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Reply With QuoteI would choose being a good low ball hitter.... Unless there is a scouting report on the hitter indicating he can't handle the high stuff, most pitchers in general try to keep the ball down.
If your son was on track to play HS baseball, right-handed hitter:
And the baseball gods presented you with a decision: Your son could be:
Really good at hitting pitches in the lower 1/2 of the zone, but worse-than-avg. at hitting pitches in the upper 1/2
or
Really good at hitting pitches...upper 1/2 of zone...but worse-than-avg. in the lower 1/2.
What would you decide, and why?
Please note, this is hypothetical.
Skip
I would choose being a good low ball hitter.... Unless there is a scouting report on the hitter indicating he can't handle the high stuff, most pitchers in general try to keep the ball down.
Would rather hit low balls. Of course, his "fatal flaw", as I call it, will find him the further up the ladder he goes.
I generally hit deep fly balls on the high pitch if i dont pop it straight up. But on the low ones, lots of low line drives. Most of the time hit harder than stuff up in the zone but not with the same carry.
If a player doesn't handle the higher strikes well but he handles the lower pitches well what flaw would that indicate to you? I know this is a general question without seeing the hitter but normally what does this mean?
Thanks
Mark
For players who don't handle the higher strikes well, it is often a strength and/or compactness-of-swing issue because when swinging at higher pitches there's not much gravity-assist to help generate quickness/bat-speed.; but make sure you aren't seeing the glass 1/2 empty when it's really 1/2 full.Originally Posted by 2zwudz
For example, if you currently are very disciplined about laying off high cheese, and can fight (foul off) high strikes off when you have to, and murder everything below your belt, that works for me.
Last edited by skipper5; 11-12-2009 at 03:20 PM.
Skip
Of course low ball hitter. The basic pitching strategy every LL pitcher learns is "keep the pitches down" and this is for good reason.
I would teach them hitting the low to mid mid ball and lay off the high ones.
Later you can gradually teach to hit the high ones. Of course on the higher level you must have some high ball hitting ability. You should be able to hit a belt high fastball at high level.
Keep also in mind that the strike zone of the highest level is today from knees to slightly above hips(unlike the 60s when chest high pitches where called strikes). It's still the rules, but no MLB umpire today gives letter high pitches.
If you cover the zone from the knees to the belly button you should be fine.
Yeah. Low ball. IME, most times the pitcher goes up, it's a ball. Hurt them where they want to live.
For my son I would say I would rather him kill the high ball but not the upper half of the strike zone. Rather the ones above his shoulders. Since he can't freaking keep himself from swinging at them he might as well crush them.
Last edited by coach scotty; 11-12-2009 at 11:00 PM.
Isn't it the truth? lol
Low ball .... pitchers are taught to work the knees so you see more of them.
“If there was ever a man born to be a hitter it was me.” - Ted Williams
"Didn't come up here to read. Came up here to hit." - Hank Aaron
I had a thought. If more pitchers attempt to throw more pitches low than hi, and more hitters attempt to become low ball hitters, wouldn’t the pitcher who can throw the ball “up” have a decided advantage?
Of course I'm talking about pitchers who can do more than lob the up to the plate with little idea about where it's going.
Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.
Interesting point.
All "modern" hitting theories encourage an improved way to get on the plane of the low pitch than was previously taught back in the day.
If this spawns coming generations of gifted low-ball hitters, it will be interesting to see if HS pitch-callers become more imaginative in the vertical axis.
At the least, softer-throwing 75mph HS P's who live by keeping the ball down may become relatively less effective.
Last edited by skipper5; 11-13-2009 at 02:23 PM.
Skip
I was thinking along the same lines, especially with younger players. A Little Leaguer who can really throw heat probably would be better off throwing chest-high fastballs, especially since most of the batters he or she will face are going to lack the strength to put a good swing on a high pitch.
This got me thinking: I wonder how many coaches out there have seen good results from young batters who can hit balls high in the zone and also pitchers who can throw heat high in the zone, only to watch them have considerably worse results as they grow older and the pitchers that batters face become more disciplined and keep the ball lower and the batters that pitchers face become stronger and develop swings that can really wallop a ball left up in the zone. A coach who doesn't see the bigger picture might want to just ride on the current success of his players and ignore the rocky road that those players might face in their development if they don't start making adjustments to their game and anticipate the way the game will change as they get older.
In olden thymes, one of my sons hit very well for avg. and power in HS.
From the time he was 10-11, we worked on "compact swing", "wait-and-be-quick", "short-to-and-long-thru". Never was a thought given to how to get on the plane of lower pitches.
My sketchy memory tells me he hit knee-high FB's hard on the ground when he was forced to swing at them.
With input from BBF et al, he coulda been a contenda.
It's time to adopt an athletic 8yo and turn him into a low-ball hitting HS superstar.
This time I'll be smart, and teach hiim to bat left-handed.
Not being sarcastic. It would be fun to give it another go.
Last edited by skipper5; 11-13-2009 at 03:16 PM.
Skip
That's true to some extent I think.
But with the high pitch there are several problems.
1. generally lower pitches are harder to hit because it's harder to have a "connected" swing on very low balls. That means for most players more adjustments with the hands and less power.
Also there is a bigger chance to get a gb on low pitches because the ball is angling down more and the physical law angle of incidence=angle of exit causes the ball to continue down if it's not actively lifted.
And ground balls are outs at a higher level.
2.To be effective with high balls you must be able to throw quite hard. A slow high ball is likely to get killed.
3. At a higher level often no high balls are called. Unfortunately most umpires today don't call the letter high pitch like they did years ago.
I think the hard high pitch(normally inside) is a great tool for a fireballer that should not be neglected, but the general direction for LL pitchers should be "keep it down". The down pitch gives the biggest problem to technically not polished hitters for the mentioned reasons.
If I had a LL pitcher the only tactical advice I would give him is keep it down and throw strikes. I would not have him worried about inside and outside...
The low pitch is the bread and butter pitch for most pitchers.
dominick,
Another reason low pitches are hard to hit is because your eyes are so far from being on the same plane as the ball.
By the same token, a main reason I used to make sliding catches on sinking knee-high liners in the OF was to get my eyes on the plane of the ball.
We teach first baseman to get their head low on short-hop picks. Same reason.
Skip
It's irrelevant.
