Baseball Hitting - Are You Popping Up Or Grounding Out Too Often?

Baseball Hitting - Are You Popping Up Or Grounding Out Too Often?
 by: Larry Cicchiello

Every baseball hitter makes outs but quite often there is a pattern. The outstanding hitters pay very close attention to how their outs are being made. Your pattern may be popping up too often or grounding out too often. Let's look at a few baseball hitting tips that are possible quick fixes and are specific and right to the point. 

No matter how high or how low your batting average is, you should pay close attention to how your outs are being made. We improve by working on any weaknesses we have. Even if you are hitting .400, if most of your outs are either on pop ups or grounders, you should be looking to make an adjustment. If you take your baseball hitting seriously, you must make adjustments. Here are some baseball tips on hitting that should help you. 

Grounding Out Too Often and Topping the Ball: 

1. You may be getting your stride foot down too late. This will not give you enough time to get the bat to the hitting zone because your bat will still be too high when the moment of truth arrives, thus topping the ball. 

2. You may be trying to pull the outside pitch instead of going with the pitch to the opposite field. Your bat will have a slight drag to it and you won't be swinging through the ball. 

3. You may be hitting too much off the front foot and not keeping your weight on your back foot. This will cause you to be “top heavy" and most likely hit the top of the ball. 

4. You may be opening your front shoulder and/or front hip too quickly, causing you to pull off the ball and not swing through the ball. 

Popping Up Too Often and Hitting Under the Ball: 

1. Pay very close attention to what your back shoulder is doing. If it is collapsing and dropping down below the front shoulder, there is a very good chance this is the problem. Basically, you are lowering your entire swing and you almost have to swing underneath the ball. The same applies to your back leg. If it's dropping down and “collapsing" too much, that can very easily lead to uppercutting the ball and popping it up. 

2. Make sure you are not dropping your hands too low when actually swinging. This obviously will increase the chances of you hitting the bottom of the baseball. If your hands are too low, your bat will be too low and there is a very good chance you will hit the bottom of the ball. 

3. Make sure the back of your bottom hand is facing the pitcher when you start your swing. Remember, it should be one palm up and one palm down only at the point of contact and not before. 

4. Make sure that your front elbow is pointing downward at the very start of your swing.This is very possibly the most common baseball hitting problem you will ever see. The very beginning of the swing is a downward movement and is not level at all. Only at the point of contact should the front elbow be level and pointing toward the pitcher. If you learn only this one thing, you will see a major improvement in your baseball hitting immediately! 

About The Author Larry Cicchiello is the successful author of "Excellent Baseball Coaching: 30 Seconds Away." His VERY user friendly eBooks and CD's cover 320 topics on playing very good baseball. ALL players, coaches or baseball parents who want to help their child will be fully equipped! Larry.s site offers some FREE baseball tips on hitting and FREE baseball pitching tips. Click Here http://www.LarryBaseball.com/products

Tips On How To Hit A Curve Ball. Every Pitcher Does Not Want You To Read This

Most good baseball hitters eat fast balls for breakfast. The curve ball is an entirely different story. Recognizing it as quickly as possible and you may be eating some curve balls for breakfast also!

Recognizing a curve ball quickly is not an easy thing to do. Hitting a well located curve is not easy either. That's why you will hear the expression, "he's a good fastball hitter" ten times for every one time you will hear, "he's a good curve ball hitter." I'm well aware that part of that is because there are many more fastballs being thrown, so of course more fastballs will be hit harder. But I'm also well aware that the movement on the curve makes baseball hitting much more difficult and the slower speed disrupts timing. The quicker you can recognize that it's the curve that the pitcher is throwing, the better chance you will have of hitting it well. Like we've said many times, a fraction of a second is an eternity when it comes to baseball hitting and it most certainly applies here. That's why pitchers who have "late breaking" pitches are usually very successful, because the batter does not realize it is a breaking ball until it's a fraction of a second too late.

Several Ways to Recognize the Curve Ball Quickly:

* Watch the release point of the pitcher very closely. The pitcher's release point may be slightly different from the fastball point of release.

* Watch the trajectory of the ball as soon as it's released by the pitcher. It could very well have a slight arc to it that is not present on the fast ball.

* Watch the pitcher's arm angle. There's a strong possibility that with the fastball, the pitcher may come almost directly overhand and with the curve he may drop down a little bit. This happens very often.

* Practice watching as many curve balls as possible.

Let's say you play three times a week and get about ten at bats per week. Out of those ten at bats, you see about one curve per at bat, which is about ten per week. I strongly suggest that to improve at recognizing a curve quicker, you must see more than ten per week. If you are serious about baseball hitting and having better at bats against the curve ball, here is what I highly recommend you do.

Whenever you have batting practice with your team, ask your pitcher to mix in some curve balls during your last ten or twelve swings.

If one of your pitchers is pitching batting practice, stand behind the backstop and practice trying to recognize his curve ball as quickly as possible.

If one of your pitchers is throwing a "bull pen," go stand nearby and watch him closely. Try to read the curve as quickly as you can. (If you're serious about your baseball hitting, you will find the time to do these things.)

By doing the things listed above, you may very well be seeing 50 curve balls per week instead of only 10 per week. I'm well aware that it's not as efficient as if you were up there hitting in the batter's box but it will still improve your recognition of the curve. How can it not help? It has to to help you.

Hitting the Curve Ball:

* Quick hands are an essential part of successful baseball hitting. If your hands are quick, you can "stay back" longer. By staying back and not over committing, this is extremely useful when attempting to hit the curve ball. There is much less of a chance you will be fooled by it and be off balance and too far out in front. There is no substitute for having quick hands.

* "Hit it where it's pitched." An old cliche but still is one of the better baseball tips on hitting. A tough low and away curve ball with very good downward movement is not an easy pitch to hit. I highly recommend hitting it to the opposite field. Very few well located low and away curve balls are pulled by a batter and hit well. Very few.

Improve Your Batting Avg. With This Simple Drill

If you can teach a player to bunt properly they will begin Hitting the ball.

Batting is the best part of baseball if they are able to hit with some degree of regularity. It is no fun to bat if you strike out every time. A player should enjoy batting if he can be taught to meet the ball with his bat frequently. A boy who hits a two-bouncer to the pitcher and is thrown out at first can always believe that he would have had a base hit if the ball had gone two feet to one side or the other of the fielder.

How does a player learn to meet the ball?

The answer for most beginners would be to teach them to bunt. Any boy who can catch a ball should be able to bunt one. All he has to do is to catch the ball on the big end of the bat.
To help a boy to catch the ball with his bat, have him bring the bat back slightly as the ball contacts it (the catching motion). Most players find it easier to bunt if they square around facing the pitcher with knees bent and arms extended—but not straight or stiff—so that the bat is in fair territory at shoulder height. The upper hand on the bat handle slides almost up to the trade-mark. Many boys slide the hand up so far that they fail to cover the outside of home plate with the big end of the bat. 

A player must experiment with his grip and stance until he knows that he will be able to bunt any ball in the strike zone.

It is helpful to keep the defensive team from knowing when one is going to bunt. However, with beginners it is more important for the boy to be in proper position in time to control the bat and bunt the ball. Inexperienced bunters often move into bunting position as the pitcher releases the ball. Later they delay in assuming the bunting position as they learn how long it takes them to get ready to bunt.