Ted
Williams was the last major league hitter to hit 0.400 for a season back in
1941. After he reached this feat, he
cleverly quipped, "If I had known people were going to make such a big
deal about it, I would have done it more often." He was arguably, the best pure hitter to ever
play the game of baseball.
Williams
was a master of focus. Legend has it
that he could read the label of a 78 RPM record spinning on a turntable and count
the stitches on the baseball as it approached the plate.
Hitter Focus on Baseball |
While
I don’t expect that you’ll be counting any stitches in the near future, Ted
Williams’s approach at the plate shows all of us just how important it is to
watch the baseball with complete focus.
Focus
and concentration on the ball for the full flight of the pitch is absolutely
essential for a hitter at any level.
It’s difficult enough for many players to consistently hit a ball off of
a tee, much less hit a moving target with good velocity and movement.
Luckily,
there are some great techniques and drills that any player can use to improve
his concentration and focus on the baseball the entire distance from the
pitcher’s hand to the crack of the bat.
1.
Cut-it-in-half
Drill – While taking batting practice, imagine that instead of a bat, you hold
a sword or some other long sharp object.
As the ball approaches, instead of focusing on hitting the baseball,
imagine that you are actually cutting the baseball into precisely two equal
parts with your swing. This drill
improves focus because you must concentrate more than usual in order to attempt
to split the ball exactly into two equal pieces.
2.
No
bat Drill – For this drill, stand at home plate in the batter’s box with a
helmet but no bat. Have a pitcher or
coach throw pitches to the catcher while you closely watch the ball all the way
to the hitting zone. Immediately after
every pitch, keep your head down and call out the type of pitch (fastball,
change-up, curve ball, etc) and whether it is a ball or strike. This drill takes the distraction of the swing
out of the equation and focuses solely on watching the ball the entire distance
to the plate.
3.
Colored
balls Drill – During batting practice, take a bucket of balls and paint a dime
sized colored dot on each ball with each ball having one of three different colors. As the pitcher throws the ball, call out the
color of the dot on the ball just thrown.
Again, this drill forces you to concentrate more than normal in order to
recognize the color of the dot on each baseball.
4.
Object
on the ground Drill – Players of all ages love to watch their hits as the ball
leaves the bat. As soon as most players
hit a fly ball in batting practice, their eyes instantly move to the ball in
flight to see how far they hit it. The problem
is that many times, a hitter’s eyes will even look away from the pitch before contact
in anticipation of a hit.
To counteract this in
batting practice, place any small object on the ground directly in front of the
hitter’s feet between home plate and the batter’s box. When the pitch is thrown, have the batter follow
the ball all the way to the bat, and instead of watching the ball after
contact, instruct him to look immediately down at the object. If done correctly, the batter should make
extra effort to not know where the ball traveled.
A variation of this
is to actually use different objects for each pitch and have a coach place a
different object at the batter’s feet before every pitch without the batter
knowing which one. After swinging, the
batter should call out the name of the object immediately after contact to
ensure that he keeps his head down.
5.
Consistency
– With most skills in baseball, consistency is key. Complete focus on the baseball should be used
every day for every swing in every practice or game. If you practice without focus, you will play
without focus. Whether you are hitting
from a tee, taking batting practice, taking dry swings, or taking soft-toss,
you should always concentrate and focus on keeping your head down and watching
the ball hit the bat. If you train your
brain and body correctly in practice, your good habits will carry-over into
games and result in better contact and many more hits.
You can find helpful Baseball Skills Guide at www.baseballskillsguide.com