Alright. So in this video I want to talk about establishing an approach at the
plate that's one of the things you'll hear coaches throw out a lot is hey like
our approach at the plate stinks we need a better approach and when I was younger
I had no idea what that meant and so I want to help you guys define that and
this requires conversation kind of on two things number one is pitch selection
so what pitches are you gonna swing at in any given at bat and then situational
hitting which is another thing that gets tossed around a lot which is just the
idea that are we changing how we think about hitting based on the situation and
my argument to that would be its contingent upon the count so first
things first one thing that I want every hitter to think when they step into the
box regardless of the situation is your first goal is to smash the baseball
because very often if you can hit the ball very very hard it'll be a good
thing the important thing to know as a hitter is the one of the most important
things is don't get out if we could just not get out all the time we would win
every baseball game right so that's hits and walks but my house don't want my
hitters walking into the plate and hoping for a walk so objective one is
smash the baseball and you have two strikes to make this happen so as I step
in the box let's say there's there's no one on base there's less than two outs
and I step into the box this is a sort of a representation of the strike zone
in a zero zero count no balls no strikes what I probably am NOT gonna do as a
hitter is swing at any pitch that gets thrown inside that strike zone the
reason for this is twofold number one balls on the corners are typically
harder to hit so if I am in an at-bat and I know that I get three strikes
before I'm out why would I feel motivated to swing in a pitch may be up
and away or up and in a fastball up and in traditionally a pitch that's a little
harder to hit knowing that I get two more strikes in any given at bat instead
what I might do is shrink my zone so in in in the course of an at-bat as you as
balls and strikes are thrown you're always adjusting the size of your
personal strike zone so what I might do is just chop out the
corners of the strike zone that I don't like is a hitter so speaking for myself
I like hitting stuff on the outer part of the plate so I might chop out this
inside edge of the strike zone right I also don't like hitting stuff down so I
might chop out this part of the zone if a pitcher throws a strike there I'm not
gonna swing at it congratulations sir you threw a strike right if the
alternative is me swinging at it and hitting a choppy ground ball to the
shortstop that's a fair trade I'd rather have a strike than it out so
anything may be thrown in this part of the zone that I've designated as my zone
on an account I might offer at right so then let's say he throws a ball here and
now I have a one out count this zone is my personal zone is going to change I'm
gonna shrink that zone and the reason be is I get ahead in the count right so as
a hitter I'm ahead and account when there's more balls and strikes so I
might if I if I am agreed that this pitch on the outer part of the plate I
like I might even shift this inside edge over more so now I'm only gonna offer it
pitches sort of in this quadrant of the strike zone if he throws another ball
and now it's 200 that Jones own continues to shrink and in a 200 count I
have a very very small zone it might be the size of a volleyball or a basketball
where I have a very very specific pitch in mind if I get that pitch I'm gonna
smash it if I don't I'm just not gonna swing at it because the worst case
scenario is he throws a strike and now it's 2 1 I'm still in a pretty good spot
and so the way this kind of flips is let's say I'm Xing out this inside
inside edge on my oo count and he throws a strike so now it's all one well now
maybe I can't be as picky because I don't want to go down Oh two right so
maybe I have to expand my zone a little bit
or maybe he throws a hammer on that oh one pitch and now it's Oh - and so now I
can't afford to have any sort of restriction on my zone the the strike
zone as it exists by the umpire is the zone that I have to have because if he
throws a ball inside that zone I don't swing at it I'm out right so that's kind
of how you establish what pitches you're swinging at and knee give and count is
the more memoria head the more your zone shrinks the farther you are behind the
more you have to expand it ok and the other part of this is is situational
hitting where like I said your first objective as a hitter is when you step
into the box you're gonna smash that's how you're
gonna be I mean that's what being a hitter is be aggressive but if I fall
too maybe let's say there's a guy on third base and there's one out and I
fall behind to a one-two count I might not be in a position anymore where I'm
trying to smash a double to the left center gap instead I need to focus on
being productive that's what situational hitting is is
when you fall behind as a hitter and you're up against the ropes in a
situation your goal is to be productive which is either I mean of course it's
always getting on base but ultimately it's scoring runs that's what we want to
do that's how we beat other teams and score more runs than them so if I have a
runner on third and one out and it's a one-two count now I need to shift my
focus more towards scoring that runner which means elevating something to the
outfield or hitting something to the right side okay so this is also count
contingent right where if I step into the box with a guy on third and one out
that oh oh count I'm not gonna hit about I'm not gonna think about hitting a
bouncy ground ball to the right side to score the run why would I do that when I
can hit a double to right-center score the run and be on second base so just
because there's a guy on third and one out doesn't mean I become the defensive
hitter who's just trying to slap stuff to the right side I save that approach
for if I get I fall behind in the count so to kind of summarize this never
forget your first job as a hitter is to step into the box be aggressive and
smash the baseball however if you miss your opportunity early in the count
either because the pitcher is just dicing or because you got a pitch and
you fouled it off and now I fall behind that's when my brain has to switch
towards alright I'm not gonna be jacking this ball over the fence anymore I need
to score a run or I need to move a runner up or whatever the situation
dictates and in that case if there's a runner on third and one out I might look
for something over on the outer half of the plate or up in the zone
regardless it's about being aggressive early in the count and trying to smash
balls to the gaps and then understanding the game situation and what is a
productive at-bat in that situation