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The chronology of events in what happens during hitting is indisputable. You have the visual component first. That process must be processed to the brain. At that point the brain takes that information and implements motor skills and allows the swing to start.
The decision to swing and where to swing
is concluded at the 32 foot mark on a 90 mph fastball.
Why Is Hitting So Difficult?
.40 seconds to see and react to a 90 mph
fastball translates to starting the swing when the ball is
approximately 30 feet away. Most movement in a pitched ball occurs
in the last 15 feet; never really see moving object in its real
location.
Hitters Actions
Looking: It takes 100 milliseconds for
the eye of the hitter to see the ball and send the image to the
brain.
Thinker: It takes 75 milliseconds for
the brain to process the information and gauge the speed and
location of the pitch.
Decision: It takes 50 milliseconds for
the hitter to decide to swing or not to swing.
Swinging: The swing itself takes 150 to
175 milliseconds.
The basics for this genius comes down to
one word, speed, but not by its traditional definition. This isn't
stopwatch, 60 yard dash speed. It's brain speed, or put simply, how
fast the mind puts the body in motion. It is memory, pattern
recognition, and preparation all mixed together. Every time you
watch, astonished, and ask yourself how did he or she do that, be
assured it starts inside the brain. The best of the best are the
ones who do their sharpest thinking when there's no time to think.
Mind speed is what we're seeing when we can't believe our eyes.
This mind speed, immediate and confident, is the essence of athletic
greatness.
Pete Rose holds the Major League Baseball record for career hits. He claimed he was far from being a genius, but he knew how to hit the ball. What was his secret? Two things! He credits his mental preparation and his ability to see the ball. He believed in keeping things simple. He coined the phrase, "See the ball, hit the ball!" Other great hitters agree. Mental attitude and your eyes are the central components of good hitting. Therefore, maintaining your confidence and seeing the ball are by far the two most important aspects of hitting.
Confidence:
You must absolutely believe that you will get a hit when you step
into the batters box, regardless of previous failures. You must be
physically relaxed to get a balanced swing. You must be both
mentally and physically comfortable. You cannot be afraid, you
cannot be tense, you cannot be anxious, you must let things flow
physically.
Confidence is also trust. You
must trust your training, trust your swing, let go of all conscious
control of your swing. So, how do you get confidence when you have
no history of success? Just continue to work hard, believe in
yourself and your capabilities, see success in your mind, anticipate
success, and say to yourself just two simple words, "I
CAN!" In other words, you gotta believe!!!
Eyes: Your
eyes are your guidance system, therefore seeing the ball is, by far,
the single most important aspect of hitting. A hitter can use his
eyes more effectively by training himself to respond to what he
sees. Good hitters have consistent eye patterns which include where
they look, when they look, and the type of focus they have. Your
eye pattern and rhythm is as individual and specific to you as your
personality. What works for one hitter may not work fo someone
else.
ESPN Baseball Tonight comments when
hitters are in the groove
"The ball looked like a watermelon
today."
"The ball appeared in slow motion."
"I'm seeing the ball real well today."
Slow the game down mentally, visually, and physically.
There's an old saying in baseball that
speed never goes into a slump. Not true. In fact, that saying is
completely backwards...it's slow that never goes into a slump!
Invariably regardless of the level of competition, from the Big
Leagues to Little League, the most important factor for productive
baseball players who can perform under pressure is the ability to
slow the game down.
Many athletes in all sports describe
their best performances, they talk about everything moving at
a slower pace. And likewise, a common theme when performance goes
wrong is the speeding up the time. Pitchers get into jams, rush
their delivery, and lose their command with runners on base.
Hitters lose their sense of timing. Position players look lost in
the field losing their sense of timing and getting late jumps.
The speed of the game comes into play in
a number of situations. The game can speed up when...
1. A player is playing at a higher
level for the first time.
2. A player enters a game that is in
progress.
3. Pressure is high.
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What separates good hitters from
productive hitters? When comparing the attributes of good hitters,
there are a number of common features found in their approach and
swing. First, good hitters share a number of intangible traits.
They have a noticeable presence in the box that exudes rhythm and
confidence. Good hitters also know their limitations and have a
very good understanding of what they can and cannot do at the
plate. In addition to these traits, good hitters share five common
physical traits.
First, all good hitters have balance
throughout the swing. This sense of balance allows the hitter to
hit a variety of pitch speeds and locations. More importantly, it
allows the hitter to have a repeatable swing. Repeatability is a
common trait found in all areas of the game among good players.
Good pitchers are able to repeat their delivery, good infielders
look the same on every ground ball, and good hitters have a
repeatable swing aided by balance throughout the approach and swing.
Second, good hitters show some violence
in their swing at contact. A "snap" or "flick" of the hands at
contact generates much of this violence in the swing. The ball
seems to jump off the bat with a hitter who has flick. This a hard
trait to find in many young hitters, probably due to the use of
aluminum bats throughout a player's youth. We use wood bats
exclusively during practice to encourage the hitter to use his hands
and not rely simply on the technology of a well-designed aluminum
bat. There are many very good college hitters unable to hit with
wood, because they do not have any snap to their swing. A hitter
without this characteristic appears to sweep his bat through the
zone as opposed to hitting the ball crisply.
Third, good hitters have the ability to
keep the bat through the zone for a longer period. Many people
refer to this as "palm to sky with the backthru". Some also
describe that hitter as being "short to the ball" and "long through
it". Being able to stay through the zone on a level plane gives the
hitter more room for error with off-speed pitches. Good hitters can
get fooled by off-speed pitches and still be able to hit the ball
with some authority because their bat is in the zone, and they have
enough flick in their hands to drive the ball. In addition, staying
through the zone creates more momentum through the ball, allowing
the hitter to naturally hit the ball harder.
Next, good hitters have a sense of
timing and show rhythm in their approach and swing. It is true that
many good hitters have "plus" bat speed, but bat speed without
timing is useless. There are many more good hitters with an above
average sense of timing and average bat speed than there are good
hitters with plus bat speed and below average sense of timing. A
hitter with plus bat speed and below average timing will never be a
consistently good hitter. He is able to drive some balls, but he
will look bad on some pitches, and his contact to swing-and-miss
ratio will be high. A hitter with good rhythm and timing very
rarely looks bad on a pitch and tends to always square the ball up.
Finally, good hitters have the ability
to use the entire field. They have the ability to hit the ball from
foul pole to foul pole with backspin. Being able to drive a ball
four inches off the plate down the opposite field line and drive the
ball under his hands down the pull field line, makes for a deadly
hitter. The average right-handed hitter is going to hit fly balls
to the right field, line drives from gap to gap, and ground balls
from the six hole to the third base line. Having the ability to hit
a line drive to all fields separates average hitters from good
hitters.
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