Interest vs. Commitment

I have been evaluating talent for over 18 years.  It started when I began doing baseball lessons, then as a scout, now as an intern.  The mechanics are not much different from looking at a persons swing or their health.  Evaluating is a learned skill set.  So I want to address interest verse commitment.  I see people all the time that are interested in changing some aspect of their life.  They want to loose weight or get a degree so they can get that job they want, or even meet a mate.  Then I meet people who are committed to these things.  There is a huge difference and unless you are paying attention you might miss them.  Here is the real bottom line.  Interested people will do what is convenient to obtain what they want.  If things work around their schedules, friends, family, work, and activities they will continue to chase their dreams.  When things start to get in the way of their lifestyle or situations get tough and they now are going out of their way or things are not convenient anymore they give up.  Committed people are a different breed.  They do whatever it takes to obtain their dreams and goals.  Which means when things become inconvenient and they will they change their situation, adjust, adapt, and keep moving towards the prize.  The problems are not the focus they are just obstacles and the goal is always in front of them.  The "Do Whatever It Takes" or DWIT is a solution based thinking.  I have been in Chiropractic College for the last three and a half years.  I was Committed to this process from the beginning.  I have failed classes, been set back a quarter, and even failed my last set of board exams.  So?  My eyes are still on the prize.  I am a chiropractor.  I have not finished school and I do not have that piece of paper in my hand but in my mind I am a chiropractor.  I've seen the graduation ceremony so many times in my head that I know it has already happened.  I hope that it really is as amazing as I have imagined.  I could have quit a thousand times and in the first year I wasn't so sure I was smart enough or even if I had the qualifications to even be here.  I'm in class with biochemist, biologist, athletic trainers, and some other fields that I wasn't even sure existed.  So of the smartest and intelligent minds I had ever experienced.  I was just a former professional baseball player and baseball instructor who had been a chiropractic patient for over 25 years and had been adjusting teammates using the moves that had been done to me without any formal training.  The hardest thing was I have only seen my daughter a handful of times in the last three years.  We talk and text but I really miss her presence.  When I came to Palmer one of the reasons was because it was close to her.  Then she moved away.   Another inconvenience I have had to adjust too.  I have had to create a budget and stick to it.  Which means many weekends spent at home, rarely eating out unless someone offers to pay, walking places to save gas,  planning how many miles I have to drive in a week and planing work around this.  I wasn't able to afford all the cool seminars so I looked for other alternatives.  This weekend I borrowed an extremity adjusting video series from my preceptor doctor and watch that.  Cost $0.00 and four hours of my time.  I have found many educating doctors online.  I paid for 2 years of medical training online for $99.00  over 500 lectures and I didn't start watching them until four months ago.  I have obtained $400.00 medical books for $30.00 and use them weekly.  I could have spent that money on shoes or clothes or my girlfriends but my focus and commitment has been constant.  When my ways of being line up with my choices then I know I am committed to my wants, dreams, and goals.  When my choices go against my gut feelings then I know I am off the mark.  It is funny that the definition of sin is failing to hit the mark.  So when I am not in line with my purpose I am actually sinning.   I have seen this over and over in the last three years.  I have made choices that have gone against my purpose.  I once had a class that I thought was so boring that I would just sit in class surfing the Internet looking at crap. I couldn't understand how I failed the class.  I had not mastered the material.  Honestly I did not even know the material.  The second time around I paid very close attention an obtained a B.  So my money and time have really been spent doing the things that will require me to obtain my goals.  I'm not saying you have to be this focused Nazi and not have any balance in your life.  I have the mentality that I can have it all.  I have been in relationships, played lots of baseball, trained my body into the best shape ever, traveled a little, and experienced the bay area.  I have also said "No." a lot.  Going out and partying it up and knowing full well that I will not be studying the next day has made me avoid this behavior.  If I lived around whether things were convenient I would have quit this program in the first week.  There is nothing convenient about this program.  It stretches my limits all the time.  Maybe I wasted days and weeks studying material in such a tired state I felt like I was not retaining any of the information.  Maybe subconsciously I really was.  Some people can not go through life and miss a thing.  They have to go to that wedding even though it falls right before finals week.  Or that concert, or trip, or even go home all the time miss because they miss their family.  I laugh when they tell how much money they get and all the crap they blow it on.  It's a loan.  That trip to South America that cost $3000.00 today will be $30,000 with compounding interest.  Or the new car or truck, all the furniture, and trips to Vegas and Hawaii.  They will be paying on that stuff  for the next 20 years even after they have sold it. I kept things to a minimum.  I worked my butt off because I didn't take all the loans and I did not buy things with my loan money.  I used my earnings.  I have even maintained a $500.00 a month car payment.  I should have sold it, but I like my Jeep.
So I was willing to DWIT to have it.  I worked late nights whenever I was called to.  I umpired all spring and summer as many days a week as I could.  I cooked for myself and ate lots of rice and oatmeal.  I didn't get a gym membership until my last year and I only kept it for five months.  I do not need a gym to motivate me.  I can work out just as hard with body weight or use the free gym at the apartment complex.  Today I work in a clinic that has a gym in it.  It was one of the reasons I chose it.
I hope this is starting to make sense.  There is a huge difference between being interested and being committed to something.  When you chose to do something then make sure you are committed to it.  Your effort and enthusiasm will be high and positive and it will be fun.  Chiropractic school has been hard but I will say it has been fun too.  If you know me then if its not fun I will not do it.

Just Do It. You'll never get a hit unless you step up to the plate.

Tonight I am feeling pretty good.  Maybe it's all the alone time I have had to reflect on how really blessed I am.  Or maybe it's the two beers and the best garlic knots I ate tonight.  Either way it's time to journal.  There are a few people that have shaped my path at Palmer.  One I want to acknowledge is Dr. Bill DuMonthier.  In my first two years I have had many conversations with him expressing my concerns about how hard the program has been for me and that I struggle with "just getting by".  I have always been the type of person that has excelled when it comes to just about everything.  I did well in high school and even made the Dean's list in college with out much effort.  In sports I can pick up any sport and become proficient at it in no time at all.  I had other choices to pursue in professional sports.  I was the Michigan state champ in bowling in the eight grade bowling against high school and some college amatures.  I had offers to play college football, baseball, and even played one year of college basketball.  Anything and everything requiring movement and sports comes very natural to me.  In a six month period I studied for and passed the series 7,6,31, and 3 test and became a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley.  Chiropractic College was a whole new animal in itself.  I was not prepared at all for this.  I had an undergrad background in kinesiology and biomechanics but had not really been in a book let alone research since 1994.  It was like starting from scratch in a fast paced program where I had to learn everything again.  I spent hours in class trying to stay awake only to go home and pass out, wake up at nine or ten o'clock at night and start studying till three in the morning.  A common site in my trailer park room where I lived for my first year was  to wake up in bed with a pile of books all over me and my laptop on the floor because I knocked it off the bed when I had fallen asleep.  I barely passed most of my classes and when Part I of boards came close I expressed my concerns to Dr. DuMonthier.  He had some comforting words for me then that carried me through. He said, "It is because you care so much about this that I am not worried about you.  Because you care you will do whatever it takes to pass these exams."  Now the number and all the stats compiled by the school were not in my favor.  C average students that do not take a board review course have an 80% fail rate for Part I boards.  I could not afford to pay for a board review course so I got Irene Gold and read through it over and over on my own.  There were some very smart people in my class that failed Part I, but I was not one of them. Nor did I fail Part II. So thank you Bill for believing in me when I didn't quite believe in myself.  I will always struggle when I have that feeling of just getting by.  I always desire to be the best at what I do.  Today I find myself in books learning about techniques, functional movements, rehab and core strengthening.  Medical books about diseases are my new favorite.  I do not want to be know as just a chiropractor.  I desire to be a great doctor of wellness that has chosen chiropractic to express myself through.

90 days to transform your body.

Although I am a professional coach and have told people that it takes around 90 days to change a habit.  If you are a drug addict this process is crucial.  First the body has to be cleansed, then repaired, then retrained.  I am a firm believer that you and I are a slave to our habits.  So if I am t be a slave then I choose to be a slave to good habits.  Like eating well, getting plenty of rest,  intense exercise, and practicing me art until it is nearly perfected.  On December 14th I started my cleanse.  I had been working out, but not what I would call regularly.  It would be one day on four days off then 2 days on one day off followed by one day on and six more off.  My program lacked consistency.  So when I started my cleanse I also started working out.  It was all cardio for the first seven days.  Then I started to mix in some interval training.  After 10 days my cleanse was over and I had lost 12 lbs. of garbage.  Then I started juicing for the next 10 days.  My work outs never suffered and I was pretty amazed on how my body actually felt.  I had tons of energy and after twenty days I was down from my original 236 to 218.  I started to introduce some solid raw foods back into my system after 20 days.  I was still having some craving for meat.  I'm not a big meat eater either so I broke down and had a steak.  It tasted wonderful but tore me apart.  So I salt flushed it out of m body the next day.  A salt flush is 1 quart of sea salt water solution.  It will empty out the entire digestive tract in an hour.  If your drink the quart and nothing happens then drink another one.  It will happen eventually.  So today is around my 90 day mark. and I have kept the weight off.  I need a new wardrobe. And you can see the lean results.  208 lbs is my official weight.  That's 28 lbs in 3 months.  I did it in about 60 days in all actuality.  This is the first time that after is completed a cleanse I did not put back on some of the weight.  I think I have finally tuned up my diet and the exercise is also the key.  I am no longer training 6 days a week now.  I am down to 3.  This is mostly because I have board exams next week and have been studying, OSCE's on 3/18, and had been attending about every outreach clinic I can get into so I can get my credits finished.  I told you I would tell you the secret.  Cleansing the body will do more than just empty all the waste out of your system.  It will allow your gut to heal.  If you are over weight and you feel like you have to eat all the time because you are hungry all the time might just be due to the fact that your body has a malabsorption problem.  The body for some reason is not absorbing the nutrients that is being put into it.  So when this happens the body cries out for nutrients and signals the hunger centers in the brain.  So we eat and eat and the calories add up to more than we need so the body just throws this waste in the form of fats on our bellies and thighs, chin and chest.  the serious issues start to arise when the belly fat starts to deposit inside the organs.  Then the organs start to also function poorly and sometime begin to fail.  So cleansing the body starts the healing process.  Once the cleanse is over you can not just start shoving burgers back into your mouth.  The system is clean and is not completely healed yet.  Juice is the next phase.  Juice is easy on the system and literally takes minutes to digest and process for energy.  This is why on a juice diet you must have is ever 2 hours or more.   Since the body is not processing the weight in your gastrointestinal tract it now has time to work on the other neglected areas of the body.  The brain, artery plaques, and excess body fat.  If the system is clean this process becomes really efficient.  Fat literally starts to melt of you from the inside.  Your body will break it down and secret much of it in your urine.  Yes I said your urine.  Because the GI tract processes the food waste.  The blood and kidney will process the other waste.  Water is a huge key.  You must consume gallons of it to flush your system.  When you are cleansing going to the bathroom a lot is a key marker of how well you are doing.  If you do not consume enough water then the toxins will build up and you may like me experience headaches and even flu like symptoms.  The other secret is intense exercise.  Exercise releases insulin like factors that also increase metabolism in the muscles and release growth hormone which in turns builds muscle mass and burns more fat.  This is another reason exercise will help diabetics.  If they are not producing insulin the the insulin like factors will substitute for insulin.  If they have an insulin resistance the insulin like factors will again substitute for the insulin.  No insulin is really needed at all.  The third key is persistent and consistent effort.  Small strokes fall big oaks. Weight will not fall off you in one or two days.  Weight will change after 90 days of doing this.  I would bet my life on it.  If you have been working out hard and do not seem to be able to drop any weight then Look to see if you have one of the key features wrong.  I hear people say "I eat great and work out all the time but have hit a point where they are stuck.  They are either lying about their diet, the exercise program or they have malabsorption issues that have not been properly addressed.  It can be that simple.  Here are my results.  The secret is there are no secrets.  Hard work and discipline win out over and over again.

The Hands and why lining up the knuckles is Important.

My Kid Hits Great with You, but Sucks in the Game!

I don't know if that is a compliment or not. The more I do this the more I hear Perry Husband in the back ground telling me that giving lessons the old way is pointless. I am really starting to get what he was saying. Believe me when I say I will always give one on one lessons, but only a few of them. When I first get a new client I always have to look at some key things. I video everyone. I like to slow things down so I can see some of the key factors I look for when doing my analysis. I also like to get and exit speed. This is to show that when the hitter makes a more efficient move they get a better result. I will always talk about summation of sequential segments. Yes, I even talk about this with my younger students. Yes, they look at me with eyes of confusion, but I explain it to them in a way that they understand the principle and how they already use it in baseball. I will always talk about distance of force application and explain it to them the same way I did summation of sequential segments. That's just me and how I instruct. I used to throw days and days of batting practice. The kids love it. The parents love it. So what's the big deal? The big deal is I have trained hitter to great batting practice hitters but just okay game hitters. So I decided to change the way I did things. I went from a more swing focused approach to a timing focused approach. And let me tell you the results are amazing in one aspect but awful in others. The results have been amazing in the sense that I have put more underclassmen on varsity programs than ever before in the past. I also hear stories of how my students are excelling at tryouts and making elite club teams. It doesn't matter what kind of pitcher I bring into class to throw, these kids make faster adjustments and hit everyone. They are some of the smartest, toughest, level headed students I have ever had. So what can be so awful? Financially this move has driven some people away. They like the one on one time. That's all they know. Change is scary and different. "My son doesn't like hitting with all those other boys." Why? He has to play with 10 -14 other kids. What is the difference with 2 or 3? When I look at what I really get paid for it is really simple. I have an ever expanding knowledge and passion for hitting. I have played and have experience. I can teach and I am bless with this ability. Not everyone can articulate things in ways that people really get it. But the bottom line is I get results. My kids come in with bad swings and good swings and most of the time they leave hitting harder. I get results.
So about a year ago I switch over and started training at game speed and getting hitters more at bats during the week. Players that were sitting the bench last year are starting this year and turn heads. I switched over to a muscle memory program and a timing program and have almost done away with the hands on every move looks like this training. I have come to the conclusion that there is no "Perfect Swing" Linear or rotational? Neither is the best. It may be a combination of both. The two greatest home run hitters had different swings. Barry Bonds was rotational and Hank Aaron was a combination of forward push and rotation. Ichiro, who has been the most productive hitter in the last 10 years is linear. So really there is no best way. Hitters are good because they are on time. I saw Rod Carew over and over just flick his bat on balls and he would hit rockets to the gaps. It looked like he way out on his front leg and fooled by the pitch. I guess not cause he would flick the sweet spot on the ball and smack!
So where am I going with this? I really do believe that batting practice has it's place it's good to get the feeling of a good swing and where proper contact should be made. A tee works for this too. But it is game experience and game play that gets a hitter prepared for greatness. How is confidence built in BP when the pitcher just floats the ball in the zone and a hitter kills it over and over only to get in a game and this never happens? They strike out, ground out, and every once in a while hit a mistake. As a hitter this made me want to pull my hair out and stump baby chickens. Where did I see this game hitting turn hitters around at the professional level? The Latin players would finish the regular minor league season and rush home for the winter league. When these young players came back they had play another 60 games all winter. Most of the Americans were just working out getting in shape. Some guys played in recreational leagues. I played fast pitch softball so I could keep my eye and timing. But most guys were just taking BP with each other and working out. When the first week of spring training came. I killed the ball after playing softball all winter. Guys like Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee, and Mario Valdez came back from the winter leagues and were punishing pitchers. Today Magglio and Carlos are superstars. Mario was hampered with injuries and never made it, but believe me he was a very good hitter. Its is game speeds and training at these speeds that makes hitters better. If you take a good hitter and put him in 100 games per year over a 5 year period he would have had around 2000 at bats in that time period. Five years later he would be a better hitter. If you took an okay hitter meaning clearly not good and put him in 150 per year for 5 years he would have around 3000 at bats in that period. Five years later I would venture to say he would be a better hitter than the good hitter was based on this. Both are competing at the same level. Mastery is about doing the same thing over and over. If the okay hitter has experienced 1000 times more than the good hitter did then his mastery skills are going to be better. The Okay Hitter (OH)will have been in more situations that saw a curve ball, slider, change up, low outside fastball and a belt high fast than Good Hitter (GH). Even if their swings are still the exact same after five years the one with more experience will do better. Now if you flipped the group gave the GH a 1000 more at bats then you would see a huge separation in the hitters.
This is my personal experience with this I was a below average fielder when I came into pro baseball. When I finished seven years later I was a very solid infielder and catcher. Seven years of ground balls everyday for 10 to 20 minutes becomes a lot of repetition. I couldn't block a ball when I started catching. I was afraid to put myself in front of a 90 mph fastball in the dirt. I rarely caught my first year in a game. Everyday I caught 2 to 3 bullpens and started practicing my blocking there. Five years later I was pretty solid defensively behind the plate and I still am. Then there was throwing. From behind the plate I couldn't throw out the trash. In my fifth year I started working with Tony Pena and I started throwing a few people out. Today I can throw out the trash at 39. I work on my release almost everyday even though I only play 1 to 2 games per week now. Today I throw more than most BP coaches, except for Mike Moseley.
In my personal experience any training that is close to or as fast as game speed is going to be the most beneficial and rewarding. This is why I offer so many live hitting and timing training classes now. There will be a new group of hitters that are coming through the Las Vegas and Henderson area that will be a cut above the rest. They will not have a cookie cutter swings. No one will say, "That's a Greg Shepard swing." People won't be able to tell them from the next kid. They all have their own swings with a few little adjustments. Their timing will be impeccable and they will destroy opposing pitchers. These kids will have seen more live pitching than any of their teammates. They will have been in more first and third with one out or bases loaded with two outs situations than anyone else on the field that day. They will be seasoned hitters and people will take them serious. How do I know this? It's already happening. Perry was right and sometimes change is good. Its time for change to happen in baseball.

If you want more information about my up coming classes then please email me at info@hithardernow.com or visit my website. www.hithardernow.com

PART II " You Gotta Protect"

Wow was my email box flooded with comments and concerns about my two strike approach. I'm glad I ruffled a few feathers and maybe some cobwebs of old thinking.
Robert from Miami writes, "How can you teach people to give away their at bat because they have two strikes?" Robert I think you missed my whole point completely. I don't want you to give away the at bat. I just want you to realize that you are out, relax, and take you best hack.
Let me expound and some real numbers here and why these numbers are so significant especially at the Major League level. These numbers have been taken from Inside Edge a scouting service that tracks every pitch thrown at the Major League level. These number are from 4/1/2004 to 10/31/2006. This is a sample of 600,000 pitches to both left and right handed batters.
Overall Pitch Mix
FB = 64% CB = 9% SL = 15% CH = 10% Other = 2% Overall Batting Ave. .265
*This above line is the average of all hitters over the 600,000 pitch study.
Counts
0-0 FB = 68% CB = 9% SL = 13% CH = 8% OTHER = 2% BA. .336
1-0 FB = 69 CB = 5 SL = 12 CH = 12 OTHER = 2 BA. .338
0-1 FB = 57 CB = 11 SL = 18 CH = 12 OTHER = 2 BA. .316
1-1 FB = 57 CB = 9 SL = 17 CH = 14 OTHER = 2 BA. .323
2-0 FB = 81 CB = 2 SL = 7 CH = 8 OTHER = 1 BA. .346
2-1 FB = 68 CB = 5 SL = 13 CH = 12 OTHER = 2 BA. .335
3-0 FB = 95 CB = 0 SL = 2 CH = 2 OTHER = 1 BA. .365
3-1 FB = 85 CB = 2 SL = 6 CH = 6 OTHER = 1 BA. .356
* These numbers are the averages of all hitters in these counts.

Overall 2 Strike Pitch Mix
FB = 56% CB = 11% SL = 20% CH = 10% OTHER = 3% BA. .190

0-2 FB = 54 CB = 12 SL = 21 CH = 10 OTHER = 4 BA. .166
1-2 FB = 51 CB = 13 SL = 22 CH = 10 OTHER = 4 BA. .178
2-2 FB =55 CB = 11 SL = 20 CH = 12 OTHER = 3 BA. .193
3-2 FB =69 CB = 6 SL = 14 CH = 9 OTHER = 2 BA. .230
*These numbers are the averages of all hitters in these counts.

Do you see why you are an out yet? The only count that a hitter seems to have a chance is 3-2 and that average is a pathetic .230. So again the bottom line is these guys are the best of the best and they are only hitting .190 with 2 strikes. They are out!

So what if you had a paradigm shift in your thinking and changed your approach for 20 at bats just to test out what I am saying. Here is what the numbers change so drastically, because you can't sit on a fastball anymore. Look at the numbers 0-2,1-2,2-2 counts are somewhere around 53% FB and 47% off speed. You have a 50% chance of being wrong if you are guessing or even timing yourself up for a FB. Then the hitter gears up for FB and then gets OS (off speed) and they are early and miss hit the ball or swing through it. Or how many times have you seen a hitter get and 0-2 count and the pitcher blows one by him right down the middle. I can bet my life that the hitter was guessing OS and wasn't even ready to react to the pitch. Last year I saw Hughes for the Yankees pitching against the Twins and all the hitters were protecting with 2 strikes. They didn't have a chance. Hughes was throwing 96 mph on the hands and right down the middle. I saw hitter after hitter get blown away by the speed and take feeble swing after feeble swing hoping to even put a little bat on the ball. None did and he blew right threw the line up. I have also seen Greg Maddux throw 89, 84, 89, 80 in sequence and hitter after hitter would ground out to short or second. 0-0 CH, 0-1 FB, 1-1 CB, 1-2 FB for a backwards K. The hitter keeps thinking they are going to get a FB but they get OS. The hitter never gets their timing right and they can not pull the trigger on a good pitch. This is what is called Effective Velocity or EV and pitchers all around are learning this. That is why in the last three years the batting averages have dropped significantly.

So how do hitter combat EV? They have to be on time in the counts that they know they are going get the pitch they are looking for. Hitters have to guess and guess correctly. If you are in a 2 strike count that is 50% FB and you just saw a FB the pitch before then I would say look for the pitch that would be used to put you away. Look for the pitchers out pitch. If it is his dirty slider then look for it. If he has a good curve ball or change up then look for that. If it's a split finger then pray he leaves it up or throws it in the dirt for a ball. Also when you get good FB counts you have to be on time and taking good hacks. You got to put those balls in play and put them in play hard. You see pitchers are learning this EV stuff at a younger age now. Why? Guys like Bobby Valentine, Roy Oswaldt, Greg Maddux, Barry Zito are talking about EV. I even use these techniques when I pitch and get amazing results. Now pitchers are starting to throw 3-1 sliders or curve balls and hitters are chasing them because they have been conditioned to expect fast balls. I played in a minor league game where Jason Lakeman stuck out 16 guys in 5 innings. Yes 16! This was EV at it's best. His FB was 96 mph that night and he was following it up with an 84 mph slider that he kept bouncing. He would blow FB after FB by the hitters and then with 2 strikes take 12 mph off the next pitch and the hitters were too far out in front. He struck out 5 in one inning. The catcher was having a hard time with the drop 3rd strikes. He gave up maybe 2 hard hit balls the whole night. The hitter were so afraid of Jason blowing another FB by them that they were so ridiculously early on the slider.

So in reply to Robert from Miami. Hey Robert the numbers don't lie. I also strongly feel the numbers are the way they are because with 2 strikes guys are spreading out, choking up, and trying to protect the plate all the while taking not taking their best swing. They are taking a swing that they rarely practice against the tougher pitches to hit. This is why I say, " Take your "A" game swing. Make the best swing possible to give yourself the best chance possible in the toughest situation. Guess and don't be afraid if you guess wrong. According to the numbers you are out anyways! And what if you guessed right 50% of the time with 2 strikes and in 10 at bats hit 4 balls harder than you usually do with 2 strikes? You may get 3 to 4 hits over that 10 at bats. Significantly improving your average with 2 strikes. You may even earn the recognition as a 2 strike hitter. I can tell you this. I have hit some two strike home runs and doubles after going hit less in my first two at bats because I decided to guess differently. Am I a good hitter? Yes I am. I am a better hit because I guess and guess right a high percentage of the time also. Timing over talent. I once heard this phrase. I've seen some pretty good swings that have been on time and I've seen some pretty bad swings that have been on time. The results of both are hard hit balls. If the sweet spot of the bat shows up in the same area as the ball then the result is usually something hard. Never quit or give up your at bat. Battle to the end. Hitting is all about timing and pitching is all about messing up your timing. It's a chess game. What's he going to throw here. What does he have a tendency to throw. Then take and educated guess and hope you can be perfect with your timing.
Loved the flood of questions keep them coming. info@hithardernow.com

If you want to read a great book on the science of pitch sequencing then go to Hittingisaguess.com
There are three books: Book 3 Downright Filthy Pitching by Perry Husband.
This is an e-book but you can also purchase it in hard copy for a lot more money.

You Gotta Protect!!!

I have heard this preached by coaches and hitting coaches from the time I was able to hit a pitched ball. "You gotta protect the plate with two strikes!" I also heard shorten your swing up, spread out your stance, choke up and let the ball get deep and put it into left field. I'm a left handed hitter. I was actually a right handed hitter with a left handed grip when I first picked up a bat. My father must have been a genius or the angel of the Lord told him to just turn me around instead of switching my hands. Anyways all these coaches seem to think what they are doing is helping but in reality the worst batting averages are with 2 strikes. At the Major League level 3-2 has the best average at .239. This count would seem like a hitters count, but according to the numbers it is still heavily tipped towards the pitcher. The 1-2 count is the worst at .166 and as you can guess everything else falls between that .166 mark and .200. So what are you to do when your staring down the barrel of the dreaded two strike count? My strong opinion is..... hack! That's right take your best swing. Put the A swing out there instead of the "protection" one.
Now all the greatest hitters and hitting instructors ever are turning over in their graves or pushing themselves away from the table to calm themselves before hearing my rationale. Please come back sit down and hear me out. Lemme break it down for ya.
1. Practice! Practice! Practice! How do 99% of hitters train? They are training to take there best swing and hit the ball hard. Now if you are a coach that teaches two strike hitting and can consistently get hitters to drive the ball hard then stop reading, but since this can not happen by doing all the the things discussed in the first paragraph then keep reading. Bio-mechanically all those things cost a hitter distance and exit speed. Spreading out causes loss of weight transfer. Shortening the swing causes loss of bat speed. Choking Up decreases lever size. Remember this: The longer the lever the stronger the lever and the shorter the lever the quicker. Maybe this is another reason why the batting averages are so low with two strikes. Maybe it isn't all related to pitch selection, maybe it's related to swing selection. This whole protection thing makes me lose sleep. How come with a 3-1 count a hitter will spit on that fastball 4 inches off the plate, but with two strike they will chase it all day. Or with two strikes hitters will swing at a low curve ball in the dirt but 3-1 will take that all day. How come with two strike the hitters have been trained to expand the zone? The umpire hasn't expanded his. A strike is still a strike in his mind.
Okay here is my true feelings on this. The first is I always want to take my best swing. Second there is no reacting to the pitch. Maybe in little league when the ball is coming 50 mph, but a 91 mph fastball will be by you before you can react to it. It's okay to guess. If you look at the numbers you are an out anyways so why not guess and be on time. If you are still 1-2 and think this guy has a good curve ball I'm going to sit on it. You start a little later to compensate for the decreased speed and when the ball shows up you take your best swing. Let's say he does exactly what you guess and you are on time and drive a ball past the shortstop. Well you just overcame the odds. You were supposed to be out. Let's say you think curve ball and the pitcher blows a fastball right by you? So what, you were out anyways who cares if you strike out, pop out, ground out, foul out? Right and out is an out. I would rather have this scenario: Two runners on and you guess right and hit a line drive with your best swing and drive in 1. Then this scenario: Two runners on and you choke up, spread out, and then a weak ground ball double play to second with your protection swing. No only were you out you were responsible for two outs. I'm watching a game between the Dodgers and the Padres today and I see Uribe with two strikes take a hack on a curve ball and drive it into the corner for 2 runs. Then I see a non roster invitee for the Padres come up with first and third and he (Santana) takes two hacks then goes to an almost no stride shortened up swing and slaps a ball to first for and out. He did get and rbi but made and out. The season veteran Uribe got two rbi's and his batting average went up not down. I'm just saying if I'm a Big League manager and I have to make a last day choice for the roster. I have a talented new young player that has potential to score runs while making outs or a solid veteran that when I am down 3 in the ninth can get a hit, score two runs and still be on base to keep the rally going. Well I am going to lean toward the guys that is still on base.
Bottom line: Take your A game swing with you always especially with two strikes when you need it the most. It is okay to guess. If you are right and you will be then many more hits will come. You will guess wrong. Oh well you were out anyways. Training methods need to change to train more to be on time and guess than try to react to the pitches. I have a device I use called a NOS timing chain that has worked wonders. If you would like more information about this device and some of my other teaching methods please email me at info@hithardernow.com.

Insanity is Right!

This Program Is Legit.

In 2 short weeks I have seen

amazing improvements in my

agility, speed, and endurance.

I will keep you posted on my future

results.

Test, Feedback, Test, Feedback. It's all about results.

I love how I teach. I have only met a hand select few that really understand how it is I teach. My goal is first that my students hit the ball harder right away. My second goal is to teach a student how to correct themselves quickly during their game. Things like Ball Flight Law (BFL) and Magnus Effect (ME) are some of my biggest feedback tools to course correct. BFL works this way, when the batter hits a 100 balls they will develop a pattern. From this pattern I can tell a lot about a hitters swing. If they dip, are the late, are they a pull hitter, even if they hit more pop flies then ground balls. Thank God there are only a few patterns which makes diagnosing very quick. It can be done at bat by at bat or even pitch by pitch. The quicker the hitter adjusts the better the chances of successfully hitting the ball hard become. The positives are if the hitter can get there timing down with a good swing early in the count they are much more likely to really drive a pitch. The deeper the counts get the more the scales tip towards the pitcher. Magnus Effect deals with the angles of the the bat striking the ball and the spin that it creates. Much like a billiard's player strikes the cue ball in different locations to produce different results after the ball strikes another.

A hitter that squares up a ball will actually strike the center of the ball with the center of the bat stopping all rotation and the end result is a very hard knuckle ball flying at a a wide eyed infielder or outfielder. Home run hitters consistently produces a slow rolling backspin when they hit the ball. This ball is hit slightly above center providing solid contact with a backspin that keeps the ball in the air longer. Golfers love this and they design club heads to produce this effect.

"Okay enough already!" You are saying, "Tell me how to fix it!"

Alright I will!

Constants are this. Your hands always go to the ball. That is hand eye coordination if you didn't have it you probably wouldn't still be playing baseball by now. This is important so when someone throws a ball at you your glove goes to the ball and catches it. If you didn't have this skill then you would have a black eye all the time, a few concussions and maybe a couple of teeth knocked out. But you have it so let's get to work.

So here is a quick scenario and how to fix it. Fastball right down the middle and you swing and foul the ball straight back. Two things: You are late and your bat head was below your hands. The Fix: Start a little sooner and turn the hips and shoulders together to keep the bat traveling with the hands longer. This way if you are a little off on the timing at least the bat head will be in the same area as the ball. If you are late then you will hit the ball to the off field, on time up the middle, and early will pull the ball.

See how easy that was? Not really. So to get real results real fast come see me for and hour and get a video analysis.

Keep Swinging!

It's all about Timing.

Really that's the bottom line. Pitching is about messing up a hitters timing and hitting is about being on time.

I've seen hitters with bad or less than perfect swings get hit after hit. I've seen the best batting practice hitters never live up to their big swing potential.

It's really not about a perfect swing. If the bat head and the ball do not show up in the same area at the same time then there is no collision an thus no possibility for a hit.

I advocate for a leveler swing. A swing that when done correctly produces a hip and shoulders rotation that when the hands are released then the hands take a straight line to the ball. This keeps the bat head and hands together for the longest possible time the bat head will be moving through the hitting zone.

When this happens and I have viewed it and measured it through video the best cases are about 32 inches. Consistently it is about 25 inches.

When a hitter has an up swing or a little dip that area becomes about 8 inches.

Now imagine the ball is coming at 90 mph and you have about about .15 seconds to make an guess to swing or not to swing.

I know it takes .38 seconds for the ball to get to the plate, but it takes a millisecond for the eyes to focus and another for the brain to say "FIRE!" So really you have about .15 seconds to guess and guess right.

I would go out on a limb and say it is nearly impossible to CONSISTENTLY hit the ball hard without guessing. No I take that back. I would bet my life on it. If you want more information about how this works then come by and take a lesson.

Guaranteed results or you don't pay.

90 Club's Newest Member

Way to Go Carmen! Newest member of the 90 Club. Carmen is a freshman at Coronado High School and has been training with me since July 2009. His exit speeds have increased 12 mph in five months of consistent persistent effort and lots of hard work. 90 mph of exit speeds will produce a ball distance of 360 ft.