A. Hitter hacks at the first pitch, a fastball down broadway. Flies out to center.
B. Hitter takes first pitch, a fastball down broadway. Count goes to 0-1.
A. Hitter hacks at the first pitch, a fastball down broadway. Flies out to center.
B. Hitter takes first pitch, a fastball down broadway. Count goes to 0-1.
Hitter A properly identified a pitch he could crush; he just missed it.
Meanwhile Hitter B is greatly decreasing his chances of contributing a positive offensive event. He took a pitch he could crush and is behind in the count 0-1. And after 0-1, the MLB average OPS drops from .735 to .611. He could work the count back in his favor to 2-1, 3-1 or 3-2, but it doesn't happen too often.
Take balls you can't hit and crush pitches you can hit. It's as simple as saying get a good pitch to hit. You won't always crush the pitch that you can hit, but if you identify it right more than any other hitter then you're going to have one heck of a season.
The Lost Decade Average Season: 74-88
2014-22 Average Season: 71-91
Could not agree more. That's why it's driving me nuts this year to hear Thom Brennaman and others snorting every time a guy swings at the first pitch. True, it's often not a good thing to do, but you have to know, too, that the first pitch is pretty commonly a get-ahead pitch and more hittable than what you'll see in the rest of the AB.Hitter A properly identified a pitch he could crush; he just missed it.
Meanwhile Hitter B is greatly decreasing his chances of contributing a positive offensive event. He took a pitch he could crush and is behind in the count 0-1. And after 0-1, the MLB average OPS drops from .735 to .611. He could work the count back in his favor to 2-1, 3-1 or 3-2, but it doesn't happen too often.
Take balls you can't hit and crush pitches you can hit. It's as simple as saying get a good pitch to hit. You won't always crush the pitch that you can hit, but if you identify it right more than any other hitter then you're going to have one heck of a season.
I typically don't mind good hitters swinging at the first pitch but it's guys like Freel and Patterson who go up there and constantly swing at the first pitch and usually pop it up. You want your leadoff hitter up there working the count a bit, not popping out on the first pitch.
would look for a certain pitch early in the count or when ahead in the count. if the pitch was there he would hit it. so a good hitter saying 'if pitch one is a fastball down broadway i am taking a wack at it is fine'. swinging at a slider low and away on pitch #1 drives me nuts.
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What about a hitter who gets a fastball down the middle but pulls out and swings as hard as they can at it and misses it by a foot, then realizes how silly that must have looked and flashes his infectious smile and I forgive him for a few moments before he eventually collects 3 hits in a losing effort on a muggy night in Los Angeles?
Originally Posted by Cyclone792
That's pretty much perfect. Know your zones, identify what is the best pitch/location for you to hit, and go from there. That's very hard to do, and like you said, the one's that can will be the better hitters in the long run.
The whole idea of making a pitcher work does not mean every batter has to see a lot of pitches. It means a hitter forces a pitcher to play to his game as much as possible.
Last edited by guttle11; 05-20-2008 at 09:48 PM.
I actually prefer if Corey Patterson swings at a first pitch strike. He is a poor hitter therefore, seems to me, if he takes a strike he is in a hole that makes him even worse. He should never therefore be anywhere near the leadoff spot but that isn't his fault. If Kepp is up there, with his extremely high contact rate, then I want him to take that pitch, work the count, push the pitcher because he still has a good chance to succeed -he is still likely to make contact. As a general rule though, if you get a belt high fastball down the middle you swing.
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