Meatballs - Topic Revisited

Out in Left Field said:

Why don't the HS's do live hitting? If you have one pitcher, then you can at least do it before the season begins. Is this a baseball thing and the coaches come from there?

PS> We are not allowed to take pitches during live BP. If you watch a strike (catcher determines), you sit down.

Click to expand...

Regarding the 'bold' above ...... Ted Williams believed that with less than two strikes that there was something to trying to "get a good pitch to hit".

Me personally ... I won't punish a hitter for taking a called strike and not putting a dribbler into play for a potential double play.

Me_and_my_big_mouth said:

And I asked my DD before I replied about this - because honestly I was on the fence about the "contact vs K" part of this thread. As a parent, I see both sides of this. Her response was that her #1 goal is to always go for the strikeout (I mean, what pitcher doesn't dream of a no-hitter?) but that sometimes you know with a good hitter that is unlikely - so she tries to make the ball move in such a way that it's able to be fielded for the out. Trusting your defense becomes a huge factor in this. So I guess you're both right? Didn't my DD just basically oversimplify pitching?

Click to expand...

She does realize that you don't have to strike out every batter to record a no-hitter?

FiveFrameSwing said:

Regarding the 'bold' above ...... Ted Williams believed that with less than two strikes that there was something to trying to "get a good pitch to hit".

Click to expand...

Yes. Situational hitting means that sometimes you are looking for a specific location. Runner on first, hit to RF potentially moves the runner to third, so look for a ball on the outer half. Beyond that, every hitter hits some pitches better than others. If I hit the inner half best, I can spend two strikes looking for that pitch. To enhance pitch recognition, in BP you can have hitters lay off certain pitches even if they are strikes.

There is no doubt in my mind that Ted Williams had it ALL right when it came to hitting. He said that Rogers Hornsby said that the most important part of being a good hitter is getting a good pitch to hit. I totally agree. With my DDs I usually work on two different scenarios when it comes to hitting. The first scenario is where there are less than two strikes and they are looking for a pitch that they can hit hard. This requires them to know their "zone" and to look for a pitch in that zone. (I think that there is no bigger tragedy as a hitter than to get a head 2-0 and then swing at a marginal pitch and get out). The second scenario is "Staying Alive" where you have two strikes and you fight off the balls that could be called strikes and either try to get a pitch that you can do something with or survive and take the walk.

Cowdogz said:

She does realize that you don't have to strike out every batter to record a no-hitter?

Click to expand...

Honestly? Not in her dreams. She strikes EVERYONE out - fence is covered with K's!

Me_and_my_big_mouth said:

Honestly? Not in her dreams. She strikes EVERYONE out - fence is covered with K's!

Click to expand...

I think it would be cooler to record a no-hitter on 18 pitches than on 54+ pitches. Just sayin'.