Seven Tips for Better Hitting – Ken Krause

by Ken Krause

There has been a revolution in the game of fastpitch softball in the past few years - the introduction of powerful and reliable hitting. While it used to be a given that any game between two even halfway decent teams or above would end in a score of 1-0, or maybe 2-1, that's no longer the case. Between high-tech bats, more players taking private instruction, and year-'round conditioning programs, the number of runs scored is on the rise.

Well, at least it seems like it is for everyone else. But somehow, despite watching all the new videos, visiting the hitting guru sites when you're supposed to be working, and buying every hitting device on the Internet, your team's hitting seems to be stuck permanently in 1985.

There's no single panacea that can turn it around for everyone. But there are some things you can do to help it along. Following are a few tips that can help your hitters start turning those weak ground balls and pop-ups into line drives and extra base hits.

1. Keep a gentle rhythm. You've probably heard about the need to rock back and forth or otherwise keep the body in motion before the swing. But that leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Having a tight, choppy back-and-forth motion can be just as bad as having none at all. Any pre-swing movement should be designed to keep the hitter loose and relax, not make him/her tighter. Slower, looser movements are generally better than quick, tight ones. Save quick for the actual swing so the hitter doesn't get caught going forward when he/she should be going backward.
2. Get the center of gravity moving forward. For years fastpitch coaches (even very famous ones) have been teaching hitters to take a short, soft stride, as though they're stepping on thin ice. But watch any good hitting team in softball or baseball and that's not what you'll see. Good hitters actually take their weight forward, establish a new centerpoint ahead of where they started, and then rotate around it. Encourage your hitters to take a strong, positive and quick stride forward.
3. See that the front shoulder is lower than the back at toe touch. This one is easy to miss. Once the front foot touches back down during the stride, there is a tendency to start lowering the back shoulder. That's the opposite of what should happen. Getting the front shoulder lower than the back puts the hitter in a stronger position to swing.
4. Check that the hitter is starting the swing with the hips. You've probably seen the statement that "the hips lead the hands" in hitting. That's the way it should be. But often times hitters will actually pull their hands through first, then follow the hands and arms with the body. This is something that can be difficult to see in real time. Your best bet is to shoot high speed video, run it step by step, and see which is first. If it's not the hips, it's time to make a change.
5. Make sure the back shoulder is driving forward and in. As the swing starts, there is often a tendency to want to pull the front shoulder out, or drop the back shoulder down and back in an effort to keep the front shoulder in. Neither of these is correct. While it's true that the front shoulder should not pull out during the swing, there's more to it than that. The back shoulder should start driving forward and in toward the ball, not dropping down and back. Bonus tip: The back shoulder makes a great aiming device too. The lower the ball is, the further the back shoulder should drive down.
6. Take the fat part of the bat to the ball. Again, the standard fastpitch wisdom says hitters should take the knob of the bat to the ball – or throw the hands at the ball. Neither is really want you want to do. The hitter needs to take the fat part of the bat to the ball. That means keeping the hands in, not throwing them out toward the ball. Taking the knob to the ball is a very hands-oriented swing – the type that produces weak ground balls and popups by taking the body out of the equation. Keep thinking "fat part" of the bat, and make sure your hitters are thinking that way too.
7. Quit hitting the back with the bat. I'm not sure who ever came up with the idea that hitting the back with the bat is a good idea, but it's not – not for hitting the ball hard, and not for the back. After contact, many hitters will think the job is done and thus will stop driving the fat part of the bat forward. As a result they lose power. After contact, the bat keeps driving out to a point where it's pointing at the pitcher. Only then does it pull around. And when it does, it winds up next to the front shoulder – or if the hitter releases the top hand, continues moving back and away.

About the Author...

His softball-related duties don't end there, however. In addition to his Softball Magazine columns, Ken writes a popular blog on softball called Life in the Fastpitch Lane (http://fastpitchlane.softballsuccess.com) and is the administrator of the Discuss Fastpitch Forum (www.discussfastpitch.com). When he's not at a practice, lesson or tournament somewhere, Ken plays guitar and keyboards as well as sings in a band called The Bosko Brothers (www.theboskobrothers.com).

He and his wife Pattie have four children -- Stefanie, Adam, Eric and Kimmie. In his day job Ken is creative director at Tech Image, one of the leading technology-focused PR agencies in the U.S.