Baseball-Anticipatory-Hitting-Approach

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Two Hitting Approaches

traing effectively for baseball using the wiffle ball

Anticipatory Hitting Approach

AHA

There are two very different approaches to hitting that are commonly used by batters: 1) the first is anticipatory hitting, where the batter looks for a pitch and hits that pitch only. 2) the second is a reactive hitting where the batter “sees the ball and hits the ball”. With this apporoach the batter is trying to hit any pitch that is thrown as long as it is a strike. The first mentioned hitting method is used with less than two strikes, when you can take a pitch that you don’t want to swing at even though it may be a strike, this method is referred to as “hitting with less than two strikes”. The second hitting method you must use when hitting with two strikes and therefore is referred to as “two strike hitting”. I will further expand on these methods below.

Sitting on a pitch with less than two strikes

With less than two strikes a hitter can afford to look for a particular pitch to hit because he has the flexibility to take a pitch even if it is a strike if he doesn’t want to swing at that pitch. The primary reason for this hitting method is to improve the timing of the batter. It is extremely hard for a batter to hit any pitch thrown at any speed, anywhere in the strike zone - the batter’s focus is very big trying to do this and it is easy is to be fooled by speed differences and locations. The pitcher’s job is to try to fool the batter by throwing different pitches at different speeds in different locations of the strike zone. If the batter tries to hit just any pitch the pitcher throws as such he is letting the pitcher be in the “driver’s seat”. He will have far greater success if he looks to hit a particular pitch, this will improve his timing. Now, he is no longer going after the change up and the fast ball - just one pitch and he lets any other pitch go. A batter should be able to put a good swing on a pitch that he is looking for. This approach eliminates the batter being fooled by a pitch he wasn't expecting. In this approach the batter "zeros in" on a pitch and waits for it.

One point to be aware of:

Don’t make your hitting zone too small. If your hitting zone is too small you will end up taking too many pitches (strikes) and going deep in the count (i.e. hitting with two strikes) too often. You don’t want to be hitting constantly with two strikes because you are being too selective. Your goal with the hitting zone is to eliminate the area of the strike zone that you don’t handle pitches well in.

You may want to define your hitting zone as “Middle in” or “Middle out” - leaving only the outer or inner perimeters of the strike zone depending on your liking. For example a “Middle in” hitting zone would be a pull hitter who likes to leaves off the outer perimeter of the strike zone because he pulls off that pitch too often. A “Middle out” hitting zone would be a hitter who likes to “inside out” the ball to the opposite field and because he gets jammed too easily leaves off the inner perimeter of the strike zone. A Middle in zone should include 3/4ths of the plate leaving off only the outer 1/4th A Middle out zone should include 3/4ths of the plate leaving off only the inner 1/4th

Another example of a proper hitting zone would be “Up” or “Down”. If a hitter likes hitting pitches up in the strike zone his zone may be the full width of the plate (strike zone) but only pitches that are maybe waist high and above, and vise versa for a “Down” hitting zone. Again don’t make the hitting zone too small, the “Up” hitting zone should probably be a little lower than the waist and above, the “Down” hitting zone should probably be a little higher than the waist and below. Just remember to keep from making your hitting zone too small.

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