Baseball Hitting: Where Is Your Head When The Moment Of Truth Arrives?
If you are a baseball player, coach, or a baseball parent, you probably know that your head should be relaxed and looking toward the pitcher as if you are watching TV. What you do after that is even more important. No, let’s rephrase that. What you do after that is absolutely necessary for successful hitting!
It is very important to make sure your head is turned and facing the pitcher to ensure that you get a good view of the pitch that will soon follow. Make sure both the front shoulder and arm are completely out of the way. Occasionally, you will see a weaker hitter sort of peeking at the ball over his front shoulder. It’s mandatory to get a complete and unobstructed view of the baseball. Baseball hitting is plenty tough enough when you do see the ball well.
One of the better baseball hitting tips is to focus on the pitcher’s cap because it’s approximately the same height as where the pitch will be released from. The advantage is that your eyes will not have to refocus on the baseball and will be focused already. (I’m a certified high school umpire and that’s exactly what I do to track the baseball properly.) My eyes are then focused ahead of time and hopefully it helps me get the ball/strike call right.
What you do when the pitch is actually released is extremely important for successful baseball hitting:
1. If your head remains turned toward the pitcher at the point of contact, you will be seeing the baseball out of the corners of your eyes and this must be avoided. This will not work for a baseball hitter.
2. If your head is facing half way between the pitcher and the point of contact, you will see the ball a little better but that’s still not good enough.
3. If you turn your head directly toward the point of contact, you will get the best possible look at the baseball and this is what all the real good baseball hitters do. Not turning their head is a very common hitting problem, especially with younger players. As players advance to higher levels of play, it is not as common but still occurs.
It’s a medical fact that you cannot see an object as well when looking at it out of the corners of your eyes. Imagine the importance when trying to see a baseball that takes less than a second to get to the catcher’s mitt, may have movement on it and you have to decide if it’s a ball or a strike! And all this happens in less than one second so you need to see the baseball as clearly as possible.
Hey, you don’t have to take my word for it. One of the best M.L.B. hitting instructors of all time proved the point. He took photographs of EVERY pitch in an M.L.B. all star game. (These were the finest hitters on planet earth!) Through still photography, the photos showed that when every hitter made contact, they turned their head from the pitcher to the point where they made contact with the baseball. On that point alone, I rest my case.
When it comes to real efficient baseball hitting, it is an absolute and one of the most important baseball tips on hitting to turn your head if you want to be a successful baseball hitter.
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