Recruiting Hitters Begins With Recruiting Character

When we hit the trail to evaluate players there are numerous concerns we must consider. We want to find hitters who are athletic, talented, skilled, projectable, durable, consistent and represent the type of character we want to embody.

All of this must happen within budget, competing against numerous other schools that have interest in the same player.

Of course, there are ideological questions. Should we sign the player who is more talented defensively but has less power? What about the hitter who has yet to show the ability to hit breaking pitches? Does he have a vision problem, an approach problem or has he just never learned how to get aggressive timing to a breaking ball?

And I really like this catcher offensively, and he receives well, but his arm is average. Can he be a number one catcher?

When we recruit, we have to look at the big picture, working to improve upon weak areas and build a well-rounded club. To do this, we need well-rounded players. Of course, it is impossible to have every player with every attribute, and we put a premium on defense and pitching. Still, there is something more important to learn about recruits than if they can play great catch.

We know we must score to win, but it is our confidence in an ability to take talented and gifted hitters and develop their approach and skill set that allows us to have this defensive-minded approach.

To recruit this way, we must bring in coachable athletes with strong work ethics.

We whole-heartedly believe that recruiting talent is imperative, but there is a price that is paid for signing uncoachable talent. We want a team of self-less players.

While this may sound obvious, we work very hard to minimize the number of risky people in our program, and this gives us greater consistency at the plate.  

Measurement Equals Motivation: What Are You Saying?

Think for a second, what do you measure in your program? Do you post fall statistics with batting average as the first viewable stat?

Do you keep a barrel chart for batting practice? Do you get after your hitters each time they swing at a fastball outside the strike zone?

While it is imperative to keep charts, regardless of personnel or resources available, what we verbally measure creates a desire in our players to do what we ask of them. They are motivated by what we do and say, even when we coaches are unaware of what we are communicating.

If you give hitters a verbal pat on the back for getting the big hit in an intrasquad, despite their duck fart falling just beyond the grasp of the first baseman’s over-the –shoulder attempt, then guess what they will value- getting base hits, which they cannot control.

As humans, we attach emotion to nearly every experience, and then seek pleasure or avoid pain in all future experiences. If you have ever listened to Tony Robbins speak, you know all about what he calls the “Pain-Pleasure Principle.”

Our players want to please- they want to please their parents, their teammates, their coaches- this is human nature. 

If you show them why OPS is important and has a greater correlation to run creation than AVG or RBI, you empower them. Instead of trying to get hits and knock runs in, things they cannot control as a process, they work to become better at reaching base (OBP), which requires plate discipline, and driving the baseball (SLG), which requires committed swings and approaches. 

Thus, valuing or verbally "measuring" OBP will increase plate discipline.  In turn, this will improve SLG, as hitters will swing at fewer fringy strikes or at pitches they are not committed to, increasing barreled balls which have higher exit velocities and result in more extra-base hits. 

When it comes to charting, few coaches have the resources to chart as much as they would like while still feeling effective as a coach in regards to time management. SEC, ACC, PAC12, and BIG12 teams have multiple managers, student assistants and an operations director, all of whom are capable of keeping charts. Most schools have two or three paid personnel, at best.

Certainly, we must teach our players how to manage these charts, and it is not difficult to assign a player or rotation of players to keep track of charts. Many times, fortunately or unfortunately, there may be an injured player capable of assisting. Make them an asset to the program by giving them ownership in the measurement process.

When charting games, we value quality at-bats, barrels (part of the QAB equation) and pitches per plate appearance. We also keep a barrel percentage (barrels divided by plate appearances).

Our qualifications for a QAB are: barrel, BB, HBP, successful bunt, 8 pitch AB, 2 strike hit, RBI out, advancing a runner to 3B w/ 0 outs.

What do you measure in your program?

Want to Win More Games? Make Practices Like Games

Do you want to win more games? I thought so.

Often, it is the missing link of realism and competitive nature between games and practices. For hitters, batting practice is easy. It's fun. It's relaxed. Hitters can have success without competing or focusing at a high level.

Games are hard. Why? Because that dude on the bump sixty feet away wants to shove that pearl down your throat. He wants to watch you walk back to the dugout, muttering, cursing and losing your competitive cool.

Let's let go of the excuse that, in games, pitchers are throwing off-speed pitches. Often, hitters are jammed by average fastballs for eight innings. In the ninth inning, a team may begin to compete at a higher level, and success can be found, hitting missiles all over the field. What changed?

Hitters spend so much of their time focusing on the physical aspect of the game. They work on their swing. They lift weights. They hit off the tee. They do mirror work. They hit curve balls off of a machine. They buy protein powders and nitric oxide boosters. They get Evoshields for every joint on the body.

Then with a runner at third and one out, a hitter swings and misses at three off-speed pitches....

Another hitter is given the bunt sign, shows bunt, pulls back and watches a fastball go by for strike one...

Yet another hitter, running at first base, forgets how many outs there are and gets doubled off on a routine fly ball, disallowing the runner at third to score...

We need to get better at practicing being in control of our emotions, and in control of our thoughts, while in competitive win or lose situations. Are you challenging your hitters with situations, consequences, rewarding them for positive things they can control?

Hitters that work on their swing in batting practice, day after day, lose an element of competition, of realism. Really, what they lose, is an opportunity to flush the negative. Overcome a bad round. Get tough. Grind out a quality at bat.

Coach pitch, game-situation BP is so much more productive than the pre-game, hit the ball here, hit the ball there variety.

Have your hitting groups compete as two or three teams, working to achieve process-based goals.
Players expect to get jobs done in batting practice, but truly only have pressure from themselves. This creates a system by which their accountability...is only to their own expectations.

When a group of hitters is accountable to each other, to the betterment of the group, individual success becomes a less stressful part of the process, and the team flourishes.

Look, setting up a process-based practice takes up more of your planning time. You said you wanted to win?

Front Toss...from A to Z

Many of our hitters make important improvements to their mechanics and approach when they properly utilize front toss. We station our typical front toss cages 15-17 feet away from home plate. When the pitcher gives a firm underhand toss (23-25 mph- use your stalker gun to get a feel), the batter must do much of the same that are required of him in a game.

A batter must use the mechanics of the pitcher, similarly to in-game, to judge when he should initiate his load sequence and prepare to attack the baseball. A batter must judge speed and location of the pitch, as well.

When we work normal front toss, our goals are to 1.) Be on time 2.) Attack the center of the baseball.

Next we add off-speed pitches. All pitches are either a fastball or a change-up.

Primarily, in 'advanced' front-toss, we are working on timing and/or approach. Secondarily, our objective is to work on our mental game. Adding a wrinkle to the front toss can easily get a hitter off-balance, even from fifteen feet. With expectations of perfection extremely high due to the slow nature of typical front toss, hitters frustration levels can often be elevated.

In evaluating the results of a front toss swing, it is important for hitters to understand that a ball perfectly squares, and with backspin, should hit the back of a 90-foot cage at relatively the same height that it began (assuming we are talking about high school skill level and above).

Hitting a ball that lands near the bottom of the net, though fairly well struck, is likely to be a two-hop ground ball. Balls that result in line drive singles and extra base hits usually have a 10-20 degree upward angle. Squaring a ball up perfectly into the back of a net is teaching the body to make contact with the ball in an effort to hit a one-hopper to the back of the infield. 

While occasionally we manage front toss on game days, I prefer for our players to front toss during practices. We also communicate with them daily about being a good front tosser and managing the time between pitches properly.

Players frequently pitch to each other too quickly, creating a tempo that is too fast to allow hitters to physically and mentally reset. Hitters lose the realism and flow that a normal at bat would have. Players also can frequently throw too many strikes and hitters fall into ‘swing mode’ where they are no longer processing information- they have predetermined their swing.

Many hitters like to ‘get loose’ on front toss. I am against this. We encourage our hitters (vehemently), to do tee work prior to front toss. As the baseball is not moving at them on the tee, they naturally feel less of a need to compete, and will take swings that more resemble those of ‘getting loose.’

Front toss is a great opportunity for video work while also working on approach (aggressive off-speed, 2 strike, situational, etc.). When we want to do more detailed video analysis and review, I use our Casio Exilim HD camera, which sees their swings at 240 frames per second in HD (the human eye normally sees around 20 frames per second). When we want the players to get quick feedback, I use my iPhone or iPad. There is a terrific App called "Coach's Eye," that allows you to view video forward and backward, and also allows you to mark or draw directly on the video with different colors and tools. 

Another form of front toss we frequently have is 'separation’ front toss where we begin the swing with lower body commitment and a scapular load. This allows hitters to feel the stretch that creates bat speed and concentrate on loading with their scapula (think shoulder blade) rather than their hands, allowing their rear elbow to 'slot' near the rib cage more quickly and the barrel to become flatter in the zone earlier.

We also have an ‘everything’ front-toss where we challenge our hitters to swing at everything. They must be on time for the fastball and work to retain separation while hitting every pitch near the zone. The goal here is barrel control and manipulation.

Vision Training

Before we discuss seeing the baseball, watch this video:

http://espn.go.com/high-school/baseball/video/clip?id=6596700

Don’t you love sports science?!

Let’s talk about training the eyes.

As John Brenkus mentioned, we have approximately .44 seconds from the time a pitcher releases a 90 mph fastball until it travels 60’6”, crossing home plate.  How can we best train the eyes to be good at this drill?

We love to have our players, particularly in January, use these drills:

1.) Stand in on bullpens. Our pitchers’ bullpens in January will all be at 100% intensity, creating terrific realism. 

We wear helmets, preparing to hit just as we would in a game, both physically and mentally. Hitters go through their routines, release, refocus and master the timing of taking pitches with commitment (the back leg begins to fire and create separation and the back elbow begins to slot).

2.) Spin recognition. This can be done a multitude of ways. We like these:

a.       Have players throw alternating or random fastball/breaking balls to one another at 50-60 % intensity. The batter stands behind a square screen and has no threat of being hit.

b.      Use a pitching machine to work on hit and runs (barrel control) off of curveballs only. This requires hitters to minimize fear and maximize intent of the swing. Timing is always a major issue with pitching machines (this is why we do not hit live off of them). To improve our timing, we encourage them to be early on this drill. This also reinforces our desire to retain separation and keep our barrel loaded as long as possible.

c.       We hit curveballs in live batting practice. Usually we alternate FB/CB/FB/CB.

d.      We have coach-pitched simulated intra-squads where we utilize breaking balls.

3.) We use a drill called “super-BP” where the BP pitcher throws very firm (45-48 mph) from a very short distance (22-25 ft.). Hitters must be ready to attack fastballs- the decision making process is more similar to facing 90-92 mph, instead of what the 75-80 mph batting practice normally simulates.

4.) We use a whiffle ball pitching machine that fires golf whiffles up to 55 mph. While hitting off of this machine is challenging outdoors with even the slightest breeze, we have found this to be a terrific tool for vision training. We have colored whiffles and white whiffles and ask our players to catch one and let the other go.

Hitters must shift their eyes from a soft focus, further away, to a sharp and hard focus right in front of them, just as in hitting.

What drills do you use for vision training?

Dugout Culture

Dugout energy is contagious. It builds trust, generates positive feelings and can be the difference between a win and a loss.

When the second nine practice with the energy it requires to be first nine All-Stars, teams accelerate.

To be so committed to a baseball game that you hang on every pitch, athletes must value the competition and feel the fear of what might happen if they don’t give every ounce of focus and attention to detail.

Certainly, this type of intensity can be lost over the course of 162 games. Major leaguers are encouraged to jog, take it easy and generally try not to get hurt or burn out too soon.

It may be cliché for a college coach to revel in players buying in to hustle and attention to detail but over the course of a 60 game season, with only five games each week, intensity should be second nature.

We get paid to develop young men. Period. When they develop, games will be won with energy, toughness and intensity. It’s against the rail, with squinted eyes, hearts pounding and blood rushing through the veins that we learn the most about who we are.

You must practice with intent to play with intensity.

Hitting Approach, with former big leaguer Lance Zawadzki

Lance Zawadzki was an an All-American switch-hitting shortstop at Lee University. He helped direct the Flames to the NAIA World Series in 2007 and later was drafted in the fourth round by the San Diego Padres. He reached the majors in 2010 and singled in his first plate appearance.

Battling injuries during his six-year professional career, Zawadzki has been with five different organizations and continues to pursue his dreams. 

I asked Lance to speak about hitting approach. Thanks to Lance for sharing with us all. Enjoy.

No matter how much talent a hitter has or doesn't have, there are two things that separate a good accomplished professional hitter and everyone else. It simply comes down to their mindset and approach. After going to the big leagues the first time I immediately took notice to the fact that I wasn’t even surrounded by the most talented players I had played with. However, the separator was that everyone there knew the type of player they were, they all had routines, and they all had a plan every bp, every game, and every at bat.

You can have all the talent in the world but without a solid approach there will be no consistency in your at bats. After all, consistency is the name of the game, especially when it comes to hitting. We play a game in which we can fail seven out of ten times and be considered a “Hall of Famer”. We have hundreds of at bats every year (over 500 to 600 in pro ball) and when you go up to the plate 3-5 times a night, you want the most consistent approach possible. Even when everything is clicking, we can hit a ball right on the nose as hard as possible four times in a game and still be 0-4. Consistency in our swing and, even more importantly, consistency in our mental mindset and approach is what takes a player to the next level.

What kind of hitter are you? That is the first realistic question you need to answer before knowing what your hitting approach must be. Are you a gap guy, a slappy leadoff, a dead pull "all or nothing", are you there to work counts deep or do you prefer being aggressive and jumping on something? Now after you answer that question realistically, let's look at the second question; how are you going to be pitched? How is this team going to pitch you? What does this guy throw? How is his control? What is his best secondary pitch (watch him in his warmups, it's usually the pitch he will throw right after his fastballs). WHATS THE SITUATION?

Two quick stories of guys who had an impact on my figuring out my mental approach, the first one is “A-ROD”.  Alex Rodriguez stood over home plate and tapped his bat on each corner, nothing special there. He said, "The difference between an accomplished big league hitter and everyone else is, everyone else tries to make their money between 17 inches (the width of the plate).  We make our money here (pointing to the fat part of the plate right down the middle to maybe slightly middle in to slightly middle away)." You don't need to cover the whole 17 inches of the plate and the black, you are going to get a pitch to handle on the fat part of the plate if you don't give in and give your at bat away. The best pitchers in the big leagues can only hit the spot they wanted around 20% of the time.”

Well where does that leave high school, college, and minor league unaccomplished pitchers? I'm going to have to say under 20%.

The second story is Adrian Gonzalez. Adrian was facing Jamie Moyer one night in Philly. Jamie Moyer was MAYBE throwing 80. Adrian, as one of the top hitters in the Bigs, went 0-4 with 3 Ks. The next day while watching video in the clubhouse I started talking to him about hitting and all he was talking about was approach. He said “Hats off to Moyer, he got me last night and had pitched me differently than he had previously, but if he would have gone where I was waiting for him to, I would have got him”.

Now...is this a guy who is covering up for an 0-4 or was that the kind of approach that a true big league hitter has? Sticking to his approach, even after the 0-3 and sticking with it for the fourth AB, believing that if Moyer missed his spot and had thrown it where Gonzalez had been looking without having a doubt in his mind.

Well if I had any doubt, it was answered the next night when Cole Hammels faced off against Matt Latos, both guys unhittable their first time through the lineup, including Adrian who was 0-1. The second time through he got the pitch he was waiting for and didn't miss it. Homer to left 1-0 Padres lead. Couple more times through the lineup and few hits on either side when Adrian got another pitch he had been waiting on for the last two at bats, homer again to left center, off one of the best pitchers in the game at that time. Was this just a weird coincidence? Or was that just one of the best hitters in the game trusting his approach through the thick and thin of strikeouts, fly outs and walks and then there it was, the pitch he had been waiting for and he didn’t miss it. That has to be my favorite hitting story, period.

If we were to be honest in talking about our hitting approach, what I’ve learned and what has always gotten me into trouble and still continues to, is having a little power. Getting away from my approach and trying to do too much with a given at bat. It's a constant battle I have faced since I began playing. I get away from my approach of trying to stay down and through the ball to hit a line drive somewhere and try the Tin Cup “Grip it and Rip it” swing. When this mindset takes over it not only takes me out of an at bat before I'm even into the box, but is synonymous with sending a batting average and power numbers into a dead spiral down without warning. 

For me personally, I am a gap-to-gap hitter, so my approach comes down to staying within myself and looking to drive the baseball to the big part (middle) of the field. So now that I know what I need to do, the struggle becomes am I going to BUY IN and TRUST IT?