Helping Hitters With a Positive Mental Outlook

Helping Baseball Hitters Improve
By Jack Perconte

Having worked with thousands of baseball hitters over the years, I have noticed that many of them become upset when they hit foul balls, especially in batting practice. I try to have hitters feel good about fouling balls off. In that way they keep a confident, positive outlook for the rest of the at-bat. Once negativity enters a hitters mind, they may lose the confidence and the edge they may have had. Additionally, I do not believe it is good to show the pitcher that you are upset or ever give the opposition the feeling that you are less confident.

When I notice a hitter become upset over fouling off some pitches, I say, "Wait a minute, that was a good thing. It is better than a swing and a miss. Hitting is not that easy so just making contact is a positive thing." I follow that up with "Hey, that foul ball kept you alive for another pitch, and your pitch is coming." I strive to convince hitters that fouling a ball off on a tough pitch is a total victory because, "Even if you put that one in play, it would have probably been for an easy out." I follow that up with, "The chances of the pitcher throwing the next pitch in the same tough spot are very slim."

Of course, fouling a pitch off that was very hittable (right down the middle) can be demoralizing but I never want my hitters to feel negatively at home plate and, as mentioned, I never want them to give the pitcher the mental edge.

From a coaching stand point, good coaches should never give batters the impression that they do not believe in the hitters or that they (batters) may have missed an opportunity. Coaches often do this by looking disgusted or showing disappointment when a player fouls a good, hittable pitch off. Any negative feelings in sport generally lead to failure. Additionally, there are many words that coaches can use so hitters stay positive, optimistic and confident. Here are some of those that will help hitters keep a positive mental outlook:

1. "That wasn't your pitch anyway" - this is good to say when a hitter takes a borderline pitch that was called a strike or when the umpire makes a questionable call.
2. "Be ready, your pitch is coming" - always good advice and better than saying "Protect the plate," which puts the hitter in a defensive, negative mode.
3. "I know you can do this," which is always good advice, especially for less confident players.
4. "It only takes one," which is good to say to get hitters to stay positive and not dwell on past missed opportunities.
5. "Now you're ready" - good to say after a hitter did not swing at a pitch that maybe they should have swung at.
6. "Way to hang in there" - good advice after they foul off a pitch on a 2-strike count.
7. "Good at-bat" - good to say after the batter made an out but either hit the ball hard, had some good swings or battled the pitcher for many pitches.
8. "Nothing you can do about that at-bat, it's over and you will get him the next time" - always important advice suggesting hitters have short memories and a positive mental outlook in the future.

Of course, there are hundreds of positive words coaches can use, with the above being examples. The key is that athletes and coaches remember, "Negativity rarely brings out the best in a ball player."

Former major league baseball player, Jack Perconte gives baseball hitting tips and batting practice advice for ballplayers of all ages. His baseball playing lessons, books and advice can be found at http://www.baseballhittinglessons.com/baseball Jack is the author of two books, The Making of a Hitter and Raising an Athlete - his positive parenting advice and books can be found at http://positiveparentinginsports.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_Perconte

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Little League Digest - Proper Baseball Swing Mechanics and the "Belly Button" Rule of Hip Turn

Little league Digest: Baseball Batting Coaching Tips: Teaching Hip Turn Mechanics and Using the "Belly Button" Rule to Improve Baseball Swing Quality

The hips play an important part in the baseball swing process. The turn of the hips helps to generate power and bat speed. There are several important coaching points about the involvement of the hips in the swing. The "B B" rule is one good way to teach young players the degree of hip turn on various pitch locations. This article presents several coaching points and explains the "B B" rule.


By Nick Dixon



Here are 10 Coaching Points related to Hip Movement Mechanics:

1. The degree of hip movement is determined by the location of the pitch.

2. The hips must turn more when hitting an inside pitch.

3. The hips will turn less when hitting a pitch away.

4. The hips should not move before the hands and bat.

5. To free the hips, the back foot must spin, rotate or turn onto the toe.

6. The hips follow the barrel. The hips should open behind the barrel, not before it.

7. Premature front side or hip movement will cause a batter to pull the head and to pull of pitches.

8. The correct hip movement is a spin. Lunging or sliding the hips forward is not acceptable.

9. The hip movement should be a thrust or fast rotation. The faster the rotation of the hips, the faster the bats speed.

10. The degree of hip rotation can be taught by teaching the "Belly Button" rule as explained below.

The "Belly Button Rule" is explained as the following:

The Belly Button should follow the barrel of the bat through the baseball swing process. The location of a pitch determines hip turn. The degree of hip turn determines where the belly button is pointing when the batter finishes the baseball swing. The belly button should always finish in a position that points toward the direction in which the baseball was hit.

For example, when a ball is hit to the opposite field, the batters "Button" should point or be directed toward the opposite field when the swing is completed. If a batter pulls an inside pitch, the belly button should follow the ball and point toward the direction in which the ball was hit.

Coaching Point: For right and left handed batters, if the ball is hit through the box, up the middle, the belly button should "shine" or point toward second base when the swing is complete. For right handed batter, is a ball is pulled, the belly button should finish pointing toward third base. If a right handed batter hits the baseball down the right field line, the button should point toward first base when the swing is completed. If a left handed batter pulls the baseball, the hips should turn completely and the button should finish pointing at first base. If a left handed batter hits the ball to left field, the hips should turn less and the belly button should finish the swing pointing the 5-6 hole or between 3rd and 2nd base.

I hope that you found this article to be informative and helpful. Thanks for taking the time to read it. I wish you and your team good luck this season! Have a great day, Nick.

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Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon

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Baseball Swing Secrets to Learning the Right Mechanics Quickly!

By Joey Myers

The perfect baseball swing is like poetry in motion...watching Joe Mauer, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriquez, or Manny Ramirez hit leaves anyone with an awe that is indescribable. They've taken hundreds of thousands of cuts to create such a beautiful swing with such devastating impact on pitchers.

But, do you really have that kind of time with:


The new season coming up?
A big tournament being a week from now? or maybe you
Have to get ready for a big scouting showcase?

What you need is to SUPER-learn the baseball swing, like, yesterday!

Well, this article will go into what it's going to take to do just that. Doing the following will not make your swing perfect , it never will be, but you'll be able to take the information from the Smart Hitting Tips tab on the navigation bar, do what's prescribed here, and have a helluva showing.

Most of the following tips are hard rooted in research based on state-of-the-art Neuroscience and Exercise Science practice & theory...

This isn't a get hits quick scheme either, and will take A LOT of work, 2,000+ reps a week to be exact, but you'll train your brain and body to harmonize, building to successful baseball swing execution.

Ready?? Hold your horses...First,

You must create a time-line...when do you want to accomplish this? In a week (recommended, at least)? or 2? A month? Decide that first, then move on to the following Steps...

STEP 1: Make Small Circles

Start off slow with one concept, two at most, a day and breakdown each and every movement by going in extremely slow motion. You're brain is like a record...the more you do a movement, the more the needle wears the grooves on the surface of the vinyl... the more reps you do, the deeper and more solid the grooves.

Be careful because it can also work against you, by doing the movement wrong, so start off slow the right way, then speed up.

STEP 2: Balancing Act

Using the Balance & Reach Drill a foot or two off the ground will cause your brain to engage more muscles to stabilize the whole body, and the more you engage the Central Nervous System, the more muscles get recruited, and the faster your body picks up the technique.

Also, doing regular swings on an unstable surface, like on a narrow cushiony weight bench, diving board, exercise bose ball, or with eyes closed, the better off you'll be in record time.

STEP 3: Reps Before Bed

Studies have shown going through the motions before bedtime helps to burn them into your brain better. It has to do with the Four Stages of REM Sleep ...major repairs, both physically and cerebrally, go on in the 3rd and 4th Stages of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. If you don't get to the last two stages, then your body doesn't repair itself, which leads us to the next Step...

STEP 4: Set Alarm for 4.5 Hours

In order to speed up the learning process for developing an effective baseball swing, you have to take advantage of two sets of REM sleep. Do your swing repetitions before bed, set your alarm clock for 4.5 hours, wake up and do more reps, then finish off your sleep or the next REM cycle.

What this does is complete one cycle of REM (all 4 stages), then reset your body (by waking up) for another round, deepening those grooves in the brain. By doing this you're 50% more likely to make "stick" the desired technique.

All this can be possible if you...

STEP 5: Do NOT Eat Carbohydrates Past 6pm

Eating enough Carbs to spike your insulin, anytime past 6pm will keep you from getting to Stage 3 & 4 of REM sleep. Our natural occurring human growth hormones (HGH) get released in those stages of sleep ONLY, to repair the body. To allow that to happen, we have to chill out on the Carbs after hours.

And most importantly for your baseball swing, not only will you not repair and heal, but learning is dampened and your immune system crashes.

Last but not least,

STEP 6: Hyper-Computing for Cadence

Once we get a handle on all of the above baseball swing hyper-learning points, now we can speed up our micro processors. By doing this, we train the Central Nervous system by speeding up our motion to get the proper tempo or cadence.

Key point: do NOT attempt this until you have a solid handle on the proper form and movement first.

Speeding up the process of a particular part of the swing helps to deepen the specific movement groove in the brain, so when you engage the correct tempo, the movement is more natural.

You have to exaggerate a technique (in this case, speeding up the cadence), to get the right motion.

This is also great training for combating fast tempo pitchers, who when you step in the batter's box and look up, the pitch is already on its way.

The bottom line about HYPER-learning the baseball swing?

For these 6 Steps to be effective, you have to take between 1,200 to 2,000 repetitions a week...the RIGHT reps. Remember, wearing grooves in your brain can work for OR against you. Keep in mind, with that amount of swings in a small time-frame, you're going to develop blisters and sore muscles. Try and work through them, but if it comes to the sacrifice of good form, then stop, let them heal, and get back on the horse.

To Hyper-Heal sore muscles, do what the Soviet athletes did in the 80-90's, ice the sore spots for 5 minutes, then plunge into a hot bath or spa for 15 minutes, and repeat the process a couple times. This sequence also helps your body release melatonin, which will aid in putting you to sleep.

For blisters, drain them, but don't cut away the whole dead skin blister layer for a couple days...put antibiotic ointment between the dead and raw skin, and cover with a band-aid & athletic tape. They also have blister spray skin toughener, which you may want to look into...it burns like hell for a moment, but makes it so you can hit again with virtually no pain.

We hope you enjoyed this baseball swing article, remember we're always adding content, so please subscribe to the RSS feed, blog, and/or The Dugout Newsletter to stay up-to-date with the latest baseball hitting information.

My name is Joey Myers, and I played 18 total years of baseball finishing my career after my fourth year of college (2000-2003) as a Fresno State Bulldog (the 2008 College World Series Champions). I'm very grateful for the success I had at Bullard High School, and getting a scholarship to play at a Division I university, Fresno State, where I started 110 out of the 178 games I played, in the outfield. Now I devote most of my life to baseball swing coaching and personal fitness training. My websites are http://www.swing-smarter-baseball-hitting-drills.com/ and http://www.corecreationsonline.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joey_Myers

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