Coach Vic's Batting Cage and Baseball Academy

THE THREE “P’s”

As said many times by professional hitters and coaches alike, hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports. Because it so difficult, there are many factors on being successful. What makes you an accomplished hitter with a bat in your hands?  Is it hitting home runs like Babe Ruth? Or is it hitting line drives and singles, like Tony Gwynn? Both were great hitters in their own right, but both completely different hitters. As we know, Ruth was one of the greatest home run hitters of all time, and Tony Gwynn one of the greatest singles hitters of all time.  Being entirely dissimilar kinds of hitters, what makes them comparable?

As seen in the pictures on my hitters photo page, you can see that all the hitters are different, but all the pictures look the same.; head down, top hand arm in a power “L” position, top hand pointing to the sky, and bottom hand pointing to the ground. The strides have been short and the hitters are hitting on a stiff or straight front leg. These photos are what we all strive for as hitters. The perfect contact point.

The thing that must be remembered is that the pitcher is trying to get you out. He will throw you pitches that are high, low, inside, outside, fast, slow, slides, sinks, and curves. It is our job as hitters to take all that into consideration, then hit the ball the best we can. By throwing all these balls at different speed and angles, it is the pitchers job to keep the hitter off balance. He is trying to get you to swing early or swing late. If he can do that, the results will be unfavorable.

Now, what do we do to hit the ball on the button?  First, there are "THE THREE  P’s”: Patience, Practice, and Persistence. As long as you execute the three P’s you will be a successful hit. Of the three P’s, which is the most important? All three is important on there own. You must be “Persistent” to be a good hitter. You must “Practice” continuously to be a successful hitter, but if you are not “Patient”, you will never be a first-rate hitter. That means the pitcher will always have you off balance, and you will swing at bad pitches.

In the diagrams above, you will see more of what I mean. There is what I call the “Pitchers Zone” and the “Hitters Zone”. As long as you are PATIENT and let the ball get into the hitters zone, then you’ll hit the ball hard. If you are impatient, and rush to hit the ball into the front pitchers zone or swing too late and let the ball, sneak deep into the rear pitchers zone you will not hit the ball cleanly.

As in the diagrams, you can see the angles of how your bat should be and where you should make contact with the ball. The red zone is what you are looking for. You want to use caution when the ball gets into the yellow zone, and though you should let the ball get deeper into the red area, you can hit the ball in the green zone.

The point is not to rush yourself and lean forward into the pitches, causing you to roll your wrists over pre-maturely, or jam yourself by hitting the ball up the handle. As long as you turn on the ball on the inside pitch and let the ball get extra deep on the outside pitch as shown in the diagram, you’ll be just fine. Remember to keep your balance good, your head and eyes on the ball, and let the ball get deep so you can see where the ball is going to give yourself the best chance, and don’t forget the “Three P’s” and let the ball get into the "Hitting Zone".