For most of my pro playing career (17 seasons), every year started the same way.
Hope and excitement lead the way as another spring training camp opens. I walk in the major league clubhouse believing this will be the year I break with the big club. But, I find that with about a week left in camp I get reassigned to minor league camp as they are setting their rosters.
Even though there is always disappointment, I am grateful that I get to talk hitting with established major league veterans and up and coming minor leaguers.
The longer I played and the more conversations I had, I noticed one big difference between major leaguers and minor leaguers.
Big leaguers usually had a much more simplistic hitting approach.
My approach when I was younger seems to be typical of many hitters trying to find their way.
- Look away and adjust in
- Runner at 3rd base get a pitch up in the zone.
- 2-0 count look for a fastball in.
- With 2 strikes, protect away
- Don’t swing at a slider in the dirt (the more I thought this, the more I kept swinging)
My approach changed after talking to the best hitters in the game. Their approaches seemed to have one thing in common. KEEP IT SIMPLE.
- Look for fastball right down the middle and hit it hard.
What? Why so simple. This can’t be right. I didn’t believe it until I tried it.
No matter the situation, in order to have a successful at bat, you have to swing at a good pitch. When I hit off a tee, or flip, or batting practice… the ball I hit the best is the pitch right down the middle.
Why would I change that when the game starts?
Why would I swing at a pitch on the outside 1/3 of the plate if I don’t handle that pitch very well?
I found that if I looked away and adjusted to a ball inside that adjustment is around 15 inches. Thats tough to cover. If I looked down the middle and he missed in its only a few inch adjustment, that is much more doable.
I can hit a sacrifice fly, move a runner up, drive the baseball when I get a pitch down the middle. I can do whatever I need to do.
Now if I am really being honest, the more complex my approach, the more I would completely ignore it once I stepped into the batters box.
Looking for one pitch and one pitch only helped me lock in to a zone and gave me a goal I could accomplish every at bat.
Seasoned hitters will at times try to outthink a pitcher and look for a certain pitch in a certain spot. But, whether or not they succeed, most tend to go back to their simple, boring approach.
Consistency is the key and the most difficult thing to do in baseball.
Keeping a hitting approach simple, doable and consistent is a common difference between the established major league hitter and the toolsy unpolished minor leaguer.
Cheers, and play hard!
Doug
———-
Who’s Doug Bernier? Doug Bernier debuted in the Major Leagues with the Colorado Rockies in 2008. During his 17 year pro career, Doug played every infield position at the Major League level and finished with a career fielding % of .976. In 2012, Bernier founded Pro Baseball Insider, a website where professional baseball players donate their knowledge of baseball free to the public.
A Free Gift from Doug. Would you like to know the 6 Secrets of Elite Infielders? If you’re ready to step up your defensive game, be sure to enroll in this free 6 day email course. http://probaseballinsider.com/6-secrets-of-elite-infielders
