Hitting Approach

Get a Pitch You Can Do Something With

It's difficult to teach plate discipline to players of all ages. One reason is we want players to be aggressive; from a young age most coaches and parents are telling kids to swing the bat. Umpires in many youth leagues expand the strike zone to try and get kids to swing. We are teaching them from a young age that you better swing at anything close or you'll strike out. In most cases players don't swing because of a fear of getting hit, not because they simply don't want to swing. Spend time with each player at a young age working on the proper way to get out of the way of a pitched ball.

The problem with this "swing at anything close approach" is as a player gets older and pitchers gain better control, this aggressiveness will be used against him as a good pitcher won't throw a strike if a batter is willing to swing at a ball. Ted Williams was once asked by a young ballplayer for some hitting advice, he told the young player that the most important part of hitting is to get a pitch you can do something with. Barry Bonds is a current example of a player that has great plate discipline; he simply doesn't swing at bad pitches. He has a great approach at the plate. The pitcher is going to have to throw him a pitch that Bonds likes or he won't swing. He doesn't give in to a pitcher trying to get him to swing at the pitcher's pitch. What's a pitcher's pitch? That's the pitch the pitcher wants you to swing at and hit because he knows that even if you hit it, it will most likely result in an out.

Plate discipline and having an approach at the plate are essential for development of a hitter. One of the most important lessons you can teach a hitter is that it's okay to strike out. You want a player to be a tough out, but too many young players fear striking out and end up swinging at bad pitches simply because they don't want to strike out. They need to understand that they will have a better chance of success if they go up to the plate with a plan. I heard Joe Morgan explain his approach at the plate and have tried to instill a similar approach with my players. Joe Morgan explained that with 0 strikes, he took 2 inches off of each side of the plate. So instead of the plate being 17 inches wide, he treated the plate as being 13 inches wide. With 1 strike he would use the whole plate and with 2 strikes he would add 2 inches to each side of the plate. I try to emphasize with my players that all strikes are not equal and explain that there is a certain zone that each hitter likes to hit the ball in. With no strikes, I want my hitters to look for a pitch in that zone. We call this his 'hitting zone' and he has to know it well to determine whether to swing or not with a 0 strike count. I equate that to Joe Morgan taking 2 inches off of each side of the plate with no strikes. Below are a couple examples of the strike zone versus the hitting zone with a 0 strike count. The two drills and hitting zone chart listed under 'Related Baseball Drills' below can help you work with players on developing an approach and defining a 'hitting zone' with different counts.

In the images below, notice the hitting zone is smaller than the strike zone for a 0 strike count and expands as the strike counts increases. The 0 strike pitch is the pitch location that the hitter really likes and can handle. The ability to handle the pitch is important. A hitter may love to hit eye level pitches in batting practice but can't handle them well in the game. That pitch shouldn't be part of the hitting zone. This 0 strike pitch is the one that the hitter is confident he/she can drive somewhere and may be a little different from player to player.