Posted by: Steve () on Tue Jan 31 12:06:35 2006

Here is a visualization drill that has helped me tremendously. This is a professional hitting approach, but I believe it will help at any level:

Take a regulation sized home plate and line six baseballs across the front of it. This should cover most, if not all of the plate. Next, assume your setup position in the batters box. Now, ideally, we'd like to hit a pitch somewhere in the middle of the strike zone. So, eliminate the two balls on the extreme inside and outside of the plate. This leaves you with four baseballs lining the plate.

Of those remaining four, choose the two baseballs that represent the area of the plate that you hit the best. (middle in or middle out) For me, its middle in, because I want a ball that I can hit up the middle or pull. You have now narrowed "your" strike zone to a width of two baseballs. This is your attack zone. You are gearing yourself up to hit a pitch thrown in this location. Any pitch thrown in your zone, you attack aggressively. Anything outside of your "two-ball zone" you take, ball or strike. Do not widen this area UNTIL you have two strikes. Obviously, with two strikes, you must expand the zone and take a more defensive approach. (two strike tip: gear yourself up to hit the outside fastball, and react on pitches inside. Most two strike pitches are on the outside of the plate. If you look FB, you can always wait for the off-speed stuff. If you look off-speed, you'll never touch a good fastball)

I hope this information helps you. Practice this approach when your team's pitchers are throwing bullpens. Stand in the box and track the pitches from release point to the catcher's mitt. This will really improve your focus and your mental approach at the plate. Also, by concentrating on the pitcher's release point and pitch location, your overall strike zone recognization will improve.

If a pitcher could hit the corners everytime, there would be no baseball. Pitchers make mistakes, and great hitters dont miss those mistakes.