KEY BASEBALL MOVEMENTS David Prager Target Audience Developing

KEY BASEBALL MOVEMENTS David Prager Target Audience: Developing High School Baseball Player With Experience

HITTING MOVEMENTS AND PREPARATION

HITTING Key factors for successfully hitting a baseball 1. Preparation must occur before the at bat. 2. Breathing and relaxation/rhythm methods must be utilized prior and during at bat. 3. Step into the batter’s box and visual cues must be identified. 4. Identify the pitch and physically hit the pitch.

HITTING CONTINUED ( PREPARATION ) • Practice !!!!! • Many repetitions have to occur before you feel that you are able to successfully hit the baseball. • Develop a hitting plan. • Make sure your body is in peak physical condition to optimally hit the ball.

PREPARATION CONTINUED ( TRAINING ) PHYSICAL • Batting practice on the field and in the batting cage. • Develop a weight lifting/exercise plan specific to your body’s needs. • Make sure a flexibility program is added to your preparation.

IN THE BATTER’S BOX Breathing throughout and at a consistent rate. Helps keeps your internal tempo Allows your muscles to not hinder speed due to clenching at contact.

RHYTHM • Rhythm goes right along side with breathing. • Assists in making sure my hips are in the correct position. • Also allows my body to regulate my tempo with the pitcher.

VISUAL CUES • Visual cues are key to recognizing the pitch early. • Maximizes your vision to find the pitcher’s arm slot. • May give you a clue as to what pitch is being thrown.

MENTAL APPROACH • You have to know what kind of hitter you are. • What are my strengths and weaknesses as a hitter. • What pitches do I hit the best. • What have I seen from this pitcher.

MENTAL APPROACH CONTINUED • Identifying what kind of hitter I am. • (Power, scrappy, average, speed ) • Identify what the situation in the game is calling for. • Identify what pitch or location you need to successfully complete your objective.

MENTAL APPROACH CONTINUED • Know what pitches you hit successfully and know which ones you do not. • Once you recognize a pitch that you can handle, do not miss it.

PHYSICALLY HITTING THE BALL • Stance • Hand Load Mechanism • Footwork • Power Contact Position • Extension • Finish

STANCE • Every stance needs to be comfortable and may vary from person to person. • Loose relaxed stance to allow for prep period of hitting in the batters box. • Good foundational base with my feet, roughly shoulder width apart. • Hands should hold bat around back shoulder with approximently 3 -4 inches of spacing.

STANCE CONTINUED • Head, front shoulder, front hip, front knee and front ankle should be facing the pitcher. • Both feet should be parallel with your toes pointing away from your body.

HAND LOAD MECHANISM Lefty • There are many ways to load your hands and body. The barrel needs to get in the proper angle to square up the baseball • Lefty- need to get around 10 -11 oclock. • Righty- need to get around 1 -2 oclock. Righty

TYPES OF LOAD MECHANISMS • Option 1 - Hands go back a little and create space from shoulder to hands and allows counter balance and torque. • Option 2 – Hands go down and back up to create a whipping motion with the barrel. • Option 3 – Shoulder angles in along with front hip which always has to load in order to stay on ball. View hands

FOOTWORK • After hand or body load your front foot has to softly drive to the pitcher. • Your front foot has to touch down and stabilize before your hands and barrel drive to the ball. • If your foot is not down this will allow your hips to pull out earlier and not hit the baseball as hard as you would like. • Front leg once stable will lock out. Back foot and hip will drive forward as barrel comes through the zone.

WATCH THE BALL MAKE CONTACT • Do not let your head leave before you hit the ball.

POWER CONTACT POINT AND EXTENSION • Power contact point is the power V position. • Hands and arms look like a V when making contact. • Top Hand- Palm up • Bottom Hand- Palm Down

POWER CONTACT AND EXTENSION • After contact happens, allow barrel to go forward in order to stay in the hitting zone. • Ball down the middle- barrel extension to center • Inside- extension to pull side outfield • Outside- extension to opposite field

FINISHING YOUR SWING • After extension finish swing higher then your shoulder blades for a power hitter. • Finish swing right below your shoulder blade if you are a more linear hitter.

THE END • View examples of some great hitters !!!!