Baseball Coaching Digest - The Swing Looks Perfect But the Batter Always Hits a Weak Ground Ball

We have all seen this scenario. The batter hashow hard the swing is, the batter is only making
above average bat speed, above average hittingcontact with the top edge or third of the baseball.
skill and is always extremely aggressive at theThis contact at the very top of the ball is forcing
plate, but is simply not getting on base. The swingthe ball hard downward off the bat, thus creating
looks great but weak or poor contact is made.a "hard worm burner" back to the pitcher.
The batter is in a serious hitting slump. The onlyHow is this batting flaw be corrected?
pitch the batter seems able to hit hard is the fastYou may have heard a coach in the past say,
ball on the inner part of the plate. It seems like"Let the Ball Get In". What this means is that the
every other ball he makes contact with is abatter should let the ball get inside the front foot.
ground ball weakly hit back to the pitcher. AndThe only pitch a batter should attack before it
when it hits it hard, it is a "worm-burner" back togets inside the front foot is the fast ball on the
the pitcher. This article offers reasons andinner third of the plate. Every other pitch must be
corrections for this hitting flaw.allowed to get inside the foot before the batter
What causes this hitting flaw?attacks it.
The answer to this question is one word, "timing".Letting the ball get in allows the bat to make
The batter is not being patience enough. Thecontact when the bat is on a level plane. The best
batter is attacking the baseball too quick or tooway to correct the flaw is to do a front toss drill
soon. The bat is not making good solid contactand making sure that the batter waits until the ball
with the baseball because the bat is alreadygets inside the front foot before attacking it.
through the POWER ZONE before the ball getsPatience and timing are the two important things
there. When the batter attacks the pitch toobatters must learn to use at the plate. Having
soon, the bat has passed through the "level plane"these two traits are the key to hitting line drives
and has started to move upward when itfor base hits.
contacts the ball.I hope that you found this article to be useful and
Many young batters and overly aggressive orinformative. You may find other articles like it at
impatience older batters, want to attack the ballthe Baseball Coaching Digest and the Youth
as soon as possible. They often attack it too itBaseball Digest. I thank you for taking the time to
early before the ball reaches the plate. No matterread it. Have a great day.