"He/She hits fine in the cage and has a great swing but can't hit in the game" Sound familiar?
Yeah, me too
This was me in professional baseball and if this is you I am going to give you 4 ideas to help you better prepare for the demands of the game
Problem Number 1: Your Swing Isn't Fast Enough
The best hitters on the planet are the most explosive rotational athletes on the planet. You can have a great-looking swing but you need to be able to hit balls hard enough that defenders have a hard time to reacting to them.
Plus you get the added benefit of hitting the ball harder when you miss the sweet spot of the bat. If your mishits play up then you steal a couple base hits a weekend that used to be outs
Problem Number 2: Your Swing isn't adaptable enough
The best hitters on the planet have this unexplainable feel for the barrel in space.
If you have ever watched a game and thought "how in the world did he/she hit that ball?" you are witnessing elite feel for the barrel.
One of your foundational batting practice principles needs to be develop feel for the barrel and adapting to ball flight. You can do this by using different weighted, balance, length, or diameter bats. I have written about this before (HERE)
Problem Number 3: Your pitch recognition isn't good
The best players on the planet are typically the best at recognizing strikes and swinging at them.
Swinging at pitches you can't hit in counts you shouldn't swing at them is doom for hitters. Hunt middle/middle fastballs and make sure you can consistently hit them squarely.
One way we train this (besides hitting live pitchers in practice) is by using the VR system from Win Reality. Win is a great tool to train timing, readiness, and decisions
Problem Number 4:
Your practice environment isn't representative enough
In conclusion, these four key problem areas are where many players fall short - the speed of their swing, the adaptability of their swing, pitch recognition skills, and the representative nature of their practice environment. By understanding and tackling these problems, a player can drastically improve their in-game performance.
