- Apr 28, 2019
- 1,423
- 83
Good approach I like it.I'll speak as someone in the trenches and how I see things as a batter in this situation.
With less than two outs and a/multiple runners in scoring position, I'm up there looking for a ball I can hit...hard. I don't want to hit a soft grounder. I don't want to hit a blooper and just deposit the ball in left-center, center or right-center. I want to hit a ball hard and I want to maybe hit it to someone but preferably, I want to aim gap-to-gap if I possibly can. I mean, I could hook a ball down the line and hope it clears one of the corner bases before going foul so it stays fair. If I have to be out, I'll sacrifice myself to either advance the runner to the next base or even a runner home.
With two outs, my approach changes. I'm going to be more selective with what I'm going to swing at. If a pitcher is putting the ball just anywhere, I'll take the walk any time they want to give it to me. But I'm going to be looking to either put a ball in play or I'm looking to foul a pitch off so I can have another pitch to look at. I'll do this in particular especially if the other team has changed pitchers and I'm trying to get her timing down. But also, if I can make a pitcher work to get that last out of the inning, then I've done my job in wearing the pitcher down.
If a pitcher is all over the place no matter the situation, I'll take the walk any day of the week. I'll also keep fouling pitches off even if there are less than two outs and I feel like I want to make the pitcher work to get me out.