Instructional Articles |
|
Ask the Coach Catching Coaching Defense Drills Fall Baseball General Health & Strength Hitting Mental Game Pitching Softball Youth Baseball  |
More Articles by This Author |
|
 | Hitting Tips |
| Hitting Simplification |
| Lost Secrets of Hitting |
Products |
|
Ask the Coach Catching Coaching Defense Drills Fall Baseball General Health & Strength Hitting Mental Game Pitching Softball Youth Baseball |
Free Baseball Tips Newsletter |
|
|
Tips from the coach, instructional articles, new product alerts and special savings offers, a slice of baseball history, quotes, wit, wisdom, links and much more delivered to your inbox....an informative read at least twice each month!
 |
Effective Two-Strike Hitting
 Printer-Friendly Version |
Send this page to a friend |
Products to Improve Any Player! |
Quality at Bats CD  |
BWP Maple Bats  |
|
Cobra II Combo Pitching Machine  |
One of the most important areas of offensive baseball is the ability to make good contact with two strikes.
The most successful pitchers have the ability to "turn it up a notch" when they have the hitter in a two-strike situation. Unfortunately, many hitters do not raise their level of competitiveness accordingly. Not only does a hitter need to make physical adjustments, but he must also turn up his mental focus to prepare for the upcoming confrontation. It should be "personal!" Here are some ideas in dealing with the two-strike situation:
I. MENTAL OUTLOOK
Imagine yourself backed into a corner of an alley. Someone confronts you and wants your last five dollars. You can either:
A. Submit and give up
B. Try and negotiate a settlement
C. Fight your way out of it
We would like players to have the "C" mentality.
II. PHYSICAL ADJUSTMENTS
A. Choke up on the bat slightly. Bat control is important
B. Move slightly closer to the plate. Take away the outside strike
C. Spread out slightly to insure balance
D. Slightly crouch to shorten the strike zone. This adjustment helps in identifying and laying off the high pitch
III. MENTAL ADJUSTMENTS
Make it clear to the team that taking a third-called strike is unacceptable. There is no doubt that sometimes a hitter is fooled
by a great pitch, and he cannot pull the trigger. However, this situation requires a feisty, competitive mode.
A. Look fastball and adjust
B. Look to go up the middle and opposite field. Protect outside to in
C. Foul off any borderline strikes
D. Fight off or block off inside strikes
IV. ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE
Putting the ball in play has so many possibilities. Keep the strikeouts down to find a correlation with run production. The
difference between ten strikeouts and six strikeouts in a contest is huge! The difference with those four contacts can result in
any of the following:
A. Advanced runners
B. Forced errors
C. Bloop hits
D. Bad hops/lost in the sun
E. Frustrated pitcher
V. CONCLUSION
As a coach, be very positive and complimentary when players compete in two-strike situations.
Sam Piraro has established himself as San Jose State University's most successful baseball coach. In his 16 seasons as head coach, the Spartans have compiled a .570 winning percentage and on February 24, 2002 he recorded his 500th career victory. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment came in 2000 when he piloted San Jose State to its first College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. For his efforts, Piraro was named the 2000 Western Athletic Conference "Coach of the Year." More than 65 of his players have gone on to sign professional baseball contracts.Click here to find hitting videos in our Video Library!
Get free articles, drills and more at www.BaseballTips.com