What a terrific opportunity I had yesterday, taking my son and a couple of my students down to a clinic put on by Tony Gwynn and his coaching staff and players from San Diego State University.

I got to listen in as he was instructing the kids and as he was talking to the parents.

He reiterated what I had said in an earlier post that hitting is the toughest thing to do in sports.  But having said that he made it really simple.  He really was focused on just 2 things.  He said the rest seems to take care of itself.

They were 1) take the hands back and 2) pull the bottom hand through the ball.

He also said things that I thought were important, but those were the 2 themes he harped on all night.

Here are some of my other gleanings:  To one parent who quizzed him on what the top hand did in the swing, he stated it mostly came along for the ride, basically what you’d see in every picture of a major leaguer hitting would be that the top hand would have the palm of their hand pointing to the sky at contact.

That everyone can hit the inside pitch (assuming he was talking about higher levels of play), it’s the outside pitch that caused the most trouble, so guess what he worked on the most? Having the kids hit it the opposite way, letting the ball travel deeper into the hitting zone and driving the ball that way, no rolling of the wrists. His reasoning is that if you can hit that with authority you can easily hit the stuff down the middle and inside.

A lot of coaches have lots of theories about hitting, and some of these theories might fly in the face of what you’ve seen here.  And it may be true that some people can do better than teach, but unless you can show proof via video tape or pictures, I’ll take the .338 lifetime batters opinion first.

What I’m hoping to do in this blog is get pictures and/or video’s of different points and have the people who do this at the highest level (MLB) show us with their actions, because I have a confession to make, I was never a lifetime .338 MLB player (maybe in my fantasy life where I actually hit .650 Aw, what the heck, it’s my fantasy life, I hit 1.000 with a slugging pct. of 4.000

If you could only do one or the other which would you pick?  There are very few Babe Ruth’s who bat .342 and hit 714 home runs, so you need to pick a style. 

The teams that were stocked with power hitters are all gone from the playoffs.  The runs now are coming at a premium in the World Series with good pitching on both sides. 

So does the need to squeek out a run over rule the sit back and wait for the big inning approach?

How does it affect your hitting approach at the plate if you’re faced with the same dilemma?

What are your thoughts, which would you rather have if you could only have one?

Here’s a great example of what this blog is all about.  I was hoping to comment on Paul Konerko’s home run as he matches the profile I was mentioning, an over .300 hitter and hits lots of home runs.  His hit was a thing of beauty.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a picture that was as good as this one of Scott Podsednik.

Even though he didn’t hit a home run all season he did get captured in this great picture by Ron Vesely of the Chicago White Sox hitting one of only a few walk off home runs in World Series history.

I want to say here and now, anyone making it to the Major Leagues as a hitter is doing something right that the huge majority of the population, even the baseball/softball playing population is not doing.  And to hit a home run at this level requires doing certain things.  These are the things I want to analyze with you in hopes that your hitting will be helped.

Hitting happens so fast that at anyone time it’s almost impossible to determine all of what’s happening.  So let’s look at what we can see here and leave the rest for another discussion.

This picture is taken after the ball has left the bat.  We need to take that into consideration so we don’t jump to conclusions.

But there are 4 things that are very clearly demonstrated here.

1) The Power "L".  The position of the back leg looks like the letter "L".

2) Notice the toe pointing down. How much weight do you think is on the back foot?

3) His head is "locked in" on where the ball was when he hit it.

4) His belly button is pointed to the pitcher.

I’d like to make this blog interactive, so post a comment and tell me what you notice or answer or question why you might feel my observations or comments are right on (or off base).

It’s the World Series, the bottom of the ninth, the bases are loaded, it’s two outs, you’re team is down 3 runs and you come up to bat.

You take the best swing you’ve ever taken, the sound of the ball meeting the sweet spot of your bat has that wonderful sound of a ball struck when you get all of it.  It travels up, up, up, and out of here!

The crowd noise is deafening as your fans cheer and call your name, your team mates gather round to swarm you and pile on top of you and the rest of the team as you’ve just won the World Series.

You’ve had that fantasy.  Go ahead, admit it.  We all have.

That’s why we play the game, whether it’s in the little leagues, high school, or even still play fastpitch or slo-pitch softball.  Hitting the ball well is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

This blog is dedicated to all who want to learn how to do it better, whether you’re learning how to get that first hit or that first home run or your 756th.

We’ll analyze how the people who make it to the highest levels of competition (the major leagues of MLB) hit so well. I will draw from my own background of coaching over the past 30 years and hopefully engage some of the players, former players,  and coaches of MLB to participate.

I will break down different theories but mainly keeping our focus on those batters that hit over .300 and/or hit lots of home runs, figuring that learning or modeling from the best will help us in our quest.

So whether you’re a player, a parent of a player, a coach, or someone who’s just fascinated with how the athletes do what has been described as "the toughest thing to do in sport", this blog’s for you.