Baseball Hitting Tips

Baseball Hitting Tips

Sometimes the best hitting advice has nothing to do with your swing. This article gives some straight-forward baseball hitting tips that key on how to take advantage of your next at-bat. With these tips, you can expect to see your baseball IQ rise along with your batting average. 

1.  Size up the pitcher.  Since you are likely to see the same pitcher for at least three at bats, it is a good idea to use your first at bat to learn as much as you can about the pitcher.  Do not be afraid to foul some pitches off or to get closer to home plate during warm-ups to get a full for the pitcher’s fastball speed and other pitches. 

2.  Look for a good ball to hit.  Normally, most people would say you are looking for a pitch that is right down the middle of the plate.  However, this may not be the best ball for you.  Some people are great low ball hitters or high ball hitters.  Know from your batting practice where you hit the ball best and look for that pitch. 

3.  Try to get ahead in the count if you can.  By getting ahead in the count, you ensure that the pitcher will either have to pitch to you or walk you.  By pitching to you, the pitcher will likely have to throw you more fastballs and less breaking pitches.  This translates into better baseballs to hit for you. 

4.  See the setup of the defense to hit them where they ain’t.  Take a look at the infield and outfield and see if there are any unique shifts.  Your best bet to get extra base hits will be to try to hit line drives in the holes in the outfield.  If you have practiced your hitting sufficiently, you should be able to take any pitch and put in one of these alleys. 

5.  When you hit the ball to the outfield, always make your turn for a double.  Often times, outfielders will fail to field a ball cleanly giving you a chance to take an extra base.  By making it habit to make a turn on all balls that reach the outfield, you set yourself up to take advantage of it and turn your singles into doubles. 

6.  Know the arm strength of the outfielders to turn singles into doubles.  Take some time during warm-ups to see which outfielders have the weaker arms.  This can be used to your advantage by pushing for a double when the ball is hit to these fielders.  This can be especially effective in high school where the average arm strength can vary from team to team. 

With these baseball hitting tips, you can expect to see you become stronger batter for your team.  Not only will you improve your chances of getting hits by keying on better baseball to hit and driving them in hitting lanes, but you also will become a better thinking base runner resulting in a higher slugging percentage.