Teaching Situational Hitting in Baseball

In my formative days of playing baseball the majority of the practice focused primarily on fundamentals of the basics. However, rarely if ever was there any discussion of technique. As I progressed into high school and then college, nothing changed. Fundamentals or should I say merely ground balls, fly balls, batting practice all without an emphasis on technique. Batting practice was comprised of one player hitting and the rest playing grab ass. These poor practice habit would eventually catch up to me. I played four years of college baseball and was fortunate to play at the D1 level my last two years. Even there, never once did I hear the phrase, "come and get the ground ball or circle that fly ball or any correction to a bad swing". If anyone would have just said come and get the ground ball kid, it would have saved me countless numbers of errors. I did however learn my last two years at the D1 level what real coaching was. It was totally foreign to me and I didn't like it. The practices were drill oriented and very well organized. Repetition, repetition and more repetition of offensive and defensive drills all designed to improve one's skill level. No one stood around, everyone was involved. It took me awhile to adapt. I just wanted to play games. Despite the best coaching I had ever received, never was there and discussion about how important the detailed precision was to the techniques. In my day as a position player you played because you could naturally hit, period. If you could not, you sat.

Consequently, that was my concept of baseball, just hit the ball. I can't ever remember going up to hit and thinking situationally what my at bat specifically called for. I was never taught baseball that way. All I cared about was my batting average. I distinctly remember being asked by my first college coach, "Do you know why you are starting?" I told him it must be my batting average. He replied," you can hit, but do you realize that you are the team leader in RBI's." I had no idea, all I ever cared about was my BA. He also added, "It certainly is not you defense." At the D1 level even though I was one of the top hitters in the fall, I found myself on the bench in the Spring. I had always been a starter; it really shook me up. It took me awhile to understand why. It was because my practice habits were very poor. I had to learn how to practice if I ever wanted to see the field.

Never in my playing career can I recollect any coach talking about situational hitting, the true essence of the game. I thought I was a really good player unfortunately; the reality is that I had no understanding of the true design of this beautiful game. Regardless of the situation, I approached every at bat the same, just swing the bat. Never even considered with a runner at 3rd and the infield back, just hitting a lousy ground ball to the second baseman scores a run. When I was a player and actually knocked in a runner from third by hitting a ground ball to second, it was not by design, purely accidental. How sad is that. Unfortunately, that was my view of the game as I was taught in the 50's and 60's. Today is a new day. It is about time that we stop worrying about those W's and start teaching the essence of the game, situational hitting and run production. Taking the negativity out of the game by teaching the art of scoring runs without hits. Teaching our athletes, the importance of getting runners to third with less than two outs so they can score on outs. Every at bat regardless of where a hitter hits in the lineup, the situation varies with each at bat. If we work on situational recognition sign giving my become obsolete. Once situation hitting evolves, W's will take care of itself.

I have been coaching baseball for 56 years, coached on every level including the pro level. I just concluded a summer season coaching a collegiate team. The players were talented and a great group to coach. However, the majority had limited understanding of the game. Almost every hitter wanted to pull every pitch without any forethought of the situation. It took patience and in game instruction to teach what needed to be done in the different situations that arose. These players come from colleges all over the Midwest and to a player initially, all they wanted to do was lift the ball. Remembering that these players do not belong to me, all teaching must be suggestive and very subtle. Summer ball, as most of you know there is no practice, they just play games. All the teaching occurs during the heat of battle. It is a great challenge and when the learning kick starts, nothing is more satisfying.

Situation number one: Every hitter regardless of where he hits in the order will either leadoff an inning or come to bat with the bases empty in various out situations on occasion. 1-4 -9- hole hitters lead off more innings than the other spots in the lineup. For that reason, they all should possess speed. With the bases empty, the hitter's job is to get on base. We want our hitters probing their highest percentage for getting on base. Baseball being a game of percentages, most players when bunting for a hit should have a higher success rate of reaching base than swinging the bat. Even guys who can't run could have a higher success rate by accurately placing a push rather than swinging the bat. Teaching and practicing the art of bunting for hits, not sacrifice bunting, is essential if success is to be gained with getting on base when there is no runner or runners on base. Every team incorporates bunting during batting practice. However, few place an emphasis on the importance of PERSION TECHNIQUE.

Situation number two: runner on first. In our program we never sit there and allow our hitters to hit into double plays. Allowing your team to hit into double plays is poor coaching. We are always moving. We disdain the sacrifice bunt. We hate to give up a precious out. If we are not stealing, we are either slashing, run and hitting or push bunting. We may even run and bunt with zero outs and give up an out to get our runner to 3rd with one out, so that we have the opportunity to score on an out. The essence of the game for us, is getting runners to 3rd base with less than two outs and scoring them with an out. Runs win games not hits. Our players practice repetitiously these scenarios daily against live competition.

Situation number three: runners on first and second zero outs. Our hitter, regardless of his spot in the lineup, is drag bunting or if left-handed, pushing toward third. Our lead runner if he has timed the number of looks the pitcher is taking and has momentum toward third, he is allowed to steal. The secondary runner follows. Obviously, this philosophy only applies to a coaching philosophy that has an appetite for this approach. Once again, this is something that we work daily to perfect as a key component to our reading and reacting situationally. Our hitters are also taught to read the rotation play by reading the shortstop breaking to cover third. In that situation, the slash is an automatic response. It may appear as though our bunting approach is set in stone, that everyone regardless of their spot in the batting order will bunt. Conversely, there are certain hitters on our team as there are on other teams who may never be asked to bunt because of their innate hitting abilities that separate them from their teammates. These rare individuals are swinging away.

It is apparent that we play an aggressive attacking style of baseball. We hate the term "SMALL BALL", our preference is "SMART BALL". Our situational hitting or bunting for hits encompasses all situations: runner on third with 0,1 or 2 outs. Runners on 2nd and 3rd 0,1 or 2 outs. In all first and third situations, the number of outs constitutes the play that should be run. With 0 or 1 outs, our objective is the merely advance the runner from first to second. With 2 outs our objective is to score the runner from third. Repetitive and reinforced Practice has produced cognitive recognition skills enabling our hitters and baserunners to respond correctly in varying situations.

In conclusion our hope is that the reader can see a contrary approach to coaching the game that does not solely rely on hits to score runs. The old adage that we lost today because we just didn't hit, in our opinion just doesn't wash. The beauty of the game is scoring runs and winning games without hits. Scoring runs on outs is an art form. Relying on hits to win games will result more in feelings of disappointment and failure than exaltation. Our approach is designed to mitigate by taking a big bite out of the negativity of the game. Nobody wants to lose or think of themselves as losers. If our players can leave the yard feeling good about themselves knowing that strategically and situationally win or lose, they did what was appropriate. That mentality will win more games. Our players develop an attitude of hating to lose more than they love to win. Are our players always successful? Of course not. However, if they recognized situations and responded accordingly, from our prospective, that's all we can ask. The recognition and correct response have spoken volumes and has been a cornerstone of success on all levels throughout my career.