I was 5’8″, 140lbs. I didn’t even start as a senior in high school. I went to Golden West junior college. My freshman year, when I was 19 years old, I got 3 at bats. Thank God I grew 4 inches when I was 20 and went from a second string second baseman to an All Conference shortstop in one…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
The Baseball Hit Chart
Count Hitter’s Expectation (Thought) Expected Batting Avg. 0-0 Fastball (See it-Hit it!) .318 0-1 Pitchers Choice (My Pitch/My Zone) .238 0-2 Any Pitch Close (Put it in play/Battle) .094 1-0 Fastball (Tighten my zone) .359 1-1 Pitchers Choice (My Pitch/My Zone) .282 1-2 Any Pitch Close (Put it in play/Battle) .166 2-0 Fastball (Drive it!) .373 2-1 Fastball (Drive it!) .366 2-2 Pitchers Best (Protect/Compete!) .316 3-0 Fastball (My best Zone only!) .250 3-1 Fastball (Drive it!) .365 3-2 Typically…
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Baseball Strength Training
Offseason Training For Baseball
“What program should I use during the off-season to help me throw harder and increase my bat speed?” This might be a question some of you ask your Coaches on a yearly basis. As I continue to travel and meet young ballplayers of all different shapes, sizes, and mental make-ups, this is the question that I typically am embraced with, most often times followed by, “What can I take?” The latter of the two questions concerns me. Athletes, who are…
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Training for Performance Not Just Strength
So how strong is strong enough? As I travel throughout the United States and answer e-mails from a world wide audience, the same questions keep repeating themselves, most of which include the word strength. Strength is just one of the characteristics and athlete needs in order to be successful, but definitely not the most important. I recently read a statistic that stated since the inception of strength and conditioning coaches on the professional baseball scene, injury rates have actually increased.…
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Mental Approach
History Dictates the Pitch
Hitting is Timing. Pitching is upsetting Timing. The core of the game revolves around the hitter and the pitcher. It has, for over a century, been the most compelling aspect of the game of baseball. As a player you should recognize that this “history” essentially dictates the flow of the game between the pitcher and the hitter. When you are capable of evolving mentally to the point where you recognize this, you place yourself in a position to capitalize on…
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Mental Approach
The Best Batting Tip
If I told you that the only thing any coach ever cares about is your production as a ballplayer what would you say? I mean, in the end… at the end of the season… look back and tell me how productive you were with two outs and a runner in scoring position. Or, how often did you knock the runner in from third base with less than 2 outs? Or, how many times were you able to move that runner…
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Solve the Puzzle
Have you ever played the game inside the game? You know… the game between the pitcher and the batter. That really is “the game”. Ok, ok, you do have to field your position, throw accurate, know all of the defensive plays, offensive plays and be a team player. But.. if you just break baseball down to its bare bones, the pitcher vs. the batter is “the game”. Besides, it’s a fun game if you think about it. The pitcher gets…
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Baseball Hitting Drills
Short To Ball Drill
I’m sure you have heard the saying “Be Short to the ball and Long through the ball” at least once if you have been playing baseball for any length of time. The problem is, nobody really explains what that means. The same goes for “keep your hands inside the ball”. Well, I’m hopeful that I can shed just a little bit of light on that for you in this drill. The idea of being short to the ball is really…
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Dynamic Warm-Up for Baseball
Its Warm Outside…But Are You Warm Inside?? What do you mean warm inside? When it comes to warming the body up in order to compete in a baseball game or practice, it is imperative that we are not only heating up the muscle, but more importantly we are turning ON the muscle, while activating the Central Nervous System. So this sounds like some mad scientist talk huh? Well a simple way to look at this scenario is this: When you…
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Fundamental Baseball Skills
The Pete Rose Swing
Some younger players may not even know who Pete Rose is .. others may identify with him as a bad role model. The plain fact is that Pete Rose is the All-Time leader in hits for Major League Baseball!! So, putting aside whatever issues haunted him as a human being off the field.. Let’s just take a look at what made him such a fantastic hitter – mechanically. There is no doubt that he had the proper mental framework required…
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Baseball Strength Training
The Development of Big League Speed
Through the years as I have had the opportunity to compare and contrast speed, and speed development training protocols at the Big League Level vs. The Youth Ranks, time and time again it is seen that the professional athlete has an incredible amount of “natural talent/ skills,” but struggle with the ability to adapt to the development of positive speed mechanics. Whereas the developing youth athlete absorbs these mechanics with ease, and begins to see and feel the benefits in…
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In-Season Training for Baseball
This headline is synonymous with the word; Confusion. In-Season training has become somewhat of a mystery in the baseball world. Some say we should do it, some say that we shouldn’t, some say just go on a maintenance program. In my opinion, neither of these responses is valid. Whether you are embarking on an off-season program, pre-season program, or in-season program, the most important part of each are the objectives you are trying to achieve and the plan you set…
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The Difference Between the Big League Player and You
Besides the difference in athletic ability and developed talent that Major League Baseball Players possess, often times they are often more physically developed then a typical youth player, college player, and young Minor Leaguer. When choosing a workout program, I often hear younger players say they want the same program as a Roger Clemens or a Albert Pujols, but the reality that is overlooked is the fact that Roger Clemens is Roger Clemens, Albert Pujols is Albert Pujols, and YOU…
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Performance Training to Enhance Skill Development
Often time through my travels I hear Coaches complaining that their ballplayers just aren’t making the corrections necessary to become better players. Basically, coaches perceive their athletes as ignoring their feedback from either the teams head coach, hitting coach, and/ or pitching coach. Over the course of this off-season I have had the opportunity to watch some of the nation’s best collegiate and professional coaches in action, working with hitters, pitchers, and fielders, and there was a reoccurring theme. Ballplayers…
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Baseball Hitting Drills
Power Resistance Hitting Drill
In keeping with the power concept of the XLR8 Speed Bat Hitting System, I’m going to show you a drill here that’s really really good for developing the power from the fingertips to the elbows. We’ve talked about it before and it’s extremely critical. If you’re going to be a power hitter you have to develop that portion of your body. It’s called the power resistance maneuver. And what we’re going to have the player do is get in a…
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Baseball Hitting Drills
Load, Step, Swing Exercise
Okay we’re getting into the accuracy component of the XLR8 Speed Bat Hitting System. And one of the drills that we really like to use is it separates the step from the swing because we’re talking about Load, then Step, then Swing instead of a load, step, and swing. We want to load, step, then swing. So it’s a complete separate motion. So in order to develop the muscle memory involved in that we have some particular exercises that we…
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Baseball Hitting Drills
The Power In Your Legs
If you don’t move forward you got a lot more power in your legs. You should feel your legs. How about a little more flexing with your lower half. Do it. Get down, little bit more. Little more, there ya go. No get back. Alright. Now have no flexion with your legs, none whatsoever, and try to keep your weight back when you stride forward. No flexion. You can’t do it can you? So if you were going to err…
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Baseball Strength Training
Baseball Speed Bat Strength Drills
So we have some exercises designed with the Speed Bat that are gonna increase that power and develop the strength, the fast twitch muscle fibers from the finger tips to the elbows. In the first exercise they’re gonna do, is called The Fan. You’re simply gonna hold the bat out in front of you… hold the Speed Bat out in front of ya. And swish it in front of you from side to side using your wrists. Go ahead boys.…
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Baseball Hitting Drills
The Bob Stick
One of the neat products that we’ve identified.. it really works extremely well with the XLR8 speed bat hitting system is called The Bob Stick. And essentially what this is, is a tool that has a very small target, a foam ball that you can hit over and over and over. There’s no shock transmitted to the person who is holding the ball. And you can put this ball into any target zone you want in the strike zone. What…
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