Daily Hitter Installment 3: Jose Altuve
Today we are going to look at Jose Altuve. He is listed at 5’6 on baseball reference, yet has somehow managed to establish himself as a superstar in todays’ game. What?! All of my fellow sub 6’0 guys, pay attention!!! Before I get into talking about Altuve, how about we stop and listen to the…
Daily Hitter Installment 2: Dustin Pedroia
Over the next two days I want to take a look at two of the smallest guys in the game: Dustin Pedroia and Jose Altuve. They may not be perfect, but they are certainly doing well for their size! Let’s take a closer look. (The Muddy Chicken himself) The one thing Pedroia does that is…
Daily Hitter: Cody Bellinger
This is the first post in a new article series in which I will break down one hitter every day. My goal with this is to work through a bunch of different swings, approaches, etc, so that we can better understand what makes a hitter successful. There are two especially hot rookies this year in…
The Offseason and Making Real Improvements
Most college and high school guys have already finished up their season at this point of the year. They undoubtedly experienced a variety of different successes throughout their seasons. Some guys had the year of their life. They were their teams best player, exceeded all of their expectations and feel as if they are on…
The Genius of Miguel Cabrera
With Miguel Cabrera out for the next six weeks, I feel it is only necessary I make my next post about him (while I wipe away my tears and wait for him to come back). I planned to do one eventually, and this seems like a prime time to make that happen. I will attempt…
Swinging With Intent: What That Means
“Swing with intent”. One of the most used and most popular phrases used among hitting coaches today. Want to hit the ball harder? Swing with more intent. You want to hit doubles instead of singles? Swing with more intent. While I love the phrase, I think it is often misinterpreted. How? Let me explain. I…
The Myth of the Golden Swing
As I have begun working with more and more young hitters a question I often get asked is who has the “perfect” swing? A year ago I may have answered Josh Donaldson. Or Barry Bonds. Whichever swing I was hooked on that week. Over time I have come to learn that swing doesn’t really exist.…
Tee Work: Does it Transfer?
In response to my last article (which you can read here) I got several questions on whether tee transfers to in-game production and whether it is worth doing. As some of you may know, I personally have very strong feelings on this topic as it relates to my own swing. I have not found the tee…
Build Your Swing, Learn to Use It
In today’s post I want to address a problem we see in many hitters: transferring swing changes you have made into game-time production. I will spend my time focusing on one component: using randomized pitch types in practice to accelerate learning. I’m sure we all know that one guy who has an absolutely beautiful swing.…
Tale of Two Seasons: A Case Study
We have all heard this story before, maybe even experienced it ourselves. We have a good junior year. We put up solid numbers, and figure the upcoming senior year is going to be even better. We work hard and anxiously await the opportunity to improve upon the previous season and get our shot at playing…