Pop 'n glide, pop 'n glide, see the ball before you stride!

That little mantra is nearly as old as the game of baseball itself. I first heard it nearly 40 years ago, when I was playing American Legion ball. Rick Collier, our star hitter, used the expression and it propelled him to hitting success nobody had ever seen from him before.

As I've been lucky enough to continue to play competitive baseball (hardball) into my 50's, in a league amongst my peer group, the "see the ball" part of the above expression, now is all I think about. Keep it simple - the better look you get at the ball as it comes out of the pitchers hand - the faster you'll know whether it's a pitch you should swing at, or not. Because the mechanics of a baseball swing start, first, by knowing the strike zone, enabling any player to develop a good eye while in the batter's box.

In a league like ours, it's more likely to see erratic pitching, particularly on weaker teams that sometimes just have to send a live body to the mound - a thrower as opposed to an experienced pitcher, who has control and knows how to set hitters up to get them out. So, if your hitting against a thrower, bring patience with you to the batter's box.

If you're hitting against a legitimate pitcher who throws strikes, you can go to the plate with a little more aggression in mind, knowing you'll see strikes early and often.
This attitude, for example, helped Tony Gwynn to major success in his career, particularly against 350-game winner, Greg Maddux. He knew Maddux had pinpoint control, and thrived on getting many hitters to swing early in the at-bat, often pounding his changeup into the dirt for easy outs. But Gwynn, using a less is more philosophy, was a skilled enough batsman to hit a soft line drive over the left side of the infield, or a grounder that often would find the "five-and-a-half hole", as Gwynn likes to say, between the third baseman and shortstop.

But back to the mechanics of the swing. First, regardless of the type of hitter you are, think about hitting the ball where it's pitched. Every hitter benefits from this approach - inside, pull it to your side of the field, down the pipe, hit it up the middle. Outside corner - hit it to the opposite field. If a hitter can develop rhythm like this, particularly during batting practice, it will help during a game, by making it less likely that the hitter will jump at a pitch, or become too anxious and pull off a pitch. This obstacle

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about The mechanics of a baseball swing?
We want to hear your view. Write now!