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What I’ve learned about coaching hitting
- Each hitter is unique, so coaching them the same way doesn’t work. Mentally, I must evaluate how much instruction each player can handle. Some can handle many hitting concepts, whereas others can only focus on one thing at a time. Physically, I may do the opposite with two consecutive hitters because of their habits. For example, some hitters don’t stay back, while some do not transfer their weight. The two habits require different coaching approaches.
- A hitting coach’s job is less about what they know and more about what they see. Many coaches “talk a great game” but fail to see and analyze a hitter correctly. Once the problems are seen, it takes time and attention to get to the root cause. Many people correctly analyze, “Oh, he’s stepping in the bucket.” It’s never as easy as saying, “Don’t do that.” However, the why and how to fix it take a solid hitting coach. Parents should do some research before going to a hitting coach!
- All hitters, no matter how accomplished, have a hole in their swing – a pitch or location that presents the most trouble. The best hitters learn to lay off or adjust to it, which may move their “hole” to another spot. My hole was inside pitches, but I could adapt. Then, my trouble came with the outer half pitches. It’s a “pick your poison” situation. As a coach, I help hitters learn to identify their trouble spot and lay off it until two strikes.
- Practice can be overrated. The right way is difficult, so practicing without knowing it’s fruitful reinforces the hitter’s previous habits. With that in mind, it’s infrequent to see sustained progress with a hitter who practices with their dad, mom, or even their regular coach. Unless they have a good deal of training, only practice with an inexperienced person doesn’t work. I wish I had a dollar for every player I finally figured out, only to see them completely change after going home and working on it incorrectly. Less can be more!
Hitting Guru Absolutes
- The above point leads to this one. Athletes, specifically hitters, have natural tendencies; more often than not, those are negative regarding the needed finely tuned batting mechanics. As a hitting coach, I try to help players understand what they do compared to what needs doing and help them believe that, in time, the correct way is possible. Bad habits can be overcome with suitable drills, but without continual attention to overcoming them, the bad habits return sooner than you can imagine. It pays never to neglect a player’s natural moves!
- There are very few bad drills if they at least explain a proven hitting fundamental, but there are many ill-timed and misused drills. See #1 above. When I see a drill not working relatively quickly, I find a new one that does. The hitter must understand why they do a specific drill and whether they are good at the actions. Of course, some drills are silly in that there is a much more logical solution than doing a drill just meant to show others you may know more than others.
- Be careful of the coach patting their back because of one fine hitter. They would probably have been just as proficient without much help. For every one hitter who is tearing it up, there’s a high chance that many others they work with are struggling. It’s the nature of hitting and the business, so don’t fall for the coach who touts too much efficiency. Hitting is hard, and teaching it is more complicated, and it often keeps me up at night trying to figure out how to turn the struggling ones into productive hitters.
- Parents should not expect team coaches to solve their players’ hitting problems. Coaches have enough to do besides figuring out how to help each player hit. Most coaches have a general idea of what’s wrong but little knowledge of how to solve things. However, parents should expect the coaches to stay positive and continue to give players equal opportunities.
- There is no such thing as too fast or too slow of batting practice pitching, and throwing different speeds in batting practice is preferred for all ages. There is no better way to give hitters timing issues than always to face the same speeds.
- A batting tee is a mandatory hitting prop to utilize. All the other props may work, but until I try them, I don’t know, and that gets pretty expensive. A batting tee used correctly, and where the ball flight can be correctly analyzed, is the best hitting tool available. Once again, knowing how to use it and analyze the results makes a good coach. I often tell my players that hitting is simply t-ball with timing.
- A surprising red flag as to whether a hitter has a good swing is hearing, “He, she never strikes out.” It’s probably not a good sign because the correct swing, which means a hitter can drive the ball to all fields, entails occasional swings and misses. It’s the nature of a good swing. I often say, “Great swing, tough pitch, and a fundamental swing fouls off tough pitches. A lousy swing puts balls in play but is easy out, as the player may have good hand-eye control.
I will have more of these as I go. It’s good to understand that hitting isn’t rocket science, but it helps to be a rocket scientist when trying to get players to do the basics and become accomplished hitters.
Finally, the above is not meant to praise my profession as a hitting instructor. Unfortunately, a large percentage of paid instructors are not qualified. Most mean well but see point two below for an explanation. The following are some interesting observations from coaching baseball and softball hitting for the past 35 years.