eye focus before the pitch is released

[dominik]

Hey here is a question for the real baseball guys in this forum.

vision is very important of course in hitting. you need to pick up the ball as soon as possible to have a chance.
Our eye can have two kinds of focus.

1) a hard focus when the eye is really focused to see an object sharply.

2) a soft focus where you see a larger area but with kinda relaxed eyes. you cover a larger area like that but don't see the objects sharply

Of course you want to sharp focus the ball but the question is how and on what point you focus before the ball is released. I have heard both. some coaches want the hitters to hard focus on the logo on the pitchers cap. the advantage of that is that you are already about in the correct focus distance (since the ball is released near the cap). on the downside with this approach your eyes need to do a "re-search" and jump around find the ball since they are on the cap (and you don't know the exact point where it will come out.

the second approach I have heard was having a soft focus in the area where you expect the ball to come out of. ted williams talks about a square about the throwing shoulder. in that way your eyes are relaxed and can then focus for the first time and doesn't have to jump around to find that ball. you kinda gaze in the empty space.

the downside of this is that you are not already approximately in the right focus depth. also gazing into the empty space is harder than to fixate something with the eye because your eye doesn't have such a clear task.

what should the hitter focus on before release an should it be a soft or hard focus?

[Swing Coach]

D,

People smarter than me in this field have said to focus on the window like Ted says. Reason is your eyes can focus from long to short faster than from right to left. Give yourself the test.

SC

[dominik]

Thanks I usually do that like that too. but I'm not sure if this is the correct way.

how are you other guys doing it here? or do you not care about it at all?

[mellowthunder]

Thanks I usually do that like that too. but I'm not sure if this is the correct way.

how are you other guys doing it here? or do you not care about it at all?

Dominik, you are doing it the correct way if you're getting the results you want. Don't get caught too caught up in finding the correct way for everything. Something like this is not hard and fast like other things. I can't even really tell you how I do it to be honest. It's more instinctual for me. The main things I do are, try to stay loose and relaxed and ignore all the movement of the pitcher. Is it the correct way according to the baseball manual? Who knows, but I'm happy with the results.