Hitting Manifesto

Mental Approach

Visualizing

  • Visualize taking your best swing and hitting the ball exactly on the barrel as many times as possible.

See every possible scenario and visualize the best swing and result

  • Helps your body repeat movements you’ve practiced– studies done on Olympic athletes show visualizing works.

Know the Situation

  • Ask yourself several questions in the on-deck circle – how many outs do we have? How many runners are on base? What sign might I receive from the coach? Am I prepared to go backside to move a runner? Am I prepared to bunt? Am I ready for a squeeze?

Think these through BEFORE you ever reach the batter’s box.

Pitcher Tendencies

  • Again, ask yourself these questions throughout the game BEFORE you ever reach the batter’s box.
  • Can I time up his fastball? Do I need to adjust getting my foot down? Does he change his motion on off-speed pitches? Does he throw certain pitches in certain counts? Does his alter his pitching motion, and can it affect my timing? Where is his arm slot on each pitch? Does he get frustrated easily? Does his motion change from the stretch? Does he hang his breaking ball? What did he throw to me last at-bat?

Confidence vs. Overconfidence

  • Ties into visualization – know you can do it because you’ve visualized it a thousand times
  • Know that we have confidence in you and we’re not going to criticize you for your performance
  • Remember -- make sure not to overestimate your abilities at the expense of the team. Don’t try and do more than the team needs from you.

Attack the Pitcher

  • You want the pitcher to be afraid to throw you a good pitch.
  • Make him feel like anything he throws you’re going to demolish.

If you’re a pitcher, you know these hitters; approach your at-bats the same way.

Practicing your Swing

  • No ball
  • You should work on all the parts of your swing until it becomes automatic before hitting an actual ball. Move to the tee once you can repeat your swing over and over again.
  • Tee Work
  • Dead Red Hitting

Work different spots to keep swing consistent. You should start hitting an actual ball first on the tee and take it as seriously as a game-time at-bat.

Imagine a pitcher going through his entire motion and see the pitch he throws onto the tee.

  • Front Toss
  • Once you master the tee, move to front toss to fix timing issues and apply your swing to a moving object. Remember – better to be late than early.

Drill: Angle to pull side – opposite field training

Don’t wave or cast – results in weak contact.

Drill: Angle to backside – opposite field training

Fire back hip back at pitcher

Drill: Outside/Inside – maintaining the same swing

Alternate for 6 pitches and then randomize for 6 pitches.

  • Problems/Slumps
  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Use video and slow motion to help find holes in your swing. Always check lower half first.
  • Ask one of us for help – that’s why we’re here. We want you to succeed as much as you do.

Timing

  • You want your front heel to drop before your hip opens, and you want your hip to open before you hands start. So if your front foot doesn’t get down at the proper time, everything else is off.
  • You should work on your stride and getting your front foot down before anything else moves. If you’re late on your swing, fix this first.

Timing Part 2

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Always better to be LATE rather than early when finding your timing.
  • Using front toss, try and hit the ball out of the catcher’s glove – hit line drives to right field (OPPO).
  • Don’t be jumpy and spin out front leg – get your foot down earlier.

Practicing starting late eventually gets your bat in the zone longer and helps you adjust to different speeds on game day.

“See the Box, Hit the Dot”

  • You want to pick up the pitch as soon as possible to have the best chance at making solid contact. This is especially important for recognizing breaking pitches.
  • Imagine a box next to the pitcher’s head – this will help you see the ball early to pick up off-speed pitches
  • I personally look at the button of the pitcher’s hat

Helps if pitcher has a jerky motion that makes it difficult to visualize the box

Pitches to Hit – Fastball Counts and Off-Speed

  • Hit your pitch – one pitch, one spot. If it’s not there, lay off – you’ve still got a couple strikes. Don't hit his pitch until you have no other choice.
  • Fastballs are typically your best bet – look for pitches that are up in the zone but stay below your hands.

Breaking Pitches

  • Pick them up early.

“If it’s high, let it fly. If it’s low, let it go.” Hanging breaking balls are some of the easiest pitches to hit.

2 Caveats:

  • Don’t vault up on your back foot to attack high pitches; you’re asking for a groundout.
  • Make sure the pitch is still below your hands.

Keep hips square – R/R and L/L break away from you, so don’t “leak out” with your hips.

Be careful not to keep too much weight back; keep hands back instead.

Don’t slide your front heel, and don’t vault off your back foot.

Make sure knee doesn’t flex past your toe and stays inside your foot.

  • The only way to hit a change up is if your hands stay back and behind the baseball. If you lunge or start your hands before your hips, you won’t be able to adjust to the timing difference.

(There’s a reason the change-up is the toughest pitchfor high-school hitters).

First at-bat against a pitcher

  • TAKE.

Use this pitch to make sure your timing is correct and to pick up the arm slot and release point. Take it seriously.

“Process Over Results”

  • Always trust the process for hitting line drives rather than focusing on the specific results in a game.
  • Imagine you lunge out on a 2-0 pitch and hit a weak ground ball that gets through for a hit. That’s poor process, and you should make an adjustment next at-bat.
  • In the same way, imagine you crush a line drive right at the center fielder on that same 2-0 pitch. That’s great process, and you shouldn’t focus on the results.
  • Focus on what you can control and do it to the best of your ability. Don’t let one bad at-bat turn into another one later. Trust the process.

Stance

Feet

  • Shoulder-width apart – make sure your back foot has the weight on the inside half
  • You will load into/against this foot (place a glove under the outside part of your foot to make sure you’re loading into/against that food and not onto that foot).
  • Weight on the balls of your feet, not your toes or heels.

Knees

  • You should be in a position where you can comfortably jump (an athletic stance)Both knees should have a decent amount of flex in them. Don’t stand tall on your back foot.
  • Be sure your back knee doesn’t carry out past your back toe – this is going to make your butt stick out some and help your spine angle.
  • You want to maintain the same flex in your back knee for the entire swing – don’t extend your back leg (weak grounder) and don't squish the bug (pop up).
  • Everything you do with your knees affects the bat path and plane later (check Swing Plane video below).

Hips

  • Square and closed toward pitcher
  • All the power you generate comes from your quads and core. If the hips fly open too early or too late, you lose both.
  • Think about your bat path and plane in your stance.

Spine

  • You want a solid spine angle throughout the swing similar to a squat position.
  • If you’re too upright, you can’t generate momentum with your core.
  • If you bend too far forward, you’ll throw off your eyes and be unable to keep the bat on plane.
  • Find the sweet spot in the middle.

Shoulders

  • Like the hips, shoulders should stay square and closed toward pitcher
  • Don’t get your shoulders going before your hips.

Elbows

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Back elbow should be loose and relaxed at the moment the load starts. Watch out for the chicken wing.
  • Front elbow should be slightly lengthened (not fully extended) to help keep your hands back. Check the video for a good visual.

Hands

  • Line up knuckles on bat (like a hammer or knocking on a door) and keep the bat in your fingertips.
  • Keep them attached to your back shoulder as long as possible. “Keep the hands back” – you’ll hear this quite a bit.
  • When you load, you’ll need to separate your hands even further back from your shoulder (in the direction of the catcher).

Head and Eyes

  • Throughout the load and swing, your head and eyes should move as little as possible.
  • Figure out where your head needs to be at the point of contact, and then position your stance to have your head in that exact position for less movement.

Rhythm

  • You want to stay in rhythm after you get into your stance. Don’t let your muscles freeze up and make you unable to explode through your swing.
  • Tap your front toe to simulate the beginning of your load. You should be shifting your weight against your back foot just like you would at the beginning of your swing.

Load

Into/Against

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • When you transfer weight, make sure your back knee stays in front of your back foot. You lose all power if you rock onto your back foot.
  • Instead, load into or against your back foot to generate drive back through the zone.
  • Use a wall or fence to practice – the outside of your back knee shouldn't hit the wall.

Use a glove to make sure you’re using the inside of your foot.

Launch Position

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Second video starts around the 2:00 mark

Hands back, shoulder slightly turns in, consistent flex in back knee.

Put yourself in a position to pull your hands through the zone quickly.

  • Barrel of the bat should be in a box above your head.

Eyes

  • Same video as Launch Position
  • Keep both eyes on the ball throughout the load and swing – your head should move as little as possible.
  • If you see your head moving on video, check your legs for lunging or squishing the bug.

Back Leg

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Your back leg should drive into the zone rather than rotate around.

Don’t squish the bug.

  • Make sure your first movement causes the inside of your knee to move forward (hitting the tee in the drill).

Insidethe Ball

  • Your biggest upper body focus during the load should be maintaining your hand position inside and behind the ball. Don’t get your hands in a hurry and lose all your power in the core and lower half.

Foot Down

  • Get the front foot down early. Your weight and pressure should be on the inside part of the big toe, and then drive your heel into the ground. Be careful not to spin your heel once your toe touches. This throws your hip open too soon and loses your lower half.

Stay “Behind” – Not “Back”

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Stay behind the ball. Your load should go against your back foot rather than onto it. Your knees shouldn’t go beyond your toes.

Swing

Swing Plane

  • Pro Speed Baseball
  • Getting your hands to the ball is crucial. If your hands are compact, your swing plane will follow and allow you to hit each part of the zone.

Drive

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Be careful not to transfer too much weight back. You should be able to comfortably step over the ball.

Stride with Hips

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Increasing hip torque – use a box to make sure you’re not spinning your back foot around (squishing the bug).

Don’t drift away from the box (cheating the drill).

  • Square your hips, and be ready to drop, open, and fire. If you stride with only your foot in mind, you risk opening your hips too early and losing power/stepping in the bucket. Think hips instead.

Try your opposite (righty -> lefty and vice versa) to get a feel for it especially when using band workouts.

Stride with Foot

  • Dead Red HittingDead Red Hitting 2
  • Lift leg while maintaining balance and posture
  • Stride forward slowly and under control. You want to gain ground to get the proper separation in your lower half.
  • Land on inside part of your big toe

Hands separate from body toward backstop and stay behind ball.

  • Once your toe hits, drive heel straight down through the ground.
  • You should gain ground on your stride (about 6 inches or so). You can see Cabrera’s stride in the first video
  • You want to feel your foot go up and over similar to stepping over a ball.

Picking up the front foot opens the angle on your hips to stay behind the ball and keep your hands back longer. Make sure foot gets down before hips rotate

Hips Open, Shoulders Square, Hands Back

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Great Hosmer slow-motion video here. You can see his hips start to open as his hands stay back over his back foot.

You can also see him load into/against his back foot and push his back knee forward rather than rotating his lower half.

  • His shoulders stay square without dipping to compensate for his hips opening. Keep the front shoulder closed.
  • Don’t rotate your hips before your heel drops.

Hands inside Barrel

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • You can get a good angle from the front of the swing.
  • Keep hands tight behind the back shoulder until you release the swing.

Keeps your swing on plane to keep bat in zone longer once it gets out in front of the plate.

Like you’re throwing the bat back up the middle.

  • Watch for barrel flashing across the zone early.

Hands Stay Back

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Slingshot

Start rotating your hips while keeping your hands back. Helps generate power and initial bat momentum to whip through the zone.

Drill uses a band to keep hands back (tied to screen or fence)

Make sure you get separation in the lower half (stride) and upper half (hands away from body).

Shaft to Shoulder

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • You want the barrel of the bat almost touching the shoulder before contact.
  • Point the knob of the bat toward the pitcher at the same time.
  • You can stop your swing at this point before contact to see if you’ve got the “shaft to shoulder” position.

The Mass Follows the Force

  • Pro Speed Baseball
  • Start at 3:10 mark
  • Force is the forward movement of the hands; mass is the sweet spot of the bat. The mass always follows the force.
  • Watch the bat on the ground for a simulation of how speed naturally gets the bat on the proper plane.

Inside, not Around

  • Make sure hands stay inside and not around the baseball.
  • Watch for “flashing” through the zone too early (front toss).

Palm Up, Palm Down

  • At the point of contact, you should have the top hand palm up and the bottom hand palm down. Once contact is made, extend your arms toward the pitcher to generate power.

Torque Angle

  • After the load, the barrel of the bat should be at a 45-degree angle and fit in a box above your head.
  • When you pull your hands through the zone, you will generate the proper momentum and bat plane for more solid contact.

Head on Ball

  • Dead Red Hitting
  • Helps keep you on path and in the zone.

Don’t bend your back to get closer to the ball – keep spine angle.

  • Your back shoulder should push into your chin

Wrist Roll

  • Make sure you extend after contact for maximum power
  • After extension, roll your wrists to finish the swing.
  • Don’t over-do this motion; let it be natural instead. Emphasizing the wrist roll can affect other parts of your swing.

Finish