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Todd Thomas - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Like many coaches, I played baseball as a young man growing up. After high school at age 19, I tried out and made it as an outfielder in an Independent Developmental Semi-Pro League in the Fort Worth Area. For 3 years, I played in the Independent league in hopes of developing my skills to the point of being able to play at a higher level. Sure, as a young kid I had dreams of ... [More]
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- Baseball & Softball Swing - Confidence Vs Mechanics
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] Which is more valuable to good hitting? Having perfect mechanics or having unstoppable confidence?
- Baseball & Softball Swing Training - Is Muscle Memory a Myth?
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] Exactly what is muscle memory and how do you create it for a specific thing you want your body to learn to repeat? The term muscle memory is thrown around so loosely, but do those who use the term really know what muscle memory is and how to create it?
- Game Time Hitting Struggles Solved!
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] As a hitter, your goal should be to have practiced your mechanics so repetitively that they eventually become second nature. I was reading in a book on muscle memory this week and it said it takes about 400 hours of repetition for a skill to become FULLY automatic. That's a lot. So if you are looking for a shortcut, you might want to consider an easier athletic endeavor.
- Stop Thinking So Much
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] When it comes to training players especially young players how to swing the bat, it's important to realize that often less is more. Keep it simple so as to get them to stop over-thinking every move. We should help them to stop thinking so much.
- Plate Discipline
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] How important is it to have a good eye at the plate? It's a tremendous advantage for any hitter to swing mostly at pitches only inside the strike zone.
- Hitting Like a Machine
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] Statistics are clear on the fact that line drive hits go for base hits more than any other type of hit. So if you want a high batting average, hit more line drives. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Sure, if you are a machine. But we(hitters) are not machines.
- 5 Core Mechanics to a Good Baseball and Softball Swing
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] What are the 5 core principles of swing mechanics that are present in every good swing? These principles are the foundation of consistent good hitting.
- Hitting to All Fields
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] Having the ability to use the whole field or to hit to all fields, just how important is it? It's an interesting questions if you really think about it. Most would quickly answer that it is extremely important if not the MOST important ability a hitter should have. Is it? I'm not here to really tell you that it either is or isn't. I just want to examine the thought process of some coaches who hold the hard line that this ability is what makes a good hitter or would have you believe that player who can't or doesn't can't hit very well. Really?
- Hitting Did You Knows
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] Did you know a baseball and/or softball bat is one of the few retail products of significant value that comes with no directions on how to use it? Hitting is at the very least 50% from the neck up and very few hitters are taught the mental side of the hitting equation?
- One Perfect Swing
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] Is there one PERFECT swing? That depends on the many variables of the incoming pitch, so isn't the answer really, NO?
- Are You a Hitting "Black Belt"?
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] Exactly what kind of results can a hitting instructor guarantee from working with any given player? Most players and/or their parents think that if they could just get the necessary lessons the results will be there. Were all players meant to be "performers"?
- Style Vs Technique
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] Should the back elbow be up or down? Should the hands be high or low? Should the feet start close together or far apart?
- The Latest Greatest Hitting Training Device
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] What are we saying to our sons and daughters or players in live game situations when they are at the plate? They just might need this "training device" to help them out.
- Numbers That Can Tell a Different Story
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] Here are some of my favorite lesser-known stats that can show why a player might seemingly be "slumping" and should inevitably be breaking out of it OR shows that a player who seems to find every hole is about to make an apparent about face and regress back to the pack: Batting average on balls in play: The average major leaguer's BABIP (or BIPA) hovers around .300. If someone has compiled a significantly higher or lower BABIP (and doesn't have a track record of doing so), some regression to the mean can be expected.
- The 4 Things That Make a Great Hitter
[Recreation-and-Sports:Baseball] There are 4 things that make a GREAT baseball or softball hitter. FOUR CRITICAL THINGS. Leave just one thing out and you can forget about greatness. Be absent of two or three or all four and your going from Good, to Average, to Poor, to finding another easier athletic endeavor.
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