The 5 Most Important Things To Know About Baseball and Softball Hitting -- Number 2 -- Arriving On Plane (i.e. - Palm Up, Palm Down)

Palm Up, Palm Down

“The Most Important Hitting Concept You Will Ever Learn”

Figure 1 - Go To Google and Search Home Run

When you attack a baseball or a softball, you are up against quite a few defenders. You have the pitcher the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd basemen, a Short Stop, and three Outfielders. The further up you get in the competitive ranks, the harder it becomes to get on base. Coaches and baseball people love to remind us that this is the game where being good 3 out of 10 times is considered great. You are going to need a strategy. 

Best Strategy: Hit the ball to the moon every time you are at the plate. Not possible? Ok. Back to reality then. You need to get on base in order to score. The pitcher is betting that you wont make it. You are batting that you do. Get it? Anyway, your most likely methods of reaching base are via a hard hit line drive or a hard hit ground ball between the defenders. Anything else, that is, anything that lingers a while is likely to get scooped up by the defense. Now what?

Now, as a hitter, you want to do the things that produce hard hit line drives and hard hit ground balls. Hit the pitcher hard every time, and I assure you, he or she will not like seeing you arrive at the plate. That is your goal. The more they do not like to see you, the more reluctant they become to throw you strikes, the more likely you are to end up ahead in the count, which ultimately makes you more likely to get on base. <if you understand how to take advantage of the count> (#DifferentStory)

Nearly all long term successful hitting over the past…well…forever has been done by hitters who arrive at the ball with opposing palms, one facing up, one facing down. Arriving at the ball in this formation allows you to have the best chance at hitting home runs, line drives and hard hit grounders. Those three outcomes lead to the chain of events previously mentioned.

Being in this position also places your hands in the optimal formation for transferring your stored energy via your hands into the ball. If your palms are facing toward the field, you can hit the ball. You can even hit the ball hard. BUT the palm up palm down position remains the superior position because of the likelihood that one hits balls fair and hard. Rolling the hands through at impact increases the likelihood that you hit pop flys and weakly struck grounders. No good.

Take the challenge. Type the words and see what you find. 

Happy Hitting.

Until Next Time,

Carl Young II

www.TheTrainingBat.com

@TrainingBat