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Baseball Tips On Hitting–How To Advance An Important Runner!

August 15, 2011 By 5,865 Comments

With an important runner on second base and no outs, try to drive the ball the opposite way if you are a right-handed batter or try to pull the ball if you are a left-handed batter. You have a much better chance of advancing an important runner on a grounder to the second baseman or even to the first baseman than if you ground out to the shortstop or to the third baseman.

Don’t make the common baseball hitting mistake of losing your aggressiveness when swinging and hitting the ball the opposite way. Don’t lose sight of the obvious fact that the base hit is always more beneficial than simply advancing the base runner.

Look for a pitch that you can hit to the right side of the infield. You may have to take a pitch or so to get the right one. You have to walk a fine line here if looking for a specific pitch though because you don’t want to fall behind in the count. If ahead in the count, you can afford the luxury of looking for that certain pitch.

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If needed, adjust your stance. One of the better baseball hitting tips is to move three or four inches farther away from the plate if you are a right-handed hitter or three or four inches closer to the plate if you are a left-handed hitter. Some very good baseball hitters do just that. They are always looking for any possible edge that can help them hit the ball on the right side of the field or improve their baseball hitting in any way.

The opposing pitcher is usually well aware that you may want to hit the ball on the right side of the field to get an important runner to third base with only one out. If you’re a right-handed batter, a smart baseball pitcher may very well work you mostly over the inside part of the plate and if you are a left-handed batter, he may very well work you over the outside part of the plate.

Just remember that advancing the runner from second base to third base has its time and place and depends on the importance of that particular runner getting to third base with less than two outs. It also is very important as to who follows you in the batting order. If two very weak hitters follow you in the order, you should be focusing solely on getting a hit to knock the runner in.

Baseball tips on hitting require clever use of the mind and not just the body!

You CAN improve and overcome any of your baseball weaknesses if you are a player, a coach, or if you are a parent and your child is struggling. Larry has some FREE baseball tips on hitting and FREE baseball pitching tips available at http://www.larrybaseball.com. You will be raising more than a few eyebrows!

 

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Baseball Tips On Hitting: Eight Baseball Hitting Tips For Your Success!

August 15, 2011 By 6,664 Comments

Here is a list of eight very good baseball tips on hitting that are highly recommended to help you be successful.

1. A Balanced And Workable Stance:

All good athletes are balanced almost all the time no matter what sport we are talking about. It gives you a solid, comfortable foundation, which is where baseball hitting begins. Some very good hitters find it useful to have a little body movement while in their batting stance. They may rock a little back and forth which they find relaxing. It’s almost impossible to have your muscles tighten and tense up when your muscles are moving. You can then be quicker and shift your weight much better than someone who is just standing there like a statue. It’s identical to a goalie in hockey. If he stands up straight like a statue, what chance will he have to move freely to make a save on a slap shot that’s traveling close to 100 mile per hour? What chance will a tennis player have waiting for a serve in excess of 100 miles per hour? None of them will have a good chance and neither will a baseball hitter.

2. Striding With The Front Toes Slightly Closed:

If the toes on your front foot (stride foot) are slightly closed, it encourages you to keep your front hip and front shoulder closed as well. In other words, instead of having the toes pointing straight out away from your body when you take your stride turn them an inch or two inward, back toward the catcher. If you point the front toes out toward the pitcher, it will encourage you to open your front side too early which will create many baseball hitting problems for you. “Staying closed” definitely makes my top three list of important baseball tips on hitting!

3. Have The Bat Fully Loaded When The Stride Foot Touches The Ground:

All the real good hitters have the bat in the “launching position” when their front foot completes the stride. You stride and then you swing. They are two separate movements that should happen very quickly and smoothly but they are separate movements.

4. Making An Aggressive Motion Toward The Pitcher:

A lot of hitters do not do this but all the great hitters do. That is where the ball is coming from and that’s where you should be going. Real good hitters go into the ball to hit it. It’s a common baseball hitting problem to not go toward the pitcher when swinging. The reason it’s such a common baseball hitting problem is because it is simply not natural to move your body toward a baseball that someone is throwing in your direction. But remember, all the great hitters do it.

5. Having A Tension Free Swing:

“Tension is a hitter’s worst enemy,” is one of the many baseball tips on hitting  that’s been around for decades and is still one of the best ever. Tension destroys a fluid, graceful swing that’s necessary for hitting the baseball properly. Don’t squeeze the bat too tightly and don’t tighten up your muscles. Like we mentioned above, many very good hitters have a slight waggle to help them relax.

6. Head Behind The Swing:

The real good hitters actually see the ball a little longer than the weaker hitters. They literally lower and turn their heads when making contact. You simply cannot keep your head facing the pitcher and look at the baseball out of the corners of your eyes when trying to make contact. You don’t have to take my word for it. One of the best baseball hitting instructors of all time proved the point. He photographed an entire MLB All Star game. Through still photography, he saw that every time one of these “all star professional hitters” made contact they were turning their heads from the pitcher to the point of contact! On that point alone, I rest my case. Every single time they made contact. Turn your head!

7. Hitting To All Fields:

Rarely will you ever find a baseball hitter with a high batting average who limits himself to hitting the ball to only one part of the field. There are very few exceptions, very few. Pay attention to the old expression, “hit it where it’s pitched.” In the long run, you will be much better off.

8. Hitting Through The Ball:

Hitting through the ball is necessary for success and one of the more important baseball tips on hitting. You should pretend that you are trying to hit three or four baseballs that are tied closely together with a piece of string, instead of hitting only one baseball. This will help you keep the bat in the hitting zone longer.

Always remember…baseball tips on hitting require clever use of the mind as well as the body!

About The Author:

You CAN improve and overcome any baseball weaknesses if you are a player, a coach, or a baseball parent and your son is struggling! Larry Cicchiello has hundreds of baseball articles on line and has some FREE baseball tips on hitting and FREE baseball pitching tips available at http://www.LarryBaseball.com. Get ready to be raising a few eyebrows!

Written by Larry Cicchiello
I’m a certified high school baseball umpire and webmaster at http://www.LarryBaseball.com.

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Baseball Tips On Hitting—Excellent One Liners About Baseball Hitting

August 15, 2011 By 5,620 Comments

Sometimes you can say a lot with only a few words. The following list will prove just that.

Your body should be going toward the pitcher and not toward third base if you are a right-handed hitter or toward first base if you are a left-handed hitter. It’s a very common baseball hitting problem because it is extremely unnatural to go toward someone who is throwing a baseball in your direction. But, the truly great hitters all do it.

The faster you move your feet around the better the chances are that you will get “sloppy.” A steady, balanced foundation is as important to good baseball hitting as it is to building a house. Even if everything above the foundation is perfect, whether it be hitting a baseball or building a house, if the foundation is not perfect it will lead to many problems. And “fast hands” are of the utmost importance when hitting a baseball. It’s very frustrating, especially for power pitchers, when a hitter literally just flicks the bat out with very quick hands and hits the ball hard for a hit.

I can not overemphasize how being “short to the ball” is a very critical factor and one of the better baseball hitting tips. Being “short” is an absolute necessity and you will be able to catch up to anyone’s fastball. I would rather pitch against a baseball hitter with a long and very powerful swing than someone who is “short to the ball” any day!

They are two separate movements yet quite often weaker hitters will do them at the same time. Watch and you will see this very common baseball hitting problem often. They should happen in rapid succession but they are separate movements that should be done as smoothly as possible.

An expression that’s been around for decades and still holds true and always will. Hitting a baseball effectively is not an easy thing to do. If you tighten up your muscles it is pretty much impossible to be a good baseball hitter. That’s one of the reasons some very good hitters will have a little waggle with their bodies or their bats while waiting for the pitch. It’s almost impossible to tighten up your muscles when you are moving them. Relax and “let the air out.”

Don’t place too much emphasis on how hard you swing the bat. It’s a very common baseball hitting problem, especially with younger players.They swing too hard and miss the baseball by a foot. Focus heavily on getting the sweet part of the bat on the ball as often as you can. Trust me, just get the bat there and watch what happens. Let the bat do 90% of the work for you. Bat manufacturers spend millions of dollars on research to have the ball jump off the bat when hit on the “sweet spot.” Nobody will ever notice how hard you did or did not swing at the pitch. What they will notice is your “seed” going up the right-center or left-center field gap!

Baseball tips on hitting require clever use of the mind and not just clever use of the body.

You CAN improve and overcome any of your baseball weaknesses if you are a player, a coach, or if you are a parent and your child is struggling. Larry has some FREE baseball tips on hitting and FREE baseball pitching tips available at http://www.larrybaseball.com. You will be raising more than a few eyebrows!

 

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