Optimal Hit More Line Drives Launch Angle For Homerun Distance Like Joey Votto For Baseball & Softball Hitters
Discover the optimal hit more line drives launch angle for home-run distance (25-30 degrees) like Joey Votto for baseball and softball hitters, and…
Joey Votto Explains Why Coaches SHOULD NOT Be Obsessed With Launch Angles
The Josh Donaldson interview last year was awesome, but I think THIS interview with Joey Votto may be better. It doesn’t have the same let-the-beast-out-of-cage feeling that Donaldson contributed, but I feel Votto gives us more of a glimpse into the true art of hitting. What Votto shares confirms what my hitters have been working on this past off season…line drive barrel control. Precision.
Look, I love teaching my hitters the process of how to increase Ball Exit Speeds and to get the ball off the ground (optimal Line Drive Launch Angles), but as Joey Votto says, it’s not the whole story. And this is where I’ve been lying to you for a couple years. Actually, not lying, just not sharing the whole story. 😉
Let me explain…
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My friend and professional golf instructor Lee Comeaux knows golf, and brought this idea of “precision” to my attention a few years back. He understands springy fascia and the spinal engine, which is a PLUS. Also, over the past few years he’s mentored his teenage daughter to hit .600 in Texas fast-pitch softball leagues. But most importantly, he comes from a sport where precision is king. Ask any golfer if they’re as obsessed about Ball Exit Speeds and Launch Angles like we are, and they’ll look at you as if a third eye grew in the middle of your forehead overnight.
What good is Ball Exit Speed if the ball is not going towards the hole? And Launch Angles matter depending on the distance to the target. And by the way, the angled club face kind of takes care of Launch Angles for golfers anyway.
Put yourself in a golf mindset for a moment. Imagine thinking about hitting, like you would golf? Precision. In the above interview, Joey Votto mentions the best hitters can hit the ball where they want, when they want. This may not be 100% true in games, but during Batting Practice most surely. How many of your hitters can do that? Not many of mine, but we’re working on it.
Precision. This is not being talked about or taught in today’s baseball and softball circles. How to control the line drive. The height AND width of it. Why are we so obsessed with the vertical aspect of the field and not the horizontal? So many coaches out there believe a hitter can’t have power without sacrificing swing quality. An increase in power doesn’t have to dampen Batting Average and/or increase a hitter’s Strikeouts.
Precision. How to control the line drive. It’s not easy, but it CAN be done. Hitters CAN have a high Batting Average (even though BA isn’t a good indicator of value anymore, according to Sabermetrics), power numbers, and low strikeout totals. And I think Joey Votto touched on what I feel is just the tip of the iceberg. Here are the few key things to look out for in the above interview:
- This idea of Precision. Controlling the line drive.
- Setting hitting goals and reverse engineering purpose of the swing.
- The idea of using a batted ball as feedback to make adjustments (not new for golfers btw).
Without further adieu, here are…
My Joey Votto Interview Notes on his 2018 Hitting Approach
- About 0:20 second mark, Votto believes talking Launch Angles isn’t telling the whole story, how complete you are as a hitter, rebuts Josh Donaldson’s “ignore coach if he tells you to hit a ground-ball” comment, all fly-balls are not good fly-balls,
- About 1:30 minute mark, Votto talks about how hitters like Donaldson, et al. can hit a ball with any trajectory to any part of the ballpark, he uses golfer with a bag of clubs metaphor, doing anything you want at anytime is the story we’re not telling, best hitters can do everything – he brings up Mike Trout (diverse array of skills),
- About 3:00 minute mark, Eric Byrnes asked Votto how his approach has changed since coming into league in 2007, give away less pitches, anytime he takes a swing there’s intent or purpose to each swing (not being reckless), since he’s aging as a player, Votto isn’t able to make up for swing inefficiencies he could with a young athletic swing,
- About 4:30 minute mark, Byrnes asks Votto how he is super-human with his walk to strikeout ratio when the league really doesn’t care about inflated K quantities, making a conscious effort to cut down on K’s, goals – looked to Sabermetrics to see how he could hit .340 or .350 last year and math said he had to strikeout a bit less, mentioned a few years prior his goal was to get on base half the time (OBP would = .500), chokes up, the “con” was it led to softer contact at times, ability to foul off tough pitches, buys a better pitch later in the AB, spreading out, seeing ball a little deeper,
- About 6:50 minute mark, Votto was asked about how he has the highest batting average in his first AB, how important is starting game off with good momentum, separated each AB like it’s their own thing, focusing on one AB at a time, every single game over an entire season, sticking with plan in the long run, Jay Bruce “to hit homer, you have to miss homers”, focus on process,
- About 8:40 minute mark, Byrnes asked Votto, “I have a 6yo boy at home, what’s the #1 thing you’d teach him about hitting?” Let the ball be your feedback. Spending too much time on mechanics, ball is going straight in the air, ground-ball, in the air, is the ball coming off 4-seam, on a line with backspin, story about watching Albert Pujols with Cardinals on a line with backspin.
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Joey,
Great stuff. Is this now the anti- Donaldson interview? Like what he said about cutting down on strikeouts.
Haha Joe, some may watch this interview and say that. In my opinion, Votto is telling the “whole” story. Many on social media are frustrated with the coaches teaching an extreme uppercut because they translated Donaldson’s interview last season into that. That is wrong. Just like it’s wrong to teach hitters to hit the ball on the ground, which Votto agreed with in this interview. Precision with line drives is the way to go.
Joey, just wondering your thoughts about two strike approach. I like players to spread out and cut down the stride if they are comfortable doing it, but I’m not the biggest fan on choking up. I guess the reason is the same reason why I don’t like hitters moving closer or farther away from plate. I feel you lose sense of where the plate is and when you choke up you lose sense of how much bat you have to reach outside pitches. I was just wondering your thoughts. Thanks.
Jonathan, good question. I don’t really work on 2-strike approaches with my hitters. Votto mentioned it along with the caveat that it leads to softer contact. Votto also revealed that he’s aging as a player, younger pitchers are throwing harder, and it’s more crucial to him now that he has to fight off some pitches to get a better one. There are other more important things we can teach our young hitters to cut down on strikeouts, #1 being smoothing our their barrel paths. Too many erratic barrel path, up, down, and rolloer coaster style.
Joey,
Thank you for posting this. I’ve started using precision hitting with my more advanced hitters. It’s very challenging but they’re starting to adapt. Do you have any drills or ideas how to practice this?
Thanks
Awesome Mark!! Simple. I use external cues, using ball flight as feedback, on the vertical and horizontal sight plane. My hitters learn to make adjustments away from ground-balls and fly-balls by getting back to the line drive. On the horizontal, we work on hitting external targets out on the field with whiffle balls. This post may help: https://hittingperformancelab.com/making-adjustments-paradoxical-intention/
Joey, Thanks for the ideas. I’m going try the outside targets when the weather cooperates.
You got it Mark! I know weather can suck. You can put targets up on the walls (colored tape), and have the hitter dry swing, imagining they’re hitting the target too.