Keep your eyes on the ball?

[CJ D]

I've seen a couple threads in here where this phrase is considered taboo....that somehow you are teaching poor mechanics if you stress this to hitters. Why?

I'll admit that I have learned quite a bit reading through here. Things that I didn't understand how to put into words...I knew how to do it...what I feel when I swing, and what I felt throughout my playing days, but didn't know or understand that I was doing. But I just can't wrap my head around why this would be considered bad? I've yet to see a player who makes great consistent contact with the ball who was not looking at the ball and bat at point of contact. What am I missing?

 

[PEPPERS]

IMO vision is one of the more important parts of hitting, you want to make sure you get a good 2 eyed look at the pitcher and your neck is not in a bind, but in a comfortable position both eyes able to see the pitcher and track the ball.

When we practice I have the kids, when hitting from a tee or soft toss practice tracking the ball or we look at the position the pitcher would be in, we visualize the pitcher going through a delivery we track the ball from release to the tee, we swing with the head down at contact and see the tee empty and we do the same with side toss.

I put a piece of white duct tape on the top of the tee with the letters HD, head down, and tell hitters you want to see the tape after the ball leaves the tee. You are stronger with the head down and you want to hit from a position of strength and balance.

I will at times put a kid on one side of a net hitting from a tee and I will get on the other using a sponge ball go through the motion the batter will track the ball from my hand to the net and to the ball on the tee.

Another thing you want to make sure the helmet is snug and does not slide around on the head which will interfere with the batters vision.

People who are a lot smarter than me claim at some point the eyes lose vision of the ball the last few feet and the brain predicts the point the ball is going to be at contact.

Much of the above I learned from Howard/Hitter and it has worked for the kids I’ve worked with.

 

[coach james]

Carrier? Bustos' coach?

 

[PEPPERS]

Carrier? Bustos' coach?

Yes Howard Carrier.

 

[CJ D]

Peppers, I stress much of the same. I emphasize that when tee hitting that they see the hole on the tee. When hitting soft toss or batting they must be able to tell me what is on the ground beyond where the ball "used" to be. But I've seen posts on here that elude to the phrase "keep your eye on the ball" as being poor coaching, or coaching that is old or outdated. I'm just trying to figure out what train of thought that is or what camp that lies in.

 

[redhotcoach]

Even though it has been in ultra slow mo video that most mlb hitters are not looking directly at the ball the last few feet, I believe that it still needs to be the goal, and that seeing the ball as long as possible is what they are thinking also. I have said before that I believe the new found technology of mega frame slow mo video can be dangerous to watch. We are seeing things over several seconds that are actually happening in milli seconds. Eyes not seeing the ball for the last couple feet are one if the things I believe are interesting fee-nom, but shouldn't be thought about in an at bat.

Another thing that I visit with players on frequently is soft and hard focus. Not staring at a pitcher with hard focus until they are well into their motion, but soft focusing on something near or behind the pitcher. Your eyes can only hard focus for a few seconds before blurring, so don't waste that before neccessary.

Peppers talked about helmet fit also. I noticed at a tourney this summer one of the girls holding her helmet as she ran. As I started paying attention to that, I found that well over half of the girls I saw that weekend had helmets that were not snug, and they bobbled some.

 

[straightleg]

People who are a lot smarter than me claim at some point the eyes lose vision of the ball the last few feet and the brain predicts the point the ball is going to be at contact.


Even though it has been in ultra slow mo video that most mlb hitters are not looking directly at the ball the last few feet, I believe that it still needs to be the goal, and that seeing the ball as long as possible is what they are thinking also


Well said above.


This is what I teach also. Track the ball but you look in the general area the ball used to be in.The swing momentum will pull your head out



Straightleg

 

[coach james]

Good hitters watch the ball and try to hit it. Great hitters will pick up the rotation and anticipate the movement and exact location of the ball. Hitting can be broken down into extremely complex details of hand paths, vision, loading, separating, striding, rotating etc etc etc...
Bottom line is, all those thing are important but in its simplest form, we are simply guessing where we think the ball is going to be when our bat gets around to the contact point. If we've practiced enough and learned from our previous "misses", our educated guesses will become more and more accurate. So in short, yes we are looking at the ball, but look at it with a purpose. Read the spin direction and adjust your bat path accordingly.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

 

[FiveFrameSwing]