Anyone know the term "hit the top of the ball" when batting?

[Ken Krause]

I think the discussion presumes the bat will be level with the ground as you make contact. Those lines drawn on the ball in the article sure demonstrate that. Problem is, having the bat flat to the ground is the wrong way to hit the ball. You want an angle on the bat, as described in other threads. If you do that you don't have to worry so much about top or bottom of the ball.

 

[SEGa]

Just today at state Rec. tourney my nieces teams 4 hitter popped up the first three times up..her dad who is the coach and i know well kept telling her she was dropping her shoulder, but i think her swing looked great..so i told her to focus on hitting the bottom half of the ball, and she hit a lined shot out to the left fielder. YES you hope the hitter will bust the middle of the ball, but i think sometimes when they are focused on the middle of the ball and are still popping up, that is a perception thing and by telling them to hit the top half..they wind up hitting it in the middle....???

 

[Bill Bollinger]

Yes.

It's a bad cue.

I am not sure I agree. My reason would be in golf, is you can adjust your ball flight some with where you are looking at on the ball. If I am not mistaken, most top MLB hitters try to look at the inside park of the ball. To me... I think adjusting a hitters eyes as to where they look on the ball can at times help them become more focused on their target and even potentially help them adjust their swings within a game or tournament. Of course it is a band aid, but in the heat of battle it may be enough to get a girl's mind at the plate to be more fine tuned as to what she wants to get accomplished. Now if you are using it is a core piece of your swing training or you only teach to ever look at X part of the ball, then probably not. One of the things I think gets overlooked way too much is how important the mind is when batting. You could have the best swing in the world, but if you don't believe you can hit the ball, good luck.

Bill

 

[RayR]

Most kids have a loop in their swing - it is simply a cue to try and get a player to "stay on top" meaning dont drop/loop the bat head - or drop the hands. I use all kinds of generic queues - stay on top, get the hands through, drive the rear shoulder, use your legs, etc. It means different things to different players based on what we are working on.

I also teach my players to see the ball right out of the pitchers hand and focus on the laces to determine spin - you would be amazed at how many will admit they have no idea when they really start seeing the ball.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

I am not sure I agree. My reason would be in golf, is you can adjust your ball flight some with where you are looking at on the ball. If I am not mistaken, most top MLB hitters try to look at the inside park of the ball. To me... I think adjusting a hitters eyes as to where they look on the ball can at times help them become more focused on their target and even potentially help them adjust their swings within a game or tournament. Of course it is a band aid, but in the heat of battle it may be enough to get a girl's mind at the plate to be more fine tuned as to what she wants to get accomplished. Now if you are using it is a core piece of your swing training or you only teach to ever look at X part of the ball, then probably not. One of the things I think gets overlooked way too much is how important the mind is when batting. You could have the best swing in the world, but if you don't believe you can hit the ball, good luck.

While it might work on occasion as a cue, in most cases the phrase is used as a strategy -- to drive the ball into the ground -- in which case it fails above 3rd grade or so.

 

[fastpitch]

i am not an expert but i think top half of the ball hitting is a baseball cue which doesn't translate in softball as the ball is coming at a different angle. in softball you need to hit the center of the ball.

 

[Carty]

I am not an expert either. But I use this cue. In reading studies on vision, it seems to me the first step we use in seeing is edge detection. So as a ball is coming in, we see its edges first. By saying "hit the top (or bottom in some cases)" I am hoping to change what the batter is focusing on when their form appears fine yet they are under or over the ball consistantly. That small change in focus seems to help get them on the center of the ball.

 

[Shawn]

Curious if anyone teaches or knows what it means to "hit on top of the ball"? I heard a coach telling players to do this when batting. Is this suppose to discourage pop-ups?

I have not read all the replies.

Hitting the top-half of the ball is a cue for hitting the ball where you think it may end up, rather then where it's already been.

For example, on a higher pitch you want to set you sight a little higher. If the pitcher is throwing up in the zone, screws ball, fastballs, riseball and even curve balls. All can be thrown from low to high. And to help make your best educated guess where you "think" the ball will end up at the plate and in the hitting zone. The cue to hit the top half of the ball, helps with making this calculated guess.

Anything thrown low to high, has an angle to the pitch like any pitch. The hitter might mis-read these type of pitches as being thrown low, because out of the pitchers hands they stay low for the first say ft. So if the hitter is constantly mis-reading the pitch, even after "seeing" the pitch several times from the same pitcher and fouling the ball straight back and popping the pitch up. The cue to hit the top-half of the ball can have several benefits.

Ted Williams simple said to set you sight higher if you having problems fouling th ball back and popping up to much.

The "cue" is not a way to hit, has nothing to do with physics per say. It has to do with ball movement and swinging to where the ball is heading, your best guess where the ball will end up in your hitting zone.

If you see move of the middle/top half of the ball, then the ball is more then likely going to move up in the zone. If you see
more middle/bottom half the ball it is more then likely going to move down (drop ball have a hump upwards and then drop, so you see more of the top of the ball). So when it comes to a drop ball you want to give it some lift.

There might be some physics stuff involved, although I seriously doubt that physics had anything to do with the cue. And the cue is more then likely as Old as the game itself.

hope this helps shine some light an the true nature of the cue, if no one else has already posted what I wrote.

Contact me, if have any questions.

 

[doyle]

Ken,

What angle?

 

[jonnypar]

The angle of the bat. The barrel of the bat should not be level to the gouond as that promotes pop ups. The angle of the barrel should be slightly down which will increase the chances of hitting the ball squarely and eliminate many instances of popping the ball up.