Today I would like to talk to you about hitting. As Ted Williams said "hitting a baseball is the single hardest thing to do in sports". So please do not make it any harder than it has to be for your children.

Do not repeat at the top of your lungs random advice you have heard coaches bellow. Chances are the advice was misguided at best and flat wrong at its worst. Youth baseball coaches for the most part are good men doing an honorable thing. What they are not are experts on the game. Except a handful, most of their knowledge was obtained in the sixties or seventies from another well meaning youth coach. Most of their knowledge was derived before the video camera became common. They coach what we all believed to be true when I was a kid. Elbow up! Step into the ball! Hold that bat tight! Swing level! Does any of this sound familiar? If it does, and you are saying it, I beg you to stop.

All these coaching tips were disapproved when we started videoing players and running it back in slow motion. Let's take them one at a time.

Elbow up;

A human being can not successfully hit a thrown baseball with his elbow up. For you parents who are laughing grab a bat. Get in a stance put your elbow up and swing at an imaginary ball. The first thing that has to happen is your elbow must drop to your side. So why would you tell your child or mine to put their elbow up? Because Chipper Jones hits that way? Mr. Jones is fast enough with a Louisville Slugger to drop his elbow and still get to the ball. So unless your kid is six foot four, 220 pounds and quick as a cat at the plate you might want to suggest another method. When he goes to the plate yell power triangle! That I'm sure will get some looks but it will help young Johnny hit. Coach him to hold the bat with his forearms forming an inverted "V" and then remind him when he doesn't. This method will allow his bat to get to the ball much quicker.

Step into the ball;

Again with the advent of video we have learned no one steps into the ball. Baseball hitters step towards the pitcher and then they swing. Again listen, it is not step and hit, it is step then hit. When in doubt stepping early is always better than late. In fact many modern players don't step at all. They simply pickup their foot and put it back down. Stepping has nothing to do with power hitting or location of the ball. It is simply a timing mechanism to help start your swing.

Hold the bat tight;

How many of you have seen major leaguers lose the grip on the bat and watch it fly into the stands? A lose grip is better than tight. Loose muscles are faster than tight muscles. Stay loose and your swing will quicken.

Swing level;

That advice is perfect. Perfect if the ball was being delivered level. But unfortunately for lever swingers the baseball is released at head level from a guy standing (in Little League) on a mound six inches high. So Ted Williams recommended an uppercut swing. He felt it was the swing that best matched the trajectory of the ball. But I want to emphasize the upper cut Williams coached was a slight  upper cut not the looping swing you see players use today. Today's big home run hitters use an exagerated upper cut swing. This will launch the ball into the stands if you are Jim Thome. But if you are an eighty pound little leaguer it will result in fly ball outs. Many of today's hitters use a downward swing. The thought here is to get back spin on the ball therefore getting it to carry better. I believe in a downward swing in the first part. So the bat gets into the hitting zone faster, then somewhat of a level swing through the hitting zone with William's slight upper swing plane, then finishing with the bat coming up and next to the shoulder. I like it when the bat finishes against the upper arm. So in other words, a downward, level, uppercut swing is best. I know this one sounds confusing. But the one part that isn't is; don't swing level. Swinging level causes you to be slow to the ball because you are not going straight to the ball. It also doesn't match trajectory and it doesn't give you good carry.

If you are uncertain about what to yell when your kid bats turn on TBS and listen closely to Bobby Cox. He says things like "come on Kid". "Hit that ball Chipper" "Hey Andy get a hold of one" It might sound funny but the guy has 14 straight division titles.

If you disagree with me feel free to write us and we will publish your thoughts on hitting. Baseball is game of arguments and we welcome all of them.

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