Greatest Baseball Hitting Video Ever?
By Jon Doyle, MA, CSCS
When it comes to improving hitting, almost every baseball hitting video spends their time focusing on the physical mechanics of their swing. The transfer of power from their legs and hips to their upper body. When to begin the motion, the order of operations, so to speak, and the way to hold the bat and move it as you move yourself. All of this is surely important, and all of it can improve your game. But the bottom line is this, you can't hit what you can't see, so for many hitters, the number 1 thing that has to be improved upon is baseball vision.
When you train your vision, what you're really doing is giving yourself more time to make an accurate swing, and an accurate judgment call on what the pitch that's coming in your direction really is. A small improvement to your vision will give you that extra split second you need to make the right move, or even to prevent yourself from swinging at a pitch that's going to end up out of the strike zone.
It's not just the speed that's going to make an improvement in your performance though, it's also the level of detail that you're seeing with off-speed pitches that you've already picked up. Alright, so you see the pitch, but do you know what it's going to do? Picking up on slight differences in the rotation and the laces will help clue you in as to what that pitch is going to do, and you'll be able to make the right approach at the right time.
Unlike some areas in sports that are hard to improve in, baseball vision can be improved upon greatly. That's because so many of us have put in exactly zero work on this area before, that just some basic drilling and instruction can go a fantastically long way.
Training your baseball specific vision doesn't mean painting the balls bright colors, and it certainly doesn't mean sitting in front of a computer screen working on some kind of vision or reaction game or test. It means simply combining regular baseball training drills, with techniques and ideas that should help to hone your vision as well. As with all areas of training, you want to be doing drills and exercises that actually translate to in-game situations. Are you going to be swinging at neon green baseballs, or clicking a computer mouse when it's your turn up to bat? No? Then you shouldn't spend your time training that way.
Now, there are many different baseball hitting videos that will try to show you one thing or the other for how to improve your hitting. The simple truth is this, if they are trying to show you something that you can't implement for yourself after two minutes, then it's not something that you should be worried about. The learning curve itself should be tiny, showing you one basic improvement or idea at one time, and you should be able to constantly get better at it with drills and repetition.
Selecting the right baseball hitting video
In fact, many of the best baseball hitting videos can be used for players of all ages, from kids as young as 4 or 5 years old, to college and minor league players, and beyond. That's because while there's plenty of science behind hitting, it's still a simple approach that works best. The tips that you should focus on, the ways to improve yourself, the new things you want to try out, these are instant adjustments that you can teach yourself and then work on honing continually over time.
Obviously you need to know how to swing the bat in the right way, generate the right level of speed and power, and so forth. But if you're doing all of that and you're missing the ball because you didn't see it, then you're not really doing much of anything at all, are you? That's why you need to focus on improving your baseball vision, and it will give you a huge edge at the plate as your level of competition rises. Additionally, when it comes to using a baseball hitting video, stick to easy to implement ideas and techniques that you can perfect with drilling, but start trying out immediately for yourself.
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