365 Days to Better Baseball - The Challenge of Hitting Slow Pitches

Tuesday Tips to Tattoo the Ball - Learning to Wait for a Slow Ball

Easier to Speed up than Slow Down?

If I have heard it once from my students I have heard it a thousand times, "I hate slow pitches." When I pitch to them, I often warn them, "Here comes a tough one" and then I lob the ball in, knowing how hard it is to hit the slow ones. Waiting and great mechanics are necessary for slow pitches, as much or more than for fast ones.

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For that reason, I like to finish batting practice by throwing slow pitches to hitters. I want to make sure they can stay back and wait, because nothing is more important for successful hitting than being able to wait on the ball. I tell coaches that no speed is too slow or too fast, within reason on the fast side for batting practice, but that finishing with slow ones is best.

It is easier to speed ones bbcor bat up then to slow it down is one of those confusing statements, but there is truth to it. When hitters stay back and wait they have a chance to hit anything but once they prematurely commit with either their hands or weight, because their timing is too quick, they are pretty much are "toast" on most balls. It is good to challenge hitters with game like speeds in batting practice, but once again finishing with slow pitches is a good idea.