Do you know that there are about 35 things necessary for a perfect baseball swing? To try to teach a hitter all of them is absurd. If you are a player, a coach, or a baseball parent and your child is struggling, let’s focus on 8 baseball tips on hitting that are short and right on point and you will be well on you way. Here is a list of eight very good baseball tips on hitting that are highly recommended to help you be successful:
- A Balanced And Workable Stance. All good athletes are balanced almost all the time no matter what sport we are talking about. It gives you a solid, comfortable foundation, which is where baseball hitting begins. Some very good hitters find it useful to have a little body movement while in their batting stance. They may rock a little back and forth which they find relaxing. It’s almost impossible to have your muscles tighten and tense up when your muscles are moving. You can then be quicker and shift your weight much better than someone who is just standing there like a statue. It’s identical to a goalie in hockey. If he stands up straight like a statue, what chance will he have to move freely to make a save on a slap shot that’s traveling close to 100 mile per hour? What chance will a tennis player have waiting for a serve in excess of 100 miles per hour? None of them will have a good chance and neither will a baseball hitter.
- Striding With The Front Toes Slightly Closed. If the toes on your front foot (stride foot) are slightly closed, it encourages you to keep your front hip and front shoulder closed as well. In other words, instead of having the toes pointing straight out away from your body when you take your stride turn them an inch or two inward, back toward the catcher. If you point the front toes out toward the pitcher, it will encourage you to open your front side too early which will create many baseball hitting problems for you. “Staying closed” definitely makes my top three list of important baseball tips on hitting!
- Have The Bat Fully Loaded When The Stride Foot Touches The Ground. All the real good hitters have the bat in the “launching position” when their front foot completes the stride. You stride and then you swing. They are two separate movements that should happen very quickly and smoothly but they are separate movements.
- Making An Aggressive Motion Toward The Pitcher. A lot of hitters do not do this but all the great hitters do. That is where the ball is coming from and that’s where you should be going. Real good hitters go into the ball to hit it. It’s a common baseball hitting problem to not go toward the pitcher when swinging. The reason it’s such a common baseball hitting problem is because it is simply not natural to move your body toward a baseball that someone is throwing in your direction. But remember, all the great hitters do it.
- 5. Having A Tension Free Swing. “Tension is a hitter’s worst enemy,” is one of the many baseball tips on hitting that’s been around for decades and is still one of the best ever. Tension destroys a fluid, graceful swing that’s necessary for hitting the baseball properly. Don’t squeeze the bat too tightly and don’t tighten up your muscles. Like we mentioned above, many very good hitters have a slight waggle to help them relax.
- Head Behind The Swing. The real good hitters actually see the ball a little longer than the weaker hitters. They literally lower and turn their heads when making contact. You simply cannot keep your head facing the pitcher and look at the baseball out of the corners of your eyes when trying to make contact. You don’t have to take my word for it. One of the best baseball hitting instructors of all time proved the point. He photographed an entire MLB All Star game. Through still photography, he saw that every time one of these “all star professional hitters” made contact they were turning their heads from the pitcher to the point of contact! On that point alone, I rest my case. Every single time they made contact. Turn your head!
- Hitting To All Fields. Rarely will you ever find a baseball hitter with a high batting average who limits himself to hitting the ball to only one part of the field. There are very few exceptions, very few. Pay attention to the old expression, “hit it where it’s pitched.” In the long run, you will be much better off.
- Hitting Through The Ball. Hitting through the ball is necessary for success and one of the more important baseball tips on hitting. You should pretend that you are trying to hit three or four baseballs that are coming in to you one after another instead of hitting only one baseball. This will help you keep the bat in the hitting zone longer.
Always remember that baseball tips on hitting require clever use of the mind as well as the body!
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