- Ron Moore, Hardball Guru

It has been said that hitting a baseball is the most difficult skill in sports.  If this is true, it is not only complex to execute, but also complex to teach and learn.


One of my pet peeves is that teachers (both parents and coaches) too often over simplify the process of teaching how to hit.  This, both demeans the hitter by not giving him enough credit to learn, as well as leaves too much to chance. Every component to hitting is important, particularly at the collegiate level and above!  My attention in teaching the crucial components of hitting is at the high school level and above.

Another of my pet peeves is that teachers (again, parents and coaches) tend to teach hitting according to their own biases.  By that I mean they burden the student hitter with outmoded instruction, prone to the same mistakes of the past, and cloning hitters to be the same hitter that they were.  Players have differing capabilities and limitations, and they need to be taught accordingly.  Hitters capable of blasting the ball to the fence line (and over) should be taught differently than those who do not have that potential.  Now, everyone wants to hit the ball hard, but it should be just as rewarding for the contact hitter to line a shot through the hole or in the gap as it is for the 3 or 4 hole hitter to 'go yard.'


Ok then, what are the crucial components of hitting common to all hitters?  I might have said 'component' (in the singular rather than plural), because in my mind only one stands out -- timing.  Timing is the ability to hit the ball when the mechanics of the swing are at the optimum point to drive the ball hardest on any given pitch.  This should be universally accepted as the most crucial component to hitting, regardless of the type of hitter or his potential.  If so accepted, we can then identify the other components that are crucial to hitting the ball on time. 

The most significant component of timing is the contact point.  It has 2 dimensions.  The first dimension is relative to the path of the ball, or, in other words, its location (in, middle, or away).  Pitches that are inside should travel less distance on contact than pitches that are away.  The other dimension of the contact point is relative to the bat-on-ball location.  Of course, the hitter's goal is to always make contact on the sweet spot of the bat.  This component of the contact point dimension is determined by the location of the hands at full extension relative to the barrel of the bat.  Furthermore, in order to hit line drives or get loft on the ball, the sweet spot should contact the mid-point or slightly lower on the ball.  This component of the contact point dimension is determined by the plane (or swing path) of the bat. 


Hitting the ball on time and at the right spot is all about eye/hand coordination.  The expression "see the ball, hit the ball&" has great merit.  But many hitters (and teachers of hitting) seem to think that seeing the ball comes naturally or is a simple matter of looking or watching.  The truth of the matter is that the 'see the ball' component of hitting the ball on time is, in and of itself, complex.

This can be validated by the frequently heard comments from professional hitters indicating that they see the ball especially well when they are pounding the crap out of it, or not so well when they are in a slump. The ball seems to be as big as a melon coming in the zone in slow motion, or as small as a pea shot from a cannon.  Similarly, the 'hit the ball' component of hitting on time is no can of corn either.  Quick hands (quick bat) are a major asset to the delivery of the barrel of the bat to the contact point at the proper time, as is getting the hands (and therefore the bat head) in the proper swing path. All this boils down to recognizing and reacting to the pitch, both of which can be taught.


Presuming that I've established that timing is the most crucial component of hitting, and that the contact point is timing's most important sub-component, then how do we teach these to our hitters?  The answer is through drills (no big surprise!).  I don't have any silver bullets or proprietary drills, just the emphasis on timing and contact point.

There are, however, 3 categories of drills:  Vision, Depth and swing path at contact, and Bat speed.  So here goes...

1Pitch recognition and seeing the ball big is obviously extremely important, and these qualities can be taught and improved with vision training.  Likewise, concentration exercises are beneficial.  Soft and hard focus drills when the pitcher begins his delivery and then tracking the pitch through the hit zone should be standard.  This can be done while pitchers are in the bullpen, insuring that hitters take quality looks on every pitch by calling the pitch at release point ("fastball", "curve", "change") and also calling "hit" or "take" in specific pitch counts.  Bunting drills and numbering (or coloring dots) on baseballs are excellent for tracking and concentration.  Using wiffle golf balls and small diameter bats with designated sweet spots (Swift Stik) make baseballs seem bigger when standing in the batter's box.

2There are numerous depth and swing path drills.  I suggest using these drills in a progressive manner, emphasizing the relationship of the position of the hands to the bat head at contact.  For pitches middle-in, the bat head must be in front of the hands; for center cut pitches, hands and bat head should be in line; and for pitches middle-away, the bat head should lag behind the hands.  For the vertical zones, I like to emphasize the use of the front elbow.  For low pitches, the front elbow comes up to put the swing plane on line with the pitch plane.  For high pitches, the front elbow remains at launch level, again to match swing plane with pitch plane.  In both cases, the rear elbow is equal and opposite.  Have hitters begin with phantom swings, imagining pitches to 5 hit zones (high-in, low-in, wheel house, high-away, and low-away).  At the proper contact point, the arms should be at full extension and swing plane matched to pitch plane.  Progressing to tee work, use similar zones to hit off the tee.  The problem with standard tees is that the post is not adjustable, and therefore, hitters lose the reference point for the zone they may be working.  Posts that move around the plate base are excellent for working depth and swing path to the desired contact point.  The next natural progression would be soft toss.  As with tee work, the toss has to be to the zone and depth where the contact point is being worked, so that the tosser's responsibility is important.  Progression to the next stage would be short toss where the tosser is 15-20 feet in front of the hitter behind a screen.  This would be the first exposure the hitter has in which he has to allow the ball to get to the proper depth before contact is made.  The next drill I especially like, angled hitting.  Here the hitter takes his normal stance at the plate, but the tosser is 8-10 feet to the 1st or 3rd base side of the mound behind an L-screen.  When on the 1st base side, the tosser throws to the back hip of the hitter (righty), working the outside pitch, and the hitter drives the ball back at the screen.  When on the 3rd base side, the tosser throws in front of the lead hip, working the inside pitch, again, driving the ball at the screen.  (Of course for lefties, the procedure is reversed.)  After decent proficiency with angled hitting, the hitter is ready to take normal batting practice, under close supervision (maybe with incentives/consequences) to insure good swing path and contact point.  BP with specific counts is always a good idea. 

3There are about as many bat speed drills as depth and swing path drills.  The main idea here is that the quicker the bat, the longer the hitter has to see and adjust to the pitch.  And, of course, the more thump on the ball.  Quick bat drills don't have to be done progressively as do depth and swing path drills, but the essential ingredients are the hips pulling the hands and a short swing path to the ball.  My primary emphasis is on keeping the hands inside the flight of the ball (which makes for a compact stroke). 

This is especially difficult on inside pitches, and therefore needs close monitoring.  Outside pitches also can present problems relating to casting out and not allowing the pitch to get deep before contact.  For hips torque emphasis, place the bat at waist level behind the back, holding it in the crease of the arms.  In this position, pop the hips, limiting the front shoulder from pulling off.  The fence drill is especially effective in developing compactness because it forces the hitter's hands/elbows to stay close to his body until full extension.  Close monitoring to prevent the hitter from pulling the front shoulder is required.  Dropping balls from head or shoulder level (and lower) is a good quick reaction drill.  As with soft toss drills, insure the ball is dropped at the proper depth relative to the pitch location to be worked.  Another good quickness drill is to have hitters take one-handed swings (top and bottom hands), either/both off a tee or soft toss.  Emphasize the use of hands and arms and minimizing the follow-through rather than pulling off the front shoulder.  A final quick reaction drill is the 2 ball soft toss, in which both balls are tossed simultaneously and either "top" or "bottom" is called out while the balls are in the air. 

Notice that I have not mentioned much about the bio-mechanics of the swing.  It's not that mechanics are unimportant.  Certainly the grip, stance, load-stride-torque, swing, and follow-through have an important place in the teaching of hitters, maybe especially so for power/rotational hitters.  Power originates from the ground up, and since hitting is an explosive event, timing (there's that word again) and sequential coordination of bio-mechanics--rotation around an axis, thrust from the inside of the back leg, center of gravity, and dynamic balance--are needed to be an explosive hitter.  And none of this even touches on the mental aspect of hitting (much of which is best learned from experience) and is at least as crucial as everything noted herein.  However, as I've noted, the components associated with timing (vision, depth and swing path, and quickness) seem to me to be the most universal crucial components to the teaching of hitters.