Softball Hitting - Getting on Top of the Ball

When working with hitters, what to watch for?

The Eyes. Do your players:

1) follow the ball to the bat? They should. Have them take their noses to the ball. Generally, the eyes will follow the nose and prevent them losing the ball 20 feet from the plate.

2) look at a pitch out of the bottom of their eye sockets, thus having alligator vision? They shouldn’t. Have them look at the ball as they would look at anything in a normal fashion.

3) stand at the plate with their heads tilted? They shouldn’t, for the eyes must be level at the time of the pitch and adjust as the pitch approaches the plate.

4) block their rear eye with their nose when in their stance? Not a good thing to do, especially if the rear eye is dominant. Have them turn their heads so that both eyes are looking over their front shoulders in the direction of the pitcher.

5) watch the pitcher’s face or actions? NOT! Make sure they watch the pitcher’s hip - that’s where the ball comes from - not the pitcher’s hairdo, scowl, or body action.

The stride. Do your players:

1) have a long stride? Well, now, as we all know, they shouldn’t. An inch or two, at most, is the ideal, and possibly no stride at all if you really want quickness.

2) pick up their stride foot very high? They shouldn’t. The step should be a slide step, very, very, very short. They simply don’t have the time during a pitch to do any high tap dance.

3) stride to the ball if they do stride? They should. Otherwise, they will “pull off” the ball, or otherwise create havoc for themselves.

The hands:

1) Do the hands go to the top of the ball? They Should!

2) Do the hands drop just before the beginning or during the swing? They Shouldn’t!

3) Do the wrists roll at, or just after impact? They shouldn’t. No, they shouldn’t. They do this somewhere at the end of the swing.

4) Do the hands throw the bat out immediately, thus allowing for a sweeping motion that is often confused with what coaches call the “extension”? They shouldn’t. Extension should begin to occur as the batter is making contact with the ball and then the arms extend outward in the direction of the hit. It is what is known as hitting “through” the ball.

5) Do the hands move to the ball in a “woodchoppers” action or one that is akin to a carpenter driving a nail? They should, for this is the correct wrist action.

6) Do the hands wait until the very last minute before they launch and then move the bat directly and explosively toward the ball? They should.

7) Do the hands move forward with the stride? They shouldn’t. If a stride is taken, the hands should move slightly back and up in order to get the bat into the “launch” position. If the hands move forward with the stride, power will be lost.

The Bat Barrel:

Does it dip or drop just before launch? It shouldn’t. This is a great cause of fly balls and strikeouts. It is occasioned by the lower wrist moving out and up, the top wrist moving down and in. Once the barrel drops, the pitcher is in control. The hitter is in trouble. Look for this on your tapes. It will occur just as the batter starts to swing.

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Now, how to put this to use in order to avoid fly balls and those miserable strikeouts so that we can manufacture hard grounds and line drives? Can it be done, even with the great rise ball pitchers we face? Sure it can. Not always, but most of the time.

You, and the players, may recognize a fault discussed above, but try as you both might, it cannot be corrected. This happens all the time and can be very frustrating. You try moving the player’s hands, allow her to feel the barrel drop, but it doesn’t help. She continues to look at the ball, alligator fashion or otherwise has some seemingly uncorrectable fault.

There are marvelous ways to train hitters to go to the top of the ball and to hit it hard. The batting tee has its place as does soft-toss. Both can be used inside with whiffle balls or outside with whiffle or real balls.

I do not recommend a pitching machine to correct major problems, since batters can quickly learn to adjust to the mechanical pitch and hit the balls hard even with poor technique. Coaches, thinking that the hitters are employing proper applications, are often fooled when machine pitches are hit hard. Then, when the game starts and there is failure, we wonder why.

One of the real trainers is the game of pepper. Hand and eye co-ordination are maximized as is the all important wrist action of the woodchopper. Weight distribution is essential as it, the weight, must remain back, or the pepper game will be spoiled. The eyes must follow the ball exactly and the ball must be hit on top. If you are uninitiated in the game, ask any seasoned coach how to play it.

The second trainer is allowing your players to hit grounders and fly balls. Sounds easy, but in order to fungo properly, precise technique must be used. The weight must be back and the hitter must get to the top of the ball for grounders, yet get to the bottom for flies. I have never seen good fungos from a poor hitter. Generally, good hitters can fungo correctly.

If you ever get to attend a professional baseball game, try to go early so that you can see the pregame activities. Watch the coaches hitting grounders and flies. If you have a video camera, get some shots. Then, take the tape home and put it on slow motion. You will see all the fundamentals of hitting being employed. Those hitting infield get on top. Those hitting outfield, hit the bottom of the ball.

You might think it is important that in order to “get on top” players should not try to intentionally hit fly balls in practice. Therein lies a fantastic teaching secret. By intentionally doing something wrong (in this case, hitting fungo fly balls). Taking a player through an improper motion is a teaching tool to help them learn the right way.

If we don’t strike out, we will hit more pitches. That sounds reasonable. If we get to the top of the ball, fly balls will be minimized, line drives will be maximized. And if we hit them hard, the resulting batted balls will be all the more difficult, perhaps impossible, to field. Result? Higher batting averages.

So, the hitting watchwords are: “GET ON TOP!”