Teaching the fundamentals of hitting can sometimes be challenging for both coaches and parents, there is a wide array of techniques to teach which range from grip, hand-eye coordination, timing, swing, lower body positioning, and so many more factors. Therefore it can often be overwhelming when looking where to begin. Therefore while we know there is no ‘one size fits all’ when approaching someone's hitting techniques, the fundamentals are all relatively the same/ similar.

Whether you are looking to develop your hitting fundamentals or refine your hitting mechanics, you will need to understand and grasp the idea and the fundamentals. At Gradum Gswing we have a goal to unlock the full potential of all individuals whether it is baseball or softball.

Let us explore the basics of baseball hitting, check out our website for some baseball drills training.

The Basics:

Batters Stance:

- Our feet should always be in a straight line, toe to toe,

- Toes to be pointed toward the plate,

- Feet should be a little bit wider than shoulder-width apart,

- Our hips and shoulders need to stay in a straight line,

- And toes, hips, and shoulders should all be pointing to the pitcher.

Batter’s Approach:

Once the pitcher starts his or her pitching process to throw, as the hitter you need to prepare to load to start the swing, therefore get your hands into a hitting position. The loading process will start when the pitcher goes back to throw and comes forward to throw. As the hitter, you will get your body in a good, comfortable, balanced position, and you will shift your weight back and stop, we want to make use of our whole body to stay in one motion.

Watching the Ball:

This step is the most important one in hitting. The ball is probably the most important thing, therefore ensuring that you are watching the ball all the way into contact and keeping your head still through a swing is essential. You are watching the ball to determine whether it is a ball or a strike, if it's fast or slow, or whether you’re going to swing it or not. Let the ball dictate whether we’re going to swing at it and trust our body to take a good swing at it.

Batter’s Swing:

After we get through our stance, seeing the ball, our load, and our step, the next thing we want to do is the swing portion. It's the rotation of our body, it's the swinging of our bat. We are using our legs, and the muscles in our legs to push that bat forward through a swing to hit that ball as hard as we can.

When we get into our stance, we are going to load our body back in a good position, then we are going to stride. This is when the three parts of your body are going to need to rotate, our back foot’s going to turn, our hips will swing around and then the bat is going to swing while our shoulders rotate- then we follow through with that swing to the hitter's opposite shoulder.

Baseball Hitting:

Your swing is something that needs to constantly be worked on and developed so that it becomes muscle memory. Therefore to make it simpler the fundamentals to keep in mind:

Feet:

Your feet are the foundation for maintaining balance throughout your swing, balance from the beginning through to the finish of the swing is crucial to track the ball.

Hands:

When moving your hands toward the ball, don't immediately extend your arms or push your hands forward. Keeping your hands back at the start of your swing position will allow you to generate a lot of energy with your legs and core before bringing your hands through, you should hit through the baseball, essentially meaning that your bat speed should be at its peak just before making contact, this will have a big impact when driving the ball.

Head:

Your head should be still throughout the swing, you must ensure that your chin should move from one shoulder to the other shoulder while you swing the bat, therefore from one side to the other. You are not only moving your chin you are rotating your shoulders. If you can control your head throughout the swing it will make hitting that much easier. Having the ability to practice and teach the fundamentals with your team will ensure that they are able to approach hitting during practice with a renewed attitude and understanding of techniques and fundamentals. Each hitter or baseball player is different however the first step will be to resort to the default standard approach for everyone, and then adapt the coaching style for the player.