| I might have a slightly different approach for | | | | of this, I would much rather take a highly |
| hitting a baseball with two strikes than most | | | | aggressive hitter who swings and misses on his |
| coaches, especially at the younger level. The short | | | | third strike than a hitter who changes his |
| of it is that I work with hitters in being offensive | | | | approach into a defensive mindset. That defensive |
| producers, since that is their job in the first place | | | | mindset is more damaging in the long run than an |
| when they step into the box. Having said this, a | | | | aggressive hitter who can be taught to focus that |
| hitter obviously gets three chances to produce | | | | energy more constructively with some sound |
| something valuable for his team each and every | | | | baseball instruction. |
| at bat. | | | | Having said that, there is great value in shifting |
| Because of this offensive thinking, I do not want | | | | the focus of what to do with a pitch later in the |
| my athletes shrinking into a defensive position | | | | count. Because of a higher percent chance of an |
| while being on offense and limiting their production | | | | off speed or outside pitch being thrown later in |
| potential with two strikes. Just make contact with | | | | the count, working on taking the ball the other |
| your baseball swing, or put the ball in play, etc. are | | | | way would be appropriate. Therefore in your |
| all examples of defensive thinking. Few would | | | | baseball drills work on molding aggressive hitters |
| argue that the just put the ball into play and | | | | which if they go down, they go down playing the |
| make contact advice would rarely be given to a | | | | game hard. |
| hitter outside of the two strike scenario. Because | | | | |