Closing Eyes When Swinging

Fix Head Pulling & Closing Eyes Fast: 10U Baseball/Softball RNT + Vision Drills for On-Time, Game-Ready Contact Today

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Little Known Ways To Fix Hitter Closing Eyes During Swing

 

 

Discover batting drills to STOP hitters from pulling their head position off the baseball or softball.  Works for kiddos aged 10 year old on down.  Fix closing eyes, front shoulder from flying open, and swinging too early.  First and foremost, make sure to address the fear of getting hit by the ball before trying any of these drills.

The above video, and following copy, gives our advice on a comment from one of our readers:

“I have a girl that closes her eyes when she is about to hit the ball?”Closing Eyes When Swinging

…we’ll go over…

  • What we can learn from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Terminator,
  • Swinging across face,
  • Hitting a heavy bag,
  • Wiffle ball bats and balls,
  • Hammers, nails, and clapping, and
  • Repetition.

Hey what’s going on? It is Joey Myers from ‘Hitting Performance Lab’ again. In this video, I’m going to answer another reader question. This is actually an interesting one, and it’s one that I actually don’t see in lot of hitters, but I do occasionally see it. The reader comment we give advice on is: “I have a girl that closes her eyes when she is about to hit the ball”.

Now obviously, vision is a big part of this game – tracking the ball is a big part of baseball and softball. So, that would be something that we want to try and see if we can train into our swings. The moral of the story is repetition.  It just takes repetition. A lot of times the hitters that don’t take a lot of swings, on their own at home or whatever, they tend to kind of do this.

 

What we can Learn from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Movie Terminator

So, we have to get them the right repetitions. I want to start off with just a quick story on Arnold Schwarzenegger in his book, his autobiography ‘Total Recall’, talked about a time when he was talking to I think was James Cameron, whoever the producer was, or I think it was director of ‘The Terminator’. The first one, and it was supposed to cast Arnold, this is after he got off the movie Conan the Barbarian, did pretty well with that. Started to become a rising star, and they were gonna cast Arnold as John Connor in Terminator 1, the guy in the future that comes back to try and stop the machines from taking over the world.

So, Arnold Schwarzenegger is supposed to be the good guy, and OJ Simpson ironically was supposed to be the bad guy. He was going to be the Machine. Arnold was sitting there at lunch with James Cameron, whoever the director was going to be, and they were talking. Arnold was saying “Hey, The Terminator is a machine, so tell OJ, coach him that when he shoots a gun or pulls a trigger or whatever loud sounds, his eyes can’t blink, he can’t blink. For those of you out there who haven’t read ‘Total Recall’ maybe don’t know that Arnold was actually in the Austrian army when he was younger, drove tank. He’s very versed, and has been around a lot of guns being shot off, cannons going off, and different things like that.

So, he’s giving James Cameron all these tips to give to OJ, and James Cameron goes “you know what, why don’t you be the Terminator, you know so much about being a machine”. Arnold was like “No, no, no”. He didn’t want to do it because he didn’t want to get typecast as the bad guy. But actually, hindsight being fifty-fifty, that was actually a good move by him. That’s what he ended up doing.

The idea of blinking, right. You can see it encapsulated in that Arnold Schwarzenegger story where you got a guy like OJ, who’s never been around that before, shooting guns and all this at least not till later right. You have Arnold who was trained in the Austrian military. So, you have Arnold who put in the repetition, OJ did not. This is why repetition is kind of the underbelly of a lot of the things that we’ll talk about in this video.

 

Swinging Across the Face

So, one of the first things though that could be an issue, and I’ve seen in local or some of my online hitters on video, is when I see the eyes closing, I also see the head turning. What Matt Notes calls ‘Chasing your face’, like there are swings chasing their face or pulling their head off the ball, pulling their head out. What they have to make sure that they’re doing first, because it doesn’t matter if they are closing their eyes, turning their head this way, is just as bad as closing their eyes. If you fix the eyes from closing at impact and major leaguers probably do this too, I don’t know if all of them, maybe they all keep their eyes open at impact. But you’re gonna see some blinking going on, but not right before impact. You’re not going to see this.

But you’ve got to make sure you should correct the head, so we want to make sure we’re swinging across our face. It’s not head pointing at the plate, swinging across our face like say Nolan Arenado. Our head actually, it’s gonna be somewhere, our nose and chin, it’s gonna be somewhere out in front of impact. We cannot see impact with the center part of our vision, we see it out of the corner of our eye. We want the head to be somewhere out in front of impact, out in front of the plate. Then we want them to swing across their face, not chase their face. So, that’s number one, and I’ll have a video link, or a link to another blog post where I talk about swinging across your face. Again, Matt Notes came up with that.

If you’re watching this on YouTube, just go down to the About section, click the link, go to the regular post, and the link should be in there. ‘Swinging across your face’. So, that’s number one…

 

Hitting a Heavy Bag

Also, you can get good practice about hitting something with the bat, again think Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian army, shooting a lot of guns. By hitting a heavy bag with a bat or with your fists, then you get used to trying to see the bat or fist hit the bag. Getting used to that and trying to keep the eyes open while doing it. Again, repetition is key, and it’s not hundreds of swings a day. It’s what I tell my hitters, four days a week, five minutes each day, that’s all I tell them.

So, if you just worked on this, if this was a big issue, eyes are closing at impact and before impact, then I would say probably within two to three weeks, you’re gonna see a major change in your softball player, your baseball player’s swing. So, hitting the heavy bag is number one, you don’t have to worry about hitting the ball, about missing it, it’s actually a object that’s there, it’s big, they know they’re gonna hit it. So, they can practice with the eyes being open at impact.

 

Wiffle ball bats and balls

The other thing is Wiffle balls and bats. Wiffle balls and bats are light, it’s meant to be light, it’s not gonna hurt them, they’re not gonna feel a lot of recoil from the ball off the bat. So, there’s really nothing to be afraid of if they get hit by the Wiffle ball, it doesn’t really hurt that bad, hopefully you’re not chucking it at them. Because it can hurt, but if you’re not chucking it at them, if they’re having a hard time with blinking their eyes, then you want to be kind and soft with the training at the beginning.

So, Wiffle balls and bats, get them used to, try to get them to, keep their eyes open. They don’t have to necessarily need to see the ball hit the bat, but they have to keep their eyes open at impact when the wiffle bat and the ball collide.

So, that’s another way that you can spend your four days a week, five minutes each day.

 

Hammers, Nails, and Clapping

The other thing is pretty simple, if you have a tool shed at your house or in the garage…maybe you’re big into making stuff, carpentry and you have hammers and nails, best to do this. Because almost similar to hitting, the only thing is you’re hitting a stationary object but you’re taking the hammer, and you’re trying to pound that nail, just put nails out in a stump, if you got an old stump just like the old game who could sink the nail with one hit. Where you’re knocking the nail in, and have her or him, the hitter, practice hitting that nail and keeping their eyes open, and trying to see the contact point of the hammer, the head of the hammer, and the head of the nail.

Another way that you can do that, ‘Clapping’ is another way.  So clapping, try to keep your eyes open as you are clapping instead of blinking the eyes. Clap until they can do it, and have their eyes open during that motion. So, that’s another way to help kind of condition it.

 

Repetition

But again, it’s all about repetition. Repetition is with all this stuff, again if you look at OJ in Terminator vs Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator role. Arnold was better conditioned behaviorally to be able to keep his eyes open while firing a weapon, and act like an actual machine.

I hope this answered your question: “I have a girl that closes her eyes, when she is about to hit the ball”. Make sure that we’re swinging smarter by moving better, and before I let you go…

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Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

Fix Youth Baseball & Softball Swings Fast: 2025 Batting Stance Drills for Power, Mechanics & Confidence

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Discover some of the best youth batting stance drills for baseball, fastpitch softball, and slowpitch softball.  In the video below, Josh Donaldson addresses proper swing hitting mechanics such as power, elbow up or down, closed stances, and hitting lefty or righty.

13 Josh Donaldson Gold Nuggets: You Didn’t Have To Be A Professional, To Teach High Level Baseball Batting Stance & Hitting Techniques

(I apologize in advance…PLEASE set aside about 14 minutes of reading time for the following baseball batting stance & hitting techniques post. It’s a bit of an emotional RANT 😉

 

 

Baseball Batting Stance & Hitting Techniques: Josh Donaldson

Josh Donaldson talks hitting with Mark DeRosa on MLB Network. Photo courtesy: MLB.com

We FINALLY have validation!!!  To have 2015 AL MVP Josh Donaldson affirm A LOT of what we teach here at HPL!  Some of you may have seen the above video already.  If you HAVE NOT seen it, then please watch.

In the following baseball batting stance & hitting techniques post, I go into more depth about the 13 talking points Josh Donaldson mentions about the “NEW science of hitting”, beginning where Ted Williams left off.

After we go over the @BringerOfRain20 talking points,

I want to address the few ex-Pro and MLB player TROLLS that wrongly tear myself, my colleagues, and my readers down on the socials for bringing up things Josh Donaldson addresses in the above video.

Without further adieu, from my baseball batting stance & hitting techniques video notes…

 

Note #1: Back knee inside foot or weight inside back knee?

Buster Posey Back Knee Position

Is Buster Posey’s back knee being prematurely shifted inside his foot in the ‘Float’? Photo courtesy: InWriteField.com

This was a question from Mark DeRosa…

Josh Donaldson responds that he focuses his weight on his back heel and back hip.

I HATE when hitting instructors PREMATURELY force the back knee of every hitter they instruct, inside the foot (even in the stance).

There are phases to the swing, and Donaldson is talking about what my hitters refer to as the ‘Float & Fall’…

Matt Nokes calls it the ‘Ride & Stride’.

During the ‘Float’ or ‘Ride’, the hitter DOES NOT have to prematurely push their back knee inside the back foot…or focus the weight on the inside of the back knee.

CLICK HERE for a baseball batting stance & hitting techniques post I did on this, dealing with a Twitter Troll.

NEWS FLASH…

Self proclaimed elite hitting instruction doesn’t rest on taking a ton of ‘quality hacks in the cage’ and/or debating over millions of hours of video analysis footage of ‘only the best hitters’.

WTF does ‘quality hacks’ and ‘only the best hitters’ mean!!!!!?

Are we suppose to take your word for it that you know what you’re doing?!

Nah.

I’d rather watch The Kardashians.

Okay, back to focusing on where the weight is in the Float…

Prematurely forcing weight on the inside of a ‘dumb joint’, like the knee, can really put undo stress on the ligament material.

Coaches…please DO NOT wear holes in your players’ knees.  This is really important for those FP softball hitting coaches.

And on that note,

FP softball coaches, CLICK HERE for a great BreakingMuscle.com post titled, “Women: Protect Your Knees With the Sprinter Stance Squat”.

 

Note #2: Not thinking about hands going towards the baseball

Derek Jeter: Hands Inside The Baseball

Derek Jeter is one of the few having a lengthy career with an extreme handsy approach. Not too many hitters could get away with how he did what he did. Photo courtesy: BaseballByTheYard.com

I totally agree!

ALL the following baseball batting stance & hitting techniques coaching cues are destructive for youth swings:

  • Hands to the ball
  • Knob to the ball
  • Be short to the ball
  • Hands inside the ball

Yes! Especially the last one…

WHY?

Like the others, it gets the hitter thinking about doing something with the path of their hands.

Some of you use this cue when instructing hitters, and may get occasional positive results…

However,

Any coaching cue that requires an extensive explanation or doesn’t get predictably positive outcomes, is INEFFECTIVE.

I’m looking for cues that with a minimal number of words, gets my hitter to do what I want them to do, even if the concept is new to them…over and over.

 

Note #3: When Josh Donaldson begins his fall forward, that’s when he goes into loading his upper half (his ‘coil’)

Andrew McCutchen Showing his Numbers

Andrew McCutchen ‘showing his numbers’ while his lower half is beginning to turn counter-clockwise. Photo courtesy: MLB.com

YESSSSS!!

I get asked this baseball batting stance & hitting techniques question quite a bit…when does the ‘load’ start?

And this depends on your definition of a load.  But in Donaldson’s context…

The timing of Donaldson’s load, or ‘coil’, isn’t necessarily the rule,

It’s one of three options…

Option #1: Some hitters start in the ‘coiled’ position (highly recommended for younger hitters):

  • Yoenis Cespedes,
  • Hunter Pence, and
  • Ben Zobrist (from the left side)…

Option #2: Some hitters move into the ‘coiled’ position similar to Donaldson:

  • Bautista,
  • Cano, and
  • McCutchen…

Option #3: Some hitters move into the ‘coiled’ position later, like Dustin Pedroia.

The objective is that at landing, or what Josh Donaldson refers to as ‘heel plant’, the hitter is in this ‘coiled’ position.

I call this the Catapult Loading Position.

And it requires the lower half to be open at landing (pelvis on down), and the upper half (above pelvis), to be closed.

Additionally, I LOVE Jose Bautista’s timing cue of loading ‘slow and early’ (CLICK HERE for a post I did on that).

More on the lower half landing open a bit later…

Note #4: Creating bat speed with shoulders, NOT hands (effortless bat speed)

Josh Donaldson: Spinal Engine

Josh Donaldson’s swing illustrating the spinal engine and Springy ‘X’ Pattern discussed in the next section. Photo courtesy: PicPlayHost

This is VERY important…

WHY?

Because EVERY human movement is driven by the spinal engine…pelvis-spine-shoulders.

According to Dr. Serge Gracovetsky in his book The Spinal Engine, the spinal engine can move in a vacuum.

However, it’s the relationship between arms, legs, and Gravitational Forces that amplify how explosive an athlete can be.

Quite a few hitting instructors talk about hip thrust or loading and exploding the hips.

But what are the shoulder’s function in all this?

Being passive?

I don’t think so.

Some would say a right handed hitter’s front shoulder at landing should be pointing at the pitcher.

This is an ineffective hitting mechanic, shown in this Zepp swing experiment (CLICK HERE) where I observed an average 6-mph boost in Bat Speed at Impact showing my numbers to the pitcher versus pointing the front shoulder at the pitcher (not showing numbers), over 200 swings.

Don’t get me wrong, YES, the pelvis does ‘lead the way’ as Ted Williams said in The Science of Hitting.

But it plays a much smaller role than coaches believe.

Think about how we walk…

If I told you to fire your hips as you walked, what do you think your shoulders would do?

They’d FIRE also!

How about if I told you to fire your hips while walking, but don’t let your shoulders move…

Would that feel awkward?

Dr. Serge Gracovetsky talks about the coupled motion of the spine…

Meaning, while the hips rotate when we walk (albeit small to the naked eye), the shoulders counter-rotate the pelvis.

This is why your right arm and left leg swing forward at the same time.

To have effortless bat speed, like Josh Donaldson says, you MUST teach your hitters to take advantage of these natural laws of human movement.

DON’T use baseball batting stance & hitting techniques to coach them out of them.

 

Note #5: Rubber band effect, ‘stretching’, creating tension at the finish of his load

Another YESSSSS!

Although Josh Donaldson uses different baseball batting stance & hitting techniques terms, he’s talking about the compression/tension forces in the body via connective tissue called fascia.

Thomas Myers in his book Anatomy Trains describes, what he calls Tensegrity (Tension-Integrity), like this:

 

 

I don’t like to think of the body as a rubber band, but rather like a spring.

But what Donaldson is describing is correct.

I refer to this as the Springy ‘X’ Pattern.

CLICK HERE for this video post describing this using Adrian Gonzalez’s swing as a model.

 

Note #6: Creating the timing to hit the pitch

Most people probably missed this point in the video…Donaldson briefly mentioned it, but I find it VERY important.

TIMING FOR HITTING IS EVERYTHING.

This is why I don’t like rapid fire soft toss OR 15-pitch marathon rounds batting practice.

It’s NOT about quick hands either.

Look, a baseball player may only see one pitch every 12-20 seconds.

A fast-pitch softball player may see one pitch every 8-15 seconds.

In games, swing intensity EVERY swing matters.

I can take a hitter with seemingly slow hands, adjust his or her timing, and have them barreling the ball more.

Of course, we’ll have to address their still ineffective mechanics at some point in the future, but the point is, it’s not about fast hands.

It’s about using the shoulders to speed up the hands.

The opposite IS NOT true.

Coaches handicap hitters by using ineffective drills like rapid fire soft toss, drop toss, and/or marathon B.P. sessions.

Again,

TIMING IS EVERYTHING IN HITTING.

CLICK HERE for “The Dead Simple Guide To Optimizing A Hitter’s Timing In Games”.

 

Note #7: Front foot is open…hips can’t separate from upper half

Miguel Cabrera: Landing Closed

Miguel Cabrera is one of my favorite swings to model, except for landing closed (less than 45-degree angle). However, he’s a physical beast, and most definitely succeeds despite one ineffective mechanic. Photo courtesy: MLB.com

Another baseball batting stance & hitting techniques golden nugget from Josh Donaldson.

However, there are quite a few other coaches getting their panties in a bunch about this comment.

CLICK HERE and follow the thread of one of my Facebook posts.

CLICK HERE and follow a Facebook post thread of my friend and colleague Taylor Gardner, founder of the BackSpin Tee.  Actually a lot of really good discussion happening on this one.

They’re reinterpreting it as Donaldson is saying to ‘point the landing toe at the pitcher’.

This may be what it looks like in the video, which we also have to be careful of camera angles…

But the point of the matter is, that Donaldson is saying to ‘land open’.

And this is where, us coaches, must define terms.

I say if the landing foot is opened less than 45-degrees, the foot is closed.

If the landing foot is opened more than 45-degrees, the foot is open.

Chris Welch at ZenoLink says the front foot should land open, roughly around 65-degrees (at about 2-min mark):

And I agree.

I do think hitters like Donaldson and Bautista are more on the open side than others.

With my definition of landing foot closed versus open, I’d rather have my hitters err on the side of open, than closed.

CLICK HERE for another Zepp swing experiment where I tested this and found an average bat speed boost of 3-mph boost when landing open, over 200 swings.

Kyle Harrington, dad of one of my online hitting lesson students Stephen, who’s currently 13yo, 5’7″, 130-lbs…

Recently, increased his Ball Exit Speed 5-mph in the last 5 months off the tee, to now 77-mph.

I asked Kyle, what were the two biggest contributors to the increase…and he responded with:

“He grew about 2″ but he’s only 5’7”.  I think the main thing is that he is not stalling the bat.  In the 3D testing with Chris Welch [of ZenoLink.com] his peak bat speed slowed almost 10 mph before impact, which is common.  So he is decelerating the barrel less coming into impact.   He was blocking with the front hip and all the speed was too early .  So he’s actually  moving the bat speed forward in his swing more (where impact is)  rather behind the ball before impact.  That’s the main reason.”
This can happen for a few reasons:
  • Too much forward momentum (yes you can have too much),
  • Landing closed with the front foot, and
  • Inward turning (coiling) the pelvis towards the catcher (shifts our 45-degree optimal impact zone too deep into the swing).

When the hitter lands closed, as Donaldson said, it’s more challenging to optimize the body’s natural springy fascia.

It’s also worth noting that the front ‘foot shape’ will change depending on pitch location at impact.

For instance,

On an outside pitch, we’ll see the foot more flat, and possibly more closed, than on an inside pitch.

 

Note #8: 10yo kid told to get on top of the ball, tell them NO…don’t get paid for hitting ground-balls

Effect of Speed Fades Only When Launch Angles Exceed 10-degrees.

Ground-ball Coaches, if you spent more time instructing 10-degree launch angles and boosting Ball Exit Speeds, than you do telling hitters to always hit the ball on the ground, our hitters will be in a better position to crush pitchers.

For me, this tip was definitely the highlight of this video.

Btw, I agree…AGAIN!

And I’m not going to get into this in detail, because I already did that in “The UGLY Truth About Hitting Ground-Balls” RANT post.

What’s more,

There was a comment on my baseball batting stance & hitting techniques Facebook post that is worth noting:

Reader A: “If I’m coaching a team of 10 year olds, and either the kid (or parent) tells me no, they ought to start looking for another team to play for. If you allow a kid to tell you no at that age, the kid will become uncoachable when he gets older.”

And here was a great response from another readers to this person:

Reader B: “If a teacher tells your kid 2+2 is 5, you don’t want him to have the courage and character to question the teacher?  This society man, anyone that questions authority is deemed to be at fault…how dare they!!!”

I agree with Reader B…however, I understand there are ignorant parents, as well as players, out there as well.

However, speaking in the context of what Donaldson is saying, I agree with Reader B on this.

If you’re a coach that’s teaching hitters to ALWAYS hit the ball on the ground, you’re being ineffective as a coach.  And you MUST get educated because if you’re aren’t growing, then you’re dying.

 

Note #9: Relaxed in stance…time that arms get engaged with the body is during his ‘coil’ (mentions ‘scap load’)

Jace: Fixing Bat Drag w/ Finger Pressure

Jace, one of my 11yos, weighs 67-lbs, and hit his first homer over a 180-foot fence. We fixed his racing back elbow bat drag with connecting his hands to his spinal engine through finger pressure.

I totally agree.

There’s a time to be relaxed, and then there’s a time to connect the body (driving engine) to the “things” holding the bat…the hands.

CLICK HERE for another Zepp swing experiment that talks about what I teach to my hitters as ‘finger pressure’, and how we’re banishing racing back elbow bat drag with this technique alone.

It’s ALL about “connection” folks.  Quite a few of the young hitters I see just aren’t connected.

But when they get connected…this is when we can triple their body-weight in distance (see Jace image above).

Note 10: Hands load it (versus shoulders), then barrel tips too much…leads to getting underneath balls

Josh Donaldson is talking about getting into his load (or ‘coil’) with his shoulders and not his hands.

When he uses his hands to get there, he feels it leads to an excessive ‘barrel tip’ (click following link), and to getting under the ball too much.

CLICK HERE for an AthleticsNation.com article titled, “Josh Donaldson: Changes in Approach & Mechanics”.

In this article, Jerry Brewer from East Bay Hitting Instruction compares Donaldson’s swing and metrics from 2013 to 2014.

The one big difference being an excessive barrel tip in 2014, leading to drops in his BA, OBP, & SLUG metrics by something like 50 points EACH.

By the way, Jerry is right on with the swing as well.

 

Note 11: At landing, wants bat to be at 45-degree angle, and to split his head from behind

I agree.

I don’t really want to get into this, but I thought it was a good little baseball batting stance & hitting techniques nugget from the video.

 

Note 12: Swing down to create backspin

The Science of Hitting Graphic on optimal bat path

This is where I see Josh Donaldson picking up where Ted Williams left off. This is a well known graphic from Williams’s book The Science of Hitting.

This is something Josh Donaldson is against, and I agree.

Yes, every once in awhile, a hitter can swing down on a ball and launch one.

Did you read the keywords there…?  “Every once in awhile.”

Do you know what the majority outcomes will be doing this?

Ground-balls.

And if you read my Ground-ball RANT, then you know how inferior default teaching your hitters to hit them is, unless of course you have hitters who run like greased lightning, or in a Hit & Run type scenario.

The biggest argument here, comes from Little League coaches saying, but the ground-ball is the hardest hit ball to field, throw, and catch.

And my rebuttal is, what happens when your ground-ball hitting team meets a team that can play catch?

It doesn’t matter anyway, because a majority of pitches are taught to keep the ball down in the zone to hitters.

WHY?

Because PITCHERS WANT HITTERS DRIVING THE BALL INTO THE GROUND.

 

Note#13: Intent – damage at all times

I thought this was a HUGE baseball batting stance & hitting techniques gold nugget.

When asked if Donaldson makes educated decisions to commit on pitches or against pitchers, he says, yeah it depends…

BUT,

His intent is to do damage at all times.

“Why wouldn’t I?” He smirks to Mark DeRosa 😛

Double and Dinger damage.

That’s what the Blue Jays pay him for.

Our objective as hitting coaches should be to get our sluggers hitting the ball as hard as their physical ability will allow them…as frequently as possible.

To return this baseball batting stance & hitting techniques post full circle, let me repeat:

You Don’t Have To Be A Professional, To Teach High Level Baseball Batting Stance & Hitting Techniques Today

You just have to understand human movement principles that are validated by science, and apply these “rules” to hitting a ball.

Circling back to the headline of this post, looking at proper swing hitting mechanics: power, elbow up or down, closed stances, and hitting lefty or righty…

  1. Power – at HPL we believe 70-80% of consistent power comes from properly moving our spinal engine, power doesn’t mostly come from the lower half as some would believe.
  2. Back elbow up or down – what’s important is hitter gets a slight downhill shoulder angle by stride landing (6-10 degrees down).  Lifting the back elbow can help with this, but if lifting the back elbow keeps shoulders level, then it doesn’t matter.
  3. Closed stances – I know Donaldson and I differ on this, but I like the closed stance to restrict hip movement.  Some hitters OVER rotate their lower half and lose out on directional force.
  4. Hitting righty or lefty – I don’t have a preference for this.  The hitter will figure it out either way.  However, I do have an opinion on switch hitting…I don’t believe switch hitting is all it’s cracked up to be because they get waaay more at-bats on the left side early on because there aren’t that many lefty pitchers, so the righty swing significantly suffers.  Evidence of this lack of lefty pitchers is shown in the majority of lefty hitters struggling against lefty pitchers.
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Fastpitch softball hitter in load position showing fastpitch softball hitting mechanics breakdown

Your Fastpitch Hitter Looks Different In Practice Than She Does In Games — Here’s Why.

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Fastpitch softball hitting mechanics get misrepresented more often than almost any topic in the hitting world. Most coaches learn their craft through baseball — then try to apply the same swing cues to a sport with a different pitch plane, a shorter release distance, and less time to make a decision. The result is a generation of softball hitters who work hard, look great in the cage, and then disappear at the plate against a live arm they haven’t seen before.

This guide covers what separates fastpitch softball hitting mechanics from a baseball swing, what correct technique actually looks like at the plate, and — most importantly — why the cage-to-game gap in fastpitch is almost always a pitch recognition problem, not a swing problem.

↓ Take the free 60-second Game Transfer Quiz — or keep reading for the full breakdown.

How Does Fastpitch Softball Hitting Mechanics Differ From a Baseball Swing?

Fastpitch softball hitting mechanics differ from a baseball swing in three primary ways: pitch plane, release distance, and reaction time — and each difference changes what good technique looks like at the plate.

First, the pitch plane. In baseball, a pitcher releases from an elevated mound and the ball descends into the hitting zone. In fastpitch softball, the pitcher delivers in a windmill motion from below the hip, driving the ball upward toward the plate on a rising plane. As a result, a softball hitter who applies a “swing down” cue — or even a traditional flat swing — is fighting the pitch’s natural path. The barrel and the ball move in opposite directions at contact, shrinking the hitting window dramatically.

Second, the release distance. College and high school fastpitch pitchers release from 43 feet; a baseball pitcher releases from 60.5 feet. That 17-foot difference — combined with fastpitch speeds of 55–70+ mph — means a hitter has a reaction window of approximately 350–380 milliseconds. For context, a exit velocity vs. bat speed analysis reveals that the same mechanical output produces different results when reaction time is compressed — the hitter’s front-end trigger becomes the rate-limiting factor, not the swing itself.

Third, the contact zone. Because the pitch rises from below, the optimal contact point is higher relative to where the pitch starts. The hitter isn’t just timing a ball in front of the plate — she’s timing a rising trajectory, which requires a different barrel entry angle than baseball at every pitch height.

What Does a Correct Fastpitch Swing Plane Actually Look Like?

A correct fastpitch swing plane matches the incoming pitch angle — the barrel moves slightly upward through the contact zone, staying on the pitch plane as long as possible before and after contact.

This directly contradicts the “stay on top of the ball” cue still taught in many fastpitch programs. That cue produces a downward barrel path that diverges from the rising pitch plane. The result is thin contact, topped grounders, or misses — not because the hitter is slow, but because the barrel is moving away from the ball at the moment it arrives. In softball hitting power analysis, hitters who match their barrel plane to the pitch plane stay in the contact window 2–4 times longer than hitters who chop down. That wider window is the difference between a clean line drive and a weak grounder, even when timing is identical.

Hip rotation is the driver of swing plane. An early, powerful hip turn allows the barrel to slot naturally into the correct upward path. However, when hip rotation is late or the hitter compensates with the arms, the barrel path chops across the pitch instead of moving with it. Furthermore, most hitters told to “swing level” actually swing across the ball because their hips open too late — not because their arm swing is wrong. Fixing the hip trigger fixes the plane.

Wondering if swing plane is the issue for your hitter? → Take the free Game Transfer Quiz — 4 questions, 60 seconds.

What Is a Good Exit Velocity for Fastpitch Softball by Age?

Exit velocity benchmarks for fastpitch softball vary by age and level — here are coaching targets by age group based on data from college programs and travel ball assessments across the country.

Age Group Average Above Average Elite / D1-Track
10U 40–50 mph 51–58 mph 59+ mph
12U 48–58 mph 59–66 mph 67+ mph
14U 57–67 mph 68–75 mph 76+ mph
16U 63–72 mph 73–80 mph 81+ mph
18U / High School 68–78 mph 79–86 mph 87+ mph
College / D1 78–88 mph 89–94 mph 95+ mph

← Swipe to view full table on mobile →

Two important caveats apply. First, exit velocity is a product of both bat speed AND swing path — a hitter with excellent bat speed can still fall short of these targets with a poor attack angle. For training context, data on exit velocity gains consistently shows that swing-plane improvement produces bigger jumps than pure bat-speed work alone — because fixing the plane improves contact quality, not just contact rate.

Second, these are coaching benchmarks, not absolute ceilings. The National Fastpitch Coaches Association notes that college recruiters weigh multiple factors beyond exit velocity — arm strength, speed, and softball IQ are all part of the picture. Use these numbers as progress markers in training, not as pass/fail thresholds for your hitter’s future.

Why Do Fastpitch Hitters Look Better in the Cage Than in Live At-Bats?

The cage-to-game gap in fastpitch softball is almost always a pitch recognition problem — not a swing problem — and it’s the most common reason a technically sound hitter underperforms against live pitching she hasn’t seen before.

Here’s the root cause. In the cage, a hitter works against predictable speeds, familiar release points, and consistent pitch movement. Her brain builds an accurate timing model quickly, and the swing fires well. In a live at-bat against a pitcher she hasn’t faced, however, everything changes: the arm angle is different, the pitch movement is new, the release point is slightly off from what she practiced against. The brain scrambles to build a model of that pitcher in real time while also trying to execute a decision in under 400 milliseconds.

Because the hitter’s recognition pattern doesn’t match what she’s seeing, she swings at pitches she should take, takes pitches she should hit, or makes contact on a different part of the ball than intended. This is what researchers call the practice-to-game gap, and temporal occlusion studies — the gold standard for measuring pitch recognition in hitters — show that elite hitters distinguish themselves not by having faster reaction times, but by reading pitch cues earlier in ball flight. That earlier read gives the swing mechanism more time to execute. Most hitting programs never train this layer, which means a hitter with clean mechanics still walks into a game with an untrained front-end trigger.

For a direct breakdown of what this looks like — including late swing problems that have nothing to do with bat speed — see the linked post. In addition, pitch recognition tools that use real pitcher video can close this gap at home, between cage sessions.

“Exit velocities are up, averages are up, power is up. Three girls going D1, six at D2, two at JUCOs. I credit the HPL approach for proving the science and providing convincing evidence.”

Ronny Weber — Baseball & Softball Coach

“You’re on the right track to unlocking what it takes physically and mechanically to translate what the best in the world do every day. Keep up the great work.”

TGARCIA247 — 13-Year Professional Baseball Player

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4 quick questions identify the specific gap between cage performance and live at-bats — and exactly what to work on next. Works for baseball and fastpitch softball at any level.

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What Is the Right Attack Angle for Fastpitch Softball Hitters?

The optimal attack angle for fastpitch softball hitters is typically between +5° and +15° through the contact zone — matching the upward trajectory of the pitch as it crosses the plate.

Attack angle is measured at the moment of contact, not during the load or stride. A +8° to +12° range at contact keeps the barrel on the pitch plane the longest, which directly increases the probability of solid contact. At the same time, it’s important to distinguish attack angle from launch angle: attack angle describes where the barrel is moving at contact; launch angle describes where the ball travels after contact. Getting attack angle right is the prerequisite for improving launch angle in a repeatable way — not the other way around.

Hitters with consistently negative attack angles — meaning the barrel moves downward at contact — fight the pitch plane directly. Frequent topped grounders, weak pull-side contact, and “almost” misses are the tell. For practical hitting timing drills that establish the correct barrel entry into the zone, the linked resource covers specific drill progressions. In addition, tracking contact location on the barrel over a BP session is a fast self-assessment: consistent contact on the bottom third of the barrel almost always signals a negative attack angle at contact.

Which Fastpitch Softball Hitting Drills Build the Most Game-Ready Mechanics?

The fastpitch softball hitting drills with the strongest game transfer all share one quality: they force the hitter to read and adjust in real time, rather than groove a committed pattern against predictable feed.

Therefore, the most effective approach layers two types of training. First, mechanical drills build the physical pattern — swing plane, hip rotation, barrel path. Batting timing drills with variable pitch speeds or load-anchor cues are especially effective here because they develop a recognition pause before the swing commits. Second, recognition training builds the front-end trigger — the ability to read pitch type, location, and movement early enough for the mechanics to fire correctly in a live at-bat. Most programs run only the first layer and wonder why the cage results don’t transfer.

Specifically, these three approaches produce the highest game transfer for fastpitch hitters:

Pitch-type calling during BP. Before swinging, the hitter calls out the pitch type — “rise,” “drop,” “change” — as early in ball flight as possible. This forces active visual processing rather than passive waiting. Most importantly, it starts building the pitch library that determines how early the swing trigger fires under game pressure.

Variable-speed soft toss with spin cues. The feeder varies rotation between topspin and backspin, and the hitter adjusts barrel plane to match. As a result, this drill trains the specific adjustment mechanism that breaks down against pitches the hitter hasn’t seen before — which is exactly what happens in almost every game situation.

Video-based pitch recognition at home. Platforms that use real pitcher video with temporal occlusion — cutting the video at different points in the delivery to force early reads — have over two decades of peer-reviewed research showing that recognition speed gains from this training transfer directly to live performance. No cage required for this layer.

Common Questions About Fastpitch Softball Hitting Mechanics

How is fastpitch softball hitting mechanics different from baseball?

Fastpitch softball hitting mechanics differ from baseball in pitch plane, release distance, and reaction time. Fastpitch pitchers release from 43 feet in a windmill motion, driving the ball upward on a rising trajectory — the opposite of a baseball pitcher throwing downward from a mound. The shorter release distance also compresses reaction time to roughly 350–380 milliseconds, compared to 400+ milliseconds in baseball. As a result, the optimal softball swing plane is slightly upward through the contact zone — not flat or downward, as many coaches mistakenly teach.

What exit velocity should a fastpitch softball hitter have by age?

Exit velocity benchmarks for fastpitch softball range from 40–50 mph at 10U to 78–88 mph at the college level. Above-average hitters at 14U typically exceed 68 mph; elite 16U hitters approach 80 mph or above. However, exit velocity is a product of bat speed AND attack angle. A hitter who improves her swing plane to match the pitch’s upward trajectory often sees larger exit velocity gains than those who focus exclusively on bat speed training — because better contact quality does more than raw swing speed when the attack angle is wrong.

Why does my fastpitch hitter look good in the cage but struggle in games?

Fastpitch softball hitting mechanics that work in the cage often break down in games because cage training develops the swing, not the front-end recognition trigger. In a live at-bat against a pitcher she hasn’t seen, the hitter’s brain must identify pitch type, location, and movement early in ball flight and commit to a swing decision in under 150 milliseconds. That recognition skill requires deliberate training that is entirely separate from mechanical cage work. Because most programs never address the recognition layer, the cage-to-game gap persists even when fastpitch softball hitting mechanics look technically correct in practice.

What is the correct attack angle for fastpitch softball?

The correct attack angle for fastpitch softball hitters is typically +5° to +15° at contact. This upward barrel path matches the rising trajectory of the pitch as it crosses the plate, keeping the barrel in the contact window longer. Hitters who consistently have a negative attack angle — meaning the barrel moves downward at contact — create a bat path that diverges from the pitch plane, producing topped balls and thin contact even when their timing is correct. Improving attack angle to the +8° to +12° range is one of the fastest ways to improve both contact rate and exit velocity simultaneously.

How do I fix a late swing in fastpitch softball?

Fixing a late swing in fastpitch softball almost always requires addressing two separate problems: load timing and pitch recognition. On the mechanical side, the hitter’s load or stride initiation is often too late — the pitch is already well on its way before she triggers. However, even a hitter with a correctly timed load can swing late if her pitch recognition is undertrained — she starts the swing based on a guess rather than an early read of pitch cues. Therefore, the most effective fix combines earlier load initiation with recognition training that builds the habit of committing to a swing decision based on information earlier in ball flight.

What is the most common fastpitch softball hitting mechanics mistake?

The most common fastpitch softball hitting mechanics mistake is a downward or chopping barrel path — the result of coaches applying the baseball “swing down” cue to a sport where the pitch moves in the opposite direction. In baseball, a descending pitch means a slightly negative attack angle can still produce contact because the bat path and ball path converge at the right moment. In fastpitch softball, the pitch rises into the zone — so a downward barrel path actively diverges from the ball, producing weak contact or misses even when timing is correct. The fix is re-orienting barrel entry to match the rising pitch plane.

How can fastpitch hitters train pitch recognition at home?

Fastpitch hitters can train pitch recognition at home using video-based temporal occlusion platforms — tools that show real pitcher video cut at different points in the delivery, forcing early reads of pitch type, location, and movement. This training method has over two decades of peer-reviewed research behind it, with measurable gains in recognition speed that transfer to live game performance. In addition, reviewing video of a hitter’s own at-bats with a focus on decision quality — which pitches she swung at and why — builds the pattern recognition library between cage sessions. Neither approach requires a cage, a pitching machine, or a live pitcher.

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Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

How To Increase Hitting Power Stats Like Jose Altuve Swing With Fundamental Baseball & Softball Drills In 2022

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Jose Altuve Hitting Analysis Reveals A Pathway To Repeatable Power

 

Jose Altuve Hitting Analysis

Look at Jose Altuve’s ‘bat lag’ and weight off the back foot. Photo courtesy: Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle

Learn how to increase hitting power stats like Jose Altuve swing with fundamental baseball and softball drills in 2022.

In doing Jose Altuve hitting analysis, here’s what I hear…

“Well, he’s a big hitter, that’s why he can hit for power”…

…Is the EXCUSE from coaches who’re removing any responsibility to help their smaller hitters hit the ball farther and harder.

Or, oftentimes I hear this about a hitter like Dustin Pedroia (5’9″, 175-lbs – these numbers are fudged “up” btw):

“He’s just gifted.”

Wa?!!

ALL Major Leaguers are GIFTED!!! lol

Tell me one physical advantage that Dustin Pedroia has over most…??!

Don’t say eye hand coordination or vision because that’s another common rebuttal.

There are countless other MLB hitters with the same superior eye-hand coordination and vision.

The reality is, smaller sluggers MUST be MORE effective, in order to compete with sluggers bigger than them.

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Now, this Jose Altuve hitting analysis post isn’t about the ‘laser show’…however,

Standing in at 5’6″,

…and weighing in at a soaking wet 165-pounds, we’ll look at Jose Altuve (his height and weight numbers are a little closer to reality I think).

Although,

I do think Jose Altuve has one thing over the ‘laser show’, and that’s dancing (parental guidance is recommended 😉:

In this Jose Altuve hitting analysis video, we’ll go over:

  • Jose Altuve stats,
  • Presents of Forward Momentum (FoMo)?
  • How well he dominates the plane of the pitch,
  • Where his power comes from, and
  • Does he practice Pitch Recognition?

FYI: the pitch Jose Altuve is hitting in the video analysis looks like an 87-mph FB straight down broadway, and it does look like he’s on-time.

Without further adieu, here are the notes for the…

 

Jose Altuve Hitting Analysis Stats (the averages of averages)

CLICK HERE for the FanGraphs.com post  I pulled the following stats from*:

  • ISO = +20 points
  • BABIP = +34 points
  • GB% = +4%
  • LD% = +1%
  • FB% = -6%
  • HR/FB% = -3.5%

(*a (+) denotes how many points OR percentage points or above league average, and a (-) denotes below league average.)

 

Presents of Forward Momentum (FoMo)?

  • Is FoMo present?
  • Shifting foot pressure (mentioned landing with closed front foot), and
  • Moving Center of Gravity (COG).

 

How Well he Dominates the Plane of the Pitch

  • Knee Action – ‘getting shorter’ and ‘staying shorter’
  • Barrel Plane – keeping barrel on plane for as long as possible

 

Where his Power Comes from…

  • Showing numbers,
  • Hiding hands from the pitcher,
  • Hunch – Posterior Pelvic Tilt (PPT), and
  • Down shoulders? (not so much here).

 

Does he Practice Pitch Recognition?

My friend Aaron Miles, who was small (5’8″, 180-lbs), and played 9 years in the Bigs, talks about how his High School coach was forward thinking…in that he did Pitch Recognition training with his troops, and Aaron’s coach said he had the best PR on the team.

My hypothesis in this Jose Altuve hitting analysis is that he does some sort of PR training, OR has a God given early pitch recognition ability that allows him to hit the ball so hard, so often.

Sure, according to this Jose Altuve hitting analysis,

…Altuve may not hit over 30 homers per year, but he sure will hit a boat load of doubles, which is just as good to contributing to team wins…just look at his above average (average) ISO and BABIP scores above!

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Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

Fundamental How To Coach Quick Hands, Contact, & Power Hitting Drills, Beginner Techniques, & Basic Drills For Youth Baseball And Softball 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Year Olds In 2022

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Zepp Swing Experiment: Here’s a Quick Way to Fix a Flat Bat at Landing (and WHY!) 

 

 

Discover fundamental how to coach quick hands, contact, and power hitting drills, techniques for beginners, and basic youth drills for baseball and softball players in the 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 year old age range, in 2022.  This Zepp swing experiment targeting a ‘flat’ bat at stride landing is VERY age appropriate for the ages previously mentioned.

Fundamental Baseball Question: How Does a Flat Bat at Landing Effect Bat Speed, Ball Exit Speed, & Time To Impact?

Using the Zepp (Labs) Baseball app and Pocket Radar Ball Coach, I wanted to employ the Scientific Method to analyze how a hitter’s “Flat Bat at Landing”, or toe touch,  adds or takes away from key swing performance metrics including Bat Speed at Impact, Time To Impact, Attack Angle, and Ball Exit Speeds.

Let me define what I mean by ‘Flat Barrel’ versus a ‘Vertical Barrel’…

  • A ‘Flat Barrel’ at landing is anything less than a 30-degree angle (like Cargo in the above video as an example),
  • A ‘Vertical Barrel’ at landing is anything more than a 30-degree angle.

Now that we’ve defined the parameters, let’s look at the…

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Background Research

Fundamental Baseball: 'Flat Bat' Swing Experiment

Notice where the “dot” is drawn on the two static images left side, and where it’s drawn on the two dynamic images right side. Photo courtesy: GymSmartsCommunity.com

My background research is more experiential, rather than academic.

I have hitters do a mini-experiment by holding the bat in their bottom hand, laid flat (parallel to ground) over their back shoulder.  And then ask them to hold the bat, using the same hand, but vertical.  I then ask them which bat position is heavier/lighter?  Of course they say the vertical bat is lighter.  I then ask WHY?  And I get a few different answers…

What is the fundamental baseball answer?  Because we’re not adding or taking weight away from the bat by doing this…

It has to do with center of mass of the bat in relation to the hitter’s.  A ‘Flat Bat at Landing’ pushes its center of mass behind the hitter’s. A human’s center of mass is generally around the belly button.  To find the bat’s center of mass you can balance it between your thumb and forefinger.

I’ve also observed when adjusting a hitter’s ‘Flat Bat at Landing’ to a more ‘Vertical Bat at Landing’, there’s a bump in Ball Exit Speed, which I measure at the beginning (before instruction is given) and end of a hitting lesson.  My hitter’s also share they feel quicker to impact, have a little more ‘pop’, and that it’s easier getting the ball in the air.

It’s also interesting to note that I see quite a bit of early barring of the front arm when the hitter lands with a flat barrel.  I also see the hitter “wrapping the bat” around their head.  In my opinion this is a compensation to manipulate the shifted center mass of the bat from behind the hitter.

CLICK HERE to watch this fundamental baseball video on how to fix a ‘Flat Bat at Impact’.

 

Hypothesis

Fundamental Baseball Swing Experiment: Carlos Gonzalez & Cody Bellinger Illustrating Flat versus Vertical Bat at Landing

Look at the difference in bat angle at landing between Carlos Gonzalez (left) – “Flat” and Cody Bellinger (right) – “Vertical”. Just because a Big Leaguer does it doesn’t mean it’s effective or optimized. Oftentimes they succeed despite ineffective mechanics. Photos courtesy: MLB.com

In support of the Background Research above, I’m hallucinating that we’ll see a bump in Bat and Ball Exit Speeds, in addition to a reduction in Time To Impact.  I also think that we’ll see a more positive move in the barrel’s Attack Angle.

 

Flat Versus Vertical Bat at Landing Experiment

Equipment Used:

Fundamental Baseball Experiment Setup:

  • Yellow dimple ball feedback markers to keep starting footwork the same = bat length…I used two yellow dimple ball markers to make my stance setup consistent.  One was placed inside my back foot, close to the plate.  The other was placed one bat’s length ahead of the back marker.
  • Backspin tee was set one baseball’s length behind the front feedback marker, and tee height was about mid-thigh
  • We stayed as consistent as we could with keeping the ball height and depth the same for most swings.
  • I broke each swing down into a couple steps: 1) Get to landing, 2) Pause for 2-secs, and 3) Swing.  The reason for this was to control the bat either flat or vertical at landing.
  • The two tests in the swing experiment were counter-balanced.  Which consisted of eight blocks of 25-swings done in the following order ABBA BAAB.  ‘Flat Bat at Landing’ was letter ‘A’, and ‘Vertical Bat at Landing’ was letter ‘B’.  200 total swings were completed in the experiment, 100 per test.  Counter-balancing helps remove the “getting tired” and “warm up” factors.
  • The objective of ‘Front Facing Swings’ was to start the ‘belt buckle’ pointing at the pitcher, and to minimize pelvic movement.
  • Fundamental baseball Experiment Day-1 on 7/5 we completed 150 total swings (75 ‘Flat Barrel at Landing’ & 75 ‘Vertical Barrel at Landing’).  Experiment Day-2 on 7/10 we completed 50 swings (25 ‘Flat Bat at Landing’ & 25 ‘Vertical Bat at Landing’).
  • We had to break the 200 total swings into two days, with the second day coming 1 week later, because of time constraints.

Data Collected (Zepp Baseball App & Ball Exit Speed Readings):

‘Flat Bat Swings’ Days 1 & 2 side by side…

Fundamental Baseball: Swing Experiment

Flat Barrel at Landing swing averages of the averages: 76-MPH Bat Speed at Impact, 26.5-MPH Hand Speed Max, .209 Time To Impact, -32* Bat Vertical Angle at Impact, & 8.5* Attack Angle.

‘Vertical Barrel Swings’ Days 1 & 2 side by side…

Fundamental Baseball: Swing Experiment

Vertical Barrel at Landing swing averages of the averages: 76-MPH Bat Speed at Impact, 27-MPH Hand Speed Max, .206 Time To Impact, 30.5* Bat Vertical Angle at Impact, & 8.5* Attack Angle.

CLICK HERE for the Ball Exit Speed Google document.  The findings?

  •  Flat Barrel at Landing AVERAGE Ball Exit Speed = 79.01-MPH
  • Vertical Barrel at Landing AVERAGE Ball Exit Speed = 81.08-MPH
  • Difference = 2.01-MPH Ball Exit Speed bump with more Vertical Barrel at Landing

 

Data Analysis & Fundamental Baseball Conclusion

Zepp data analysis comparing the averages of averages:

  • We saw NO change to Bat Speed at Impact between the two swings,
  • We saw a 0.5-MPH boost to Hand Speed Max when holding a ‘Vertical Bat at Landing’,
  • We saw a .003 second reduction in Time To Impact when holding a ‘Vertical Bat at Landing’,
  • We saw a +1.5-degree increase to Bat Vertical Angle at Impact when holding a ‘Vertical Bat at Landing’,
  • We saw NO change to the Attack Angle between the two swings, and
  • We saw a 2.01-MPH increase in Ball Exit Speed when holding a ‘Vertical Bat at Landing’.

Based on the above Data Analysis it looks like my Hypothesis was proved right when it came to a boost in Hand Speed Max and Ball Exit Speed, and decrease in Time To Impact, but wrong when it came to Bat Speed at Impact and Attack Angle.  I think the increase in Ball Exit Speed can be attributed to the decrease in Time To Impact.

When we see ineffective movement at the Big League level, we have to understand that these high level hitters are succeeding despite ineffective movements, not because of them.

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Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

Youth Hitting Power Trainer For Baseball & Softball? | Discover Wrist Snap Batting Drills, Techniques, And Training At Home Sneak Peak | 1 On 1 Private Or Online Lessons In Fresno – Clovis, CA

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Part-3: How To Develop Powerful Wrist Snap Like Hank Aaron (Is Devastating Against Pitchers)

 

Youth hitting consistent power trainer for baseball, softball, and senior league softball located in Fresno – Clovis, CA.  Discover wrist snap batting drills, techniques, and training for home use.  This video is a sneak peak at a 1 on 1 private lesson, and we also do online lessons as well.

Here’s Part-3 – a continuation of – a three part series showcasing a local lesson of mine…Over Shoulder Look: Hank Aaron Wrist Snap

I get questions every week on how I’d run a practice or one-on-one session.  This is an over-the-shoulder look.  The main objective of this video series is to demonstrate how I use some of the “sticky” coaching principles covered in this post, and in my new book The Science Of Sticky Coaching: How To Turn Ordinary Athletes Into Extraordinary.

In case you missed the background information of Part-1,

Zack is a 14-year-old hitter from Visalia, California, which is approximately an hour drive from me, one way.  And this is the first time I worked with him since about a year ago.  We’ve had about half a dozen session together in total.  And what I like about Zack is he asks a lot of really good questions during our sessions.

And before we started this session, Zack was having a challenge with hitting line drives.  He was either hitting the ball on the ground or non-productive balls in the air.

DISCLAIMER about the video:

  • Fortunately the video quality is great because Dad used his GoPro, but unfortunately I wasn’t mic’d up, so the audio isn’t like some of my other videos.
  • We’re at a public High School on a Saturday afternoon, so there are other team noises, bird sounds, emergency vehicles, etc. going on in the background that can be distracting.

Sadly, a few coaches on the socials will be overly critical of this hitter, and I’m asking you to suspend judgement.  The purpose of this video IS NOT about being overly critical of the hitter’s swing, it’s about the demonstration and use of sticky coaching principles.

Swing and coaching suggestions are welcome, but be nice coaches.

Now, for those coaches looking to learn and help their hitters get better…ONWARD…again!

A typically lesson I do, is organized like the following, from start to finish:

  1. Dynamic warm-up,
  2. Beginning Ball Exit Speed readings,
  3. Record and analyze current swing,
  4. Lesson, and
  5. Ending Ball Exit Speeds readings.

Part-3 lands you towards the end of #4 above.

What you can look out for in above video

  • Training something new should feel goofy, that’s normal…if they feel no change in movement at the beginning stages of motor skill development, then they’re repeating the same old thing (about 0:45 mark)
  • The arch and hollow (hunched) positions in Gymnastics.  “Hunch” can have a negative connotation, but reality says it’s a VERY SAFE position for a twisting spine to start in. CLICK HERE for a Zepp swing experiment that looked at the benefits of a “Hunched” spine. (about 1:55 mark)
  • Playing around with wrist snap variance using the target ankle resistance bands.  It’s NOT a roll over, it’s like a “waggle” that golfers use pre-swing.  Great defender against off speed and breaking pitches, AND increase BA by controlling the barrel.  Keep main objective in mind: hit ball as hard and far as you can.  (about 3:45 mark)
  • Working the Wrist Snap Variance Drill on the open field hitting targets. Hank Aaron was really good at this.  Watch Hank Aaron video below and watch his wrist action at impact… (about 6:15 mark)
  • The Frog Tape bat…barrel awareness.  Focusing on hitting a certain part of the barrel AND hitting it in a specific direction or target. (about 11:20 mark)
  • Discussing how switching bats between rounds forces a hitter to focus on adjusting their timing. Heavier/top heavy bats have to start sooner…lighter/balanced bats can start later.  (about 15:30 mark)
  • Zack made the observation that Finger Pressure makes the Wrist Snap Variance Drill easier to feel.  (about 17:30 mark)

 

Also, when it comes to sticky coaching principles, notice how I:

  • Move the tee positioning around after every swing (both high/low and inside/outside),
  • Vary soft toss heights and depths,
  • Vary mechanics on certain swings in a 5-swing round (I call these Varied Rounds), or practice one thing the whole round (I call these Block Rounds),
  • Ask quite a few feel, visual, and/or audio feedback questions AFTER round is over (think of it like a hitting quiz),
  • Keep my mouth shut during the 5-swing round (little to no feedback from me),
  • Don’t make Zack take a lot of swings during our time together,
  • Chunking certain movement together, so they don’t seem like separate pieces,
  • Have him change his bat size during rounds, and
  • Work with him on simplifying the juggling of a couple different mechanical cues.
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Hitting Training For Baseball & Softball Swing Trainers | Hitting Performance Lab

Fix Front Knee Fast: 2025 Youth Baseball & Softball Hitting Drills to Stop Bent Leg & Build Power Swings

6 Shocking Mistakes Killing Baseball Hitting Mechanics for Youth at Stride Landing

What is the proper front foot stride, knee, and leg position when batting?  Baseball and Softball hitting drills to keep feet still during the swing.

After posting the “Fastpitch Softball Hitting Mechanics: Different Than Baseball? How?” rant on my Facebook fan page, I received the following baseball hitting mechanics for youth comments about the front knee behavior after landing…

“The locked out front knee is a more consistent method that results in a hard transfer of weight creating more power and less variation since it is the same every time. Coach Joe Brockhoff’s system is a great example.

I teach to lockout the leg when the heel hits the ground. I think if this method is causing too many ground balls there is something else going on with it. With the proper weight distribution and rotation throughout it is the most natural and consistent method.”

And I mostly agree.  However, I think there’s some confusion about what the front knee position should look like at landing.

In this baseball hitting mechanics for youth post, I want to address my top-6 reasons for landing bent:

  1. Engaging springy fascia in the legs,
  2. Pitch adaptability to off speed pitches,
  3. Shrinking the strike zone,
  4. Using Ground Reaction Forces,
  5. Getting eyes closer to lower pitches in the zone, and
  6. How humans change directions and planes of motion…

And, at the end, I wanted to clean up WHY I like my hitters to straighten their front leg at impact, however please note this IS NOT an absolute, especially when looking at a hitter like Cody Bellinger (he’s not the only one who does this)…look at the catcher’s glove which shows pitch location (down)…

Proper Front Foot Stride, Knee, Leg Position When Batting In Baseball & Softball | Hitting Drills To Keep Feet Still During Swing

 

1. Engaging Springy Fascia in the Legs

Watch Thomas Myers, from his book Anatomy Trains, explain the importance of fascia (said like Fashia).

If you aren’t analyzing baseball hitting mechanics for youth based on the rules of fascia, then you’re wasting your hitters’ time.

It’s not enough to base the swing off firing fast twitch muscles fibers.  Repeatable power is in how we load fascia and fast twitch muscles.

For our purposes in this post, a hitter MUST be bending the knees at landing to engage, what Thomas Myers calls, the Spiral & Deep Functional Lines extending down as a stirrup under the feet.

My friend Lee Comeaux, who works with professional golfers out in Texas, has studied Thomas Myers’s book more extensively than myself, and he’s found the amount of bend in the knees at landing must add up to 45-degrees.

Same with the arms.

But my baseball hitting mechanics for youth point is, there has to be some bending in the  knees at landing to activate the springy fascia contained in the legs.  And the amount of bend will depend on the amount of Forward Momentum, and whether we’re talking a fastpitch or baseball hitter.

2. Pitch Adaptability to Off-Speed

In the above baseball hitting mechanics for youth video, I use Hanley Ramirez to demonstrate how important the bending of the front knee is to making timing adjustments to off-speed pitches.  CLICK HERE for the full HPL post.

In his book Positional Hitting, Jaime Cevallos called the hitter bending into the front knee at landing, or to buy more time, the:

  • ‘Cushion’ (normal timing), or
  • ‘Double Cushion’ (off-speed timing).

JK Whited and Chas Pippitt of the Baseball Rebellion calls it ‘pushing the pause button’.

And we typically see this if a hitter is sitting fastball, and adjusting to off-speed or breaking balls.

 

3. Shrinking the Strike Zone

Watch the above baseball hitting mechanics for youth video I did February 13, 2014 of Barry Bonds ‘getting shorter’.  It’s received over 47,789 views on YouTube. You can also find this ‘getting shorter’, OR shrinking the strike zone, approach with (pay attention to the action of their landing knee)…

Josh Donaldson

Jose Bautista

Mike Trout

Bryce Harper

And, Dustin Pedroia

Please do a baseball hitting mechanics for youth experiment for me…

Go into your bathroom with a bat (don’t worry, I’m not going to make you swing it)…

Get into your stance facing the mirror, as the pitcher…

Now, draw a line on the mirror just above your head, using a dry erase pen.

Okay, so now stride and land with a straight front leg… (make sure you have an athletic gap between your feet after striding).

Note the gap between where the top of your head is now, and the line you drew on the mirror.

Now, stride and land with a bent front leg,

How much of a gap there?

If you observe this little experiment with your hitters, you’ll see how we’re effectively ‘shrinking the strike zone’ by landing, what I call, ‘shorter’.

4. Using Ground Reaction Forces

Watch Chris Welch from Zenolink give a simplified background on Ground Reaction Forces (or GRF’s).

Basically, you push into the ground, and the ground pushes back, with equal and opposite force.

It’s VERY difficult to harness GRF’s when your knees are straight.

Try jumping as high as you can with straight knees.

Try running as fast as you can with straight knees (you’d look like Forest Gump with his leg braces on!!!) lol

Try defending a forward in basketball…

…a soccer striker…

…and an offensive Lineman on “the line” in football…

…with straight knees.

My baseball hitting mechanics for youth point is, you have to be athletic to hit.  And landing with a straight front leg doesn’t allow the hitter to optimally use GRF’s.

This also goes for the hitter’s stance.  I like my hitters to start with bend in their knees, regardless of the width of their feet.

5. Get Eyes Closer to Lower Pitches in the Zone

Taylor Gardner of the Backspin Tee brought this to my attention.  Watch what happens to the first baseman’s head when receiving a throw…

The first base person strides forward toward the incoming ball, and bends the front knee (‘gets shorter’) to get the eyes closer to the ball.

A hitter MUST do the same thing, although the ball isn’t coming straight at them like the first baseman in the video.

The pitch is coming in sideways.

And to be more consistent with hitting the ball hard, we have to teach our hitters to bring their body – somewhat – down to the pitch’s level.

In other words, you don’t hit a low pitch consistently well by landing on a stiff front knee.

 

6. How Humans Change Direction & Planes of Motion

Pay attention to how Armanti Edwards and other NFL wide receivers change direction while doing a “Route Tree Session” with trainer Gari Scott…

Watch them run routes from a big picture point of view.  In other words, not looking for any specific arm or leg angles.

Watch them ‘get lower’ when changing directions, or cutting.

They land on a bent plant leg, then push off the same leg, extending it, to accelerate again.

Baseball Hitting Mechanics for Youth: Planes of Motion

Three main planes of motion. Photo courtesy: goldsgymwebsterny.wordpress.com

There are three main human planes of motion:

  1. Saggital – divides the body into right and left halves
  2. Frontal (a.k.a. Coronal) – any vertical plane that divides the body into ventral and dorsal (belly and back), and
  3. Transverse (a.k.a. horizontal plane, axial plane, or transaxial plane) – is an imaginary plane that divides the body into superior and inferior parts. It is perpendicular to the coronal and sagittal planes.

In changing from one plane of motion to the other, there MUST be a ‘getting shorter’ of the body’s stature, as the athlete plants and pushes off the ground to change directions.

The wide receivers above are changing from the Sagittal (front to back) to Frontal (sideways) Planes.  While a hitter changes from the Frontal (sideways) to Transverse (rotational) Planes.

In other words, just like an NFL wide receiver goes from a bent plant leg to straight at push off, a hitter MUST go from a bent landing leg, to a straight leg at ‘push off’.  You don’t see these wide receivers keeping a ‘slight bend’ at the end of their push off.

So this brings me to the million dollar baseball hitting mechanics for youth question,

Straight Front Leg or Bent at Impact?

First a little background…

CLICK HERE for a Zepp experiment I did where I looked at the Discus technique of ‘blocking’.  ‘Blocking’ is basically the action of going from a bent front leg at landing, to straight at impact.

I took 100 swings landing bent versus landing straight with the front leg…

Results?

Baseball Hitting Mechanics for Youth: 'Blocking' Experiment

As you can see, landing bent with the front leg, then moving to straight at impact, added an average of 6-mph of bat speed!

CLICK HERE for another HPL article I did on ‘blocking’ analyzing Edwin Encarnacion’s swing.

Okay, so now that you’re following me on this,

Let’s look at the function of the front leg at impact, and WHY I choose to teach my hitters to straighten it versus keeping it bent…

Homer Kelly wrote The Golfing Machine.  He was an aeronautical engineer for Boeing during the Great Depression, and fell in love with golf, and applied his engineering principles to the golf swing.

About ‘Knee Action’ Homer Kelly says:

“The slant is up in the direction of a straightened Knee. The slant of the Hips affects the degree of the Hip Turn.  Actually, the primary function of Knee Action – as with Waist Bend – is to maintain a motionless Head during the Stroke.”

There’s a lot going on in that statement that you can run with…

But did you catch the bolded part?

We slant our body up in the direction of the straightened knee.  And this is assuming we’re working with enough bend in the back knee during the turn.

In other words, the pitcher is throwing downhill, and also yes in fastpitch the ball is falling down by the time it reaches the last 20% of ball flight.

Baseball Hitting Mechanics for Youth: The Science of Hitting

Photo from “The Science of Hitting”, book by Ted Williams

So if the hitter wants to be consistent, they MUST match the downward pitched plane with a positive barrel attack angle (barrel traveling up to impact), not negative (or down).

And according to Homer Kelly, the front knee must get to straight before impact, in order to slant the hitter (or golfer) up.

This is WHY I teach my hitters to land bent, then straighten the front leg at impact.  Big Leaguers don’t all do this of course.

There are many BIG slugger examples of keeping a slight bend in the front knee at impact, Mark McGwire and Mark Teixeira to name a few…

But I work with A LOT of smaller hitters that can’t afford to be mechanically ineffective at driving the ball.  I base my hitting program on human movement principles that are validated by science.  Not on theory, philosophy, or what I think is right or wrong.

I hold my hitters’ swings to a higher standard.  A standard that’s validated by science.

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Mickey Mantle Left Handed Swing Hitting Home Runs | Analysis, Height, Strength, & Switch Hitter Left Right Split Stats

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Mickey Mantle: How To Increase Batted Ball Distance When You’re Not Throwing A Javelin?

 

 

Mickey Mantle Bat Lag

Check out Mickey Mantle’s bat lag. Photo courtesy: LegendaryAuctions.com

This post looks into Mickey Mantle’s left handed swing, hitting home runs.  We do swing analysis, look at his height compared to current players, strength, and share a bleacher report article with his switch hitting left right split stats.  We’ll also compare his swing principles to an Olympic Javelin thrower!

Since publishing the YouTube video, it has amassed over 148,241 views and 500 video “Likes”.

The basic premise of the above video is to compare Mickey Mantle’s right handed swing mechanics to Czech javelin thrower, Jan Železný’s throwing technique.  Jan is a world and Olympic champion and world record holder. He also holds the top five javelin performances of all time…according to Wikipedia.

In the video, I brought up my favorite Ralph Waldo Emerson quote many of you have seen me post before:

“As to the methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few.  The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.“

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The human movement “principles” we’re comparing in the video are:

  1. The Un-Weighting Principle (or Forward Momentum), and
  2. The Catapult Loading System.

The reason I picked “The Mick”, is because he wasn’t really a big guy, according to Baseball Reference.com, he stood at only 5’11, 195-pounds.

Don’t get me wrong, Mickey Mantle was a naturally strong dude.  But he wasn’t the size of today’s behemoths:

And, some of The Mick’s dingers have been the talk of folklore, claiming to have traveled over 600-feet!

Although with the computation of Metrics now, as Christopher Harbour, a YouTube reader commenter on this particular video, put it:

“The farthest official home run in MLB history was hit by Babe Ruth in Detroit at a distance of 585ft. Mickey’s longest shot was 510Ft. It was often claimed to be much farther but that distance was the distance AFTER the ball rolled. This info is proven by SABR historian Bill Jenkinson.”

Whatever the case, it’s still amazing that a guy of Mickey Mantle’s stature, can hit a ball over 500-feet!  We don’t see Giancarlo, Miggy, or Trout doing that.

And by the way, everyone thinks Babe Ruth was this hulking mass of a guy…he was only 6’2″, 215-pounds.  And according to the above comment, launched the longest dinger 585-feet!

So what was Mickey Mantle doing mechanically making him so special that we as coaches should be teaching our younger hitters?

Mickey Mantle on the Un-Weighting Principle (or Forward Momentum)

Mickey Mantle Stride and Foot Pressure

Look at Mickey Mantle’s shifting foot pressure… Photo courtesy: http://s685.photobucket.com/user/BillBurgess

I said in the video that The Mick’s back knee wasn’t floating over his ankle, but that’s simply not true.  This was knowledge residue from past baseball experts I was listening to at the time.

What Mickey Mantle did really well was shifting his foot pressure.

We can see from the moment he lifts his stride foot to that foot touching down that his foot pressure looks like this:

  • Back foot pressure – is on the outside, and
  • Stride foot pressure – is on the inside.

This is similar to a story one of my readers, Stephen Reid, shared about prolific golfer Ben Hogan (5’9″, 145-pounds), saying in an email:

“A friend of mine worked at Shady Oaks in Dallas where Hogan played and practiced. Towards the end of Mr. Hogan’s time of ‘grinding it out of the dirt”, he was allowed the opportunity to sit and watch him hit balls. He said that Mr. Hogan started talking about the stance, and he stated that the way he thought it would come to pass in the future would be that both feet at address would both be turned slightly towards the target- 30 to 45 degrees. By turning the right foot in at address, the golfer would essentially be putting a governor on his/her right side.

He also reasoned that by doing this, the player would create the tension and brace with the right side and would create a strong coil that would not allow for any “over-coiling or over-swinging”. Therefore, you would be presetting the coil or brace of the right side in a controlled manner and would not allow oneself to overturn in the backswing. Conclusion was that the energy from a strong brace and controlled coil, the golfer would create greater energy in the release of the right side while creating greater swing speeds through impact.”

As Mickey Mantle’s stride foot lands the foot pressure shifts as follows:

  • Back foot pressure – moves to the inside, and
  • Stride foot pressure – moves to the outside.

Mickey Mantle is also most certainly picking up his stride foot and leading with his hip forward.  Just pick out a point of reference in the background, and track how far his hip moves forward.  He’s effectively ‘un-weighting’ his bat, or getting a “head start”, to make the transfer of linear momentum into angular (or rotational) easier.

And we can clearly see the Javelin Thrower, Jan Železný, using forward momentum sprinting down the track before slinging his “arrow” A LONG WAY.

 

The Catapult Loading System

The ‘Springy X Pattern’ I developed through reading the book Anatomy Trains by Thomas Myers.  Watch the following FunctionalPatterns YouTube video of Thomas Myers talking about the concept of Tensegrity, or Tension Integrity:

It’s the idea that there are compression and tension forces acting within the body at all times.  In the Mickey Mantle video, I talk about imagining a big ‘X’ on his chest and back…connecting one shoulder to the opposite hip.  The fascial lines are a little more complicated than this, but let’s take a general look at how this works…

When Mickey Mantle pre-loads his torso – before turning – we see his lead shoulder come down and in towards his back hip (one leg of the ‘X’ shortens), while the rear shoulder and front hip move away from each other (other leg of the ‘X’ lengthens).  And the reverse is true on the backside.

This is evidenced by tracking his LEFT shoulder:

  • Pre-loads DOWN before Final Turn,
  • Unloads UP during the Final Turn, and finally
  • Reverses DOWN during the follow through to decelerate rotation.

CLICK HERE for an interesting article titled “Muscle Power Golf?!…NOT!” by Kelvin Miyahira (big thanks to Stephen Lowe for the link).  It talks about how the swing – whether we’re talking baseball/softball or golf – IS NOT about activating fast twitch muscle fibers, but engaging the springy fascia.  It’s a rant that I wish I did FIRST!!

 

Other Interesting Resources from Mickey Mantle YouTube Viewer Comments & More

  • Marie Louise Hunnicutt book recommendation – Baseball’s Ultimate Power: Ranking The All-Time Greatest Distance Home Run Hitters by Bill Jenkinson

  • Gabriel Pennington – “Mantle’s massive strength came from blue collar work, swinging a sledgehammer in a lead mine (on top of freakish genetics). Couple that with the workman mentality of your best never being good enough and you have a lethal combination for an athlete.”
  • koryguns – “3.1 seconds to first. Legend has it when he was a rookie in 1951 they decided to have a foot race among the team. Mantle beat everybody like they were standing still, puked, and apologized to Stengel for being out of shape.“
  • Here’s the BleacherReport.com article with Mickey Mantle’s left right split stats titled: “Mickey Mantle Almost Gave Up Switch-Hitting in 1960”

Also, here’s slow motion video of his left handed swing…

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Youth baseball coach teaching aggressive at the plate mindset — Hunter vs. Fisherman approach system for youth and travel hitters

Your Hitter Isn’t Passive: They Just Don’t Have A Game Plan At The Plate Yet

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One mindset shift turns a frozen hitter into a confident one — and it takes one batting practice to teach.

Most coaches dealing with a passive hitter — one who won’t pull the trigger, freezes on first pitches, or falls behind 0-2 every at-bat — assume it’s a confidence problem. However, being passive at the plate is almost never about confidence. It’s about the absence of a game plan. Without a clear framework for when to be aggressive at the plate and when to wait, every hitter defaults to passive. They’d rather look than miss.

This post covers a two-mindset system — the Hunter and the Fisherman — that a Major League scout shared at a Canada scouting camp. It’s simple enough for a 7-year-old and precise enough for a high school hitter working out of a hitting slump. The system teaches hitters exactly when to attack and when to be patient — and how to read the situation to make that call in real time.

Joey Myers has coached 5,000+ hitters using a physics-based approach — these systems are used by coaches from Little League to Division I.

“Exit velocities are up, averages are up, power is up. Three girls going D1, six at D2, two at JUCOs. I credit the HPL approach for proving the science and providing convincing evidence.”

Ronny Weber — Baseball & Softball Coach

Why Do Hitters Freeze at the Plate — and Is It Really a Confidence Problem?

Most passive hitters aren’t lacking confidence — they’re lacking a decision system for when to be aggressive at the plate. Confidence is the result of having a plan, not the cause of swinging. When hitters have no framework for when to attack and when to wait, the safest choice is always to let the pitch go. Over time, that default becomes a habit — and the habit looks like passivity, hesitation, or freezing.

The mental side of hitting is often treated as a coaching afterthought — something to address only when mechanics are fixed. However, in most cases of passive hitting, there is no mechanical flaw. The hitter looks great in the cage. The problem disappears the moment you give them a system with two clear modes: hunt or fish.

Joey Myers experienced this firsthand as a sophomore playing against JUCO competition in Fall Ball. At-bat after at-bat, he fell behind 0-2 before making a decision. The fix wasn’t mechanical — it was making a bold adjustment to swing at the first pitch, no matter what. That decision, refined over years of coaching 5,000+ hitters, became the Hunter vs. Fisherman system — and it’s the most reliable way to get a hitter aggressive at the plate in real game situations.

What Is the Hunter Mindset — and When Should a Hitter Use It?

The Hunter mindset is the aggressive mode: use it when the pitcher consistently attacks the strike zone. Hunters stalk their prey and fire when the shot is there. At the plate, that means watching the pitcher warm up, reading that this pitcher throws strikes, and committing early to being aggressive at the plate. There is no hesitation once the pitch leaves the hand. If it’s in the zone, the Hunter fires.

What triggers Hunter mode? Watch the pitcher’s warm-up pitches. If they’re hitting the catcher’s glove on seven of eight throws, that pitcher is going to challenge hitters early. Additionally, watch the first at-bat in the lineup ahead of you. If that pitcher consistently throws first-pitch strikes, be aggressive at the plate from the first pitch of your at-bat.

Why “never swing at the first pitch” creates passive hitters. That rule is one of the most damaging blanket instructions in youth coaching. A Hunter who’s been told to always take removes decision-making entirely and replaces it with an unconditional passive choice. Defaulting to a 0-1 count against an accurate pitcher is self-defeating. The Hunter must be trained to fire early — and trained to do it with proper swing timing that’s ready on the first pitch.

Think about how Latin American hitters are developed. As the saying goes, “You don’t get off the island unless you swing the bat.” Some of the most naturally aggressive at the plate hitters in baseball history — Vlad Guerrero Sr., Miguel Cabrera, Roberto Clemente — were hunters by instinct and by training. They didn’t wait for the perfect count. They hunted their pitch and attacked.

What Is the Fisherman Mindset — and When Does Patience Beat Aggression?

The Fisherman mindset is the patient mode: use it when the pitcher is struggling to find the strike zone. A fisherman sits on the boat all morning, waits for the right moment, and responds decisively when it arrives. At the plate, that means taking pitches out of the zone, working the count, and being explosive and aggressive at the plate the instant a hittable strike appears. The Fisherman is not passive — they’re strategic. There’s a critical difference.

Barry Bonds from 2001 to 2004 is the definitive Fisherman example. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Bonds walked 755 times in those four years — an average of 188 walks per season. He hit 209 home runs in the same span. In 2002 he struck out only 47 times while hitting 46 home runs. In 2004 he hit 45 home runs and struck out only 41 times — more home runs than strikeouts. His 22-year career strikeout average was 83 per season.

The key distinction between Fisherman and passive. A passive hitter takes pitches because they’re afraid to swing and miss. A Fisherman takes pitches because they’re waiting for the exact pitch they’ve decided to attack. The Fisherman’s swing is violent and aggressive at the plate — they’re just directing that aggression toward the right pitch rather than every pitch. When Bonds got his pitch, he got it.

The Fisherman approach requires pitch recognition and plate discipline working together. The hitter needs to recognize a ball out of the hand — not just after it crosses the plate. That skill can be trained and should be part of every serious hitter’s off-season and in-season preparation.

Want a printable version of both modes to use at practice?
Get the free Hunter vs. Fisherman Decision Card →

How Does a Hitter Read the Pitcher to Choose Hunter or Fisherman?

The mindset decision happens before the at-bat, not during it. There are two windows to gather information: warm-ups and the first at-bat in your lineup spot. During warm-ups, watch zone accuracy. If the pitcher is consistently in the mitt on seven of eight pitches, that’s a Hunter at-bat. If pitches are scattering, that’s a Fisherman at-bat.

Pitchers also change between innings and within at-bats. A pitcher who started the game sharp may lose their mechanics in the third inning. That’s when the hitter who was hunting needs to recognize the shift and switch to fishing — waiting for one quality pitch instead of attacking everything early. Being on time in games means reading those shifts before they cost you the at-bat.

The scout who shared this framework made one specific point: even 7-year-olds can understand “is this pitcher in the zone or not?” That single read is enough to choose a mode. You don’t need a complex scouting report. You need two minutes of watching warm-ups, a clear decision, and the habit of making that decision built through practice.

How Do You Train Hitters to Be Aggressive at the Plate in Batting Practice?

Telling a hitter to be more aggressive at the plate in a game does nothing without training it in practice first. The Hunter-Fisherman switch is a muscle in the brain. Like any other muscle, it responds to deliberate repetitions — not to verbal instruction delivered at the on-deck circle. Two drills develop this decision-making system faster than any cue or conversation.

Wild Intentionally Drill (Fisherman Mode). The coach intentionally throws 40–50% of pitches out of the strike zone during front toss or machine work. The hitter doesn’t know which pitches will be balls. Their job: take the balls, attack the strikes. If the hitter swings at a pitch out of the zone, stop the rep and reset. Run three to five rounds of eight pitches. Most hitters dramatically improve zone recognition within one session because the bad pitches are no longer abstract — they’re immediate and real.

First-Pitch Hunter Drill. Every pitch in the round is a strike. Before the round begins, tell the hitter: “This pitcher throws strikes — you are the Hunter.” Their goal is to swing at the first pitch they can drive. No passive takes allowed. This drill directly breaks the habit of defaulting to the wrong side. Furthermore, it builds the confidence at the plate that comes from executing a game plan rather than surviving an at-bat.

How to Run Both Drills in the Same Session

Alternate the two drills within the same session — three rounds of Wild Intentionally, then three rounds of First-Pitch Hunter. As the hitter develops the decision habit, begin mixing modes within a single round without telling them which one to use. They read the situation and choose. That’s the transfer you’re training toward — a hitter who is automatically aggressive at the plate when the situation calls for it, and strategically patient when it doesn’t.

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A printable cheat card with both modes, 4 pitcher reads, and step-by-step instructions for both practice drills. Print it and put it in the gear bag.

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Do Hitters Actually Get More Aggressive at the Plate With This System?

The Hunter-Fisherman system works because it replaces a vague instruction with a specific decision tree. Here’s what coaches using the HPL approach see on the field.

“After just 1–2 lessons, my son Ethan was hitting the ball harder and further. We still use what Joey teaches today. His detailed analysis and style are unmatched. I highly recommend him as a coach.”

Simon Chan — Baseball Parent, Los Angeles, CA

“I coach Fastpitch travel softball. From top to bottom of our batting order, pitchers have no batter to pitch around — they can all crush the ball and do so consistently!!”

Shane Beever — Travel Softball Coach

Common Questions About Teaching Aggressive Batting

Here are the questions coaches and parents ask most often about building plate aggression in youth and travel hitters.

What is the best way to get a hitter to be more aggressive at the plate?

The best way to get a hitter aggressive at the plate is to replace the instruction with a system. Telling a hitter to “be more aggressive” gives them no information about when or how to do it. The Hunter vs. Fisherman framework gives them two clear modes — hunt when the pitcher attacks the zone, fish when the pitcher struggles. That specific decision, practiced deliberately in batting practice, produces game-ready aggression without recklessness.

Why does my hitter look aggressive in the cage but passive in games?

The cage doesn’t require a read. Every pitch is predictable, so the hitter pre-commits and swings. In games, the hitter doesn’t know what’s coming — and without a decision system, the safest default is to wait and see. Additionally, the stakes feel higher, which reinforces passivity. The Hunter-Fisherman system fixes this because it gives hitters a way to be aggressive at the plate with intention — deciding before they step in the box rather than reacting when it’s too late.

Can these plate aggression drills be used with youth hitters under 10?

Yes — the Hunter vs. Fisherman concept works with 7-year-olds because the two questions are simple: “Is this pitcher throwing strikes?” and “Am I hunting or fishing today?” Very young hitters don’t need a complex plate discipline system. They need two modes and the language to think about which one they’re in. Therefore, start with the Wild Intentionally Drill during front toss to build the habit of being aggressive at the plate when strikes appear, then add the First-Pitch Hunter Drill as they get comfortable.

How is the Fisherman mindset different from just being passive?

Passive hitters take pitches because they’re afraid to swing and miss. Fisherman hitters take pitches because they’re waiting for a specific pitch to attack. The physical result looks similar — both take a ball — but the mindset is opposite. The Fisherman is ready to be aggressive at the plate the entire time. They’re directing aggression toward the right pitch, not every pitch. Barry Bonds is the clearest example: 755 walks and 209 home runs across four seasons. That is not passive hitting.

Should hitters ever swing at the first pitch?

Hitters should swing at the first pitch when they are in Hunter mode and the first pitch is in their zone. The rule “never swing at the first pitch” is what creates passive hitters — it removes decision-making and replaces it with an unconditional take. First-pitch strikes against an accurate pitcher put the hitter in a defensive count before they’ve made a single choice. Hunters who are trained to be aggressive at the plate early in the count hold the advantage.

How long does it take for the Hunter-Fisherman system to show up in games?

Most hitters show improvement within two to three practice sessions using the Wild Intentionally and First-Pitch Hunter drills. The first game after consistent practice typically shows a noticeable reduction in passive at-bats — hitters begin to look noticeably more aggressive at the plate in a way coaches can see immediately. Full integration — where the hitter reads and decides automatically — takes three to four weeks of regular practice. Start these drills before the season for the most complete transfer to game performance.

What if the hitter is in Hunter mode but keeps missing the first pitch?

If the hitter is mentally in Hunter mode but consistently fouling off or missing first-pitch strikes, the issue is swing timing, not mindset. A hitter who is mentally aggressive but mechanically late is still losing the at-bat. In that case, pair the Hunter-Fisherman system with targeted batting timing drills — specifically the 2-Plate Reaction Time Challenge — which trains the hitter to stay aggressive at the plate while firing earlier and reading pitch location at the same time.

Free Printable Decision Card

Take the Hunter vs. Fisherman System With You.

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Giancarlo Stanton: Closed Stance

STOP Stepping In The Bucket & Out Of The Box When Hitting A Baseball Or Softball 2022 | How To See Ball Better, Keep Front Shoulder In During Swing, & Best Batting Stance For Power?

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STOP Pulling Off The Ball, Increase Batting Average, and Boost Power By Using The Closed Stance?

 

What’s the best batting stance for power?  How do we STOP a hitter from stepping in the bucket (out of the box) when hitting a baseball or softball in 2022?  This post will shine light on how to see the ball better, keep the front shoulder in during the swing, and will suggest the best batting stance for power…

I know, I know,

Some well meaning coaches will think, “Well, a closed stance cuts off a hitter’s vision, and/or restricts hip movement”…

I get it.  I used to believe the same thing a couple years ago,

…But what I found in my research was counter-intuitive, yet very promising for hitters.

Giancarlo Stanton: Closed Stance

Giancarlo Stanton using his “closed stance”. Photo courtesy: MLB.com

You don’t know what you don’t know, right?

My process is to chew and digest the science, observe how elite hitters apply the movements, and then try it out!

As you’ll soon find out, Giancarlo Stanton did his homework before making this particular change in his swing.

Since there may be many of you raising the same objections I started with, I wanted to discuss:

  • Addressing the above “Study of Planes” video, then we’ll move on to…
  • Analyzing the small change that has netted BIG results for Giancarlo Stanton this season.

 

Study of Planes

My good friend Seo Perales shared the above video with me a few years ago.  By the way, he’s a multiple level black belt in Brazilian Jujitsu.

We love comparing notes because we both like to seek and explore human movement principles that are validated by science.  The only difference is, in his line of work as a Jujitsu instructor, he wants to learn how to break down the body, and I’m into maximizing its effect.

The above video demonstrates the science of movement planes.  What are considered weak and strong planes of movement from a Judo perspective.

I think you’ll find the video enlightening.

Now, you may be thinking, “A Judo video? Really?!  What can I learn from a video about Judo?”

If you find yourself camped out in ONLY baseball or softball circles, then you’re missing out on A LOT of useful information that will take your hitters to a whole other level.

The video is very applicable to hitting.

Furthermore,

My good friend Lee Comeaux from Texas, who teaches professional and amateur golfers, also brought the power of movement planes to my attention about a year ago…

He told me draw an “X” in the batter’s box from opposite corners, and have the hitter stand on either line when hitting.  He’s very versed in Thomas Myers’s book Anatomy Trains.  He says hitters standing on one diagonal leg of the “X” encourages the springiness of fascia.  He taught this to his 15yo daughter, who has hit over .600 the last couple years playing Fast-Pitch Softball in Texas, which is one of the hotbeds for both baseball and softball competition in the country.  Oh and by the way, she also hit a half dozen homers as well.

The second part of this post, I wanted to share the tipping point in addressing Giancarlo Stanton’s new closed stance…

Giancarlo Stanton & The “Dreaded” Closed Stance

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me in writing this post, came from this MLB.com article by David Adler titled, “Closing time: Stanton’s stance fueling surge: Marlins slugger’s home run tear lines up with change to batting stance in June”.

You can go there and read the full article, but I wanted to tease out the quotes from Giancarlo Stanton (and some of David Adler’s commentary), and how Stanton arrived at the batting stance change…

“I just said I was going to try it. Honestly, I had about 30 minutes of work, maybe 45 minutes, before the game,” Stanton told MLB.com Sunday, when he crushed his Major League-leading 45th home run against the Mets at Citi Field. “And then 10 minutes before the game, I was like, ‘This feels more comfortable.'”

Stanton was already having a helluva year, so it’s interesting to me that he made the change when he did, typically a change like this follows a slump.  However, this wasn’t a spur of the moment decision – like it sounds from that quote – he did his homework, which you’ll read about shortly…

“My best striking position is closed,” Stanton said. “It’s not smart to try to completely change something in the middle of the season. But if you are 100 percent committed to it … well, you’ve got to be. You’ve got to trust what you’re trying to do. If you change something, you want results right away, otherwise you try to go back. But I trusted it completely and let it ride.”

Sounds contradictory doesn’t it?  To have the attitude that you can’t completely change something in the middle of the season – especially when you’re already doing well!!  But then he says you MUST commit to giving the change time – that is – IF you’ve done your homework beforehand.

I’ve heard some parents and coaches say mid-season changes aren’t smart.  I don’t like to think that way…WHY?  Because if you don’t guide the hitter, the hitter will make changes on their own.  And if they don’t get highly resourceful on the subject, then this could lead to DISASTER with all the junk hitting info on the net these days.

David Adler did fantastic research illustrating the evolution of Giancarlo Stanton’s closed stance in this Tweet:

In the earlier mentioned article, Adler states…

“Stanton’s closing of his batting stance has correlated with his massive power surge. On June 18, he had 17 home runs in 282 plate appearances; since June 19, he has 28 in 236.

When Stanton hits from those positions [open or straight up], his front side can come open before the pitch arrives, leaving him exploitable.

The closed stance is a natural counter. When Stanton is already turned inward to start, his rotation drives him into the pitch, instead of causing him to fade away from it.”

By the way, for those not doing the math:

  • From start of season to June 18th, he hit 1 homer every 16.5 plate appearances, and
  • From June 19th on, he hit 1 homer every 8.4 plate appearances…

He cut his rate in half!!!!  The closed stance was the ONLY change to his swing in that time frame, so this makes an interesting case study with a decent sample size of plate appearances.  See for yourself with the following David Adler Tweet:

David Adler adds some terms of comparision you may be familiar with…

“With his adjusted stance, Stanton has been driving the ball in the air more often. His rate of fly balls and line drives, per Statcast™, has risen from 41.5 percent prior to June 19 to 50.3 percent since. Stanton’s average exit velocity on those balls has increased from 97.6 mph to 100.8 mph, the highest in the Majors over that time.”

I don’t care that Stanton is a beast, if you increase your Line Drive and Fly Ball Rates (Launch Angle), and Ball Exit Speeds that much, you’ll make a lot of Ground-ball teams VERY VERY upset.  Small hitters CAN and DO take advantage of this formula too.  Statcast has given hitters the cheat codes to increase offensive productivity!

Furthermore, in the Adler article…

“[His stance] gets him in the position he wants to be in. It looks like it’s keeping him on the ball more, and he seems like he’s seeing it better,” said Christian Yelich, who’s played alongside Stanton as long as any current Marlin — since 2013, when he was 21 and Stanton 23. “Some guys have different problems than others. You go about fixing them or covering them in different ways. It’s all about feel. That’s what works for him, that feel.”

Look at that bold sentence once more because that is one of the most critical keys to this whole thing.  Yelich is also tapping into making extreme adjustments, for example, Stanton’s challenge in the past has been pulling off, maybe because of when he tragically got hit in the face a few years ago.  Whatever the reason, the extreme adjustment (a closed stance), helps him stay on the ball longer.

CLICK HERE for a video I did on how to make adjustments…the scientific term for this is “Paradoxical Intention”.

Now, here is where the article gets into the research that brought Giancarlo Stanton to the point of taking the stance change seriously…

“But at a level of the game where emulation is fundamental, success begetting imitators, Stanton found his prototypes: Nolan Arenado, Matt Kemp, Adrian Beltre, prominent hitters who do close off. He recognized past greats, too: Hall of Famer Andre Dawson works as a special assistant to the Marlins, and he hit with a closed stance in his playing career. Stanton didn’t copy the technical aspects of their batting stances, but their accomplishments gave him precedent to actually make the change himself.“

Some on Twitter have written this change off as a band-aide, avoiding a true fix.  A true fix?  Are you kidding me?!  Cutting his home-run per plate appearance rate in half IS NOT a true fix!?  Dude!!  Success leaves clues.  These people are saying Giancarlo Stanton is “playing to the slice”, where a golfer who chronically slices the ball will angle his body at setup so they don’t have to fix the real problem…which is not squaring up the club face at impact.

This is a poor attempt to protect an inflexible teaching philosophy, and sheer laziness on their part to get educated on their craft they claim to know a lot about.  You instructors seriously think Giancarlo Stanton is not “squaring the ball up” at impact since June 19th and is just “playing the slice”?  That is laughable.  You don’t know what you don’t know, right?

This is the problem I have with instructors with inflexible hitting systems…they’re WILLFULLY IGNORANT to experimenting with things that could push their hitters forward, especially movements validated by science.  We’re ALL in this together, and we’re ALL helping hitters.  It’s NOT about your ego or protecting “your brand” coaches.

But I digress…

Here’s some insight into Giancarlo Stanton’s thought process with the change…

“I just know the guys with success,” Stanton said. “Arenado and Kemp, those guys, you know you can have a high average with it. So that kind of gave me the green light to try it…I knew it could work. Not very many people did it. But I know people like Hawk and them did it in the old days — and it worked for them, too.”

 

The Bottom Line…

Giancarlo Stanton: Tweet About Closed Stance

A day or two after re-tweeting Homer Bush’s Tweet about Giancarlo Stanton’s closed stance, I received this response from @Omaha_Outlaws4…

I understand your objections that a closed stance may cut off a hitter’s vision, and/or restricts hip movement.  You’ve heard me talk a lot about “keeping the back foot sideways”, well, this plays right into that.

Matt Nokes is religious on restricting hip movement to the point of impact with keeping the back foot sideways.  Homer Bush agrees in this interview.  So are the Backspin Tee guys Taylor and Jarrett Gardner.  LIGHT BULB! The closed stance does this naturally.

The main benefit of restricting hip movement at impact (includes keeping back foot sideways) that you’ll hear from Nokes, Bush, and the Gardner Brothers, is to keep the barrel in the hitting zone longer.  This increases BA and Slug%.

Here’s my advice:

  1. Chew and digest the science,
  2. Observe how elite hitters apply the movements, and then
  3. Try it out!

If it doesn’t work after giving it the ol’ college try, then toss it.

As many of you know, I will gladly eat crow and change my hitting system IF you can show me the science, swing experiments, and many elite hitting examples that I can’t ignore the issue.

This is an informal Part-1 to a Zepp swing experiment I’ll be doing on the Giancarlo Stanton closed stance in the near future.  So stay tuned…

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