Baseball Hitting Tips: The Mental and Physical

Former Major Leaguer's Baseball Hitting Tips

"Oh if I could only do it all over again"

On my journey to the major leagues, I respected pitchers and realized the odds were in their favor. However, I also felt like I got myself out more than the pitchers did, due to bad fundamentals or a bad mental effort. I wish I followed these baseball-hitting tips more, back in the day.

Having worked with aspiring baseball players for over twenty-three years, there are certain themes that I repeat, when it comes to hitting. Most of these attest to the difficult and elusive skill that hitting is, in an effort to help players develop patience and work ethic, two necessary ingredients for long range hitting success.

Striving for hitting perfection is a constant for baseball players. The good news is that a great measure of success is within most players' reach, when they have the baseball hitting tips that encourage the correct physical and mental game of hitting. The reason I say this is that most ball players have the eye hand coordination to make contact. Therefore, adding the correct swing fundamentals and mindset, creates better contact, leading to hitting success.

As mentioned, hitting success is a combination of the physical swing and the mental mindset. It is necessary for baseball hitting coaches to stay on top of players' fundamentals, while constantly helping their mental game. As mentioned, without a good combination of both the mental and physical game, hitting success is very elusive. Good hitting coaches teach the following:

Most valuable baseball hitting tips

1. Never settle for mediocrity - when contact is consistent, better contact can be the result. Hitters often become satisfied with just making contact, when so much more is possible. Improvement of the swing fundamentals improves hitting success, always.
2. Never take hitting for granted - hitters never totally "get there." Right when one thinks they have the fundamentals, the timing goes, or vice versa.
3. Have a short memory "“players must be able to separate past failure from the next at-bat. Frustration is inevitable but players should never let it get the best of them.
4. Hitters must be able to separate in- game hitting from batting practice - batting practice is for concentrating on good swing habits, games are for concentrating on seeing and timing the ball, while trusting the swing.
5. Hitting consistency begins with a consistent plan. Finding and maintaining a daily hitting routine is necessary, as well as developing a pre-game and pre at-bat ritual.

Equally Valuable Baseball Hitting Tips

1. The batting tee should be a player's constant companion. Use of a batting tee before games to get loose, work on the fundamentals and concentrate on weak spots and after games to work out game flaws is a necessary discipline.
2. Quality of repetition trumps quantity, until perfection arrives (never)"“ practice to just practice is counterproductive, especiallywhen done incorrectly. Twenty fundamentally correct swings are better than 100 mediocre ones. Additionally, it is easy to swing oneself out of a grrove also, so quality is better than quantity.
3. The best swing in the world is useless without rhythm and timing - arriving at hitting position on time and with rhythm is crucial for hitting success. Hitters, who can maintain or go to the correct hitting position, post stride foot landing, give their swing a chance to work.
4. Never underestimate the importance of getting good pitches to hit. Most hitting slumps follow hitting streaks. Hot hitting players begin believing they can hit anything, which leads to chasing bad pitches and subsequent hitting slumps. Constantly striving to get good pitches to hit is the best hitting philosophy.
5. Be willing to learn and to adjust players, who are willing to try coaching suggestions and make changes when necessary, go the furthest.

As mentioned, great hitting coaches constantly address the physical and mental side of hitting; giving players these baseball hitting tips give them the best chance to reach their hitting potential.