"Choke up" "Go no stride" "Shorten up" "Just put it in play" Have you ever heard these when it comes to 2 strike swings? These are just some of the common coaching points that many hitters hear to help them succeed in a 2-strike count. For some hitters, these things work but for others, they still struggle in this situation. Today I want to discuss what we look for in a 2-strike swing and why many times, traditional coaching cues may actually lead to less success with 2 strikes.
3 Point Checklist: What we look for in a 2-strike swing
There are 3 main pieces that we look for in a 2-strike swing, and coincidentally, they are the same 3 things that we look for in any other swing. Many hitters will change their stance and approach with 2 strikes while others won't change a thing. Either way, the 2-strike swing must include these 3 components.
You can drive the ball
Many times, hitters will change their swing in a 2-strike count to simply avoid striking out and aim to just put the ball in play. While this can be a useful strategy at younger ages, at higher levels, simply putting the ball in play without the ability to drive it doesn't really provide much benefit with fielders being better as you move up. In addition, pitchers at every level will still make mistakes over the middle of the plate with 2 strikes, so having a swing that couldn't produce an extra base hit will hamper production.
2. You sequence correctly
Hips first, hands last. While we can get more technical when talking about kinetic sequencing, the concept of firing the hips first and keeping the hands back for as long as possible is a key component of hitting with 2 strikes. Keeping the hands back for as long as possible allows the hitter to do 2 main things. First, it allows the hitter to gain more information on the incoming pitch before committing to it. This allows the brain to pick up more information on the incoming pitch's speed, spin and location before deciding to swing or not. Second, keeping the hands back allows the hitter to get the bat on plane with the pitch deeper in the zone and allow them to square up pitches they may be late on.
3. You still move the bat up through the zone
Anyone who has ever trained at Elite Diamond Performance or has read or watched anything I've ever put out on the internet knows how important I think bat path is. Namely that the bat moves up along the path of the incoming pitch. This holds true all of the time especially with 2 strikes because moving the bat up through the zone (on the path of the pitch) allows hitters the best chance to make contact. And after all, the main aim of swinging with 2 strikes is to make contact.
Problems with Traditional Coaching Cues
As I always say with cues, certain cues, even the ones listed below can help certain hitters. However, when taken literally, these cues below can cause issues in 2 strike counts. Let's identify the most common cues that are given to hitters in 2 strike counts and how they might impact the success rate in 2 strike counts:
"Stay Short": There is a reason why I almost never tell a hitter to stay short with their swing: it usually causes bat path issues, namely causing the bat to stay too flat. When hitters think stay short and the bat path flattens instead of works up along the path of the pitch, the hitter has a smaller area to potentially make contact. In addition, stay short gets into a very hands driven swing which usually gets them to fire the hands too early in the kinetic sequence and make poor swing decisions.
"Choke up": If this helps hitters feel like they have more control and allows them to fire the swing later, then great. However, when given the cues choke up, it is usually accompanied with the thought of staying short, staying on top of the ball, and pushing the hands. These all contribute to a swing with no power, improper sequencing and an impaired bat path.
"Put the ball in play": No hitter wants to strike out, I think that should go without saying. So, this cue is not needed. It leads to hitters thinking too defensively which besides limiting the ability to drive a mistake pitch can cause issues with the swing. When hitters think too defensively, they usually start their swings later and because of this often push the hands and stay too flat with the bat path leading to the issues stated above.
Comments