Baseball: Hit Line Drives

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Hit Line Drives

traing effectively for baseball using the wiffle ball

- Not Ground Balls

There is a school of thought that used to be legion but now somewhat discredited, which encouraged hitters to swing down on the ball in order to hit ground balls. But even a causal survey of statistics show us that line drives result in hits at a rate of 2.5 times greater frequency.

According to most studies approximately:

1. 80% of line drives result in a "hit"

2. 30% of ground balls result in a "hit"

3. 10% of pop flies to the infield or outfield ( include "dinks / doinks" in this category) result in a "hit"

4. And obviously 0% of strike outs result in a hit.

Hit Line Drives

From this information we may conclude that if you want a high batting average, which will make you valuable to any team you play for - your goal should be to hit line drives. The more line drives you hit - the higher your batting average will be. There is a common "flawed" theory advanced by many that a hitter should swing down on the ball and hit ground balls. Unless you have fast running speed or play on artificial turf, it is obvious from the numbers that it would not be in your best interest as a hitter to constantly hit ground balls. In fact, if you were a pitcher you would be relieved if a batter only hit ground balls rather than blazing line drives - it would be much easier to get him out. I think it was Ted Williams who said he tried to hit every ball he hit - in the air.

To hit the ball squarely - swing on the same plane as the pitch

To hit a line drive you need to hit the ball "dead center", this is done by swinging on the same plane as the pitch. When you swing down on the ball, your swing is no longer on the same plane as the pitch and your point of "intersect" with the pitch is small. Think about this for a minute, the pitcher is throwing off a mound elevated 10" off the flat ground. The pitcher's arm is elevated above his head at the point of release. Let's say the pitcher is 6'0" tall, and the ball at release point is 18" above his head. Now at moment of pitch release the pitcher will be bent over a bit as is normal in a pitching motion so maybe we will offset the 18" so that the ball is approximately 6'0" + 10" (mound height) off the ground or roughly = 7'0" at point of pitch release. Now, the highest strike in the strike zone is chest high (let's assume chest high on a 6'0" batter), that would be about 18" below his 6'0" height or 4'6". So if you want to figure out the angle of a pitched ball to the highest strike it would be approximately 7'0" down to 4'6" over a 60'6" distance. And the angle of a pitched ball to the lowest strike (knees) would be approximately 7'0" down to 2' (ish) over a 60'6" distance. Even using today's modern math and geometry I think it is evident that the swing needs to be slightly upward at the highest strike and even more upward on the lowest strike.

To improve hitting the center of the baseball - practice hitting a smaller ball

As most of you know I strongly advocate the use of the mini polyball with the small diameter Grobat training bat for batting practice. Using the mini (golf ball size) polyball for batting practice is one of the best ways to improve a hitter's eye / hand co-ordination and focus. Take lots of batting practice using the mini polyball and hitting a regulation size baseball with your game bat, will seem like hitting a "beach ball" . Better yet, take batting practice with the small diameter training bat (I prefer the "Grobat" which can be matched to the hitter's game bat weight and length) along with the mini polyball and you will really improve your hitting contact and line drive capabilities.

In summary:

To increase the quantity of line drives be sure to:

Swing slightly upward on the same plane as the pitched ball

Practice hitting a smaller polyball with a smaller diameter bat (bat weight and length should be the same as your game bat).

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Polyball Batting Practice

The most practical way to improve your hitting skill. Serious batting practice - at home. (indoors or outdoors.) Fast balls, curve balls and sliders. Don't waste another coin at a commercial batting cage. Great for all ages and skill levels.

"If you are not doing Polyball Batting Practice -You are probably not taking enough batting practice"

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