While our hitters are struggling, what approach are we going to use to get them out of their slumps? I know hitting mechanics are important, but while the baseball or softball is on it’s flight path – Our hitters aren’t thinking about shoulders, hips and weight shift. I know having the right “state of mind” helps too but – when the pitch is just about to be released, our hitters AREN’T thinking “I can beat this pitcher”… why aren’t they thinking this? Because the ball is COMING !
It has been said, you can learn a lot about a person’s heart, character , interest , just by staring and observing the person’s eyes.
I have been practicing this for years now while I’ve been throwing batting practice. And – outside of the hitting mechanics we can gauge a lot about our hitters, and what they are thinking about, and what they are looking at when we watch their faces just before the pitch is thrown. While examining this I was blessed to learn how what is really getting in the way of our hitters performing better is their inconsistency of processing the pitch… Controlling what I’ve termed the “Starting Line and the Finish Line”.
It is all too apparent to me now, the Hitter’s Biggest Challenge (at home plate) is to process AND control the beginning and the end, the front and the back, the starting line and the finish line. Period! This may sound easy and elementary but – it’s taken years of filing away hitting notes and word pictures to drive home to the hitter an effective way to get these elements across, one in which the hitter can apply while standing in the batter’s box.
The cornerstone to effectively teaching our hitters how to have consistent control of the starting line – is to understand the pitcher’s common denominator ( not the release point). And learn how to time your EYES and time your ADRENALINE to the pitcher’s common denominator. Most good hitters understand internally what the common denominator is, and can’t put it into words. And that’s one of the problems, because, when the good hitters slump, their lack of understanding of how everything works off of the pitcher’s common denominator prolongs their hitting slumps. Therefore – hitting slumps and successful hitting all works off of the premises of understanding the pitcher’s common denominator. When our hitters understand the common denominator we can begin to teach our hitters how to “process” the starting line and finish line. Or as I like to teach it .. “The ball is out THERE, now its right HERE..”
The first step in getting our hitters to perform better is gaining more knowledge about the pitcher’s common denominator. Remember – KNOWLEDGE doesn’t decrease in value, KNOWLEDGE always increases in value. The earlier your hitter learns how to process correctly, the knowledge will become even more VALUABLE!
All of the information you need to beat the slump is found in the video series: World’s Greatest Hitting Formula