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The great Ted Williams
once said, “A good hitter can hit a pitch that is over the plate three times better than a great
hitter with a questionable ball in a tough spot.”
In his book, The Science of Hitting, he makes it
clear that being a selective hitter made him the .344 lifetime hitter he was. When reading his book, this stood out to me as one of the more
valuable and under taught principles in hitting
instruction.
Williams spends a good
amount of time demonstrating the technique he uses to develop a good understanding of plate
zones. What’s interesting is that getting a good
pitch to hit is mentioned in his book prior to his breakdown of proper hitting mechanics. As a side note, be careful that you spend ample time on the
mental game of
baseball otherwise you may never fully get to enjoy your hard work you’ve spent on your
mechanical development.
 Being a selective hitter is an absolute must at all levels
of baseball. Once pitchers observe that you
aren’t going to bite on a pitch that is out of the zone, a choice has to be made on their
end. It’s simple; either give you a good
pitch to hit and see if you can do it, or pitch around you and throw to some other
guy. It’s a tough choice either way, and that’s
how you want it to be. The more thinking going on
in the head of your opponent, the better chance he will screw up and give you a fat pitch to
hit.
Here’s how to learn
this concept Williams teaches. I’ve modified his
idea just a bit but the core is the same. I find it
easier to break this down by individual points.
1. Grab six baseballs and
line them up next to each other on the front of a plate. The six baseballs will cover the entire front end of the plate
nearest the pitcher. (Williams uses seven baseballs,
though I find that six is easier to fit on the plate and serves the same purpose.)
2. Name the balls
numerically beginning with the baseball nearest you as a hitter. The nearest ball would then be the #1 ball, and the furthest ball
on the outside corner would be the #6 ball.
3. During batting practice
learn to identify what range of baseballs you handle the best. That is, what ball do you get excited to see thrown your way
because you know you can tear the cover off it?
Throughout my career I knew I could handle balls #2-#5 quite well and could expand that to add the
#1 ball if need be.
4. When you have identified
your range, #2-#5 balls or #3-#6 balls, or whatever, this range is where you will spend the
majority of your time in batting practice. Many
coaches choose to work on pitches that are toughest for you to hit. Resist this advice for the following reason. If you know that being selective will increase the likelihood
that you will get at least two good pitches to hit in any given at bat on average, then developing
your skills to absolutely crush those pitches is a must. If you can hit the balls hard you’ve chosen in your range 80% of
the time, why swing at balls outside of your range that you can only hit hard 30% of the
time? Now, please understand that I’m not advocating
never practicing the weak areas in your hitting zone; I’m just not advising spending the majority
of your time working on those spots.
5. Learn to use the count to
your advantage by shrinking your zone. On counts of
1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, the ONLY pitch you should be swinging at is one that fits your developing
hitting zone. If you can train your eye to recognize
the pitches that float through this zone on a regular basis, you’re batting average and confidence
will go through the roof. Remember, pitchers aren’t
good enough to identify your weakness and exploit it each time you’re up to bat.
While I get a thrill
teaching baseball hitting mechanics to my students, I
absolutely enjoy teaching hitters to increase their odds at performing to the best of their
ability by winning the mental game of
baseball as well. While you only get about 10
minutes of time to use your hitting mechanics in a game, your brain is working the entire time
you are on the field. Training it to work with your
body instead of sabotaging it will be your ticket to some good fun and success in this great
sport of baseball.
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